ethiopia - 2003 - local content development status and trends

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Federal Democratic Republic of EthiopiaMinistry of Capacity Building

Local Content Development

In Ethiopia: Status and TrendsBy: Amaha Diana

Selam consult@yahoo com


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ContentsPage

ACRONYMS................................................................................................................................ V

INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................... 1

II. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY ........................................................................................... 4

III. METHODOLOGY................................................................................................................. 5

3.1 PRIMARY DATA ...................................................................................................................... 6

3.2 SECONDARY DATA AND SAMPLING ........................................................................................ 6

IV. LOCAL CONTENT DEVELOPMENT: THE ISSUES ..................................................... 7

4.1 WHY LOCAL CONTENT IS IMPORTANT ? .................................................................................. 9

4.2 THE DIGITAL DIVIDE ............................................................................................................ 16

V. RESULTS OF THE SURVEY.............................................................................................. 21

VI. INFRASTRUCTURE ASPECTS OF LOCAL CONTENT DEVELOPMENT............. 41

6.1 TELECOMMUNICATION I NFRASTRUCTURE ............................................................................ 41

6.2 ELECTRICITY I NFRASTRUCTURE ........................................................................................... 51

6.3 R ADIO & TV TRANSMITTERS ............................................................................................... 56

6.4 PRINTING PRESSES ........................................................................................................... 57

VII. INSTITUTIONS INVOLVED IN CONTENT DEVELOPMENT................................. 58

7.1 R ADIO & TV CONTENT PROVIDERS ..................................................................................... 58

7.1.1 Radio Ethiopia ............................................................................................................. 58


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Introduction

The history of the media sector in Ethiopia dates back nearly a century. Le Semeur dEthiopie (19051911) and Aimero (1902-1903) are widely consideredas the original newspapers in the country although some historical evidencesuggests that the handwritten sheet produced by Blatta Gebre Egziabhere

around 1900 probably preceded both Le Semeur dEthiopie and Aimero andmay therefore be considered the first Amharic newspaper in the country.

Le Semeur dEthiopie and Aimero (literally translated to mean Intelligence) werefollowed by Le Courier dEthiopie (1913-1920) and Yetwor Ware (War News),which was issued from the Italian mission from 1916 to 1918. Berhanena Selam (Light and Peace) was founded in 1925 but folded in 1936 with theItalian invasion. Addis Zemen (New Era) begun circulating in 1941 followed bythe English language daily, Ethiopian Herald that started in 1945.

The first provisional radio station was inaugurated in 1933 in a contract signedwith an Italian Company. The Italians handed over the installation in 1935 butretrieved it soon thereafter following the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1936.

Short-wave broadcasting was resumed in 1953 and by 1970 Radio Ethiopia operated from three locations and broadcast in six languages. The WorldFederation of Lutheran Churches broadcaster, Radio Voice of the Gospel , begunin 1963.

Ethiopian Radio, which now has both national and external services,

broadcasts its programs in eight local languages and three foreign languages(English, French and Arabic). The Educational Media Agency, owned byMinistry of Education, broadcasts educational programs in 16 local languagesand in the English language for secondary and high school students.


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since the 1980s, radio remains the principal medium of communication for thegovernment. Since 1991, Ethiopian Television (ETV) broadcasts its programs inthree local languages and in English.

Following the 1974 overthrow of the monarchy by a military junta, mass mediainstitutions were reorganised as instruments of propaganda under thecentralised control of the party and Ministry of Information. The media,operating under the then new Marxist-Leninist ideology, primarily served as a

mouthpiece of the government and an instrument of propaganda for the newideology. The military government imposed and implemented a harshcensorship rule, which was only abolished following the overthrow of themilitary government in May 1991.

With the coming into power of the new government in May 1991, it appearedthat promoting respect for freedom of expression would be prioritized. Thiswas manifested, first by the Transitional Period Charter, which providedrespect for individual human rights at large and for freedom of expression inparticular.

This was soon followed by the Proclamation to Provide for the Determination of the Application of State Owned Mass Media. This proclamation set standardsfor the use and application of the State-owned media by the government, neworganizations (political or otherwise) and the public at large.

In late 1992, Proclamation No. 7/1992 which may be cited as the"National/Regional administration establishment proclamation" paved theground for the formation of the 14 regional administrations. Out of their own

volition, some of these newly formed regions banned together to create thelarger region that is known as Southern Peoples Region. In the meantime, thenew administrative structure allowed the formed regions to have newspapers,magazines, Radio stations and TV airtime in their native language.


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II. Objectives of the study

The overall objective of the study is to establish baseline information on thestatus and trend of local content development in Ethiopia. The specificobjectives of the local content survey were, as per the TOR, the following:

Identify the existing local content development centers and the languagethey use Identify the existing contents developed both in local language and

foreign language Identify the medium used to develop the local content such as audio,

video, text, etc Identify the dissemination mechanism to exchange the local content Identify NGOs activities to develop the local content Identify the cooperative efforts among different local content developers Identify the investment amounts per year to develop the local content by

different organizations such as government, private and NGOs Identify the problem to develop local content in local language (technical

such as font, administrative, financial, cultural such as unwillingness to

disclose the knowledge, etc) Assess other countries experience to develop the local content Identify ICT solutions that can enhance development of local content in a

cost effective and sustainable manner Create a Baseline Database on existing local content development (e.g.

local content developers, local content developed, etc)


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III. Methodology

The methodology used by the consultant includes all the pertinent tools andtechniques that facilitate faster and accurate collection of data for analyticalpurposes. The specific tools and approaches were presented to the ICT ProgramOffice of the Ministry of Capacity Building in an inception report. A

questionnaire and PRA Tools ( Interview Guides and Checklist for focus group discussions ) were developed by the consultant. The Client had reviewed,commented and approved the designed instruments before they were appliedon field. The field survey instruments that were agreed upon are thought to bethe most suitable to extract the required data from all sources.

The field survey conducted by the consultant includes Tigray, Amhara, Oromia,SNNP, and Addis Ababa Regions. Other regions were contacted by telephoneand fax. These were Afar, Somali, Harrari, Benshangul-Gumuz and GambelaRegions. In each of these region, the consultant has interviewed throughtelephone the relevant persons and afterwards information needed by theconsultant was faxed to him by the regional officials. Data and sourcetriangulation was carried out to achieve report consistency. Moreover, all the

data collection, sorting, collecting and grouping were made in such a way thathelps the assessment and analysis of local content development issues.

The consultant has conducted almost a full survey of the institutions beingrelevant to the subject of investigation. A questionnaire consisting of 40 keyquestions was administered to some 300 organizations. Data from collected

questionnaires was entered in the statistical software (SPSS Version 11) andanalysis was also performed. The write up of the report has benefited not onlyfrom data collected on field but also the expertise of the consultant and theextensive literature review that was conducted throughout the assignmentperiod.


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3.1 Primary DataIn order to gather first hand and close to reality information, a questionnairewas designed and administered to selected and relevant Institutions. Thetarget group was composed of Government institutions, International NGOs,Local NGOs, Private Press and Civic Organization. Furthermore, In AddisInterviews and discussions were held with key informants and focus group,especially with officials of institutions that are key role players in local content

development and dissemination such as Radio Ethiopia, Radio Fana,Educational Media Agency, ETV, etc. SWOT Analysis, problem and potentialproblem ranking, trend analysis etc. were used as a tool extract properinformation. The Five larger regions were paid visits to assess the institutionsinvolved in local content development. The Five emerging regions werecontacted through telephone and appropriate staff of involved institutions was

extensively interviewed (Interviews lasted as average about one hour withrepresentatives of each region). Other needed information was requested to besent by fax. Three of the four Telecenters in the country have also been visitedto assess their status and experience. To assess infrastructure aspects relevantinstitutions such as Tele, EEPCo, printing presses, etc were contacted to gatherthe required data.

3.2 Secondary Data and Sampling The consultant also conducted review of relevant literature. The term "LocalContent" is new and its Definition is a minefield for disputes. The deskresearch carried out by the consultant helped clarify many of the involvedissues and sharpened the direction of the research. Internet was the source of

most of the literature relevant to the issue of local content. Other reviewedliteratures were reports from various institutions and governmentproclamations and regulation relating to content. The reviewed literature wasused to support the facts derived from the findings of the analysis and resultsof the primary data. Annex II shows the list of reviewed literature.


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IV. Local Content Development: The IssuesAdvances in information and communications technologies (ICT) combinedwith the rapid growth of global networks such as the Internet, havetransformed businesses and markets, revolutionized learning and knowledge-sharing, generated global information flows, empowered citizens andcommunities in new ways that redefine governance. ICTs have helped createsignificant wealth and economic growth in many countries. This digital

revolution has been made possible thanks to the potent combination andincrease in the power and versatility of new technologies and their significantlylower costs.

It is undeniable that the world is in the midst of a set of profound changes thatcreate enormous new opportunities, while posing equally daunting challenges.

Precisely because the digital revolution has the power to transform productionprocesses, commerce, government, education, citizen participation and allother aspects of our individual and collective lives, it can create substantialnew forms of economic growth and social development. Therefore, access toand effective use of the tools and networks of the new global economy, and theinnovations they make possible, are critical to poverty reduction, increasedsocial inclusion and the creation of a better life for all.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are not really about thecomputer, the Internet, and telephone lines. Its about information andcommunication. This makes the issue of content a very important priority aswe try to use the new technologies for community development and alleviationof poverty. In fact, Information and Communication technologies are offering

third world countries a development opportunity comparable to the benefitsattained by the developed world from the Industrial revolution. ICTs todayallow developing countries unlock distant expertise, knowledge, and markets.However, this access to usually " foreign " content with foreign perspectives-has inherent limitations.


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wrote recently that Even if the woman in the village has access to the Internet,she will not necessarily be able to use the information to improve her child'shealth because "trying to get information from the Internet is like drinking from a

fire hose - you don't even know what the source of the water is ".

The above facts have brought a global debate and concern about not onlyfiltering the Internet for locally relevant information but also to foster thedevelopment of local content. In this regard, the world is witnessing a profusion

of activities and debates to localize contents in both the Internet and traditionalmedias such as the Radio, press and TV.

The Government of Ethiopia is also engaged in efforts to bring home the best of ICTs to reinforce its development strategies. ICTs are not an end by themselvesbut a means to support core development targets through the uninterruptedflow of sufficient and locally relevant information. Hence, if the developmentneeds of the country are to be catalysed by the application of ICTs the need forextensive and quality local content goes unquestionable.

Worldwide, the issue of Local content has gathered Momentum. Some of that attention has been steered by The Digital Opportunities Task Force(DOT Force), a body created by the G8 nations at its annual summit in

mid-2000. The job of DOT Force was to come up with an action plan thatwould lead all nations to participate in the ICT revolution. The result wasthe Genoa Plan of Action (which took its name from the location of the2001 G8 summit). Its nine Action Points included 2 two specificallyrelated to content issues. These were:

Action Point 7 Promote ICT for Health Care and in Support AgainstHIV/AIDS and Other Infectious and CommunicableDiseases 3 .

Action Point 8 National and International Effort to Support Local


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Dar es Salaam workshop, participants decided on the following workingdefinition: Local content is the expression of the locally owned andadapted knowledge of a community where the community is defined byits location, culture, language, or area of interest .

This means that local content is not something that is broadcast to ornecessarily used by members of a defined community, although this is notexcluded. It includes any external or global content that has been transformed,adapted and assimilated into the knowledge base of the community. Localcontent is exchanged and shared, locally or globally, in various formats,packages and media. When it is disseminated and is accessible using digitalmeans, it can be termed eContent.

On the other hand, it is crucial to differentiate between local content and localeContent. Just because little local eContent can be found on the Internet or in

other digital forms, it is wrong to conclude that there is a local content problem. Most local content is simply invisible to international audiences thatare unconnected to local non-digital content channels. This poses a differentsort of connectivity problem. In reality, there are vast amounts of local contentscattered in every country and community; it is not digitised and even if itwere, it may not always be desirable that it be disseminated outside the

community where it originates. Generating local eContent poses manychallenges, not least to master the technologies. Generating and exchanginglocal content poses different, though sometimes related, challenges.

While the ICTs and other media are converging and provide many opportunitiesto strengthen local content creation and exchange, different types of localcontent need to be treated very differently. The 'drivers' and motivations inhealth are not the same as those in agriculture or community development anda good understanding of these will be necessary before formulating differentinterventions.

Now, let us turn our attention on why so much worldwide debate and interest


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providing international e-services like call centres or desktop publishing thatuse mainly non-local content.

The motivations of those involved in local content development can alsooriginate from subtle and sophisticated backgrounds. In fact, there is no singledriver underpinning the creation of local content, especially in digital formats.Out of a very complex situation, five spheres may be identified, each with itsown reasoning and concerns. Each has its own approach to local content.

A geo-political-economic sphere sees local content as a matter of national image and economic development. Concerned by, for instance,the negative image of Africa on the world media, local content is needed

to convey accurate and positive images. The result should be increasedforeign investment, tourist arrivals and perhaps greater self-confidenceand influence in global forums. Mixed up with this is a desire to developcompetitive local media and ICT industries or sectors that can stimulatelocal jobs and provide local livelihoods. It means developing content,perhaps local content, for national, regional as well as global marketsand audiences. The public sector is concerned with the geo-politicalaspect; the private sector is expected to drive the economic side, perhapswith public support.

A geo-heritage sphere sees local content as an expression or a record of local cultural, social, and natural heritage. The urge is to conserve andpreserve it for future generations, and perhaps as a way to provide locallivelihoods. Here, the actors are almost all public or voluntary museums, archives, galleries, research organisations, academia, NGOsand the like. Educational content is important alongside the concern forpreservation.


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foster content in areas like health, human and social rights, andgovernance. Here the content is almost all in the public domain, provided

as a public good that anyone can draw on.

A commercial sphere is most concerned with local content as a way tosell services and products, for profit, to local or foreign markets. Mainlythe private sector is involved and a large part of this content isinfotainment that seeks to inform and entertain and, to some extent, to

educate. In some countries such as South Africa, despite local contentquotas in the media, much of this content is imported. A smaller contentarea is based around local business and commercial trends andconditions, prices, etc. that are of interest to local and foreign markets. Insome sectors, like tourism, this local knowledge is the added value offered by local companies.

Finally, in the individual sphere, the focus is on communication amongpeople, sharing ideas, information on opportunities, advice and gossipwith each other.

While everyone is impressed by the potentials the new ICTs offer to share andexchange local content, often the new technologies are tape recorders, radio,television, newspapers, or telephones. ICTs and the Internet are currentlyrather small parts of the toolkit used to create and communicate local content.

Their use is certainly growing. However, the more local a situation is, the morelikely it is that person to person communication processes are more importantthan the production and exchange of content artefacts. Local content in therural, developing country context is primarily voice content or text based email- people speaking to one another over the phone, friends communicating byemail - difficult to track what is being said and to whom, difficult to point to interms of visible success stories and websites. Generally, as one moves awayfrom local (and predominantly voice or visual) situations, people tend to comeinto contact ith ario s t pes of content packaged to achie e specific


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other peoples knowledge. With a few exceptions, new technologies are hardlybeing used to strengthen the push of local content from local people. In

general terms, the balance between push and pull or supply and demand is heavily weighted towards non-local rather than local content.

In a nutshell, all the above facts and intricacies have brought a global concernabout the localization of contents. Preserving the Identity of citizens whilereaping the benefits of ICTs have therefore crystallized in national policies thatprotect people in developing countries from cultural invasions from the North.

4.2 The Digital DivideMany expressions were used to describe the dichotomy of peoples participationor not in the Information Society such as information poor/ rich or have/ havenot, but the most widely spread now is the "Digital Divide". Used by most

international organizations, this expression has become the reference term. There is not one single definition about it but they are more or less takingabout the same thing. At first, some narrower definitions of the digital dividewere focused only on access to computers and Internet but access alone doesnot bridge the technology gap. As a result, definitions are much wider today.I chose two of these; found on the web, that state clearly what is according to

them the digital divide: "The term 'digital divide' describes the fact that the world can be divided

into people who do and people who don't have access to - and the capability to use - modern information technology, such as the telephone,television, or the Internet. The digital divide exists between those in cities and those in rural areas. It also exists between the educated and the uneducated, between economic classes, and, globally, between the more and less industrially developed nations" (Http://www.whatis.com, 2003).


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Internet Users by Regions, May 2002

Europe28.0%

Latin America4.1%

Asia/Pacific

25.9%

Africa0.8%

USA & Canada41.3%

Europe

Latin America

Asia/Pacific

Africa

USA & Canada

The World Bank also stresses this point: "Roughly 90 percent of Internet host computers are located in high-income countries that account for only 16 percent of world population" (World Bank: World Development Report, 2000).

It would be an error to consider the International Digital Divide as poorcountries vs. rich ones problem. Even within the European Union, this gapexists. If in Sweden or the Netherlands two third of the population are Internet

users, only less than 20 % are in Spain (Digitaldivide.org, 2003).

4 2 2 Domestic Digital Divide


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- Disability

Even countries like the US are experiencing the domestic digital divide. In fallof 2000, the U.S. Department of Commerce 6 found that:

White (46.1%) and Asian American & Pacific Islander (56.8%) householdscontinued to have Internet access at levels more than double those of Black (23.5%) and Hispanic (23.6%) households.

86.3% of households earning $75,000 and above per year had Internetaccess compared to 12.7% of households earning less than $15,000 per

year. Rural areas, though still lagging behind urban areas, had surpassed

inner-cities in Internet availability and use:o Urban 42.3o Rural 38.9o Central City 37.7

63% of homes with residents aged 18-49 used the Internet compared to37% of households with residents aged 50 or older.

Women have surpassed men in Internet access and use. (51% to 49%,respectively.)


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V. Results of the Survey

a) Institutions Included in the Survey

The consultant has surveyed 280 Institutions that were thought to begenerating, developing and disseminating local content. These institutions areall found in Addis Ababa. The survey of regions is carried out separately andthe results are presented in section Seven of this report. The reason for thisseparation of the survey is that most organizations engaged in local contentdevelopment, especially NGOs and Private Press institutions, have theirheadquarters located in Addis Ababa and even if they have regional offices thebulk of Local Content is packaged in Addis Ababa. Therefore, institutionscovered by the Addis Ababa survey were composed as shown in the following

Graph.

Fig. 4.1 Surveyed Institutions in Addis Ababa

Composition of Surveyed Institutions in Addis Ababa

44 6194 77

4

280

050

100

150

200

250

300

e r n m e n t

t l .

N G O s

c a l N G O s

a t e

P r e s s

C i v i c

n i z a t

i o n s

T o t a l


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d) Languages used in developed local content.

As the following table shows, the language used to develop most of the localcontent is Amharic (50.34%) followed by English (37.24%), Tigrigna (7.82%)and Oromiffa (3.68%).

Table 4.3 Language used to develop content

No. of InstitutionsLanguage UsedGov. Intl. NGO Local NGO Private Civic

English 27 51 58 24 2Amharic 34 36 84 64 1

Oromiffa 3 3 5 5 0

Tigrigna 6 8 16 3 1Others (Afar, Somali, French, etc) 2 1 1 0 0

e) Sources used for local content and Target Population

The survey revealed that most of the developed local content is targeted to

urban dwellers. Content disseminated across the country stands second andrural areas are the less targeted part. The following table shows the percentageof population targeted by its location.

Table 4.4 Targeted population by location

Targeted Population % of Total content

Urban Dwellers 40.4%Rural people 23.2%All 36.4%


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On the other hand, a cross tabulation for each respondents' group revealed a

shift in motivation as shown in the following table.

Table 4.8 Compelling reasons to develop local content by Institution group

RespondentGroup

Reasons for developing LocalContent

No. of Respondents

Percent of Group

Development Concerns 33 75.0%Good Governance 17 38.6%

Humanitarian 15 34.1%Gender 13 29.5%Politics 11 25.0%Profit 4 9.1%Others 3 6.8%

G o v e r n m e n t

( t o t a l

4 4 )

Religion 2 0.7%

Development Concerns 40 65.6%Humanitarian 39 63.9%Gender 16 26.2%Good Governance 16 26.2%Religion 6 9.8%Politics 3 4.9%Profit 2 3.3%

I n t l .

N G O s

( T o t a l

6 1 )

Others 2 3.3%

Humanitarian 69 73.4%Development Concerns 55 58.5%Gender 22 23.4%Good Governance 15 16.0%Politics 6 6.4%

Religion 6 6.4%Profit 3 3.2% L o c a l

N G O s

( t o t a l

9 4 )

Others 2 2.1%

Development Concerns 50 64.9%(7

7 )


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Category Org. Capability Respondents Percent of the Group

Excellent 6 9.84%

Very good 24 39.34%

Good 23 37.70%

Not so Good 4 6.56% I n t l

. N G O s

No response 4 6.56%

Excellent 1 1.06%

Very good 41 43.62%

Good 35 37.23%

Not so Good 13 13.83% L o c a l

N G O s

No response 4 4.26%

Excellent 3 3.90%

Very good 31 40.26%

Good 31 40.26%

Not so Good 9 11.69% P r i v a t e

No response 3 3.90%

Institutions assessing themselves as "not so good" in terms of their capabilityfor content development are proportionally higher for the government groupfollowed by the local NGOs Group. The reasons given for not being wellequipped were finance (73.5%), People's Skill (70.6%), technology (64.7%) andOrganizational (38.2).


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The source of fund for PC upgrading/renewal is own fund (45%), donors (36%)and both sources (21%). There may be a common assumption that institutions

having access to donor funds are likely upgrading their equipment morefrequently than others. However, the survey results show that this access hasno visible influence in equipment upgrading frequency: Those having access todonor funds and replacing their PCs in less than a year are 4.3% while thoseusing own funds are 3.9% of the surveyed institutions. The response on howmuch fund they needed to develop content was discarded because somerespondents gave their annual budget while others underestimated their needfor funds. Hence, it seems inappropriate to generalize based on such a biaseddata. For instance, the Central Statistical Authority stated they needed 35Million Birr while most of the private press said they need 300-5000 Birr per

year (don't we all know the cost of printing newspapers!). However, 27.1% of the respondent's have a regular budget. We could know this because thequestion was a close ended one allowing only a Yes or No Answer.

On the other hand, about 48% of the surveyed institutions are using donorfunds for their day-to-day activities. Access to donor funds by each group was:Government institutions (32%), Intl NGOs (77%), Local NGOs (67%) and privateenterprises (10%). Most cited donors were CRDA, UNDP, USAID, EuropeanEmbassies, GTZ and World Bank.

j) Internet Websites

Our finding on who develops websites in Ethiopia shows that for about 15% of the surveyed institutions own staff is developing the web pages whereas 9.3%of the respondents are using outsiders to develop the web pages. With regard tothe ISP used as host, 13.9% indicated they are using Telecom.net.et while 7.4%are using foreign hosts. This is what the statistics software reported.

However, I would like to scrutinize the above facts by triangulating my datasources. ETC has currently hosted as child web pages the site of some 50


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No. Institution Internet URL Address

40. Addis Business Newspaper addischombeg.com

41. SSP subsaraninformer.com

42. Efficient General Trading P.L.C. Still it is on the process

43. Sisay Publisher ethiop.com.

44. Office for the Woyen Newspaper eprdf.org


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Table 4.15 Institutions Publishing Newspapers

Institution Newspaper Name

Admas Advertising Addis Admas

Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce Addis business

Centro Volontari Mardigiani Amanuel Buta

AAthenaa Newspaper Attena

Awde Tenbit Awde Tenbit

Ethiopian Export Promotion Biannual Bulleten

Bisrate Wengel Bisrate Wongel

Brilliant Children's Newspaperr Brilliant

Health Net Inte BrochersGermen foundation Brochers

Quality & Standard Authority Brochurs

Centre International Dev't & Research (CIDR) Brochurs

Family guid children Integrated Development

FaundationBrochurs

Charity Development Association Brochurs

Environmental Protection & Assistance Org. Brochurs

Business Review Business Review

SOS Children's Villages Ethiopia Different names

Edepa Edepa

Medical News Letter/Editor Editor

Foot Ball Printing Press Ethio Sport


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Institution Newspaper Name

Wastna Wastna

Office for the Woyen Newspaper weyen

Pro prid. Yebekal

Amhara Development Association Zena Alema

Table 4.16 Institutions transmitting radio programs

Institution Radio Program Name

Ethiopian Agri.Org Gebrna

International Institute of Rural Reconstruction Gender

Panos Ethiopia Fm(Addis),National Service

Handi cap National Frewchachin

Oromia Information and PR Bureau Oromia Int & Pr.Bureau

The Children's Heart Fund of Ethiopia Fana,Et,FM -Various

Handicap International Fm.Eth-Radio

Selefeia SelefiaBisrate Wengel Bisrate wongel

Table 4.17 Institutions transmitting TV programs

Institution Radio Program Name

Ministry of Agriculture Melkte gebrena

Ministry of labour & Social Affairs Be-Hiwot Zuria

Oromia Information and PR Bureau Oromia Inf & Pr.Bureau

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The Publishing Frequency of newspapers, magazines, radio and TV programsvaries from organization to organization. However, the statistical mode is used

to determine the prevailing pattern in publishing frequency. Thus, mostmagazines are published monthly while newspapers are released mostly onweekly basis. TV broadcasting from the seven Institutions and radio Programsfrom the nine institutions are found to be aired irregularly. (The TV and Radio

programs being broadcast by the Ethiopian Radio and Television Organization and the Educational Mass Media are not included)

Content distribution or geographical coverage showed the following results.(Note: The respondents were allowed to give multiple answers)

Table 4.18 Institutions transmitting radio programs

Targeted Geographical Area % of respondentsAddis Abeba Only 12.1Major Towns 36.8One of the Regional States 3.8More than One Region 42.5Some rural Areas 21.8International 17.5

Asked about their estimated number of persons being reached by theirdisseminated content, 31.4% said they couldn't tell how many people weregetting their content. The Answer given by the rest of the respondent rangedfrom 3000 to 10000 people in urban areas and from 300 to 10000 people inrural areas. Perhaps, the arbitrary answers in this regard can be explained bythe lack of formal audience survey and evaluation in most of the assessedorganizations. The survey revealed that only 3.2% of the respondents are

carrying out such surveys. The future plan of about 98 of the surveyedInstitutions is shown in ANNEX of This Report.

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VI. Infrastructure aspects of Local Content

Development

6.1 Telecommunication Infrastructure

The introduction of telecommunication in Ethiopia dates back to 1894. In thoseearly years, the new technological scheme contributed to the integration of theEthiopian society when the extensive open-wire line system was laid out linkingthe capital with all the important administrative cities of the country. Most of the telecommunication network, however, was completely destroyed during theItalian Fascist aggression.

When the Imperial Telecommunications Board of Ethiopia was established byProclamation, 131/53 in 1953, it was granted full provision of administrativeand financial autonomy. The major objectives of the Board were: to undertakethe expansion of telecom services through the nation, to represent Ethiopia atall International forums regarding telecom activities, to allocate and control

communication frequencies, and to train the required personnel in a wayexpedient to its operation. In order to achieve its objectives, the organizationhad undergone through series of development programs.

Recently, the Telecommunications sector was restructured and the Council of Ministers Regulation Number 10/96 established two separate independententities, namely the Ethiopian Telecommunications Agency (ETA) and theEthiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) in 1996.

This Regulation separated the regulatory and operational activities of theformer Ethiopian Telecommunications Authority by investing the Agency with


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To achieve these objectives, ETC launched in 1994 (E.C) its Seventh TelecomDevelopment Program (2000/1-2004/05). It was set to increase the telephonepenetration rate from 0.3 per cent (three to 1000 people) to at least one percent (one to 100 people) and thus meet all pending demands of both the urbanand rural population.

The number of telephone lines, according to ETCs plan, was to be raised from249,000 to 800,000 to satisfy the huge demand in Addis and all over thecountry by the end of 2004/05. The required 550,000 lines had already beenprocured and most of the state of the art equipment had been already installedin some rural and urban areas of the country. These are believed to havedramatically increased the number of telephone lines and significantly solvedthe problems.

More than 700 villages in the rural and urban areas had to be reached by

telecommunications by installing 470 Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSAT)and 277 Digital Radio Multi Access Subscriber Systems (DRMAS) as well asUHF, VHF and HF Radio systems. This scheme will enable the provision of better telephone services both quantitatively and qualitatively all over thecountry.

Rural areas with old type open wire systems are now enjoying services of newand modern systems of VSAT, DRMASS and other radio systems. ETCsdevelopment programs are not only meant to expand and improve thetelephone, telefax and the other relatively old types of services to the rural andurban areas. Through the various transmission systems, plans were to provideInternet and Tele Medicine as well as Interactive Distance learning accesses tomore than 10 Regional towns; linking higher education institutions with manycolleges in the Regional States located far from the center of the country.

For its International Traffic Links & Communication Services, ETC mainly usesits earth satellite station which transmits and receives to and from both the

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full implementation of this program in the rural areas had surely broughtabout an important transformation in the Telecom infrastructure of thecountry.

In the Following pages we will present several tables and charts that showbasic data on the Telecommunication Infrastructure of the country.

Table 6.1.1 Expressed demand for Telephone Vs Exchange Capacity.

1981 - 1995 E.F.Y (1988/89 - 2002/03 G.C )

Year( E.F.Y ) Capacity

SubscriberLines Waiting

ExpressedDemand

Subscriber linesas

% of ExpressedDemand

ExpressedDemand as

% of Capacity

1981 162260 115843 90684 206527 56.09 127.28

1982 171386 125398 108908 234306 53.52 136.711983 175653 133091 123140 256231 51.94 145.871984 164273 127041 122066 249107 51.00 151.641985 169622 132478 141035 273513 48.44 161.251986 172742 137731 160939 298670 46.11 172.901987 179094 142452 178992 321444 44.32 179.481988 190177 148739 193499 342238 43.46 179.961989 196322 156538 206562 363100 43.11 184.951990 211108 164140 230225 394365 41.62 186.811991 372885 194494 224788 419282 46.39 112.441992 458247 231945 196883 428828 54.09 93.581993 511474 283683 155208 438891 64.64 85.811994 600337 353816 139095 492911 71.78 82.11

1995 649593 404790 146062 550852 73.48 84.80Source: ETC, Strategic Planning Department, 2003

The above table shows that expressed demand as percent of the installed

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Table 6.1.2 Distribution of Transmision Links by Region (2002/03 G.C)

No. Region/Zone MW DRMASS VSAT UHF VHF HF L.Line Total1 Addis Ababa 2 - - - - - - 22 Afar 3 4 23 - - - - 303 Amhara 27 49 54 5 14 - 16 1654 Benishangul 1 - 16 1 - - - 185 D/Dawa 1 1 - - - - - 26 Gambella 1 1 4 - - - - 67 Harari 1 1 - - - - 1 38 Oromia 30 76 113 31 54 1 11 3169 SNNP 15 52 30 4 9 1 4 115

10 Somali 3 - 25 1 - 5 1 3511 Tigray 8 58 10 - - 1 1 78

Total 92 242 275 42 77 8 34 770

Fig. 6.1.3 Growth of telephone subscription

100000

150000

200000

250000

300000

350000

400000

450000

S u

b s c r i

b e r s

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h h f b f b ib li ibl H if k


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the growth rate of number of subscribers was negligible. However, if we takethe year 1990 as a base year the growth rate of subscription is very highreaching 272% in the year. What has been done during the last five years isnumerically superior to what the ETC could achieve in several decades. In1989 (E.C) there were only 132,478 telephone lines while after ten yearssubscription numbers have reached 404,790 which means that their numberhas doubled almost three and half times.

Fig. 6.1.2 Fax and Telex Subscribers (1987 - 1995 E.C)

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

5000

S u

b s c r i

b e r s

Year (E.F.Y)

Facsimile subscribers 1424 1604 2012 2476 3010 3555 3858 4231 4601

Telex Subscribers 793 718 581 487 373 336 318 300 300

1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995

As shown in chart above, there is also a reasonable increase in the use of faxmachines. The number of facsimile subscribers has also doubled in the last five

years reaching 4, 601. However, the existing number of facsimile users is byany standard deceiving low. The reasons for the low adoption rate are many


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according to ETC's Mobile Department is Individuals (79%) Business (14%)


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according to ETC s Mobile Department, is Individuals (79%), Business (14%),NGOs and International groups (4%) and Government (3%).

Internet services started in 1989 with 1,072 subscriptions and grew to 9,534subscriptions at the end of 1995 (E.F.Y). ETC had plans to extend its Server'scapacity to 50,000 connections this year but the bid was not awarded due toseveral reasons. Nonetheless, ETC has promised to complete the upgrading of its server to the abovementioned connection level until the end of the currentfiscal year.

The subscription of digital data Network (DDN) services has started in 1995(E.F.Y) with 65 customers. The current installed capacity for DDN can onlyservice 129 customers.

Another service of ETC is Internet web site hosting (Domain Name Services)

and web page development. The number of subscribers for this service is onlysixty-four. While this report was being prepared, the consultant has assessedthe status of the existing Internet URL Addresses. It was noted that most of theclients have not placed pages, or a request for the URL Address gets redirectedto ETC's Site automatically. The reason may be that most of the Addresseswere given to customers very recently and they may be preparing as yet theirweb pages. On the other hand, ETC's Web Site (Http://www.telecom.net.et) hashosted about 50 organizations as child web sites. Most of these are notupdated for the last two or three years and their content mainly consists of self advertisements. The Fees charged by ETC for the different Internet services isas follows:

1. Internet Dial Up

No. Description Amount inBirr

1 Initial Charge


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5. User charges

Internet Usage fee

Up to 1800 minutes Birr 0.11/min.

1801 to 3600 minutes Birr 0.08/min.

Above 3600 minutes Birr 0.06/min.

6. Web Page Design Fees

No. Task Fee

1. Uploading & Verifying PagesBirr 25 per page(max.10 externalor internal links)

2. Web Page Development -Text fileBirr 100 per page(1 typed pageapppx.300 words per page)

3. Scanning art work in Web readableform

Birr 150 per image

4. Scanning art work with animation Birr 300 per image

5. Web page customized format usingHTML Coded Forms

Birr 200 per Form

6. Web page format using Tables Birr 150 per page(Max.2 tables)

7. Rent for Hard disk space 2 USD per 1MB space per month


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Altogether the installed capacity of the hydro and thermal schemes is about425 MW of which roughly 80 per cent represents the dependable capacity. Thedependable capacity is lower than the installed capacity mainly due to ageingof the generating units. The ICS accounted for 1,306 GWh in the fiscal yearending July 2002, or 98% of total EEPCo electric sales. The self ContainedSystem (SCS) accounts for the remaining 2% of electric sales. EEPCo currentlyprovides electricity to over 574,406 customers in approximately 458 towns andcommunities in Ethiopia which is only a small proportion of the country's 60

million inhabitants.

Continuity and quality of electric power supply in the ICS are essential tosupport the countrys continued economic growth. Expansion of the SCS willaddress the low access rate and help support further economic activity in therural areas.

The government has taken several measures to address the power sector issuesand continues to make more changes. The specific changes that have beenmade recently are embodied in two parallel efforts: to delineate operation andregulatory functions, and liberalize the sector to promote private investment.

Accordingly, Proclamation No. 86/1997 has been enacted to regulate theactivities of electricity suppliers and thereby operation and regulatory functionswere delineated. The proclamation also provides for the establishment of aregulatory authority, The Ethiopian Electricity Agency, responsible, amongother things, for recommending tariffs; and establishes the principle of thirdparty access to the grid for facilitating private investment in the future.

The enactment of the investment Proclamation No. 37/1997 particularly allowsthe participation of domestic private investors in the production and supply of electrical energy with an installed capacity of up to 25 mega-watts. On theother hand, production and supply of electrical energy with an installed

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investment law coupled with the new regulatory framework is believed to


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provide a conducive ground for private investment in the power sector.

Comprehensive energy policy measures in the power sub-sector are to buildnational capacity in engineering, construction, operation, and maintenanceand gradually enhance local manufacturing capability of electrical equipmentand appliances.

In line with the national energy policy and the issues of the power sector, a

five-year Power Sector Development program (1993-1997E.C, 2000/01-2004/05 G.C) has been launched by the Government. The program consists of five subprograms, namely: Power Generation, Power Transmission, PowerDistribution, Rural electrification, and Institutional Development.

Investment based on the Power Sector Development is a public priority that

includes building new hydroelectric plants and extending the grid to differentareas of the country to promote critical socio-economic benefits of industrialdevelopment, agricultural productivity, enhancement of educationalopportunities and general betterment of the population.

In view of the above reasons, major targets of the Power sector DevelopmentProgram Include:

Increasing power generation capacity from 327 MW to 647 MW. Increasing energy generation capacity from 1367 MWh to 2587 MWh. Increasing the transmission density from 20 km/1000 sq.km to 32/1000

sq.km. Increasing the number of electrified wereda towns from 204 to 368. Increasing the number of electrified towns from 458 to 651. Increasing the number of customers from 594,267 to 749,627. Reducing the transmission loss from 17.8 % to 15 %. Increasing the energy sales from 1314 MWh to 1900 MWh.


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The Rural Electrification Program component of the PSDP aims at improving


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access to electricity in rural areas. In addition, preparation of ruralelectrification expansion plans using both conventional and non conventionalschemes will be part of the sub-programme objectives. To this end a contractfor consulting services has been signed and the study is underway. The studyreport is expected to identify least cost electrification schemes with particularemphasis on generation. Under this programme it is envisaged to electrify 210towns and increase the number of towns which have access to electricity from458 to 668. When the urban and rural distribution works are completed, 17%

of the 60 million population will have access to electricity. This is an increasefrom 13 percent.

The PSDP implementation requires financing of varying degrees. Theinvestment breakdown of the program shows that the largest single sum is onethat is required for the generation subprogram, followed by transmission,

distribution and rural electrification. Since the financial requirement of thesector is of immense magnitude a single source could not possibly raise the fullfinancing requirement. This being the reason various international donors areexpected to be mobilised to fill the gap over and above what could be locallyraised thus helping the government to meet the service demanded by thegrowing economy and electrify the urban and rural areas of the country.

The PSDP with a total cost of Birr 8,271 million (USD 993 million) includingongoing projects is expected to be financed by the World Bank, EuropeanInvestment Bank, Nordic Development Bank, Agency Franciase DeDevelopment, Austria Development Agency and Arab Bank. Total externalfinancing amounts to Birr 2,857 million out of which Birr 900 million issecured and Birr 1,957 million is not yet secured. The Government, EEPCo and

electricity users are expected to contribute Birr 5,122 million. For furtherinformation Annex IV presents the list of Electrified, planned for electrificationand those unplanned and not electrified is show.

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6.3 Radio & TV Transmitters

In this section we will assess the availability, distribution and coverage of Audio and Video content transmitters. Content consisting of audio and video isdisseminated using transmitters owned by the following major contentproviders:

(a) Radio Ethiopia(b) Ethiopian Television(c) Educational Media Agency(d) Radio Fana(e) Dimitse Woyane (Voice of Woyane)(f) Amhara Region Mass Media Agency(g) Sidama Radio.

Major players in audio content transmission are Radio Ethiopia andEducational Media Agency. Radio Ethiopia owns 10 Radio transmitters for MWand SW transmission which are erected in several key areas throughout thecountry. It has also one FM transmitter/station called FM 97.1 with a coverageof about 125 Km air distance. Educational Media Agency owns 12 transmittersfor MW and SW transmissions and erected across the country. Radio Ethiopiais erecting an additional transmitter in Dessie town while the educationalMedia Agency will add one more transmitter in Asosa town.

Ethiopia Television Enterprise (ETV) is the only Video content transmitter inthe country with 26 transmitters erected throughout the country. Very soon

two transmitters erected at Enjibara and Afar-Berta will join the transmissiongrid of ETV.

Radio Fana has 1MW transmitter intended for Addis Ababa area with 100KM


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Ethiopia, DKT, etc... According to a survey conducted by this organization mostof the Audience is in the age group of 18-35 years


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of the Audience is in the age group of 18 35 years.

Radio Fana has a total of 165 staff. Of these about 80 employees are journalists and Script Writers (in 4 languages). The technical staff is composedof 20 technical personnel skilled in the various aspects of radio transmission.

The organization is making use of 10 computers and dial-up Internet. TheInternet is used as an input for programs such as "From the window of Internet", "Alem Be fana", "Dasesa", etc. Cable television stations, especially

DSTV, are also being used as inputs in their radio programming.

Major obstacles faced by Radio Fana include

Speed in technological innovation that renders useless existing technologies Infrastructure problems of the country such as Roads, Electricity,

Telecommunication, affecting the potential audience and the quality of theirprograms Lack of professionalism and skills in both the management and the

employees Finance Shortage of qualified people and consultants in media management.

7.1.3. Educational Mass Media Agency

Educational Media Agency (EMA) is an agency within the Ministry of Education. In 1954 the former ministry of Education and Fine Arts established

an audio-visual Center in cooperation with USAID, then called Point Four, inthe present premises. The main purpose of the center was to provide schoolsand development agencies with photographs, films, charts and posters.

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transmission began in October 1965 for high schools in Addis Ababa. Now thecoverage has very much expanded covering most cities and towns of the


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coverage has very much expanded covering most cities and towns of theFederal Government of Ethiopia.

The Radio, which had a humble beginning as a pilot program in the prison inAddis Ababa, fully started the production and transmission of its programs in1971. Now, there are eleven IKW and 10KW transmitting stations all over thecountry. This allows each station to carry out its program broadcast in twochannels.

Both radio and television are meant exclusively for educational anddevelopment broadcast. The Agency, over the years has assumed differentnames: audio-visual Center, Educational Media Center (EMC), EducationalMass Media Service (EMMS), Department of Educational Mass Media(DEMMA), and now Educational Media Agency (EMA).

The major activities of the Agency are:

A. - For EMA to reinforce and raise the quality of education, radio, distanceeducation, television, audio and video cassette programs are produced forprimary, secondary, distance education and vocational education.

B. -EMA gives professional consultancy and technical services for the regionsin order to produce primary, basic and adult education programs of standard quality.

C. -EMA gives equitable and relevant access to distance education services tothose who are unable to follow their education in the formal system.

D. -EMA conducts research, evaluation and training in order to acquire qualityequipment, its installation and maintenance, program production,

dissemination and distribution and their proper utilization.E. -In order to alleviate inequitable media services throughout the regions,

EMA helps select appropriate and integrated media technology for theregional program production and utilization.

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4. audio-visual panel


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Engineering Coordination1. Installation & Maintenance2. Studio Operation

Research & Documentation ServiceAdministration & Finance Service

EMAs facilities include the following major infrastructures:

a) At Central Level

Two radio studios One TV.Studio An audio-visual Unit Print material production unit Book, audio-video and film libraries One central maintenance workshop Store for different items and spare parts

b) At Regional Level

Eleven 1 kW and 11 10KW MW transmitting stations. As each station is built to accommodate three transmitters, three

transmission frequencies are allocated for each station. There are eleven maintenance workshops closer to the radio stations. There are six regional recording studios and resource centers

Major Activities

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- Entertaining and educational programs which reflect local needs andinterest are broadcast from Legedadi, Mekele, Debre Markos, Gondar,


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Ghimbi and Robie on Saturdays and Sundays other stations will follow suit.- Television programmes are produced: for secondary schools on English,

Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology and Physics and population programmes- 16mm educational and documentary films, slide films, film strips and

Videos are produced.- Distributes teachers' and animators' guides and broadcast schedules.- Conducts radio, distance, television program production Trainings

- Conducts programme utilization and audio-visual equipment utilizationtraining.

- Conducts transmission and studio control operators' Trainings.- Renders consultancy services for those organizations which seek to

establish audio-visual centers.- Gives access to its libraries for research purposes.- Maintains radio, television and other electronic equipment that are used by

schools, government and mass organizations.- Lends and shows educational, documentary and entertaining films, film

slides and film strips.- Conducts programmes content and utilization evaluation activities.

Personnel at Regional Level Media Supervisors Technicians and transmission control operators Media Teachers-at each school Local programme producers

Program Beneficiaries

Distance Education, Educational Radio and Television Programmes Utilizers in2003 G.C.

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TRANSMITTING STATIONS AND FREQUENCIES


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Stations Frequencies Broadcast Started(E.C)

1KW 10KW PlannedSodo 738 1233 918 1963Legedadi 720 1188 1404 23/3/1973Alemaya 567 1287 1476 12/5/1973Robe 801 1260 1440 5/8/1973

D. Markos 612 1116 927 24/9/1973Bahir Dar 774 1179 1305 24/9/1973Dessie 657 1161 1017 20/11/1973Gore 756 1143 1422 11/12/1973Ghimbi 540 1215 1494 11/12/1973Mekele 549 1251 10441 12/3/1974

Gondar 630 972 1332 26/01/1989Godie 594 855 1062 NAAssosa 540 1116 ? My be this year

Future plans of this organization include assisting the regions to open radioand TV Studios. In View of this, EMA expects to open radio studios in Afar,

East Oromia (Alemaya), Harari, Diredawa, Addis Abeba and Mizan Teferi. Onthe other hand, the construction of a Educational TV studio in Tigray has beencompleted and will start TV broadcasting soon. The radio and TV studios willhelp the regional Education Bureaus to record and broadcast Educationalcontent in their respective language.

EMA and the US assisted project called BESO have also started interactiveradio programs. A satellite based broadcasting for helping secondary schoolstudents is also made ready by EMA for this Fiscal year. This broadcasting willhave a 100% coverage of the country provided there are receiving dishes inschools In line with this at a cost of 98 Million Birr EMA and a South African


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content was also changed from the archaic reel-film to VHS Video. Erection of more and more transmitters, since then, has allowed ETV to achieve a coverage


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of 47.7% of the land area of the country. This coverage is expected to reach51% by May 2004 when the two new transmitters become operational.

ETV has a labor force of about 810 permanent employees and some 105freelancers. Content preparation in the four languages (Amharic, English,Oromiffa and Tigrigna) is carried out by 200 journalists and Scriptwriters.Some 350 employees are working as technical personnel in video, audio,

lighting, etc.. Besides, administration and finance related activities are coveredby 300 employees.

Every year, ETV sends 11 to 13 of its employees to get skill upgrading trainingat the mass media training institute. ETV management, however, is not happyat all in the results of the training. They feel that the instructors of the instituteare mostly people with low academic level but with many years of previousexperience with Ethiopian media and the result seems duplication of old andoutdated styles not supported by new approaches or technologies.

The draft broadcasting proclamation mandates that at least 20% of thebroadcasting should be local content. Though no formal research had beenundertaken, ETV current estimate of its local content is 70-75 %. To provide an

alternative TV channel for Addis Ababa and its environs, a South African TVChannel, (TV Africa) was in the air for some time until midnight of September14, 2003. TV Africa is known to be owned by American Citizens and beingbroadcast to 18 African countries.

ETV and TV Africa agreed on Re-broadcasting through sharing the revenues

resulting from Ethiopian advertisers. The Agreement was 60% for ETV and 40%for TV Africa. TV programs were received via satellite and rebroadcast usingETV's facilities. On September 14, 2003, transmission of programs from TVAfrica stopped due to the company's bankruptcy. Most people in Addis Ababa

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Africa." 7 The channel that was being used by TV Africa is now taken up by theAddis Ababa Administration mass media agency.


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ETV's transmission includes Day-Time and night programs that are broadcastin four languages on daily basis. The daytime programs are mostly repetition of the nighttime Amharic programs. ETV has plans to cover in the near future thedaytime transmission with new programs. Movies are transmitted only once aweek on Saturday nights. The reason for not transmitting more movies is thateach transmission costs ETV from 650 to 3000 dollars due to copyright

restrictions.

ETV's total revenue from advertisements in the year 1995 (2002/3) was Birr 35million whereas its budget for the current year is Birr 26 million. This meansthat ETV is a profitable enterprise for the government and it seems that ETV iscertain to survive competition when the broadcasting law comes into effect.

ETV has about 50 computers which are connected by a local area Network.Internet is accessed by all relevant employees through the network by usingproxy server. The current connection, using dial-up networking, is planned tobe replaced by a dedicated leased line and broadband Internet. The News deskof ETV is assigned to make searches on Internet and distribute information to

journalists, scriptwriters and other relevant TV personnel. Internet sources are

used as complementary sources of information on current issues and as aninput for some of the TV programs. The four languages being used by ETVbenefit from such inputs of the Internet.

ETV provides airtime for the regions to transmit localized content. The followingare the regions having airtime and their transmission detail.

(a) Amhara region transmits every Thursday from 9:45 pm to 10:15 pm(b) Addis Ababa region transmits every Saturday from 9:45 pm to 10:15 pm.(c) Oromia region transmits every Saturday from 7:45 to 8:15 pm

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The problems ETV faces according to its management are the following:

A TV St ti th t 200 k di t d 7 illi Bi ETV


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A TV Station that can cover 200 km radius costs around 7 million Birr. ETVmanagement believes that the regions should have their own TV Stations sothat ETV can use its resources for issues allecting the whole country. Infact, right now more of the regions are not well equiped with required skills.However, ETV can help build the skill of people from regions so that hteystart doing things by themselves.

ETV is implementing a new organizational structure. The structure has left

some of ETV's employees without positions. The structure has limited jobpositions resulting in stringent job specification for employees and reducingthe total labor force.

The Amalgamation of ETV with Radio Ethiopia is also complained about byETV's management.

ETV and Radio Ethiopia had a problem with the Assignment of a general

manager. The post was vacant from 1997 to 2000 and has affected bothinstitutions. Administration and finance has equal status with the Deputies for TV and

Radio. So, to get things done Administration and finance has to be orderedby the General Manager. This has created a lengthy and inefficientbureaucracy within the organization.

7.2 Textual Information Providers

In October 1992, a Press Law was promulgated which continues to be in force. 8

The Press Law focuses primarily on the print media, leaving the allocation andutilization of radio waves to be determined by a law that was promulgated in June 1999.

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writing this report, from July 2001 to July 2002 (one Ethiopian fiscal year), atotal of 235 print media outlets were registered at the Federal Ministry of Information of which 205 were private newspapers 14 were owned by religious


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Information, of which 205 were private newspapers, 14 were owned by religiousorganizations, 7 were owned by political organizations and 9 were owned by thegovernment.

The focus of these print media outlets varies from political, economic and socialissues to sports, culture and art, trade and advertisement, childrens recreationand religion. However, more than half of them focus on political, economic and

social issues. Newspapers with nationwide circulation are available in threelocal languages and two foreign languages (English and Arabic). The majorityare published in Amharic , the official language.

The newspapers with wider circulation are Addis Zemen in Amharic andEthiopian Herald in English both published by the Ethiopian Press Agency.From the Amharic private press reporter, Addis Admas, Menilik and Tobia arethe most popular. English weeklies such as Fortune, Capital, Reporter, TheMonitor and Addis Tribune have a good circulation. A list showing newspaperspublished in Ethiopia is attached in annex VI.

7.3 Internet Websites with Ethiopian Contenta) Institutions in Ethiopia having a web site

As we have seen in the survey results section, the number of institutions withInternet websites is very negligible. Even the institutions having a websiteswere not able to put any content in the URL Address. For ease of presentation,we will list the institutions having a website in two separate tables. The firsttable shows about fifty organizations that have child web pages under ETC. To

th it h t fi t t htt // t l t t d th l t


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Institutions with Registered Domain Name ServicesID Name of Institution Domain Name Remark

1DHL W ld E Ethi i dhl t A ti


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1 DHL World Express Ethiopia dhl.com.et Active2 Ministry of Trade and Industry niin.gov.et No such address3 National Bank of Ethiopia nbe.org.et Redirected To Tele's Site4 NeuroNet Plc NeuroNet.com.et No Web Page5 Selam Children's Village-Technical &

Vocational Centerselam_eth.org Redirected To Tele's Site

6 National Tour Operation & Travel AgencyEnterprise

NTO.com.et Redirected To Tele's Site

7 Addis Ababa University AAU.edu.et Active8 British Council Ethiopia britishcouncil.org.et Redirected To Tele's Site9 Compassion Int'l Ethiopia COMPASSION_ET.org.et No Web Page

10 Christian Children's Fund Inc Ethiopia ccfethiopia.org.et Redirected To Tele's Site11 Ghion Hotels Enterprise ghionhotel.com.et Active

12 Ethiopian Airlines ethiopian.com.et No Web Page13 Ethiopian Airlies ethiopianairlines.com.et No Web Page14 Mihret Tsegaye Habte news.com.et Active15 Oromia National Regional Government oromia.gov.et Redirected To Tele's Site16 Family Health International fhi.org.et No Web Page17 City Business Computers cbc.com.et Active

18 Dinsho Plc dinsho.com.et Redirected To Tele's Site19 Ethiopian Electric Power Corp. eepco.com.et No Web Page20 Global Hotel Plc globalhotel.com.et21 Ethiopian Road Authority era.gov.et Still Under Construction22 Ayalkebet Shifefaw ethioindex.com.et

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ID Name of Institution Domain Name Remark23 Tadesse Getu ararathotel.com.et24 Molla Zegeye and Family Plc. MandF.com.et


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g y y

25 Natnael Faffere Abrha natytoursethiopia.com.et26 Day-Tran Ethiopia Transit day-tran.com27 Ethiopia Agricultural Research Organization

(EARO)earo.org.et Active

28 Africa Connect Plc africconn.com.et29 Ministry of Revenue mor.gov.et Active

30 Techtra Engineering Plc techtra.com.et31 Ministry of Foreign Affairs mfa.gov.et Active32 AMREF - Ethiopia amref.org.et Still Under Construction33 Sur Construction S.C sur.com.et34 Microlink Information Technology College microlink.edu.et35 Ethiopian Red Cross Society redcross.org.et Active

36 Al-Mahdi Pvt. Ltd. Co al-mahdi.com.et37 UNESCO -IICBA AED/BESO II Project beso.org.et No Web Page38 United System Integrators usi.com.et39 Action Aid Ethiopia actionaidethiopia.org.et Redirected To Tele's Site40 Ethiopian Knowledge of Technology ektts.org.et Active41 Min. Of Finance And Economic Dev't mofed.gov.et Active but irrelevant web page is

shown42 DPPC dppc.gov.et Active43 National Agriculture Inputs Authority naia.gov.et Active44 Grant Express Travel And Tour Services Plc getts.com.et45 Grant Epress Travel And Tours getts.com.et46 National Archive And Library Of Ethiopia nale.gov.et Active

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ID Name of Institution Domain Name Remark47 Ethiopian Management Institute emi.edu.et Active48 Generl Chemicals and Trading www.gct.com.et


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g g

49 National Urban Planning Institute nupi.gov.et Active50 Addis Insurance Brokers aib.biz.et51 Zami Public Connections PLC zami.com.et52 A.A City Administration addisababa.gov.et Still Under Construction53 Wabe Shebelle Hotels wabeshebellehotels.com.net No Web Page54 Solomon Geleta Mergya selambaltena.com.et

55 One Stop Tourism omestoptour.com.et56 Construction Designe Share Co. cdsco.com.et Active57 AED/BESO tei.edu.et No Web Page58 Save The Children UK scuk.org.et Redirected To Tele's Site59 The Royal Nowrwegian Embassy norway.org.et60 Ministry Of Capacity Building mocb.gov.et Active

61 Drug Admin. And Control Autho. Of Eth. dace.gove.et62 Ethiopian kaleheywet Church khc.org.et Nothing comes63 Ministry of Justice moj.gov.et64 Worku Zewde (Dr) garmentexpress.com.et

b) Other Websites with Ethiopian Content

A search performed using the word "Ethiopia" yielded result web pages of


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6,360,000 in Google, 5,580,000 in yahoo, 554,000 in AltaVista, 4,939,431 inLycos and 35 in MSN. All these are Internet search engines with varying degreeof results. Their search result indicate Internet web pages having the word"Ethiopia". Similarly, a search for the word "Kenya" in Google resulted in9,530,000 while for the small country called "Comoros" the results were morethan 3.5 million web pages. Hence, we can assume that there are more than 6million web pages with relevant content about Ethiopia. But the Internet istricky. Filtering these pages is an art and science at the same time. A personcan put a simple remark such as "My friend had also been to Ethiopia" in oneof the web pages. The search engines count even this page though it containsno more content on Ethiopia.

To sieve relevant information the consultant has spent some time searching

Internet sites and the results are presented in Annex V. The Annex shows theInternet URL Address and a description of the content found in these sites.

c) Internet gateways

As we all know, there is much information available through the Internet. TheUnited Nations Development Program (UNDP) estimates that about two millionweb pages are made available each day. But critical questions are being raisedabout the information these pages provide. Is the content relevant? Is itaccessible? Is it understandable? Is it accurate? Is it biased? Is it affordable? Isit trustworthy? Is it like water in a firehose?

The World Bank took a major step in the content field as it pursued its role as

a knowledge bank by creating the Global Development Gateway. TheDevelopment Gateway initiative, which is directed by the Development GatewayFoundation, is a public-private partnership created in December 2001 andwhose Board of Directors represents civil society and public and private

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experiences, and tools for analysis and problem-solving.

Proponents of content localization have criticized the approach of the global


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gateway and the World Bank has attempted to deal with some of thesecriticisms by creating a Country Gateway system. The Country Gateways areindependently owned and operated partners of the Development Gateway. Theyoperate within a country and each gateway is designed to provide country-levelinformation and resources, and promote local content development andknowledge sharing.

Country level gateways may be more interactive than the global gatewaybecause of the emphasis on localization in their mandates. GatewayFoundation literature indicates that the Country Gateway will mobilize localcontent and engage local stakeholders including governments, the privatesector, civil society and other communities of interest. In some cases, CountryGateways will provide eGovernment, eBusiness, and eLearning, and, overall,

contribute to better connectivity and use of ICTs. The World Bank-managedinfoDev program provides funding for planning of gateways (an average of US$50,000, but up to US$100,000) and for start-up activity. In October 2003there were 37 Country Gateways in different stages of development.

Ethiopia has not managed to create its own country Gateway with the WorldBank. However, there are two web sites that can be categorized as "EthiopianGateways" of Ethiopia. These are:

Http://www. AbyssiniaCyeberGateway.comHttp://www. Devinet.org

AbyssiniaCyeberGateway Ethiopia's lists by category many websites dealing

with Ethiopia. URL addresses are categorized in Business, Art, Education,Culture, Economy, etc in a simple list from which users can click to go to theselected site. The site does the same thing for neighboring countries such asDjibouti, Eritrea and Somalia. The web site seems to be owned by Ethiopians in

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member of this gateway a membership fee of Birr 900 shal be paid by all NGOs. To help NGOs to design their own web sites, Devinet provides web page designcourses twice a year.


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Finally, Ethiopia needs to take an initiative to become a member andbeneficiary of the World Bank country gateway so that comprehensive countryinformation is provided from a single web site. Info-Dev and the gatewayfoundation can fund the project provided that a convincing feasibility study isperformed beforehand. The ICT Department of the Ministry of CapacityBuilding can take this important initiative.

7.4 Content Development in Regional States

To assess the effort of the regions in local context development, the consultanthas contacted the relevant regional organs and the results are as follows.

7.4.1 Tigray regionIn Tigray region the institutions developing and disseminating context in thelocal language are the Regional Culture and Information Bureau, Radio DimtseWoyane and the educational mass media agency.

The Bureau of culture and information published "Mekhaleh" Newspaper and amagazine by the same name. The Newspaper, in Tigray Language, is printedevery two week having an average of 3500 copies. It is distributed to everyWoreda through the Woreda culture and information office. Its content focusesamong other things in government policy news in general and from rural thereoff the region social and economic issues agriculture and health. Themagazine's focus is more or less the same but with more long-term treatment

f th i Th g i i i t d th th ith 2 000 i

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The Bureau is renting transmitters to Broadcast Radio programs. Programs aretransmitted Mondays from 11:00 am to 12:00 am. The Bureau pays Birr700,000 for the rental of 52 hours/year and is using own journalists to


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produce the transmitted programs consisting of news social and economicaffairs and entertainment. They are using 2 computers for desktop publishingand word processing. The manpower used to develop the content of both thenewspaper and the magazine are five employees of which one is woman.

Dimitse Woyane (voice of Woyane) is a Radio station owned by TPLF

transmitting programs in afar and Tigirigna languages for 50 hours/week. Itstotal labour force is about 130. Of these 50 are journalists and scriptwriters forboth languages. Transmission is carried out using SW frequencies. The radiostation has a good number of Audiences due to the localization of content andthe deep-rooted culture of the community in Radio hearing. Radio receivers in

Tigray are estimated 2-3 per household. This fact has also helped to theincreased audience level of the Dimitse Woyane radio station. The stationconducts regularly audience survey and the results show 76-80% Audiences in

Tigray.

Dimitse Woyane has about 12 computers, a fax machine, a stand by generatorand a well-equipped studio. Internet is accessed by all relevant employees tosearch for news and materials that can be used as inputs for prepared radio

programs.

The Educational mass media agency has a radio transmitter and a studio inMekelle which is being run by just 3 employees. Most of the transmittedcontent is educational as per the curriculum designed by the Tigray Bureau of Education.

7.4.2 Amhara regionIn the Amhara Region content development and dissemination is carried out by

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published in July 2003. It is a recent undertaking by the newly restructuredBureau. The magazine is printed in 500 copies every Quarter and its majorfocus areas are good governance, editorial, culture, social and economic affairs.


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On the other hand, the recently formed regional mass media agency is a majorrole player in content development and dissemination in the Amhara region. Asmentioned elsewhere, the agency owns an FM transmitter covering a radius of 60km from Bahir Dar. This station was funded by SIDA (6 million Birr) and theRegional Government (4 Million Birr). Programs are transmitted for four hourson daily basis. The agency is erecting a MW transmitter which is expected to be

completed by December this year. The Regional Mass Media Agency has 25Employees in the radio department as journalists, scriptwriters andtechnicians.

The Agency publishes a Newspaper titled "Bekur". The focus areas of thisnewspaper are among other things news, regional issues, culture, social andeconomic development, agriculture etc. The Newspaper is printed every weekwith 3500 copies per print. There was a magazine by the same name and wentout of print due to the split of the Agency from the Bureau of Information.Content for the newspaper is developed by 12 employees of the agency.

The Television division of the mass media agency prepares TV content for theweekly airtime of the region in ETV. The agency pays ETV Birr 200,000 per

year to transmit the 30-minute TV programs. The transmitted programs areregional news, "hand-to-hand", "Mudaye Kin" and "Hibre Kelem". The TVdepartment having -25 employees carries out the preparation, recording andediting of the weekly programs. The agency has some five computers andrelevant staff uses Internet.

The ANRS AIDS secretariat publishes a magazine titled "Akel". The major topicdealt with by the magazine is the Issue of AIDS. The magazine is prepared byseven Employees of the secretariat and is printed every four month with 300copies per print.

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7.4.3 Oromia Region The Oromia Region Information and public relation Bureau is restructured in2001. It has 78 employees of whom 32 are journalists, scriptwriters and


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technical personnel.

The region owns a studio in Addis Ababa where Radio and TV programs areprepared. News is sent to Radio Ethiopia and Radio Fana for transmission. Theregion has rented airtime from Radio Ethiopia costing Birr 358,000. Radioprograms are transmitted Wednesdays (6.30am-7.00am), Fridays (6.30am-

7.00am) and Saturdays (9:00 am-10:00AM).

TV programs are also prepared and transmitted once a week on Saturdays(7:45-8:15 PM). The TV program is not well thought-out and is filled withwhatever content appears relevant. The region pays ETV about Birr 200,000per year for the airtime.

The Bureau of Information also publishes a newspaper by the name "Kellech"."Kellech" is printed every other week in 7,000 copies. The Bureau has plans toincrease the number of copies from 7 to 20 thousands in three years time. Themajor focus areas of "kellech" are News, regional issues, agriculture, health,education and culture. So for the Bureau due to b

ethiopia - 2003 - local content development status and trends

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