Regional Reports - the European External Action Service

� Historical roles, linkages, legitimacy and capacity of some of the regional NSA.
1.2. NSA in TNRS as described in the previous mapping
The previous exercise has underlined the following specific aspects regarding NSA in Tigray:
� The political history of the region as a defining factor on the prominence and positioning of
the regional Associations and organizations - that is, all (REST, TDA, Farmers, Youth and
Women Associations) were formed during the struggle and have close ties with and access
to the Government, both at regional and federal levels,
� That the regional MBAs were able to participate in policy process and represent interests of
their constituency (e.g. during the PRSP and the regional Family Law discussion
processes),
� That the regional politicians spoke strongly about the role of civil society organisations in
the development of democracy and referred to a change of policy of the Government with
respect to their roles, and,
� The fact that, apart from the Red Cross, World Vision and some faith based organisations,
there were relatively fewer number of international and national NGOs when compared to
Amhara or Oromia.
Apart from the above, the report did not shed light on the internal dynamics as well as fields of
participations of these Associations.
1.3. Major Highlights of Current Findings
� Growing number of NSA forming and legalizing - diversification
� Marked progress in regional networking
� Framework for dialogue and cooperation with regional government further enhanced
� Frustration with donor conditionality and decisions,
� Growing strength of major regional NGOs and Development Associations, in the face of
declining visibility of international and national NGOs
� Participation of NSA in local governance structures not mainstreamed as outlined in
PASDEP, and
� Growing resource transfer to NSA from government
2. Profile and distribution of NSA at Regional Level
2.1. Profile of NSA
Table 1 overleaf presents the summary on the typology and size of NSAs identified. The regional
NSA profile, to a large extent remains as it was in 2004: strong regional NGO (REST) and
regional development association (TDA having about 175,000 members globally); and visible
and active regional membership-based associations of farmers (256,000 members), women
(515,230 members), and youth (~325,000 members). During the period, some of these NSA have
enhanced their capacity as well as programme coverage.
Despite the above, some other developments are also observed. The survey has learned a total of
224 NSA have been registered by the regional justice bureau between 2004 and March 2008.
These are important additions to the regional NSA profile. The previous mapping exercise has
93