Vision Ethiopia, in collaboration with the Ethiopian Satellite Television and Radio Station (ESAT) and civil society groups, is pleased to announce that its fifth conference will be held on May 12 and 13, 2018, in Washington D.C. As many of you probably know, Vision Ethiopia/ESAT’s fifth conference which was scheduled to be held on March 24 & 25 2018, under the theme of “Transition and Alternative Forms of Federalism”, was postponed because the responses from authors to the two rounds of calls for papers were not enough to warrant a two days long conference.

Following the inaugural speech of the new Prime Minister, Dr. Abiy Ahmed, on April 2, 2018, there is some optimism that the ruling regime has got yet another opportunity to transition the country into a post-conflict social, economic and political order. We therefore found it necessary, to contextualize the previous theme of the conference so that it reflects the more recent and evolving situation in Ethiopia. The theme of the conference is process to a democratic and peaceful transition in Ethiopia. Authors who submitted their papers on the previous theme will not be affected by the change.

Vision Ethiopia, consistent with its mission, attempts to create unhindered public forums for scholars, professionals, activists, political and civic organizations and concerned Ethiopians to present their carefully thought policy alternatives for the country. There is need for independent forums for the analysis of the process towards democratic and peaceful transition, primarily because reform outcomes are critically dependent on systems and processes that are put in place. A thorough analysis of the issues, policy options, and sequences of reform measures should be examined to set the foundation for inclusive and credible transition in Ethiopia. It is time fellow Ethiopian experts address the issues in a systematic and well-researched way, and inform the public about the minimum threshold of reforms to start the process of making a credible roadmap so that cosmetic reforms aimed at extending the longevity of the tyranny and its “deep state” are replaced by a plan that has the potential to take the country out of the crisis.

Vision Ethiopia cordially invites Ethiopian scholars, activists, individuals and organized groups to look forward and engage in this important policy dialogue with a view to having successful post-conflict social, economic and political order. Papers may be written in either Amharic or English, but presentations need to be in a language that most Ethiopians understand. Manuscripts will go through a review process. Position papers from political and civic groups are not required to go through a review process, but the papers must focus on practical or applied/feasible policy options, and the proposal will have to be informed by data, maps and nature of political and economic institutions across the breadth and depth of the country.