The National Election Board of Ethiopia(NEBE) held a round table discussion on the benefits and importance of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) SEEDS projects.

The National Election Board of Ethiopia(NEBE) held a round table meeting with development partners coordinated by UNDP with UNDP SEEDS officials, ambassadors from various countries and representatives of partner organizations.

The focus of the panel was to recognize earlier support and encourage the existing SEEDS project and new partners to support NEBE and update partners on NEBE’S progress and priority areas for support.

The Chairperson of NEBE, Mme. Melatwork Hailu, said in the opening speech of the discussion that the SEEDS project is committed at strengthening the capacity of the board to conduct elections in a more independent, impartial and efficient manner. She expressed her gratitude for the support of development partners to enhance institutional structure, transparent procedures and credibility of the Board on the eye of voters, political parties and local and foreign stakeholders through UNDP SEEDS 1 and SEEDS 2 projects and she emphasized too the compulsory of the support of other development partners especially for the local elections that will held in two regions and two city administrations in 2025 and for the 7th general national election which will be held in 2025/26.

The resident representative of the United Nations Development Program, Samuel Do (Dr.), said that NEBE was able to bring about a remarkable change with the support provided by the SEEDS program. Therefore, he recommended that development partners should continue their support to strengthen the Board.

Capacity building activities (trainings, recruitment of experts), procurement of electoral materials, supporting the information & communication undertakings of the Board; increasing voters’ awareness through voter education and media campaign are among the supports provided by the SEEDS 1 project.

The support was given to ensure that women, youth, people with disability and internally displaced people are properly included in the democratic election process and actively participate in the process of building a democratic system and ensuring long lasting peace, stability and development in the country.

In the SEEDS 2 project, which will last from 2023 to 2027, activities started by SEEDS 1 project such as strengthening Ethiopia's election system and process, inclusiveness, gender equality, modernizing the election management system with technology, and working closely with stakeholders are being implemented, among others.

Finally, the panel was closed after the chairperson of the Board Mme. Melatwork responded to the questions raised by the participants in the discussion