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Kidane Bojia who is JDC campaigner living in Birmingham. Here sets out his thoughts about Ethiopia his country of birth.
My concern has been over whelmingly for the poorest people of Ethiopia. In Ethiopia the most destitute families are know as " Those who cook water''. There are more than 50,000,000 men, women and children who are chronically poor. They are people who experience such persistent poverty that cannot break free by using their own resource. They are reliant on day labouring, they have little education and few assets. A period of illness can mean selling the last of what they own to eat. The smallest crisis can tip them over the edge of bare survival into starvation and destitution. They are individual and families trapped in vicious circles of poverty, they often choose to grow the least productive crops because those are the ones have least risk of failure when the rains is poor or do not come. When parents are unable to invest in the health, education, skills or nutrition of their children, these children will be disadvantaged and more likely to be poor themselves. "Poverty that lays egg ''. Poverty is often about more than a lack of material things. The very poorest are those excluded form the sources of help made available by government, aid agencies or even the informal support system of their local community. All to often the reason is discrimination because of their identity as a woman, as a disabled person or as a member of different tribe or ethnic group. The stigma of illness such as Aids, excluded some from information services. Young people under the age of 17 are now estimated to make up more than 50% of the country population, but have no voice in most decisions, which affect them. Women are the back bone of Africa's rural economy accounting for 70% of food production, most of the selling of the family produce and half of the animal husbandry in addition to food preparation, gathering firewood, fetching water, child care and the care of the sick and elderly. Education for all Education for all is the title of the must exciting pledges that the international community has made to provide free primary education for every child and to fast track Adult illiteracy. But the international community in not coming up with the money to match its promises. There is real need for school fees be abolished and more teachers are needed in the classroom. Ethiopia is under going a teacher shortage of critical proportion. The result of teacher shortage in not just bigger classes but also falling quality of education. Large sums must be invested in teacher training. Staff retention and professional development also need to be improved. Donor counties and international financial institutions must change their policies to allow recurrent expenditure including teacher's salaries to be paid for from aid and debt cancellation. In my view we need to get more girls in the class room, getting girls in to school is crucial for development, economic productivity is raised by educating girls. But the removal of school fees would be great help to girls and for progress to be made. Teaching the right things The curriculum must be made more revelent the existing syllabus is largely limited to academic subjects little weight tends to be given to acquiring skills appropriate to development attitudes or finding a job. Health One in six children in Ethiopia dies before reaching their fifth birthday. Training and retaining doctors and other health service personnel has been neglected, number is down, but so is the quality of work. Many of the best have been attracted abroad. Hospitals need a predictable supply of medicines and vaccines at a coast they can afford. This means buying drugs in bulk to reduce their price. International donors Donor countries must change their approach. They should all work to a single agreement to be drawn up by the local government in the country so that the communities have a say in highlighting the need for access to water supply and sanitation. These are my ideas on possible solutions
Millennium Development Goals (MDG's) could be achieved by 2015 The worldwide target could be achieved if 100% debt cancellation was given and more aid given NOW! |