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

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

– after ''

zones Zone, Zones or The Zone may refer to: Places Military zones * Zone, any of the divisions of France during the World War II German occupation * Zone, any of the divisions of Germany during the post-World War II Allied occupation * Korean Demilit ...

'' 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 pris ...

called ''

kebele A ward (; ; ) is the smallest administrative unit of Ethiopia: a ward, a neighbourhood or a localized and delimited group of people. Somali word that has meaning of collected people where water is fairly sufficient and available to prolongue thei ...

'' 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 areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

; 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 Zone is one of the Zones of Ethiopia, zones in the Central Ethiopia Regional State. Yem is named for the Yem people, Yem, people whose homeland lies in this zone, (see Kingdom of Yamma). Yem is bordered on the west and north by the Oromia Reg ...

, 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 ...

and Gomma woreda which preserve the boundaries of

kingdoms Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchic state or realm ruled by a king or queen. ** A monarchic chiefdom, represented or governed by a king or queen. * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and me ...

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 ...

woreda of a historic

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

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

Menz Menz or Manz (, romanized: ''Mänz'') is a former Subdivisions of Ethiopia, subdivision of Ethiopia, located inside the boundaries of the modern Semien Shewa Zone (Amhara), Semien Shewa Zone of the Amhara Region. William Cornwallis Harris describe ...

)— 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 ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...

minority, and are outside the usual hierarchy of

in their respective

Region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

. 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