The Ethiopian National Coalition is called Poverty Action Network of Civil Society in Ethiopia (PANE)

Beginning as a task force in 2001 and in 2004 after the launch of the poverty reduction strategy program, PANE decided to focus its energies from a task force into a network which now consists of more than 70 civil society organizations (CSOs), non governmental organizations (NGOs), professional associations and research institutions working on poverty and related issues in the country. PANE has thus far conducted familiarization and awareness raising workshops in five regions based on sustainable development and poverty reduction (SDPRPs), the role of civil society in poverty reduction in general and MDGs in particular and also formed chapters in all these regions. Additionally, they have conducted monitoring and evaluation of MDG performance mechanisms in Ethiopia covering 75 percent of Ethiopia's population. PANE plans to continue similar activities in the rest of Ethiopia. PANE has conducted the Service Delivery Survey using a Citizens Report Card approach. This is a work in progress and only now is the fieldwork and report-writing being finalized. It was conducted by the support from the UNDP and Action Aid Ethiopia. In spite of the obviously great successes of PANE, GCAP has not been officially launched in Ethiopia despite several attempts. This has apparently been due to cancellations of all mass rallies planned by PANE by the Ethiopian government. PANE has thus tentatively set the official launch date for mid-August and this time they hope they will not be hindered. Contact Eshetu Bekele: [email protected] (Sourced from the GCAP newsletter No 10, 29 July 2005).