የሕፃናት ትምህርት የማግኘት መብትና የምግብ ችግር ፈተናዎች

በአዲስ አበባ ከሚገኙ የመጀመሪያ ደረጃ ትምህርት ቤቶች አንዱ በሆነው ብርሃንህ ዛሬ የሚታየው ሁኔታ፣ የሀብታም ልጆችን ከሚያስተምሩ የከተማዋ ትምህርት ቤቶች ሲነፃፀር ልዩነቱ እጅግ ሰፊ ነው፡፡

እዚያ ባለፀጋ አባቶችና እናቶች ልጆቻቸውን በተሽከርካሪ የሚያመላልሱ ሲሆን፣ ጠዋት እጅግ ውብና ውድ ከሆኑት መኪኖች የሚወርዱት ሕፃናት ከመጠናቸው ጋር የሚቀራረበው በጀርባቸው የሚያዝሉት ቦርሳ በሚወዱት የካርቱን ገፀ ባህሪ ያሸበረቀ ነው፡፡ በውስጡ ደግሞ የሚመርጧቸው የተለያዩ የምግብ ዓይነቶችን የያዙ የምሳ ዕቃዎችን ያገኛሉ፡፡ 

በአንፃሩ የብርሃንህ ዛሬ የመጀመሪያ ደረጃ ትምህርት ቤት ተማሪዎች ግርግር በበዛበት የትምህርትና የሥራ መግቢያ ሰዓት በጠባቡ የሃያ ሁለት መንገድ በእግራቸው ሲራወጡና ሲጣደፉ ይታያሉ፡፡ የለበሱት ሰማያዊ ሹራብና ጥቁር ሰማያዊ ሱሪ የትምህርት ቤቱ ዩንፎርም ሲሆን በአብዛኛው የተቀዳደደ ነው፡፡ ልጆቹን ወደ ትምህርት ቤት ለማድረስ ያጀበ ወላጅ ማየት አስቸጋሪ ነው፡፡ ልጆቹ ቀኑን ሙሉ ትምህርት ቤት የሚውሉ ቢሆንም፣ ከፊሎቹ ልጆች ግን የምሳ ዕቃ የላቸውም፡፡ ከልጆቹ ገጽታ የባለፀጋ ልጆች እንዳልሆኑ መለየት ይቻላል፡፡ ከእነዚህ ልጆች መካከል ምን ያህሉ በትምህርት ገበታቸው ለመቀጠል ዓመቱን ይጨርሳሉ የሚለውን ለመመለስ አዳጋች ነው፡፡ 

‹‹ባለፈው የትምህርት ዘመን ብቻ 74 ተማሪዎች ትምህርታቸውን አቋርጠዋል፤›› ያሉት ወ/ሮ ፋንቱ ኃይሉ ሲሆኑ፣ በቦሌ ክፍለ ከተማ የሚገኘው የብርሃንህ ዛሬ የመጀመሪያ ደረጃ ትምህርት ቤት ርዕሰ መምህር ናቸው፡፡ ትምህርታቸውን ያቋረጡት ተማሪዎች ወይ የጎዳና ተዳዳሪ ሕፃናት ካልሆነም ቤተሰቦቻቸው ሊመግቧቸው የተሳናቸው ናቸው፡፡ 

የምግብ ፕሮግራም ሕፃናት ተማሪዎች በትምህርት ቤታቸው ምግብ እንዲያገኙ በማድረግ፣ ትምህርታቸውን የሚያቋርጡ ሕፃናትን ቁጥር ለመቀነስና የትምህርት ውጤታቸውን ለማሻሻል መንግሥታት የቀረፁት ስትራቴጂ ነው፡፡ 

በኢትየጵያ ለሕፃናቱ በትምህርት ቤቶች ምግብ የማቅረብ ፕሮግራም ከአሥር ዓመት በፊት በዓለም የምግብ ፕሮግራምና በኢትዮጵያ መንግሥት ትብብር የተጀመረ ነው፡፡ በትምህርት ሚኒስቴር በሚመራው ፕሮግራም በመላው አገሪቱ በ1,200 ትምህርት ቤቶች 650,000 ተማሪዎች እንደሚረዱ መረጃዎች ይጠቁማሉ፡፡ ተማሪዎቹ በቀን አንድ ጊዜ በቫይታሚን የበለፀጉ የተለያዩ ምግቦች ይቀርቡላቸዋል፡፡ በተጨማሪም በአርብቶ አደሮች አካባቢ ለሚገኙ 153,000 ሴት ሕፃናት ወደ ቤታቸው የሚወስዱት የአትክልት ዘይት ይከፋፈላል፡፡ 

የዓለም የምግብ ፕሮግራም ሴት ሕፃናት ትምህርታቸውን እንዳያቋርጡ ለማበረታታት ይህን ዘይት የሚሰጠው ከ80 በመቶ በላይ በትምህርት ገበታቸው ላይ ለተገኙት ብቻ እንደሆነ ከተቋሙ የተገኘው መረጃ ያመላክታል፡፡ በአሁኑ ጊዜ ፕሮግራሙ ያለው ‹‹በምግብ ራሳቸውን ያልቻሉና ዝቅተኛ የቅበላ አቅም ያላቸው ቦታዎች›› በሚባሉት በአፋር፣ በሶማሊያ፣ በደቡብ፣ በኦሮሚያ፣ በአማራና በትግራይ ብሔራዊ ክልሎች ነው፡፡ 

እንደ አዲስ አበባ ያሉ ከተሞች በፕሮግራሙ ያልተካተቱ በመሆናቸው፣ ደሃ ሕፃናት በዕርዳታ ድርጅቶችና በበጎ አድራጊ ግለሰቦች ካልተረዱ በቀር ትምህርታቸውን ለመቀጠል ይቸገራሉ፡፡ የእነዚህ አካላት ተደራሽነትና ውጤታማነት ደግሞ ከፕሮግራሙ ጋር ሲነፃፀር ደካማ ነው፡፡ 

ይሁንና በቀደማዊት እመቤት ወ/ሮ ሮማን ተስፋዬ የተመራው ፕሮግራም ከአዲስ አበባ ትምህርት ቢሮ ጋር በመተባበር በተያዘው የትምህርት ዘመን ለሕፃናቱ በትምህርት ገበታቸው ላይ ምግብ ሊያቀርብ እንደሆነ ተገልጾ ነበር፡፡ ከዚያ በፊት በነበሩት ዓመታትም ፕሮግራሙን በአዲስ አበባ ለመጀመር የተለያዩ ጥናቶች ተደርገው ውይይቶችም ተከናውነው ነበር፡፡ 

የአዲስ አበባ ትምህርት ቢሮ ምክትል ኃላፊ አቶ ኃይለ ሥሳሌ ፍስሐ፣ ‹‹በአዲስ አበባ ያለውን ችግር እንረዳለን፡፡ ችግሩን በተቀናጀና ተቋማዊ በሆነ መንገድ ለመቅረፍ ዝግጅት እያደረግን ነው፤›› በማለት ለሪፖርተር ዕቅዱ በቅርቡ ተግባራዊ እንደሚሆን ገልጸዋል፡፡ 

በተያዘው የትምህርት ዘመን 730 ተማሪዎችን የመዘገበው ብርሃንህ ዛሬ ትምህርት ቤት ግን መጠበቅ የሚችል አይመስልም፡፡ አዲሱ የትምህርት ዘመን ከተጀመረ ገና አንድ ወር ብቻ የተቆጠረ ቢሆንም፣ ሁለት ተማሪዎች ግን አስቀድመው ትምህርታቸውን አቋርጠዋል፡፡ 

‹‹እዚህ የመጡት ትምህርት ለመማር ነበር፡፡ አሁን ግን የጎዳና ተዳዳሪ ሆነዋል፤›› ሲሉ ወ/ሮ ፋንቱ አክለዋል፡፡ የትምህርት ቤታቸው ችግር በአዲስ አበባ ትምህርት ቢሮ በሚገባ እንደሚታወቅ ያመለከቱት ወ/ሮ ፋንቱ፣ ‹‹የሚበሉት ስላጡ ሕፃናቱ ትምህርት አቋረጡ የሚለውን መስማት በጣም የሚያሳዝን ነው፤›› ብለዋል፡፡ 

የአዲስ አበባ ትምህርት ቢሮ በፕሮግራሙ የሚካተቱ ተማሪዎችን ማንነትና ቁጥር ለመለየት እያጠና መሆኑም ተጠቁሟል፡፡ በአዲስ አበባ ከሚገኙ 216 የሕዝብ ትምህርት ቤቶች አንዱ የሆነው ብርሃንህ ዛሬ ይህንን ጥናት ለመደገፍ የሚያስችል ኮሚቴ እንደሚያቋቁም ይጠበቃል፡፡ ኮሚቴው እንደሌሎች ትምህርት ቤቶች ሁሉ ከሴቶች ብቻ የሚዋቀር ሲሆን፣ ዕርዳታ የሚያስፈልጋቸውን ተማሪዎች ይለያል፡፡ የመምረጫ መሥፈርቶቹ በትምህርት ቢሮው የተዘጋጀ በመሆኑ፣ ትምህርት ቤቱ ከአጠቃላይ ተማሪዎቹ 41 በመቶ የሚሆኑ 300 ተማሪዎችን በታቀደው የትምህርት ቤት የምግብ ፕሮግራም ሊካተቱ እንደሚገባ ለይቷል፡፡ ይህ ቁጥር 20 በመቶ የሚሆኑ  ክርስቲያን ኬር በተሰኘ በጎ አድራጎት ድርጅት የሚረዱ 150 ተማሪዎችን አላካተተም፡፡ 

በሌሎች የአዲስ አበባ ትምህርት ቤቶች ተመሳሳይ ችግር ቢኖርም እንደ ብርሃንህ ዛሬ ግን የተባባሰባቸው አይደሉም፡፡ ከብርሃንህ ዛሬ በጥቂት መቶ ሜትሮች የሚርቀው ምሥራቅ ድል የመጀመሪያ ደረጃ ትምህርት ቤት በኮሙዩኒቲ ትምህርት ቤትነት ቢቋቋምም፣ ከሁለት ዓመታት በፊት ወደ መንግሥት ትምህርት ቤትነት ተቀይሯል፡፡ በትምህርት ቤቱ 937 ሕፃናት በተያዘው የትምህርት ዘመን ለመማር ተመዝግበዋል፡፡ ነገር ግን 72 ተማሪዎች (7.6 በመቶ) ብቻ በፕሮግራሙ እንደሚካተቱ የትምህርት ቤቱ ምክትል ርዕሰ መምህር ወ/ሮ ፅዮን ጌታቸው ለሪፖርተር ገልጸዋል፡፡ ወ/ሮ ፅዮን ጉዳዩን ለማስተባበር የተቋቋመው ኮሚቴ ሊቀመንበርም ናቸው፡፡ 

በሁለቱ ትምህርት ቤቶች ያለው ችግር በአማካይ ቢሰላ እንኳን ወደ 36,000 ሕፃናት ተማሪዎች በምግብ ችግር ምክንያት በአዲስ አበባ ብቻ ከትምህርት ውጪ ይሆናሉ፡፡ አዲስ የሚጀመረው ፕሮግራምም ለመቅረፍ ያቀደው የእነዚህን ተማሪዎች ችግር ነው፡፡ 

የሕፃናት የትምህርት መብትና የምግብ ፕሮግራም

የአፍሪካ የሕፃናት መብቶችና ደኅንነቶች ቻርተር ለሕፃናት ነፃና አስገዳጅ ትምህርት ስለማቅረብ ይደነግጋል፡፡ እ.ኤ.አ. በ2002 ኢትዮጵያ ያፀደቀችው ይኼው ቻርተር በአንቀጽ 11 ላይ የስምምነቱ አካል የሆኑ አገሮች ይኼንን መብት ለማረጋገጥ አስፈላጊ የሚባሉ ዕርምጃዎችን እንዲወስዱ ያሳስባል፡፡ 

ኢትዮጵያ የቻርተሩን አፈጻጸም አስመልክቶ ለመጀመሪያ ጊዜ በቅርቡ ሪፖርት ያቀረበች ሲሆን፣ ስምምነቱ ግን የመጀመሪያው ሪፖርት ከቀረበ በኋላ በየሦስት ዓመቱ ጊዜውን የጠበቀ መደበኛ ሪፖርት እንዲቀርብ ይጠይቃል፡፡ ይህ ማለት የኢትዮጵያ ሪፖርት የመጀመሪያና የሦስት ዙር ውዝፍ ሪፖርቶችን ያካተተ ነው፡፡ በቻርተሩ የተቋቋመው የሕፃናት መብት ኤክስፐርቶች ኮሚቴ በቀረበው ሪፖርት ዙሪያ ከኢትዮጵያ መንግሥት ልዑካን ጋር መስከረም 27 ቀን 2007 ዓ.ም. ውይይት አድርጎ ነበር፡፡ 

በዕለቱ የልዑካን ቡድን በሴቶች፣ ሕፃናትና ወጣቶች ሚኒስትር ወ/ሮ ዘነቡ ታደሰ የተመራ ሲሆን በቡድኑ ውስጥ የጤና፣ የትምህርትና የፍትሕ ሚኒስቴር ተወካዮችን ጨምሮ ከተለያዩ የመንግሥት አካላት የተወከሉ ባለሙያዎች ተካተው ነበር፡፡ በዚህ መልኩ የተደራጀ ልዑክ ማስተናገድ አዲስ የሆነባቸው ኤክስፐርቶቹ ለኢትዮጵያ ጥረት የምሥጋና ቃላትን ቸረው ነበር፡፡ 

ኢትዮጵያ እያስመዘገበች ባለው ከፍተኛ የኢኮኖሚ ዕድገት እየተረዳች ባለፉት አሥር ዓመታት ዕድሜያቸው ከአምስት ዓመት በታች የሆኑ ሕፃናትን ሞት በመቀነስ፣ የትምህርት ቅበላን በማሳደግ፣ የሕፃናት ምዝገባን በማድረግ፣ ፆታን መሠረት ያደረጉ መድልኦዎችን በማጥፋት፣ ጎጂ ልማዶችን በመቀነስ ላመጣችው ከፍተኛ ውጤትም ተሞግሳለች፡፡ 

‹‹በአፍሪካ የሚገኙ አንዳንድ አገሮች ከፍተኛ የሆነ የኢኮኖሚ ዕድገት እያስመዘገቡና የተፈጥሮ ሀብትም እያገኙ ነው፡፡ የሕፃናት መብት ኤክስፐርቶች ኮሚቴም ‹ይህን ዕድል ለሕፃናት ምቹ የሆነች አፍሪካን ለመፍጠር ምን ያህል እየተጠቀማችሁበት ነው?› ሲል ይጠይቃል በማለት የገለጹት የአፍሪካ የሕፃናት መብቶች የኤክስፐርቶች ኮሚቴ ሰብሳብ የሆኑት ኢትዮጵያዊው ዶ/ር ቢንያም ዳዊት መዝሙር ናቸው፡፡ 

የተመድ የሕፃናት መብት የኤክስፐርቶች ኮሚቴ ምክትል ሰብሳቢም የሆኑት ዶ/ር ቢንያም፣ ኢትዮጵያ የቻርተሩን አፈጻጸም ሪፖርት ስታደርግ አገሪቱ ያለችበት ልዩ ሁኔታ ከግንዛቤ እንዲገባ መጠየቋን ጠቁመዋል፡፡ እነዚህ ልዩ ሁኔታዎችም አገሪቱ ውስጥ 45 ሚሊዮን ሕፃናት መገኘታቸው፣ ስምምነቱ ሲፀድቅ አገሪቱ በዚህ መብት አፈጻጸም ረገድ ዝቅተኛ ደረጃ ላይ መገኘቷና ባለፉት ጥቂት ዓመታት የተመዘገቡት አበረታች ስኬቶች ናቸው፡፡ 

የኢትዮጵያ ሪፖርት የሕፃናት የምግብ ፕሮግራምን ከትምህርት ቅበላና ከትምህርት ጥራት ጋረ አገናኝቶ ያቀርበዋል፡፡ ‹‹ለምሳሌ በኦሮሚያ ክልል የምግብ ፕሮግራሙ የተማሪዎችን የቅበላ አቅም በ25 በመቶ ጨምሯል፤›› ሲልም ያትታል፡፡ 

ዶ/ር ቢንያምም፣ ‹‹ሕፃናት በባዶ ሆድ ትምህርት ትርጉም ባለው መንገድ እንዲማሩ መጠበቅ በጣም አስቸጋሪ ነው፤›› ብለዋል፡፡ በመላው አፍሪካ የምግብ ፕሮግራሞችን በትምህርት ቤቶች ማካሄድ ትምህርት የሚከታተሉ ተማሪዎችን ቁጥር በመጨመር፣ አቋርጠው እንዳይወጡ በመከላከልና የትምህርት ውጤታቸውን በማሻሻል ለውጥ ማምጣቱንም ዶ/ር ቢንያም ያስረዳሉ፡፡ 

በአዲስ አበባ የሚገኙ ትምህርት ቤቶች የመንግሥት ዕርዳታ ካላገኙ በበጎ አድራጎት ድርጅቶችና በዓለም አቀፍ መንግሥታዊ ያልሆኑ ድርጅቶች ዕርዳታ ላይ መንጠልጠላቸው ግድ ይሆናል፡፡ ከብርሃንህ ዛሬ ትምህርት ቤት በተቃራኒ ምሥራቅ ድል ትምህርት ቤት ችግረኛ ብሎ የለያቸውን 72 ተማሪዎች የሚረዳ የውጭ አካል የለውም፡፡ ስለዚህ ይህን ችግር ለመቅረፍ መምህራኑና ተባባሪ ሠራተኞች ራሳቸው በማዋጣት የተማሪዎቹን ችግር ለመቅረፍ እየተንቀሳቀሱ ነው፡፡ 

‹‹ከደመወዛችን አሥር በመቶውን ለማዋጣት እየተወያየን ነው፤›› በማለት ወ/ሮ ፅዮን ይገልጻሉ፡፡ ነገር ግን ይህ መዋጮ ተማሪዎቹን በትምህርት ገበታቸው እንዲቆዩ ለማድረግ በቂ ስለመሆኑ ወ/ሮ ፅዮን እርግጠኛ አይደሉም፡፡

 

Artist Girum Zenebe Stand Up Comedy

Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi win Nobel peace prize 2014

Pakistani teenager and Indian children’s rights activist beat Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, the Pope and Vladimir Putin to the prestigious prize Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenage education campaigner shot on school bus in 2012 by a Taliban gunman, has won the 2014 Nobel peace prize.

Malala won along with Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian children’s rights activist.

The two were named winner of the £690,000 (8m kronor or $1.11m) prize by the chairman of the Nobel committee - Norway’s former prime minister Thorbjoern Jagland - on Friday morning.

Malala, now 17, was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman two years ago in Pakistan after coming to prominence for her campaigning for education for girls.

She won for what the Nobel committee called her “heroic struggle” for girls’ right to an education. She is the youngest ever winner of the prize.

After being shot she was airlifted to Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham, where she was treated for life-threatening injuries.

She has since continued to campaign for girls’ education, speaking before the UN, meeting Barack Obama, being named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people and last year publishing the memoir I am Malala.

Last month a gang of 10 Taliban fighters who tried to kill her were arrested, the Pakistan army claimed.

In a statement, the Nobel committee said: “Despite her youth, Malala Yousafzai has already fought for several years for the right of girls to education, and has shown by example that children and young people, too, can contribute to improving their own situations.

“This she has done under the most dangerous circumstances. Through her heroic struggle she has become a leading spokesperson for girls’ rights to education.”

Satyarthi, the Nobel committee said, had maintained the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and headed various forms of peaceful protests.

“Showing great personal courage, Kailash Satyarthi, maintaining Gandhi’s tradition, has headed various forms of protests and demonstrations, all peaceful, focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain,” the committee said. “He has also contributed to the development of important international conventions on children’s rights.”

The Nobel committee said it “regards it as an important point for a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani, to join in a common struggle for education and against extremism”.

Satyarthi, 60, dedicated his prize to children in slavery, telling CNN-IBN: “It’s an honour to all those children who are still suffering in slavery, bonded labour and trafficking.”

He founded Bachpan Bachao Andolan - or the Save the Childhood Movement - in 1980 and has acted to protect the rights of 80,000 children.

“It’s an honour to all my fellow Indians. I am thankful to all those who have been supporting my striving for more than the last 30 years,” he said.

“A lot of credit goes to the Indians who fight to keep democracy so alive and so vibrant, where I was able to keep my fight on.

“Something which was born in India has gone globally and now we have the global movement against child labour. After receiving this award I feel that people will give more attention to the cause of children in the world.”

Yemeni Nobel peace laureate Tawakkol Karman said Malala and Satyarthi were worthy winners and that Satyarthi had taken part in an “outstanding and long struggle for the rights of the child”.

There were a record 278 nominations this year, 19 more than ever before – including US whistleblowers Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and Pope Francis. Also on the list of nominees was an anti-war clause in the Japanese constitution and the International Space Station Partnership.

Previous choices include illustrious names such as Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi, and Martin Luther King - and, controversially, Barack Obama in 2009.

Last year’s choice of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in hindsight seems a similar act of wishful thinking. At the time the agency’s role in overseeing the destruction of Syria’s chemical arsenal offered a very slim chance of finding a diplomatic resolution to the crisis in that country. But the violence in Syria has only got worse, and there are continuing concerns that the Assad regime has continued to conceal its stockpile of chemical weapons.

The Nobel announcements have been going on all week, and willconclude with the prize for economics on Monday.

On Thursday, the Nobel committee stunned the literary world by choosing little-known French author Patrick Modiano for the prize.

On Wednesday, Stefan Hell of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, William Moerner of Stanford University in California, and Eric Betzig of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Virginia won the chemistry prize “for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy”.

On Tuesday, Shuji Nakamura of the University of California, Santa Barbara, shared the physics prize with Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano of Japan for “the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources”.

And on Monday, British-US scientist John O’Keefe and married couple May-Britt and Edvard Moser from Norway won the Nobel prize in physiology or medicine for discovering the brain’s “inner GPS”.

Worth 8m kronor each, the Nobel prizes are always handed out on 10 December, the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896. Besides the prize money, each laureate receives a diploma and a gold medal.

Nobel, a wealthy Swedish industrialist who invented dynamite, provided few directions for how to select winners, except that the prize committees should reward those who “have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind”.

Ethiopia and the World Bank clash over a 600 million dollar credit funding

The Ethiopian government and the World Bank are at odds over a 600 million dollar credit the Bank said has provided on a credit basis to the government. Though the Bank said the Bank’s Board of Executive Directors have approved a 600 million dollar International Development Association credit to Ethiopia on September 30, the government said it is not aware of any such funding the Bank gave to the government on credit.

However, a Spokesman at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED) said the Ministry is not aware of any such credit facility. He said the news about the 600 million dollar credit is both carried by local and international media outlets though the Ministry doesn’t know anything about it.

WASHINGTON, September 30, 2014 – The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved a US$600 million International Development Association (IDA*) credit to Ethiopia for the Productive Safety Nets Project 4 (PSNP4). The funds will be used to expand access to safety net and disaster risk management systems, as well as provide nutrition services and income support to food insecure families living in rural Ethiopia

In 2005 the Government of Ethiopia funded with support from other development partners the Productive Safety Nets Program (PSNP). Since it was launched, the program has made notable contributions to reduce household vulnerability and food insecurity, improve resilience to shocks and promote sustainable community development in rural areas of Ethiopia. It focused on important public works resulting in improvements to rural infrastructure and enhanced access to education and health services. To mitigate the risk of economic and climate related shocks, the PSNP introduced soil and water conservation activities, small scale irrigation, and integrated watershed management

Today’s project (PSNP4) builds on the 10 years of the program’s success and contributes to reducing poverty and promoting shared prosperity by providing a safety net for Ethiopia’s food insecure and most vulnerable people. To face the challenges of improving nutrition, PSNP4 will provide support to the nutritional goals of the country and address long-term income challenges. It will support Ethiopia in building systems for social protection and disaster risk management. This will include investments in developing a national registry for social protection interventions and clients, improved management information systems, and efforts to modernize how payments are made

“Since its launch nearly a decade ago, the Productive Safety Net Program has made unparalleled contributions not only to food security and Ethiopia's progress in meeting many of the MDG goals, but to reversing land degradation,” said Guang Z. Chen, World Bank Country Director for Ethiopia. “PSNP4 will build on these successes, and also support the development of long-term social protection systems and disaster risk management. I am very pleased that the program will be expanded across the country to eventually reach up to 10 million people each year.”          

The PSNP4 will be implemented in 411 districts in Ethiopia, reaching up to 10 million food insecure people per year and includes a total budget of approximately US$3.6 billion from the government and 11 development partners including the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, Irish Aid, the European Union, Canadian International Development Agency, Swedish International Development Agency, the Netherlands, Danish International Development Agency, the United States Agency for International Development, UN Children's Fund, the World Food Program and the World Ban

* The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), established in 1960, helps the world’s poorest countries by providing zero-interest loans and grants for projects and programs that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve poor people’s lives. IDA is one of the largest sources of assistance for the world’s 82 poorest countries, 40 of which are in Africa. Resources from IDA bring positive change for 2.5 billion people living on less than $2 a day. Since 1960, IDA has supported development work in 108 countries. Annual commitments have increased steadily and averaged about $16 billion over the last three years, with about 50 percent of commitments going to Africa.

http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2014/09/30/ethiopia-to-benefit-from-world-bank-support-for-social-safety-net

ETHIOPIAN WOMEN FARMER TO DELIVER KEYNOTE AT WORLD FOOD PRIZE

Like most rural women, she comes in a small frame. Winner of Female Food Heroes from Amhara region, Birtukan Tegegn was born in 1978 in a small village called Mechare. It is around 35 kilometres from the city Woldya and 600 kilometres from the capital Addis to the north. Just like most women who live in her small village she got married at 14, and gave birth for four children, three boys and a girl. The household was always hand to mouth. Her husband owned a very small land and she hardly remembers a time when there was enough to eat.  However, things got worse in the year 2000, when her husband, the sole provider of the house, died. He left behind four small children and aging parents. Since she did not have a brother or any close male family member, her small land was to end up rotten and without a harvest. She received a constant sympathy from everyone around and no one knew how she would get out of her situation.

She lives in a region that is infamous for draught, famine, and lack of rain and water. The area is over populated, which makes land a very scarce commodity. People have to work beyond hard just to put a regular meal on the table. It is a constant struggle to survive. Being a single mother and a widow does not help in this situation. Given the extensive physical labour ploughing by ox requires, women are seen as powerless in that area. Birtukan could have given up easily.

The destiny of her four children seemed obvious for many. They were to migrate to small towns, probably doing nothing and end up on the streets. Her only daughter was to marry early since she will need someone to take care of her. So what makes this women different from millions of Ethiopian women who share the same fate? This is what makes Birtukan a hero – she was determined to fight back. She decided boldly to make her children’s feature a lot different from what the villagers already had in mind. She wanted them to go to school, to achieve dreams unforeseen for those around her.

She took over her husband’s small land. However, just as the villagers would say she could not handle the ox physically on the field. However, for her that was not a good enough reason to stop. It appeared to her that her village is full of men, who do not have their own land and willing to plough for her if she gave up a certain amount of the ‘t to give the land and let them do whatever they wish and accept they produce. She was on the field every single day following every activity and helping. She listened everything the agriculture extension workers told her, and figured a way to be more productive in a very small land. She used her backyard to plant orange, banana, and 200 trees of coffee. These plants are unheard of in her villages. 

She knew the nature of her area so she did not let the rain wasted. She dag deep holes, and conserve water. Birtukan smiles a lot, and make people welcome and take care of everyone that come to work for her. That makes the men in her village happy to help around and contribute for her success. Her next move was to look for more land. She deals with people who are unable to plough, because of age or any other situation. She hires labour, take care of the harvest and take one third of the product. Knowing that she is one tough woman to break, life started to turn its face to the fighting widow. She saved enough money to make sure her children attended school, with no interruption. She built a house in the nearby town, Woldya, though she says she could not see herself living in a city. ‘I am a farmer’ she would say ‘I can’t live far from my land and my plants’. In fact, that is what got her much recognition. Birtukan is a winner of Female Food Heroes 2013, an annual competition for women farmers who mange to achieve food security. The competition selects winners from all regions of Ethiopia and set them for a competition at a national level.

On the coming October Birtukan is flying to Washington DC and Iowa invited by Oxfam America, World Food Prize and Iowa University. She is expected to share her experience, to give a keynote speech on WFP award ceremony and to meet several dealmakers and breakers in the agriculture sector. Her life, which exemplifies the power of endurance and hard work, will shine during her stay in the USA.