Districts of Ethiopia, also called woredas ( am, ወረዳ; ''woreda''), are the third level of the administrative divisions of

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

– after ''

zones Zone or The Zone may refer to: Places Climate and altitude zones * Death zone (originally the lethal zone), altitudes above a certain point where the amount of oxygen is insufficient to sustain human life for an extended time span * Frigid zone, ...

'' and the '' regional states''. These districts are further subdivided into a number of

wards Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...

called ''

kebele A ward ( am, ቀበሌ; om, Araddaa; ) is the smallest administrative unit of Ethiopia: a ward, a neighbourhood or a localized and delimited group of people. It is part of a district, itself usually part of a zone, which in turn are grouped into ...

'' neighbourhood associations, which are the smallest unit of local government in Ethiopia.

Overview

Districts are typically collected together into

, which form a

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

; districts which are not part of a zone are designated Special Districts and function as autonomous entities. Districts are governed by a council whose members are directly elected to represent each ''kebele'' in the district. There are about 670 rural districts and about 100 urban districts. Terminology varies, with some people considering the urban units to be ''woreda'', while others consider only the rural units to be ''woreda'', referring to the others as urban or city administrations. Although some districts can be traced back to earliest times—for example, the

Yem special woreda Yem is one of the woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (SNNPR) of Ethiopia. Because Yem is not part of any Zone in the SNNPR, it is considered a Special woreda, an administrative subdivision which is similar to an ...

, the

Gera Gera is a city in the German state of Thuringia. With around 93,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Thuringia after Erfurt and Jena as well as the easternmost city of the ''Thüringer Städtekette'', an almost straight string of cit ...

and Gomma woreda which preserve the boundaries of

kingdoms Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...

that were absorbed into Ethiopia, and the

Mam Midrina Lalo Midir Mam Midrina Lalo Midir (Amharic "Mam-land and Lalo-land") was one of the 105 woredas in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. It was named in part after the central and southern districts of the former province of Menz, Mama Meder and Lalo Meder. Located a ...

woreda of a historic

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

of Ethiopia (in this case, two of the districts of

Menz Menz or Manz ( am, መንዝ, romanized: ''Mänz'') is a former subdivision of Ethiopia, located inside the boundaries of the modern Semien Shewa Zone of the Amhara Region. William Cornwallis Harris described Menz as lying "westward" of Gedem bu ...

)— many are of more recent creation. Beginning in 2002, more authority was passed to woreda by transferring staff and budgets from the regional governments.

Structure

In Ethiopia, the woredas comprise three main organs: a council, an executive and a judicial. The Woreda Council is the highest government organ of the district, which is made up of directly elected representatives from each kebele in the woredas. The representative of the people in each kebele is accountable to their electorate. The woreda chief administration is the district's executive organ that encompasses the district administrator, deputy administrator, and the head of the main sectoral executive offices found in the district, which are ultimately accountable to the district administrator and district council. The quasi-judicial tasks belong to the Security and Justice administration. In addition to woredas, city administrations are considered at the same level as the woredas. A city administration has a mayor whom members of the city council elected. As different regional constitutions govern woredas, the names of the bodies may differ.

Special woredas

"Special woredas" are a subgroup of ''woredas'' (districts) that are organized around the traditional homelands of an

ethnic An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

minority, and are outside the usual hierarchy of

in their respective

Region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

. These special woredas have many similarities to autonomous areas in other countries.

List of districts (by region, then zone)

References

External links

Regional maps of Ethiopia from UN-OCHA

{{DEFAULTSORT:Districts Of Ethiopia Subdivisions of Ethiopia Ethiopia 3 Districts, Ethiopia