The Ministry of Finance has started conducting a nationwide study on the salary rates of project employees, those working at government offices under the payroll of international organisations. The study was initiated after a high turnover rate of project employees due to a pay gap caused problems at some institutions.

Supervised by Yasmin Wohabrebbi, state minister for Finance, the committee formed to assess the salaries has concluded its data collection from different offices and is set to move on to the analysis stage. Along with the committee, the Ministry has hired external consultants for the study.

"This high turnover of employees has been affecting the performance of projects," said Yasmin. "The turnover of project employees appeared across different projects and sectors."

Though the financing for the salaries of project employees has its own defined procedure, the government needs to have its own manual to address existing gaps and improve the performance of projects, according to the state minister.

Half a year ago, the Ministry of Agriculture conducted a similar study and observed similar problems. This was done through a committee of 10 members that included project employees chaired by the human resource director. The committee had taken different offices as samples including the ministries of Trade & Industry, Innovation & Technology, Urban Development & Construction, Health and Peace, as well as the Industrial Parks Development Corporation.

"We noticed the need for a salary raise for project employees after we witnessed a disparity across other ministries," said Keberu Belayneh, coordinator of the Agricultural Growth Programme.

The assessment found that project employees at the Ministry of Agriculture were paid on the low end of the salary bar when compared with other ministries and government offices.

A project manager or coordinator used to get paid a 27,000 Br monthly salary at the Agricultural Ministry. However, the Ministry found out that project managers or coordinators at the Ministry of Trade & Industry were getting paid 56,980 Br a month, the highest from the sample, and 34,000 Br, the lowest, at the Ministry of Peace and the Urban Productive Safety Net Project.

A lot of project employees left the Ministry, especially this year, according to Jemal Ali, project coordinator for the Drought Resilience & Sustainability Programme.

"It was hard to replace them," he said. "We couldn't afford them compared to the market standard."