Local government is the tier of public authority that citizens first look to solve their immediaternsocial problems. Among all the public institutions at local level, council has a special status andrnauthority as local elected bodies. They are uniquely placed to provide vision and leadership torntheir local communities. They are able to make things happen on the ground where it reallyrnmatters.rnThe government of Ethiopia in general and Addis Ababa city administration in particularrnestablishes council at different tiers of government as parliamentary control mechanism tornensure effective policy implementation, promote local democracy and improve service delivery.rnHowever, woreda councils in Addis Ababa city administration were not seen playing such role ofrndemocracy promotion. Moreover, studies conducted in regional woredas divulged that Woredasrncouncil have not yet managed to exercise sufficient local autonomy due to several reasons suchrnas absence of clearly established legal mandate, lack of devolution of power, poor organizationrnof the system and tight control and intervention by higher authorities.rnTherefore, this study aimed to assess the challenges and prospects that woreda council at AddisrnAbaba city administration has faced in promoting democracy among grass-root people. It alsornexamines the overall operations of the councils from the viewpoints of democratic governmentrnand decentralizationrnIn order to pursue the objective of the study the researcher use multi-stage sampling techniquernand relied on both primary and secondary data source. Primary data collected throughrnquestionnaires, interview and observations while secondary data obtained from documentrnanalysis like legislation on the issue, minutes and reports complied by counselâ€™s office.rnIt was found that problems prevailed in regional woreda councils are also impeded woredarncouncils at Addis Ababa City Administration. The internal working system of woreda councilsrnreflected that executive domination is very soaring, and councils are not responsive to the needsrnof the community and most importantly democratic essence viz. accountability, transparency,rnparticipation and autonomy are not adhered principles in the councils conduct. Therefore,rncouncils as they are impeded by the above-mentioned challenges are playing insignificant role inrncultivating democratic value and improving the service delivery to the grass root people.rnTherefore, it is recommended that the internal working system of councils need to be veryrntransparent, responsive, participatory and free from any unnecessary intervention. Councilorsrnmust be sensitive to public interest; legal back up from the city administration is also needed inrnorder to make councils strong, autonomous and powerful. The field that councilors operatingrnalso should be open to all stakeholders as the democracy promotion works calls for therninvolvements of different actors