Marie Stopes Ethiopia launched a new family planning creation campaign last week in partnership with ICM which is going to be implemented at a cost of 10 million birr. The campaign which will be motivating women in urban and rural areas will be transmitted in the Amharic and Oromifa language.
The campaign will target Addis Ababa, Oromiya and Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region (SNNP) according to Risha Hess, Country Director of Marie Stopes.
The two year campaign picked the New Year for its start because the season brings new hope and people traditionally sets plan for their life.
The campaign will focus on encouraging society to visit Marie Stopes and it’s blue star partner clinics and meet professionals for sustainable family planning methods.
There are 24 Marie Stopes around the country with four of them providing maternity services. They also work with 360 private clinics to support them in providing similar services.
The project is going to have other phases which will be broadcast in other languages, according to Risha. “We are looking for funds to support our mission,” she said.
The campaign will use broadcast advertisements, billboards, posters, fliers, social media, and many other promotional materials to spread the message.
The project will be delivered using the motto: “dreams without a plan are just a wish”. The campaign will try and convince people that women should decide when and how much children to have in order to achieve a better life.
Women between the ages of 15 to 29 will be targeted.
Dreams without a plan are just a wish: a new family planning campaign
Modern construction solutions to reinforce Ethiopian roads
A conference for the integrated engineering solutions was held last week by the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) in collaboration with Reinforced Earth East Africa PLC. The conference which consisted of around 150 participants from different sectors introduced advanced technology to build retaining walls.
Federal and regional road offices, academicians, experts from the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Electricity, Ministry of Construction, Ethiopian Construction Management Institute, Ethiopian Railways Corporation, Addis Ababa City Government Transport Programs Management Office, and Addis Ababa River & Riverside Development Project office were the major participants.
Practical examples from around the about advanced technologies were presented by experts from the technological pioneer, Reinforced Earth.
After the ERA forbid the use of stone retaining walls the industry began using concrete walls made solely through casted reinforcement technology was introduced to the stakeholders at the conference increase their options.
The half a decade old technology of pre-casted retaining wall building methods was implemented in Ethiopia for the first time with the Awash-Hernia-Dengego road project, in the eastern part of the country, as the stone and concert retaining walls kept sliding, in 2004.
Turkish contractors Yapi Merkezi, used the technology for the Awash Hara-Gebeya Rail Road project in 2017 to build six over passing bridges.
Supplied by the South African branch of the Reinforced Earth the pre-casted retaining walls were proven to be a solution, according to Abinet G. Berga Regional Manager of the company.
“The solution which became more common in other parts of the world was used in Ethiopia a couple of times,” Abinet said. “After the conference which will introduce the technology we expect the specification of the technology will be registered in the ERA specification.”
The conference lasted for a day and presented how the technology works. The use of the technology in the urban areas where the use of space is crucial was among the benefits listed by the company. Also, the structure of every piece of pre-fabricated parts are designed to support each other and stay firm.
The technology is said to be saving 30pc of the cost of concrete reinforcement and stone walls. In Ethiopia 20 to 30 percent reinforcement walls are said to fail. With one year in Ethiopia, Reinforced Earth Technology is a French origin company which works all over the world. Its east African office, opened in Ethiopia, and is expected to reach neighboring countries.
“We want to introduce the technology and help the registration of the specification in the ERA list which will also attract other well-experienced companies to the country’s market,” said Daniel Engedashet, General Manager of the Reinforced Earth East Africa.
Seven hundred attack, destroy forest in Nechsar National Park
Thousands of people from the Meche Woreda, around Arbamnich, destroyed thousands of hectares of forest during two confrontations. Around 700 people were damaging the park until the security forces hampered the destruction. On the next day many residents came back and destroyed more property.
The individuals who deforested the park said they were allowed to live there and that the regional heads gave them permission.
The day before this occurred, representatives from the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority (EWCA) held talks with residents after reports of threats from park administrators. The Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples region (SNNPR) reported to EWCA that it conducted research indicating there are 101 hectares of land outside the park. The zonal, woreda and regional government parties talked about the issue and formed a committee consisting of nine individuals to study the problem and list findings.
However, just after the federal team left the city several buses transporting residents came to the area. They got off and went to the park and spent six hours destroying it. The Federal Police, National Defense Force and Regional Special Forces came in to stabilize the situation around noon, according to Shemeles Zenebe, head of the park. The area under attack was near the park office.
Regional representatives said that the eastern part of the park was invaded by multiple farmers from the Oromiya region.
The staff managing the park says that even if there is no area ratified by the House of Peoples Representatives (HPR), there is a demarcation of 514sqm, inside the park’s jurisdiction.
“We didn’t find any wildlife killed yet but a large amount of forest is destroyed,” said Shemels.
The region ordered police to release suspects under the police custody, said Solomon. “The suspects were those who transported people from various locations to the park in the early morning and police have credible evidence to arrest them”, he added. “We used to believe the region was part of the solution until its latest act of directly ordering the security forces to release people.”
“If the claims from the SNNP that there are many farmers residing in the park illegally are true then the solution is not doing the same thing over and over instead we should work to save the life of the forest,” said Solomon. “Resource competition can harm the country and the local population as well.”
After the last destruction happened the federal government communicated to the regional government to halt the problem, which finally led the Zonal Cabinet gathering to address the problem.
The park which is located between the Oromia Regional State and the SNNP is known for zebras and giraffes.
“The situation is under control but a lot of damage has been left behind,” said Shemeles. “There should be sustainable measures put in place to solve the crisis,” he told Capital.
Eighty three perished in fire, floods this year
According to the Addis Ababa City Fire, Emergency Prevention and Rescue Agency’s annual report, 83 people were killed in the city from floods and fires. Holes from construction sites contributed to another 88 people being injured. Flooding and fires damaged many shops and homes causing a loss of 408.4 million birr.
In total there were 535 floods and fires this fiscal year. This included the fire that damaged 140 shops near the Grand Anwar Mosque in Mercato causing 57 million birr in property damage.
Two weeks ago a pregnant woman and her two children drowned when they were trapped by flood waters while washing clothes by a river in Asko. Police have yet to find their bodies.
Poor safety management of construction sites means that floods are increasing according to the report. Bole Sub- City, one of the most affluent places, had 83 incidents while Adiss Ketema and Kolfe had 65 and 64 accidents respectively.
In the previous fiscal year 531 accidents occurred in the city, snatching the lives of 83 people and injuring 119. Negatu Mulu, Communications officer told Capital that helicopters and boats should be purchased because they could be used to save lives.
“Two weeks ago there were floods in Akaki and it took hours to borrow boats and helicopters from defense forces and later the helicopters came but we did not manage to rescue people and finally our rescue workers swam and saved the people’s lives. If we had a helicopter and boats we could manage our service when big fires occur.”
A recent study by the Agency disclosed that 121,000 households across all sub- cities and 1,000 government and private institutions are vulnerable to flood disasters. The study identified 143 places as high risk and stated that if the necessary relocation or reconstruction is not made soon disasters may kill thousands and damage 4.5 billion birr in property. Many of the risky places are found in Gullele and Nifas Silke Sub city where there are homes near river and drainage sites.
Riversides in Addis Ababa have been a source of worry for residents. They have been dogged by landslides, pollution and lack of development for ages. But due to a spate of development activities, that might change soon.
The research found that Addis Ababa Rivers and riversides face problems which include: badly polluted segments through direct discharge of domestic waste generated mainly from households and institutions; river bank erosion; and inaccessible rivers and riversides.
