An inclusive fashion show was organized in Addis Ababa featuring 21 designers from Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda. The designers customized clothing for 46 models representing people with disabilities in Ethiopia.
photo: Anteneh Aklilu
During the show, a video discussing the social and professional views on the challenges faced by the disability community was presented.
The show was organized by the US embassy initiative in collaboration with the Fashion Designers Association, Hub of Africa Fashion Week, corporate sponsors and nine local disability organizations. Also the US Department of State Alumni Affairs was part of the organizing team.
photo: Anteneh Aklilu
During the event, Michael Raynor, US Ambassador to Ethiopia, expressed his excitement to see participants from many African countries.
“Inclusivity is all about giving every member of our community a chance to be at the best of themselves, but also a chance that ensures us to contribute to our collective success as well,” he said.
A lot more needs to be done to keep Ethiopia moving according to Birhane Zeru who established the Ethiopian Transport Employers’ Federation (ETEF) with his friends who work in the transport sector. Poor traffic management, inefficient driving license tests, importing used cars, and not enough infrastructure are some of the challenges faced by the sector. Capital’s Tesfaye Getnet sat down with Birhane Zeru , President of ETEF about ways to reduce accidents, improve infrastructure, public and cargo transportation in Ethiopia. Excerpts;
Capital: What led you to establish the Ethiopian Transport Employers’ Federation?
Birhane Zeru: It serves as an important means to modernize transportation services. There are several organizations working to ensure the rights of transport employers are protected and to help us run our businesses the right way. This transport federation is an umbrella group which includes those employing trucks which cross borders, buses, taxis, garbage trucks, dump trucks, cargo trucks and air service providers. We planed to start this ten years ago but there were delays caused by bureaucracy and lack of strong motivation from transport providers. We want to be part of the reform which is occurring in the country by making transportation services better.
Capital: What is your evaluation about the gap between supply and demand regarding transportation services in the country?
Birhane: There are not enough vehicles to serve the population. For example, there are 13,500 cargo trucks in Ethiopia which has a population of 100 million. In Kenya they have 80,000 cargo trucks for 40 million people. Of the 13,500 cargo trucks in the country, most are old and inefficient because they have been used a long time and when they imported they are already used. With regards to public transportation there are long lines for taxis and buses and they are filled with more passengers than they were intended to hold.
Capital: Do you think there is enough infrastructure to provide quality transportation services?
Birhane: There has been an impressive amount of roads built in the last decade and this has shortened driving times for transportation companies. However, there is a lot more to be done. Roads need widened, there need to be more short cuts between destinations, better and more bridges need to be constructed and the roads need to be better maintained. We need better trucks and busses to fit the new roads. Because most of the cars and trucks imported into our country are used they often break down in the middle of traffic. The reason they are allowed to be imported is to increase tax revenue.
photo: Anteneh Aklilu
But having to spend more on servicing vehicles costs money, it also means more spare parts are needed and more accidents from unsafe cars and trucks. We also don’t have parking space in cities so people park on the sidewalk. This of course increases congestion and creates safety hazards so we have been asking for land to build parking lots and we will continue to push for this as a federation.
Capital: What do you think can be done to alleviate major problems in the transportation industry such as not departing or arriving on time, over volume vehicles and unethical conversations between employees and passengers?
Birhane: Cross boundary busses are not experiencing over volume. However, passengers may get on in the middle of the journey. The passengers must protect their rights. People shouldn’t be kicking people out of their seats. The regulatory bodies have the duty to control the volume of passengers on cross boundary buses. I think punctuality will improve through better management especially at bus stations.
Yes, unethical drivers, helpers and passengers are everywhere but the way to change this is to educate people on the correct methods of providing transport services. As a federation we will give discipline working standards for drivers and helpers and those who will not take the trainings will not be involved in providing services in transport.
Capital: I understand you disagree with the cargo tariff could you explain your thoughts?
Birhane: The last time that government adjusted the tariff of trans- boundary transport was eight years ago. However, there has been high inflation over the past seven years, the price of spare parts, the salary of workers and the value birr to dollar are going up. So how can someone make progresses on the old tariff with the high inflation and current market? We are asking the government at least add a 15 percent tariff adjustment to fill our poor price balance we have not been given a positive response so far. A lot of truck owners have stopped operating and I have a fear that if government doesn’t give appreciation, incentives or a conducive environment for transport services many people will also be out of the sector. The country needs cargo trucks to transport goods.
Capital: How did the unrest in the country affect transport providers?
Birhane: For a while it was hard to get truck transportation and there are still issues with robberies. We need to have riot insurance for situations like this.
Capital: Traffic accidents kill thousands in this country every year, much like a war what can be done to stop this tragedy?
Birhane: We need to improve the licensing system. People have been able to drive trucks without first having experience driving small cars. People often pass their drivers license test when they don’t actually understand how to drive. We also need to develop a better traffic management system, come up with ways to stop speeding, not have as many old cars on the road, stop pedestrians from walking on the side of the road and stop drunk driving.
Capital: How will you address issues that concern employees such as overdriving, no standard salary and lack of pensions?
Birhane: I completely agree that the sector is being hindered by these issues. However, we will begin studying ways to limit the working hours of drivers based on the routes they drive and how to come up with a pension tax for the employers and drivers as well as a minimum wage. But we have to understand also there are also big problems with the drivers, for example some drivers don’t want to work while the trucks are being loaded and unloaded and others ask for an unexpected payment in the middle of their journey and I hope the study also will also come up with solutions to these problems.
Capital: Do you think Ethiopia has the right transport policy?
Birhane: We don’t have a transportation policy. People often get into the business without understanding it. Because we don’t have the proper vision the growth of the transport sector goes up and down. So we need to develop a better transportation policy to have better sustainable growth.
Sometimes I go to a development or donor organization to discuss possibilities of partnership or funding for projects and chances are that the answer is that their focus has changed and that they now support different kinds of activities than before. In development cooperation we saw the shift from implementation of integrated programs to the building of local capacity, which was probably a good idea, but it should not surprise us when we see that the pendulum is swinging back again and that there is a need for more direct project implementation shortly. We in fact have seen this happening in Ethiopia over the past few years. Things are no different in the private sector where all sorts of developments and factors force companies to rethink their business strategies.
The term turbulence has been with us for some time now, but times are becoming more turbulent still, especially in the current environment of management. Managers therefore better be prepared and become comfortable dealing with turbulence and continuous change. The pressure is on and while we need to increase productivity, learn, continuously improve and achieve success, we undergo the pressure of change and stress.
So, watch out for the word “change”, whatever organization or business you are in. Some change is radical as it results in major make over of the organization, including restructuring. Radical changes are often initiated by a critical event, such as new ownership or a dramatic failure in production or sales. Radical change does not happen very often in the life cycle of an organization. When it does occur however, such a change is intense and all-encompassing. Sometimes, the survival of an organization depends on the ability to undergo successfully the effects and demands of radical change.
A more common form of organizational change is incremental change. This is change that occurs more frequently and less traumatically as part of an organization’s natural evolution. Typical changes of this type include new products, new technologies and new systems. Although the nature of the organization remains relatively the same, incremental change builds on the existing ways of operating and seeks to enhance or extend them in new directions. The capability to improve continuously through incremental change is an important asset to organizations in today’s demanding environments.
Change can be directed towards a wide variety of the organization’s components like mission, strategy, structure, workers, objectives, culture, tasks and technology. We must however realise that planned change requires that managers recognise that these components are highly intertwined. Changes in technology often require changes in structure, communication and tasks of workers. Changes thus affect the organizations’ people, the basic components of the organization. Workers may for example need to acquire new knowledge and develop additional skills in order to perform their modified roles and work with the new technology.
Change may be viewed as a process that includes several phases, while managers need to ensure that each of the three phases are sufficiently addressed. They are:
Unfreezing or getting people and things ready for change.
Changing or implementing the change.
Refreezing or making sure that the change sticks as part of new routines.
Now, no change comes without resistance, which is often viewed as something that must be overcome in order for change to be successful. This is not always the case. The people who resist change may be defending something important that appears threatened by the change attempt. Reasons for people to resist change include but are not limited to the fear of the unknown, the need for security, no felt need for change, threatened vested interests, poor timing, and lack of resources. To minimise resistance, we need to make sure that the people who are affected by the change know specifically how it satisfies the following criteria:
Benefit. The change should be perceived as a better way.
Compatibility with the existing values and experiences of the people who are being asked to change.
Complexity. The change should be as easy as possible to understand and use.
Triability. The change should be tried out on a step by step basis, while adjustments are made as things progress.
In general, resistance to change will be managed best if it is recognised early in the change process. Education & communication, participation & involvement, facilitation & support and negotiation & agreement are general approaches for dealing positively with change. Regardless of the chosen strategy though, managers must understand that resistance to change is something to be recognised and constructively addressed instead of feared. A manager should deal with resistance to change by listening to the feed back of the resistors and acting accordingly.
