This month the British Council and Ethiopian Ministry of Defence formally launched the Peacekeeping English Project (PEP) in Ethiopia. The project is the latest addition to the network of over 30 similar projects that have been delivered by the British Council and sponsored by the FCO, MOD and DFID.

PEP will help increase Ethiopia’s capacity to participate in multinational peacekeeping operations by building the English language skills of its recruits. Through English Language Teaching (ELT) the project aims to:

• have a lasting impact on peacekeeping operations in Africa and bring about reform
• increase human rights awareness
• enable civilian control of the military
• increase contributions to peacekeeping operations

Contributing to UN missions
Ethiopia is one of the top ten contributors to UN Peacekeeping missions and has just committed a peacekeeping battalion and logistics to the conflict in Darfur. By ensuring that African peacekeepers are working in conflict regions within Africa, following UN official policy, local people are directly bringing about change and providing an African solution.

In the past problems with European peacekeepers have arisen as they are associated with former colonial rule. Also, the Ethiopian peacekeeping contingent in Darfur, for example, is made up of both Christian and Islamic soldiers, enabling them to be seen as more culturally impartial.

The benefits of ELT
David Pardoe, PEP Manager Ethiopia, explains the benefits of ELT: ‘Ethiopia has 80 different languages and English, as well as the state language of Amharic, is a main lingua franca in the military. Furthermore, on a recent UN mission some military observers had to be sent home because their English was not good enough, adding more evidence for the need for a project such as this.’

Ethiopia is the second largest African contributor to UN peacekeeping; by supporting them PEP is not helping the military’s capacity to fight wars, but is directly increasing Ethiopia’s ability to contribute to humanitarian and disaster relief in other parts of Africa. To achieve this better communication by their armed forces with the local civilian population and NGOs, as well as with other countries’ militaries, is essential.

Signing up together
At a ceremony at the Embassy the British Ambassador, Mr Norman Ling, and His Excellency Ato Kassahun Dender, State Minister of Defence, signed a Memorandum of Understanding inaugurating the roll-out of the project.

To find out more about the British Council’s peacekeeping work, visit PEP, or contact the English & Exams Team