The Role of Civil Society Organizations in Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction: the Case of Dire Dawa Administration

Abstract

Sustainable development and poverty reduction is not come overnight; it is a progress which needs strong integration effort of all stake holders. There are several actors that involve in achieving sustainable development and reduction of poverty in Ethiopia as a whole and particularly in Dire Dawa Administration. Mostly the government, CSOs and privates sectors are the primary actors in sustainable development and poverty reduction. In this study paper, the researcher have focused on the role of CSOs in sustainable development and poverty reduction through analyzing and interpreting the primary data collected from CSOs respondent, beneficiaries of CSOs and respondents of concerned government bodies in Dire Dawa Administration . Regarding the research methodology, the researcher has used both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection that involved in questionnaire and interviews. The CSOs have come up with several challenges which hinder sustainable development poverty reduction these are; dependency of CSOs on donors for budget, untimely occurring of natural disasters or climate change, deep-rooted and complex problems of poverty, dependency syndrome of the beneficiaries, geographic setting of the target area and also less attention was given to IGA programs. Therefore, even if sustainable development and poverty reduction will not be come overnight, so CSOs should strength their collaboration with the concerned government bodies and also the concerned government bodies should support, create more conducive environment and give up-to-date information to CSOs to solve the problems of duplication of effort and dependency syndrome in order to achieve sustainable development and reduction of poverty in the Administration.