In the Shadow of the City

Shadow of the City 1

Running Head: In the Shadow of the City

Susan Maddox

Cohort: AA338

In the Shadow of the City

Professor: Mark Davis

November 14, 2006

Shorter College - SPP

Shadow of the City 2

Traces the history of a collaborative effort to create an organization to manage a major international development project in the slums of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Focuses on a serious set of disagreements that develops several months into the project between the two principals, an Ethiopian woman who founded the project, and a British entrepreneur who is the coordinator of the donor consortium. Designed to provide 1) an example of entrepreneurial action in the nonprofit sector, particularly in international development, 2) the opportunity to diagnose problems in the working relationship of two people who have very different backgrounds, and 3) the opportunity to devise plans for each person to take in addressing the problems.

Ethiopia is one of the world's poorest countries. Even in Africa a continent for its poverty, Ethiopia stand out. Its per capita income in the early 1990s was $130, second lowest in Africa next to Mozambique. The Ethiopian economy features a mixture of state control and private enterprise. In one way or another, most of the problems facing Ethiopia today are tied to one simple fact: Many of its people are starving, some to death. Since the 1980's, Ethiopia has been hit by a series of droughts centered in its low- lying regions. Nevertheless, famine and starvation are rarely just the result of drought, human policies, or governments or liberation fonts are just as responsible for some issues Ethiopia is facing. However, for now the main challenge of life in contemporary Ethiopia is finding a means to hold the country together until these ongoing droughts finally end. However, when this will happen is difficult for anyone to predict. Ethiopia is a country with a population of 69 million, going on 70. It is located on the between the borders of Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia and Sudan with an area of 426,373 miles. This country produces cereals, pulses, coffee, linseed oil seed, sugarcane, potatoes, gat,

Shadow of the City 3

hides, cattle, sheep, and goats. Their main export commodities are coffee, leather products, gold, gat and oil seed.

Three factors that are most significant when looking at different countries are literacy rates, life expectancies and unemployment rate. These three factors are significant because they depict the broadest picture of a country's overall circumstances or well-being. Literacy rates are a good indication of a country's education standards and the degree to which education is stressed. Unemployment rates give and indication of the economy in a country. High unemployment rates would be indicative of an economy that is struggling or poorly structured, while low unemployment rates indicate an economy that is running smoothly and providing for its citizens. Life expectancy figures