Addis Ababa: 17 October: A contractual agreement was signed Monday between Ethiopias Ministry of Health, the UN Populations Fund (UNFPA) and the Childrens Fund (UNICEF) for, respectively, providing service for the procurement of contraceptive commodities (svangerskabsforebyggende midler) and medicines worth 25 million US dollar.
Ethiopias Minister of Health Tedros Adhanom said 20 million long lasting bed nets will be distributed among ten million households by August 2007.
According to Minister additional 5,7 million dollar contractual agreement will be signed between his Ministry and UNICEF next week.
The program, to be financed by World Bank and other developmet partners such as British DFID, Irish Aid and Netherlands government is part of Ethiopias Protection of Basic Service Project and aims to protect and promote the delivery of basic services by sub national governments while deepening transparency and local accountability in service delivery.
The Project has four components namely the delivery of basic services, provides predictable financing for critical inputs for the primary health, supports activities at the Regional and City Administration, and supports capacity building for and piloting of selected approaches.
Under the Agreement, UNFPA will purchase contraceptive commodities proposed for youth development and women in the rural areas with an outlay of 11,5 million US dollar, while UNICEF will purchase medicine including vaccines, injection materials and ati-malaria equipments worth 13.5 million dollar.
The World Bank and Ethiopias international development partners have been trying to redirect the budget support scheme for financing the vital basic services for the people.
The proposed Protection of Basic Services (PBS) seeks to protect basic services provided at the sub-national levels, where most primary and secondary services are financed and provided in Ethiopias decentralized system, and ensure that they are provided in a fair, transparent and accountable manner.
The Government of Ethiopia, the World Bank, donors, and civil society all agree that money transferred to local levels for service delivery should be held to strict fiduciary (betroede) standards to ensure that it is used for the intended purpose.
To demonstrate its commitment to this principle, the Government will allow independent audits of local level expenditures. Government will also make available information that will confirm that all woredas (lokalområder), whether they supported Government or the opposition in recent elections, are receiving their constitutionally-mandated share of financing for basic services.
Kilder: Daily Monitor (Ethiopia) og The Push Journal
