Provisional Office for Mass Organizational Affairs

The Provisional Office for Mass Organizational Affairs (Amharic: የሕዝብ ጽሕፈት ጊዜያዊ ጽሕፌት ቤት^?, abbreviated POMOA) was a political organization in Ethiopia active between 1975 and 1979. POMOA functioned as a forum to involve different Marxist-Leninist organizations in the revolutionary process and to politicize and organize the masses.

POMOA was set up through a decree of the Derg military junta in December 1975. The existence of POMOA was publicly revealed on April 21, 1976 following the announcement of the National Democratic Revolution Programme. Initially the organization was known as the People's Organizing Provisional Office. The organization was conceptualized not as a political party, but as a "popular revolutionary front". The Yekatit '66 Political School, an institution under the supervision of POMOA, trained political cadres. POMOA functioned as a government department, and received allocations from the state treasury. According to Kiflu Tadesse, POMOA had an annual budget of 7 million Birr.

Through POMOA the Derg military junta received political support (in the face of opposition from the EPRP), especially through the building of organizational structures in the provinces. But the Derg was wary of the dominance of the All-Ethiopian Socialist Movement (Meison) over POMOA. As a means of keeping POMOA under check, Mengistu Haile Mariam employed tactics of playing out different POMOA factions against each other.

The leading body in POMOA was a 15-member committee. Its full name was the Mass Political Education and Co-ordinating Committee. It was commonly referred to as the 'Politburo', and had many scholars within its ranks. The Politburo and other POMOA structures were dominated by Meison.Haile Fida, the leader of Meison, was the chairman of POMOA. Sennai Likkai of the Waz League served as the vice chairman of the organization.

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