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ETHIOPIA PROJECT UPDATE – JANUARY 12, 2018
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Thanks to the support of Earth Council Geneva, International Medical Corps is currently rehabilitating water points at six primary schools in Damot-Pulasa and Boloso-Sore woredas. IMC decided to focus on providing potable water at schools as children often miss class due to illness caused by diseases associated with unsafe water, or because they need to travel far distances to find and collect water for their families. Our partner IMC is currently installing piping to bring water community-based sources to the schools, where water points are now functional, and training the members of six special committees on how to maintain them.
To help promote behavior change for proper hygiene among the children, the six schools now have water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) clubs. IMC's approach, using games, exercises and role-play, takes advantage of the natural attributes that children have: less knowledge and experience, fewer responsibilities and an eagerness to learn. They have created action plans for their schools and we have noticed a change in student personal hygiene, including the proper utilization of latrines and hand washing after their use. Solid waste is also now being properly managed by installing dust bins. The bins and hand-washing stations have both been made by students using local materials such as bamboo and disused plastic Jerry cans.
In summary, each of the six primary schools identified for improvements in access to safe water, have also seen improvements in terms of attitudes, behaviors and practices related to environmental sanitation and proper hygiene.
- 9,872 students, and 170 faculty and staff, will have access to safe water by the end of the project
- 100 key influential political, community and religious leaders—40 of whom were women—have been engaged through advocacy
- 180 WASH club members and 26 school staff received training and materials
- 56 members of the six committees associated with the primary schools are receiving training on the maintenance of the new safe water systems
WASH club training at Gurmukoysha Primary School in Boloso-Sore
WASH club training and solid waste management at Olola Primary School in Damot-Pulasa
WASH committee training sessions in Damot-Pulasa and Boloso-Sore
Our Board Member Giovanni Picone elected as Mayor of Bacoli, Metropolitan City of Naples. Gianni also holds the title of President Earth Council Italia
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We are delighted to hear of Giovanni's victory in recent's election and are proud to add our congratulations. We look forward for further productive cooperation on our programs and projects.
Ethiopia project with IMC,IBM and DOW: Progress Report from IMC
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Background
The drought caused by the Indian Ocean Dipole is proving to be the worst in Ethiopia for the past 50 years, particularly devastating as it follows last year’s El Niño drought. Close to 6 million people are in need of food and water. The Somali region of southern Ethiopia is the most critically affected with 1.2 million people (31% of the population) facing crisis. It has reported an estimated 49,000 severe acute malnutrition (SAM) cases, about one sixth of the total 300,000 across Ethiopia. The present situation is expected to worsen as the Belg and gu/ganna/sugum rains are late, weak and erratic, and the October-December Deyr or short-rains season brought severely low levels of rainfall to the region. There is therefore a critical water shortage in Somali region and a total of 185 woredas need water trucking. Unsafe water has led to recent reports of 15,000 cases of acute watery diarrhea, and cases of meningococcal meningitis, measles, dengue fever, scabies and chikungunya are widely reported and spreading.
Admissions to care for severe acute malnutrition, as well as the need for food assistance and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) support in agricultural and pastoral areas are expected to increase in the months to come. For example, Gambella region expects 90,000 or more new refugees from South Sudan; as the camp at Nguniyel is already full, UNHCR and the Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs (ARRA) are opening a new camp in Benishangul Gumuz. Somali region’s Erer and Liban zones also show significant nutritional, WASH and health needs.
With the financial support of the Earth Council Geneva, International Medical Corps has worked in Ethiopia since 2003 to strengthen local capacity to deliver services related to infectious disease and HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, nutrition, psychosocial support, maternal and child health, water, sanitation, and hygiene, and livelihoods. International Medical Corps is responding with emergency health, nutrition and water, sanitation and hygiene in the host communities within the Somali (6 woredas), Oromia (20 woredas), and Southern Nations region (10 woredas)—areas at the epicenter of the drought and food security crisis.
Earth Council Geneva/ International Medical Corps Respond
With the donations from Earth Council Geneva, International Medical Corps will address the immediate water-related needs and challenges faced at the schools and health facilities and neighboring community within the targeted woredas. This project directly complements International Medical Corps’ resilience and sanitation marketing efforts in Wolayita, which reach the same local communities with nutrition, primary health care, and livelihoods services, and builds on efforts previously supported by Earth Council Geneva, DOW Chemical and IBM to increase access to clean water and safe hygiene practices, by meeting additional water needs in the same targeted communities.
To ensure the sustainability of the project, 42 local representatives from the WASH committee are being trained on water system management and maintenance to assume ownership and sustain the established water systems at the six facilities. Additionally, teams will raise awareness on positive WASH-related behaviors among the community members through the distribution of culturally appropriate information, education and communication materials. The materials will provide information on the benefits of safe drinking water and safe water management, latrine use for defecation, and the most critical times for washing hands to further decrease the number of WASH-related diseases. International Medical Corps will also coordinate with local government offices and schools so that the program is implemented in a sustainable manner. For example, local community members will be directly involved throughout the project, participating in continual monitoring and follow-up to ensure positive long-term WASH results.
Further progress will be posted on this website - donations are most welcome to save as many children as possible - together!
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With Your Help in 2016 - FROM OUR PARTNER INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS (IMC)
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"A thank you also to all Earth Council Geneva donors"
Reto Braun
UPDATE ON OUR WORK WITH IMC ON THE ETHIOPIA II PROJECT
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IMC - IBM - Dow Chemical
In partnership with IMC, IBM and Dow Chemical we continue to invest in providing access to clean water throughout the country, including in Wolayita and the surrounding areas. The UN’s Global Humanitarian Overview anticipates that in 2017, 5.6 million people will require food assistance; 1.2 million children and mothers will require nutrition support; 2.4 million people will need livestock support; and some 9.2 million people will still be without safe drinking water across the country.
With the ongoing drought in the region, our teams have continued to address critical shortages of drinking water, along with deteriorating sanitation and hygiene conditions.
Over the last six months, International Medical Corps teams in Wolayita and surrounding areas have:
- Cleaned and rehabilitated 43 shallows wells and hand-dug wells, and installed hand pumps and generators, directly benefitting some 3,500 people.
- Trucked water to kebeles critically affected by the drought and launched broad hygiene education programs to help keep families safe – benefitting 28,848 men, women and children – using radio and outreach campaigns, direct training, and the broad distribtuion of education materials
- Continued critically-needed programs that help prevent and address malnutrition, especially in the face of ongoing food insecurity caused by drought – including the management of severe acute malnutrition of children under 5. Over the last several months, we’ve treated 776 children, 98% of whom fully recovered.