Communicating Local Economic Development Approach for Poverty Alleviation in Ambo Town, West Shewa, Oromia, Ethiopia

Local Economic development as approach to development is a prominent strategy to tackle unemployment and poverty in urban areas. Thus, the objective of the study was to assess and communicate the extent to which municipal Local Economic development initiatives contribute towards improving the livelihood of communities in Ambo Town for sustainable local economic development. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were employed in this study. Accordingly, data were collected from 152 participants through questionnaire, interview and observation; and analyzed using descriptive statistics, content analysis and description. The study revealed that local economic development has had a marginal impact on poverty alleviation due to a myriad of factors which reinforce and interact with each other thereby trapping entrepreneurs and residents in poverty. Local economic development approach, in most cases, to the development project planning and decision makings are in top-down which do not target all the segments of the poor in a meaningful way. Local economic development serves as an important strategy to boost local economies to address the high levels of poverty, unemployment and inequalities facing majority population. Participatory development process is crucial to properly translate the local economic development policy into meaningful practice so that there is a significant impact on alleviating poverty program.