Kamba Zuria Area Program

Kamba Zuria is located in southern Ethiopia and has a majority-Christian population of about 142,000. Residents are primarily subsistence farmers relying on crop production and animal rearing, although there is also some daily labour and small trade.

Crops include maize, teff, barley, sorghum, wheat, coffee and tea. Livestock rearing includes cattle, sheep, goats, horses, camels and poultry. The region is prone to drought and rain shortages, but resilience to these disasters is low.

While peaceful, Kamba Zuria is experiencing high poverty rates and unemployment, significant child health challenges, food shortages and violence against children. Women and girls are assigned lesser status in the community. These factors are driving rural-to-urban migration.

Over the last four years government has been implementing positive reforms concerning child protection, agriculture, health, water and sanitation, and education. Community-based organizations are working alongside the government in these respects.

There is good potential for economic development because there is a large amount of unused but cultivatable land that can support more cattle raising, honey and wood production. Untapped water reserves underground create the potential for accessing pure drinking water and supporting modern irrigation methods. In the area of trade, weaving and knitting are well-known skills and there are some banks and other financial institutions present that can help create favourable conditions for increased economic activity.

Kamba Zuria’s priorities for development include livelihood, education, and water, sanitation and hygiene. About 19,000 children live in the area. Current farming practices have so far proven inadequate to meeting the community’s needs for food and economic development. An under-resourced education system contributes to an elevated dropout rate. Children’s health is negatively impacted by lack of access to clean water and proper sanitation.

Livelihood
Many families have difficulty providing food, clothing, school fees and the like for their children. About 16 per cent of the population is affected by food shortages. This leads to downstream issues directly impacting children. For example, without the nutrition food provides, 24 per cent of Kamba Zuria’s children are underweight. Stunting and wasting stand at 40 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively. A complex web of factors underlies the problem. These include small landholdings, subsistence agriculture and inefficient land use, a lack of family planning combined with the resource demands created by large families, the impact of disasters such as drought, and the presence of crop diseases and pests that reduce yields.

Education
The school dropout rate sits at 20 per cent—well above the national average of 11 per cent. The education system is under-resourced in most aspects, from personnel to facilities. What classrooms do exist are over capacity with a teacher to student ratio of 1:55. Similarly, teaching aids, reference materials, furniture and other facilities such as laboratories are in short supply or absent altogether.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
Approximately 20 per cent of Kamba Zuria’s residents do not have access to safe water. A combination of poor or absent sanitation facilities and improper hygiene practices expose children to waterborne diseases. There are hidden dangers as well when water is scarce: children are vulnerable to labour exploitation as a result of having to travel long distances in search of that water. Girls are disproportionately represented in school dropout rates because of this same lack of hygiene and sanitation facilities.

Local leaders, organizations, children and families in Kamba Zuria have collaborated with World Vision and together, we have created a plan to move forward in addressing the community’s challenges within the following areas.

Livelihood
To improve the ability of families to provide for their children, World Vision will:

• Work with the local agricultural office to support a culture of savings and credit provision that can raise household income.
• Support farmers through the provision of agricultural inputs such as improved seeds, poultry and drought coping mechanisms.
• Promote environmental protection and soil conservation activities.

Education
To keep children in school so that they can go on to improve their community, World Vision will:

• Use specialized programs to improve reading fluency so that children read with comprehension.
• Work to improve the well-being of children aged 3-6 through the use of holistic early childhood development initiatives.
• Engage students with environmental, peace and HIV clubs to promote being productive citizens.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
To help children stay healthy by avoiding waterborne illness, World Vision will:

• Build awareness in the school system and among parents for implementing hygiene intervention for adolescent girls in school.
• Work with existing health institutions to promote improved hygiene practices across the community.
• Train the water management committee to maintain water provision and infrastructure, and to support the rehabilitation and development of irrigation canals.