Activities in Ethiopia

As Ethiopia's economy continues to grow, the private sector will continue to play an important role in its development. In relation to Ethiopia's high GDP growth, the share of the manufacturing sector remains low in comparison to countries with similar income level. This can be attributed mainly to the low level of quality, productivity and competitiveness in Ethiopia's private sector. To address this problem, the Ethiopian government has widely accepted the Japanese Management Philosophy (KAIZEN) to improve the quality, productivity and competiveness of the private sector. KAIZEN is unique and offers a new way of improving the quality and productivity of private enterprises through a bottom-up approach and participatory process with no additional cost to incur. To disseminate the KAIZEN approach in private sector development, JICA launched the Project on Capacity Building for Dissemination of Quality and Productivity Improvement (KAIZEN) in 2011. The main objectives of the Project are to (1) enhance the capacity of the Ethiopian KAIZEN Institute (EKI) that was established with the support of JICA, and (2) establish a system that disseminates KAIZEN through human resource development. The direct purpose of the project for capacity building is to train KAIZEN consultants of EKI, however, indirectly many private enterprises (micro and small enterprises, as well as large and medium enterprises) have also benefited from the project. JICA's KAIZEN project is scheduled to end in 2014 with the goal of improving quality and productivity in manufacturing throughout Ethiopia and to introducing KAIZEN thinking both in public and private sectors.

(Left) Before KAIZEN, (Right) After KAIZEN