Greeting from the Land of Origin, Ethiopia!!!

First of all I would like to introduce myself. I received MA degree in Curriculum and Teachers Professionals from Addis Ababa University (AAU), B.ed in Mathematics from Alemaya University (AU) and BA degree in Economics from Bahir Dar University (BDU) to be multi-disciplinary mind. I am working as Advisor of Relevance and Quality Assurance in African Leadership Excellence Academy (ALEA). I experienced as Lecturer and Trainer, Leadership Training Coordinator and Representative of Leadership Capacity Building Directorate Director in FDRE Meles Zenawi Leadership Academy. Furthermore, I worked as Lecturer and Curriculum Expert in Ethiopian Police University (EPU). The last but not the least I worked as Distance Education Coordinator and Expert in Ethiopian Civil Service University (ECSU).

In addition to the formal work experiences, I participated in different co-curricular activities. To mention, chairperson of Discipline Committee, Vice chairperson of Mela Credit Union P L C and Curriculum Preparation Member in ALEA. I was Curriculum Preparation Committee Chairperson in EPU; Chairperson of Teacher Association, Tender Committee chairperson, Representative of Deputy Director of Educational Leadership and Teacher development and Evaluator of Research Studies Chairperson in Kokebe Tsibah Secondary and Preparatory School and Scout leader in Jegnoch Memorial School.

I have engaged in different trainings which were conducted by different organizations within and outside of the country. Among them the training conducted by Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and Local Government Officials Development Institute (LOGODI) with the collaboration of Ethiopian Public Commission on the program “Capacity Building Program for Civil Servants in Ethiopia” was very essential to build the civil servants of Ethiopia in general and that of ALEA in particular. I have well-educated and experienced a lot of things from the training. Even though the contents in the delivered courses are very interesting, I have experienced the way to manage the online training and Zoom Technology. In this regard I would like to appreciate all professors who are delivered the courses and staff members who are well coordinated the training from beginning to end.

My Country, Ethiopia

Ethiopia, the origin of human kind, is found in the East Africa. Archeologists stated Ethiopia as the origin of all living things, the origin of all human kind and the origin of first civilization. The reason behind such narratives was that the fossil of our ancestor “LUCY” or “DINKINESH” obtained from Ethiopia. LUCY (Australopithecus) is a collection of several hundred pieces of fossilized bone representing 40 percent of a female of the human species. In Ethiopia, the assembly is also known as DINKINESH, which means "you are marvelous" in the Amharic language. The Lucy specimen is dated to about 3.2 million years ago. The name Ethiopia means the upper truth or the higher truth. Its population is around 118 million. All in all from those facts one can deduced that all the people of the world are brothers and sisters because of their common ancestor of “LUCY”. 

Facts about Ethiopia

ㆍAfrica's oldest independent country, established in 980 BC and never been colonized.
ㆍHas its own alphabet, and calendar (13 months of sun shine);
ㆍHome land of more than 80 nations and nationalities and different religions;
ㆍIt was among the first 10 civilized countries in the world during the first millennium whose obelisks (Axum, Lalibela, Fasil, Harar) are now world heritages


ㆍThe origin of coffee, which found from a place known as “Kaffa” in south-eastern part of Ethiopia.
ㆍThe capital city of Ethiopia is Addis Ababa and Addis Ababa is the center of more than 121 diplomatic missions next to Washington DC and Brussels.
ㆍAddis Ababa is the center of Head Quarter of African Union.
ㆍEthiopia: Home to the largest hydroelectric power dam in Africa and the eighth largest in the world (145 meters height and potential to generate 6,000 MW)


My Academy, ALEA

African Leadership Excellence Academy(ALEA) is one of the well-known leadership training institute in Ethiopia and its mission is to ensure sustainability of Ethiopia’s as well as Africa`s over all development by producing leaders with integrated competency; consult the government by conducting research on socio –economic of the country in particular and Africa in in general. From the studies and related literatures ALEA identified most leaders of Ethiopia lack competencies such as communication, change management, political astuteness, leadership ethics, good governance, fairness, diversity management, conflict management, accountability and responsibility, customer service delivery etc. To address these problems, ALEA prepared national leadership training and development policy, leadership competency framework grounded on three main competencies such as fundamental competency, core competency and functional competency for four leadership levels (Beginner, Middle, Senior and Top leaders). In line with this, the training that was conducted by KOICA and LOGODI from August 18-26/2021 was very helpful in our context.


Why training for Leaders?

Leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act toward achieving a common goal. The main qualities of leaders are motivating and inspiring people to engage with the vision and managing delivery of the vision. To have such leaders, leadership training plays crucial role not only for preparing talented leadership but also for changing of the socio-economic of the country. In relation to this, ALEA prepares the leadership training and development policy in order to perform the leadership development program. The objectives of the policy are to prepare regular, interrelated and continuous leadership training system and produce competent leaders in quality as well as in quantity. In our context the reason why training for leaders needed is to produce competent leaders and Competent leaders can:-

ㆍsolve the socio-economic problems of the country;
ㆍEnsure equitable development throughout the country;
ㆍImprove the competitiveness of the country in the global arena by increasing the quality and quantity of production and productivity;
ㆍImprove the life hood of the society by using modern technology;
ㆍSet clear goal and emanate new ideas;
ㆍImprove the decision making process;
ㆍEstablish the fertile ground to good governance and fight corruption and
ㆍSet process of accountability.

Lessons learned from KOICA and LOGODI Training

The bilateral diplomatic relation between Ethiopia and Korea were established on 23 December 1963. Ethiopian troops’ participation in the Korean War in 1950 was a laborious and uncommon effort to be made by an African country. That past endeavor to fight with South, however, was been brought to light again after the Cold War, and started to yield favorable diplomatic outcomes in the relationship with South Korea.

Koreans often use the proverb “when whales fight, the shrimp’s back is broken” to describe their country’s victimization at the hands of larger, more powerful neighbors. China, as the largest and most technologically and culturally advanced society in East Asia, exerted the most important outside influence on Korea until modern times. In the twentieth century, Korea became the focus of rival interests among neighboring China, Japan, and Russia as well as the more distant United States. But for well over a thousand years, until colonization by Japan in the early twentieth century, successive kingdoms on the Korean peninsula were able to maintain a society with political independence and cultural distinctiveness from the surrounding nations. South Korea's contemporary culture has been shaped by the passionate pursuit of modernization. The 1988 Olympics in South Korea marked a phenomenal upsurge in economic and technological development. Today, South Korea is struggling to keep its traditional values in the face of a rapid growth in national prosperity and standard of living. South Korea has developed into one of Asia's most affluent countries.


In fact the training conducted by KOICA and LOGODI brought a number of issues on the table which are related to the civil servants and leaders development. Among the topics “Korea`s miraculous development and leadership for change” is taught me that leaders are the nucleus of the development of the country. The Korea`s development in different sectors took different rank in the world. For example, it took first in ICT development index, third in E-government index, eleventh in GDP (Gross Domestic Product), fourteenth in purchasing power per person and twenty sixth in National Competitiveness index. The main reason behind these miracle changes was the commitment and strength of leaders and people of Korea. Both leaders and people work by harmony to their country. Great Job!!!

The leaders in Korea, for instance in the industrial period , set goals such as securing stable middle class life, combating corruption and strengthening economic competitiveness in global. These show that the commitment of leaders plays greater role in the development of the country.

Things cultured from LOGODI Global Forum

Despite of the time difference and internet connection problem, I was tried to fully engage in Global forum which was organized by the LOGODI. Truly speaking, I learned very important lessons from all presenters who have come from different countries and cultural background. As a result, I educated the following important points from the forum.

1. Now a day’s digital platform plays key role to prepare the competent leaders in particular and human resource in general effectively and efficiently.
2. Training institute like LOGODI in Korea and ALEA in Ethiopia contribute to counterpart country`s development by producing talented Human Resources.