From 17 to 19 November 2025, UN DESA conducted the inception mission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for the project “Rebuilding Better and Greener from the COVID-19 Pandemic through Enhanced Design and Implementation of Sustainable National Recovery Strategies Based on Policy Simulations.” The mission included a two-day inception training workshop focused on introducing the Ethiopia Overlapping Generations Macroeconomy Model (OG-ETH).
The workshop was organized in consultation with the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office, in partnership with the Policy Studies Institute (PSI), in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, and with support from the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). It was hosted at the United Nations Conference Centre in Addis Ababa. The training brought together more than 50 participants from key economic and planning institutions, including the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Planning and Development, National Bank of Ethiopia, Policy Studies Institute, Ethiopian Economics Association, ECA, the African Development Bank, IFPRI, and UN-Habitat.
Participants were introduced to the structure and applications of the OG-ETH model and engaged in discussions on how the model can support Ethiopia’s medium- and long-term economic planning. The workshop provided an initial foundation for applying the model to policy areas such as structural reforms, debt sustainability, job creation, and the efficiency of public investment.
PSI played a central role in co-hosting the workshop and demonstrated strong commitment to adopting the model as a long-term policy tool. The Ministry of Finance expressed interest in integrating OG-ETH into Ethiopia’s economic reform agenda and emphasized the value of embedding it within existing inter-agency research processes. The Ministry of Planning and Development highlighted the need for strengthened modeling capacity to support their mandate and noted that OG-ETH could fill an important institutional gap.
Throughout the workshop, participants expressed strong interest in tools that support long-term macroeconomic forecasting, especially in the context of inflationary pressures, high debt burdens, and the need to improve human capital outcomes.
As a next step, participants will complete a self-paced online tutorial and subsequently take part in a five-day intensive training scheduled for Q1 2026 which will deepen their technical skills in applying the OG-ETH model.
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