View source for Districts of Ethiopia

{{short description|Third-level administrative divisions of Ethiopia}}
{{Update|date=September 2023}}
[[File:Ethiopia administrative boundaries.svg|thumb|Subdivisions of Ethiopia. The darkest lines indicate Regions, the lighter lines Zones, and the white lines Districts.]]
{{Politics of Ethiopia}}

'''Districts of Ethiopia''', also called '''woredas''' ({{langx|am|ወረዳ}}; {{langx|om|Aanaa}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ayele |first1=Zemelak |title=Local government in Ethiopia: still an apparatus of control? |journal=Law, Democracy & Development |volume=15 |issue=2011 |url=https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ldd/issue/view/8293 |access-date=18 April 2021 |issn=2077-4907 |quote=It  also  authorised  each  ethnic  group  to  establish  self-government  starting from woreda (district) level.}}</ref> ''woreda''), are the third level of the administrative divisions of [[Ethiopia]] – after ''[[List of zones of Ethiopia|zones]]'' and the ''[[Regions of Ethiopia|regional states]]''. 

These districts are further subdivided into a number of [[Ward (country subdivision)|wards]] called ''[[kebele]]'' neighbourhood associations, which are the smallest unit of local government in Ethiopia.

==Overview==
Districts are typically collected together into [[List of zones of Ethiopia|zones]], which form a [[Regions of Ethiopia|region]]; districts which are not part of a zone are designated Special Districts and function as [[autonomous administrative division|autonomous entities]]. Districts are governed by a council whose members are directly elected to represent each [[Wards_of_Ethiopia|''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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Yilmaz |first1=Serdar |last2=Venugopal |first2=Varsha |title=Local Government Discretion and Accountability in Ethiopia |url=http://aysps.gsu.edu/isp/files/ispwp0838.pdf |access-date=22 June 2013 |series=Working Paper 08-38 |year=2008 |publisher=International Studies Program, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University |pages=2–5 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020032307/http://aysps.gsu.edu/isp/files/ispwp0838.pdf |archive-date=20 October 2013 }}</ref>

Although some districts can be traced back to earliest times—for example, the [[Yem special woreda]], the [[Gera (woreda)|Gera]] and [[Gomma (woreda)|Gomma]] woreda which preserve the boundaries of [[monarchy|kingdoms]] that were absorbed into Ethiopia, and the [[Mam Midrina Lalo Midir]] woreda of a historic [[Provinces of Ethiopia|province]] of Ethiopia (in this case, two of the districts of [[Menz]]){{Citation needed|date=June 2022|reason=Please provide a source for the history of the districts}}— many are of more recent creation. Beginning in 2002, more authority was passed to woreda by transferring staff and budgets from the regional governments.{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}}

=== 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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Vértesy |first1=László |last2=Lemango |first2=Teketel |date=2022 |title=Comparison of local governments in Hungary and Ethiopia |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/361985359 |journal=De Iurisprudentia et Iure Publico |volume=XIII |issue=1–2 |pages=62–75 |issn=1789-0446 |via=ResearchGate}}</ref>

===<span class="anchor" id="Special woredas"></span>Special woredas===
"Special woredas" are a subgroup of ''woredas'' (districts) that are organized around the traditional homelands of an [[Demographics of Ethiopia|ethnic]] minority{{Citation needed|date=June 2022|reason=Where is it stated that special wordas are based around ethnic minorities?}}, and are outside the usual hierarchy of [[Zones of Ethiopia|zones]] in their respective [[Regions of Ethiopia|Region]]{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}}. These special woredas have many similarities to autonomous areas in other countries.{{Clarification needed|reason=How are they similar to other autonomous zones and what examples can be shown?|date=June 2022}}

==List of districts (by region, then zone)==
{{empty section|date=October 2023}}
{{Districts of the Afar Region}}
{{Districts of the Amhara Region}}
{{Districts of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region}}
{{Districts of the Central Ethiopia Regional State}}
{{Districts of the Gambela Region}}
{{Districts of the Harari Region}}
{{Districts of the Oromia Region}}<!--{{Woredas of the Oromiya Region}} a redirect-->
{{Districts of the Sidama Region}}
{{Districts of the Somali Region}}
{{Districts of the South Ethiopia Regional State}}
{{Districts of the South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region}}
{{Districts of the Tigray Region}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/7335D5D03CB0FA02852577650057A166-map.pdf Regional maps of Ethiopia from UN-OCHA]
* [http://www.statoids.com/uet.html States of Ethiopia at Statoids]

{{First-level administrative divisions of Ethiopia}}
{{Articles on third-level administrative divisions of countries}}
{{Types of administrative country subdivision}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Districts Of Ethiopia}}
[[Category:Districts of Ethiopia| ]]
[[Category:Subdivisions of Ethiopia]]
[[Category:Administrative divisions in Africa|Ethiopia 3]]
[[Category:Third-level administrative divisions by country|Districts, Ethiopia]]