Ethiopian Cities Association (ECA)

12 mai 2021

The Ethiopian cities association/ECA/ is an alliance of currently 86 Ethiopian cities working towards improving the living conditions of the urban Ethiopian population. The ECA was established in February 2003. It is a voluntary membership organization owned by and accountable to its members.
The ECA aspires for all Ethiopian cities to be prosperous, sustainable, productive, and competitive by 2030.

Organization and leadership
The aim of the ECA is to support city administrations in their quest to deliver better services to their citizens. To realize this mandate, the ECA seeks to facilitate the exchange of information and experiences among cities and between cities and stakeholders, it fosters the dissemination of national and international best practices and encourages policy dialogue on pertinent urban development and city management issues.
By capacitating city administrations, the organization plays a pivotal role in speeding up the implementation of ongoing urban development reforms and increases their chances of success through city-to-city cooperation.
The Association is a legally registered and licensed entity pursuant to the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Charities and Societies Proclamation No.621/2009 article 68(1).
The existing organizational structure of the ECA is composed of a General Assembly, the Board, and the Secretariat. The functions and responsibilities of the above bodies are briefly given below.

General Assembly
The General Assembly, made up of the ECAs member cities, is the highest policy decision-making body of the Association. In its capacity as the supreme organ of the Association, it elects from among its members the board of the ECA and approves its strategic and yearly plans and budget. It also appoints the external auditor of the Association and based on the Board’s recommendations, establishes the various branches and organs of the Association.
The General Assembly also approves and/or amends the statute and bylaws of the Association and decides on the dissolution of the Association when deemed necessary. Board/Executive Committee The Board, currently comprising of 9 member cities, is the officially elected organ by the General Assembly of member cities to provide policy and strategic guidance regarding the Association’s activities. In this function, the Board presents the annual plans and budget of the Association for approval by the general assembly and ensures that all organs and members of the Association implement its decisions.
The Board also appoints and/or dismisses the Secretary and the Department Heads of the ECA’s secretariat and provides them with operational directives and policy guidance. It furthermore formulates policies and strategies of the association for approval by the general assembly and follows their implementation.
In addition, the Board’s task is also to foster partnerships with interested parties and to solicit funds and external technical and institutional support to promote the work of the Association. The Board also establishes the various organs of the Association, with the approval of the general assembly, and provides them with policy and strategic guidance and directives to run their day-to-day operations.

Modalities of functioning
The major mandated functions of the Ethiopian Cities Association among others include :
a. Identifying, organizing and disseminating new ideas, systems and good governance practices on urban development issues,
b. Developing, publicizing and replicating new ideas of the forum, system developing, designing methodology, organizing a knowledge exchanging platform on best practices, policy dialogue forums, workshops and educational visits,
c. Facilitating and arranging capacity building training and conduct studies and research on the urban development issues,
d. Creating networking and information and benchmarking exchange with similar region and international cities associations and forums,
e. Participating in the urban development related workshops and publicize urban related policies and strategies,
f. Organizing and performing national urban forum being exhibited in every two years to initiate and participate urban citizen in the activities of urban development and facilitate public mobilization processes.
g. Lobby, advocate, protect, and represent the interest of local government at relevant structures and platforms.
h. Support and advise our members on a range of issues to assist effective execution of their mandate.
i. Build the profile and image of member cities and towns within Ethiopia as well as outside the country.

Resources
The basic resources/funds of the association emanate from the annual membership fees of the member cities.
May also be project related funds from any project funding organizations locally or internationally based donor.

Ethiopian Cities Association and its relationship with the Central Government
The Ethiopian Cities Association has a relationship with the central government. It is well recognized by the central government and modestly supported by the Ministry of Urban Development and Construction. The Association has also a program/project-based relationship with the Ministry of Urban Development and Construction. For instance, ECA has been benefited from some support of Urban Good Governance and Decentralization Programmes in the recent past.

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