Ethiopia has recorded impressive economic growth over the last decade and is ranked among the ten fastest growing economies in Africa (AEO, 2011) and among the world fastest movers of human development (UNDP, 2010).

While these impressive economic growth rates are important and should be sustained, additional efforts entitlements and ensuring human security among others. In this context, the paper examines the nexus between peace and development and asserts that peace-building and human development are interconnected and mutually reinforcing processes which need to be coordinated in order to secure equitable and inclusive development.

At present, these efforts are fragmented and need to be more effectively coordinated through the development of a clear and comprehensive national peace-building policy. It synthesizes current reflections on the process and content of a peace-building policy, draws on experiences of other African countries and cate for a peace-building policy that is developmental in orientation and transformative in content.

The paper further argues that for Ethiopia to achieve sustainable development and ensure human security, it needs to coordinate and focus its interventions on empowering people and enhancing the resilience of peace-building institutions and processes.

The operations of nearly all Federal and Regional government institutions in Ethiopia have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Knowledge and skill gaps to plan for and the ability to maintain continuity of critical government functions were identified as an area where there was no defined support to address the impact of the pandemic and was recognised  by both the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) and the UNDP Ethiopia Office. Following this realization, the UNDP Ethiopia Office came up with an action proposal “Accelerating the national response to the impact of COVID-19: Enabling continuity of critical government functions”. The objective of which is to put in place a minimum level of business continuity planning and preparedness across targeted GoE public sector bodies.