To guarantee the effectiveness of the initiative the various educational factors has been correlated as a result of synergies both inside (teachers, education materials, curriculum, etc.) and outside (institutional support) educational activity. Concerning institutional reinforcement and primary education, a special attention was given to project implementation in four Regions in order to promote synergies with a scope of obtaining a desired impact in relation to the two components and to facilitate the monitoring and evaluation of the initiative, namely the Afar, Oromia, Somali and Tigray Regional States. The Italian contribution to the ESDP supports also the Alternative Basic Education (ABE) as an essential instrument to favour the access to education for school age minors in the most remote and disadvantaged areas of the country, including children living in the nomadic and semi-nomad settlements.

Additional 15 millions of Euro has been pledged in support of the “General Education Quality Improvement Package” (GEQIP) within the 2009-2011 Country Programme. GEQIP is co-financed by DfID, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the World Bank in a pooled fund mechanism fully aligned to the public finance system of the country. GEQIP supports reforms for quality improvement in general education through a full curriculum reform followed by a revision of textbooks (including printing and distribution), training programs for teacher educators and pre- and in-service teacher training and school grants to enhance community based management of schools and capacity development to effectively plan, manage and monitor service delivery at the national, regional, district (woreda) and school levels.

As regards the Technical and Vocation Education and Training (TVET), the Italian contribution to the ESDP contributes to increase the availability of qualified technical manpower, in terms of quality and quantity through the support to specialized centres for technical training (TVET Colleges) in response to the needs of qualified human resources in the country as well as the comparability with internationally recognised standards. In this respect, support was also provided for the development of a national qualification framework (National Qualification Framework for Ethiopia) to favour permeability and promote progression within the education system and to ensure the quality of training.

Concerning higher education, the Italian contribution to the ESDP intends to contribute to the reinforcement of research and training capacities in post-graduate courses in the Addis Ababa and Haremaya Universities. There are several fields involved such as: geology, management and preservation of natural resources, preservation of architectural and cultural heritage, rural development and tropical veterinary.