Hydropower-induced land use change in Fincha's watershed, werstern Ethiopia: analysis and impacts

The present article analyzes the land use dynamics caused by hydropower dam construction in 1973 in the Fincha'a watershed (1318 km2), a tributary of the Blue Nile. Aerial photos (1957 and 1980) and an ASTER satellite image of 2001 were used to make 3 land use maps of the watershed using a geographic information system (GIS). The 239-km2 water reservoir inundated 100 km2 of grazing land, 120 km2 of swamp, 18 km2 of cropland, and 1.2 km2 of forestland. In 2001, cropland covered 77% of the land potentially available for community use, indicating that there is hardly any free land available for expansion to accommodate new farmers. Relocated communities operate on relatively small parcels of land situated either on steep slopes or in flood-prone areas. Consequently, they exhaustively utilize the trees available on their holdings, and convert grassland and bush-land to cropland, without applying sufficient soil conservation measures. Farmers resettled at or near bodies of water and swamps, however, are affected by seasonal fluctuations of water levels that very often inundate croplands, grazing land, and homes. The demand for cropland and grazing land is increasing as reservoir and swamp areas expand and new families are created. Soil erosion in steep areas can no longer be reduced in the traditional farming system. These enforced land use changes, combined with a lack of appropriate land management practices, may increase erosion and reservoir sedimentation. This could affect food security and electric power production in the near futur

Work related injuries and associated factors among small scale industry workers of Mizan-Aman Town, Bench Maji Zone, southwest Ethiopia

Background: Work place is a potentially hazardous environment where millions of employees pass at least one-third of their life time. However, hundreds of millions of people throughout the world are employed today in conditions that breed ill health and/or are unsafe for life.Objective: This study aims to assess the magnitude of work related injury and associated factors among small scale industrial workers in Mizan-Aman town, Bench Maji Zone, Southwest Ethiopia.Method: A cross-sectional study design was conducted from February to May, 2016. Data was collected using a structured face to face interview and observational checklist. A total of 219 individuals were involved in this study. The raw data collected from the field was entered to EPI Info-version 6.04 and exported to SPSS-version 21 for analysis. A logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with work related injuries.Result: A total of 219 employees from small scale industries were involved in the study. One hundred ninety eight (90.4%) were male. Prevalence of injury was 45.2% per year and the most common causes of injury was hit injury by manual tools (37.4%). Most of the occupational injuries sustained were on the upper and lower limbs. The multivariable analysis result reveals that cigarette smoking (AOD= 4.65: 95% CI 1.53, 14.20), alcohol consumption (AOD= 5.18: 95% CI 2.28, 11.73), working hours (AOD= 4.78: 95% CI 1.95, 11.68), working during night shift (AOD= 4.14: 95% CI 1.12, 15.25), occupational health and safety training (AOD= 0.25:95% CI 0.10, 0.63) and use of Personal Protective Equipment (AOD= 0.32: 95% CI 0.14, 0.75) were found to be significantly associated factors with occupational injury.Conclusion: Work-related injuries were high among small scale industry workers in the studied area. Cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, working for more than 8 hours and working at night had high odds of occupational injuries. Use of PPE and occupation health and safety training were preventive factors. Therefore, workers and industry owners need to work together to halt the problems. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2017;31(3):208-215]Keywords: Work-related injury, Small scale industries, Mizan-Aman, Ethiopi

Children's Educational Completion Rates and Achievement: Implications for Ethiopia's Second Poverty Reduction Strategy (2006-10)

The major development objectives of the Ethiopian Government are to reduce poverty and improve primary school enrolment and educational achievement (SDPRP, 2002). However, education performance indicators show that only access¿related targets have been achieved, while educational quality declined in most respects. Drawing on a sample of 1,000 children aged 7.5 to 8.5 years old from twenty sentinel sites, the Young Lives project sought to understand the determinants of school completion and achievement at the household, community, regional and national levels across different regions of Ethiopia. The paper identifies the specific factors associated with primary school completion/dropout rates, and educational achievement and performance of children, and assesses the mechanisms through which these factors are influential

Mainstreaming Children into National Poverty Strategies : a child-focused analysis of the Ethiopian Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Programme (2002-05)

The purpose of this paper is to assess how the needs of children are incorporated into Ethiopia¿s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP)¿known as the Ethiopian Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Programme 2002-2005 (SDRDP) ¿and to develop policy recommendations for the second PRSP based on a comparative content analysis with other countries¿ PRSPs. The paper begins by identifying the key ingredients of a child-centred PRSP, including: consideration of childhood poverty in the document¿s poverty analysis; spaces for consultation with children; childspecific policies and programmes as well as child-sensitive macro-development policies; institutionalized mechanisms to coordinate these policy approaches and the inclusion of child-related progress indicators. The second section uses a content analysis methodology to consider the extent to which the Ethiopian PRSP is pro-poor and pro-child and contrasts this to more child-sensitive approaches in other PRSPs. The paper then analyses the SDPRP¿s policies, programmes and indicators using a rights-based framework. It assesses the extent to which both the direct (child-specific policy commitments) and indirect (macro-development) policies are in keeping with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) principles of child survival, development, protection, equal treatment and participation. The paper concludes by drawing on the best practices of PRSPs in other countries and outlining how a child-focused PRSP could more effectively address the multi-dimensionality of childhood poverty in Ethiopia

How to optimize Immunization Supply Management at different levels of the health system in Oromia Region? An implementation science research

AbstractBackground: In programs like immunization having strong supply management is important to benefit all the necessary inputs of the health system. In Ethiopia, it has been found, that vaccine availability at service delivery points is low. Moreover, the implementation barriers related to Immunization Supply Management are vague at each level of the health system.Aim: This study aimed to explore the practice, barriers and alternative strategies related to immunization supply management in the Oromia region, west Ethiopia.Methods: A phenomenological qualitative approach was used. The data was collected using interview guides among 27 key informants from health posts, health centers, woreda health office, regional hub and Ethiopian Pharmaceutical supply Agency from June 15 to July 10, 2020. All the audio data were independently transcribed verbatim from Amharic and Afaan Oromo languages after repeatedly listening to the records and then translated into the English. The translated transcription documents were imported into Open Code software 4.02 for the purpose of coding. The coding was performed by three experts independently. Thematic analysis was utilized for the analysis of the data.Results: The immunization supply management practices were categorized into three themes: Vaccine forecast, vaccine request & delivery and stock management of vaccines. Organizational (lack of reviewing processes, lack of transportation, lack of refrigerators, interrupted power supply, absence of vaccine forecasting team, unavailability of performance evaluation reports and lack of electricity), technical (lack of standard leger book and lack of vaccine requisition form) and behavioral (lack of accountability, skill gaps and negligence) barriers were the main determinants that affect vaccine availability. The alternative strategies to optimize the ISM include local data-based forecasting, direct delivery of the vaccine to health facilities, transforming the ISM through digitalization and to establish accountability.Conclusion: This study showed that the existing immunization supply management practice is not optimal. Organizational, technical, and behavioral barriers were the identified determinants for low availability. Therefore, program managers and policymakers should emphasize addressing the identified barriers and tailoring the alternative strategies to ensure the availability of vaccines at the point of service delivery. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2021; 35(SI-3):65-74]Keywords: Immunization, Implementation research, Supply Management, Health system, Ethiopi

People and dams: environmental and socio-economic changes induced by a reservoir in Fincha'a watershed, western Ethiopia

Dams that store water for electricity, irrigation, domestic water supply or flood control have been constructed for thousands of years worldwide. In too many cases, an unacceptable and often unnecessary price has been paid by watershed inhabitants to secure dam benefits, especially in social and environmental terms. The Fincha'a multipurpose dam in western Ethiopia has caused major land use changes, relocated people against their will and induced excessive population pressure in the upper watershed. Following the creation of this dam crop and livestock production have been shifted to steep and fragile parts of the watershed. Lack of agricultural intensification and soil and water conservation (SWC), poor family planning and land tenure insecurity are pressing socio-economic problems leading to impoverishment of the watershed inhabitants. Increased erosion rates and sediment yields reduce the economic life of the dam.Farmers are well aware of erosion problems but theylack confidence in the positive effect on crop yield of recommended SWC measures.The high labour requirement, loss of cropland, land tenure insecurity and the lack of immediate benefits has negatively affected SWC adoption.Integrated watershed management (IWM) has emerged as alternative to the centrally and sectorial approaches in planning dams. The focal point of any dam development programme, using IWM, is the combination of improving the livelihood of the watershed inhabitants and the sustenance of the resource base. For subsistence farmers it is mainly the production in the current season that guarantees the mere survival of their families. Therefore, IWM should be accompanied by creation of multi-stakeholders platforms and integration of soft and hard system methodologies forcreating an environment where science and knowledge help people to develop a diversity of locally appropriate resource management solutions.IWM can effectively address the social, environmental and economic problems during the planning of new dams in Ethiopia

Land management, erosion problems and soil and water conservation in Fincha'a watershed, western Ethiopia

The knowledge of soil erosion processes, attitude towards rational use of resources and institutional support affect the capability of farmers to implement soil and water conservation (SWC) measures. This research was conducted to determine soil erosion problems and the factors that affect the adoption ofSWC measures in Fincha’a watershed, western Ethiopia. A total of 50 farmers were interviewed using a semistructured questionnaire, and two group discussions were held with 20 farmers. Moreover, transects were walked to classify erosion features, and a quantitative erosion survey was made on 19 farm plots during the rainy season of 2004. The results showed that crop fields are affected by annual soil losses ranging from 24 to 160Mgha−1. Farmers are well aware of these erosion problems, and related the soil loss to steep slopes and a decline in soil fertility. However, they did not invest much in SWC measures, but apply soil management practices to sustain crop yields. The wealth status of farmers, land tenure arrangements and lack of access the farmers have to information are the major factors affecting SWC adoption. High labour demand of SWC measures, lack of short-term benefits and free grazing have negatively affected SWC adoption. Soil erosion problems in Fincha’a watershed have both on-site and off-site effects that require integrated SWC planning at watershed scale

Integrated watershed management: a planning methodology for construction of new dams in Ethiopia

Integrated watershed management (IWM) is emerging as an alternative to the centrally planned and sectoral approaches that currently characterize the planning process for dam construction in Ethiopia. This report clarifies the concept of IWM, and reviews the major social, environmental and economic problems caused by dams in Ethiopia and elsewhere. Dams are planned from a top-down perspective in Ethiopia, some people are relocated against their will, haphazard land-use changes can occur, and soil erosion and reservoir sedimentation can increase. Many communities affected by dam constructions have not been sufficiently recognized or compensated, and environmental protection measures such as land-use planning and soil and water conservation have not been adopted in watersheds in which construction of dams is occurring. Furthermore, revenues generated from hydropower and water supplies often benefit urban dwellers, or the national economy, at the expense of rural inhabitants in watersheds. Creation of a multistakeholder platform, integration of soft system methodology with hard system tools, and completion of environmental protection measures should be among the major components of an improved planning methodology for construction of new dams in Ethiopia. This translates into an environment wherein science and knowledge can help watershed inhabitants create a diversity of locally appropriate resource management solutions. Effective implementation of environmental policies and strategies could improve the quality of watershed-based developments. The conclusion is that the IWM approach is a good alternative to effectively address the social, environmental and economic problems associated with planning and constructing new dams in Ethiopia