Ethiopia- a country with big needs

Ethiopia- a country with big needs

Ethiopia is one of the countries to which that Sweden gives aid. The country is situated on Africa’s horn, an area that has suffered many severe droughts. The needs are big and the economy is unstable, so what can Sweden do for Ethiopia?

Ethiopia is one of the most poor countries in the world. The country has had many civil wars and been oppressed for many years. Most of the people in Ethiopia don’t even have water and food. More than 50 per cent of the inhabitants live in total poverty. That means that they have less than 1 dollar per day to live on. Many also suffer from undernourishment. Ethiopia is situated in an area that often has severe droughts.

If it doesn’t rain it effects people who have a self-householding. 85 per cent of the population live in the countryside. The earth they live of is the same as in thirty years ago. During the same period the population has more than redoubled. The present situation in Ethiopia is due to the fact that one big part of the population is poor and that it is a low purchasing power among the population.
A bit of the Ethiopian history
To work with aid in Ethiopia is hard. The country has a history which is long and hard. Ethiopia managed to keep the self-government during the time of colonisation.

During 1926-1971 the emperor Haile Selassie ruled , except for the years when Mussolini’s Italy occupied Ethiopia. Mussolini initiated a central administration with influences from the West. In 1974 Ethiopia had a hard starvation and the people got very upset when they found out that their emperor fed his dogs with fine flesh. He was executed and buried under an office- building in the capital, Addis Abeba. After that there was a revolution. A military committee, The Derg took the power. Later on a 15 year long period of communist military dictatorship followed under Mengistu’s rule. During that time many reports about torture came and a lot of executions. In 1991 Mengistu got deposed and a changeover government got appointed.

Between 1984 and 1987 Ethiopia had the worst starvation in their history. At the same time a civil war broke out in the province of Eritrea, in the northern part of Ethiopia. Eritrea fought for their self-government. In 1993 they became independent after a popularvote. Sweden has given aid during the emperor time, Mengistu-time and nowadays. Maybe Sweden shouldn’t have given aid to Ethiopia during the Mengistu- time, but it was then the need was biggest. We can be sure that a big part of the aid was put to an improper use by the regime.

Aid politics
Ethiopia is Sweden’s oldest co-operative country. The aid started in 1954 and the first efforts were to educate teachers of vocational subjects. Swedish aid was reduced during the war against Eritrea. But nowadays after the peace agreement Sweden has taken up the aid again. The target is to fight against the poverty, especially in the countryside where the problems are most serious.
The problem with the Swedish aid earlier was that the money wasn’t to a certain purpose, but to the whole country. The money was invested in the big cities which hastened the urbanisation. Nowadays the aid is concentrated to the countryside, especially to women. They are trying to find out activities for women, so they can activated them to do things outside the home.

Good and bad things about aid
Sweden has given 2,6 million dollar in aid to Ethiopia until the middle of 1990. A big part of that money has gone to things which have helped the country. Money was also spent on things that hasn’t helped the country.
For example water projects that have been interrupted by wars. Many youths who have had the possibility to study abroad have never returned to Ethiopia. If all the people who have high education move abroad they don’t help the country to develop and get back its feet again.

The food aid that Sweden sends to Ethiopia makes the local markets stop working because people buy the food that is sent instead of the local food. Countries like Ethiopia has survived hard times without aid before, today they have to re-establish the old tested survival strategies.
Some examples on successful projects is a factory where they make children’s food. Today it is privately-owned and makes money. Sweden has also built 7000 of Ethiopia’s 9000 primary schools, and the schoolbooks are printed in a printing office that Sweden has built and equipped.

Target with aid today
With the Swedish aid today they want to help the Ethiopian people to rebuild their country, so they can be independent in the future. The target is that they can survive without aid. And during the time it takes to change Sweden has to support Ethiopia like positive partners not like reproachful parents. It is not too late for Ethiopia to rebuild their economy, but if they don’t take the chance now the crises will be spread as rings on the water.