May 28, 2024
News
Ethiopia, like many other countries, is feeling the severe impacts of climate change, which are compromising water infrastructure and leaving many without access to clean water. In Ethiopia's Abela Abaya district, locals have to travel for six hours to fetch water for their homes. Caritas Czech Republic will help people in the south of Ethiopia gain better access to clean drinking water while improving their climate resilience. Moreover, we will empower women to include them in agriculture and other economic activities.
We will provide access to clean water and sanitation
For decades, Ethiopia has faced big droughts due to climate change. Extreme weather conditions have had drastic impacts on farming in regions where majority of the communities depends on rain-fed agriculture. The impacts caused by climate change are threatening the livelihoods of many people in the country.
The extreme weather conditions severely affect the area of Abela Abaya Woreda, a district in the south of the country. Tens of thousands of people living in Abaya Chawukare and Gurocho Kebeles, two neighbourhoods in this area, have been displaced from their permanent homes due to the climate-change-related floods and lost their livelihoods as farmers.
In their new homes, they still struggle with access to clean water and have to endure six-hour journeys just to fetch water for their homes. Traditionally, this role falls on women, who carry the water on their heads or backs. Women, who are mostly excluded from economic activities, struggle with a demanding workload to fetch water from distant areas, and also have to deal with its negative impact on their health. Besides, the water quality is not convenient for regular use as the source is a hot spring. The limited water access has even more drastic consequences and leads to water related illnesses, such as diarrhea or salmonellosis.
Caritas Czech Republic, in cooperation with "The Ethiopian Catholic Church Social and Development Commission Coordination office of Soddo“ (ECC-SDCO/S), will support people living in the Abela Abaya Woreda, in the south of Ethiopia, and provide them with access to clean drinking water within their communities. “We will rehabilitate and expand existing water system and construct a tank for the water, to ensure better access to safe water. It will be installed in close reach of the communities, so no one has to take such a long journey,” says Jiří Škvor, Head of the Humanitarian Aid and Development Cooperation Department at Caritas Czech Republic.
We will involve local people from the communities in improving access to clean water. They will become members of so-called WASHCO groups, committees focused on water, sanitation and hygiene. The committees will present the opinions of other people from the communities, help promote enhanced hygiene and sanitation practices, while also reporting any damages of the water system to local office.
We will help people in Ethiopia adapt to climate change
We will also help people in Ethiopia adapt to the changing climate so that they can continue farming despite extreme weather conditions and provide for themselves.
The locals are highly dependent on the rain for farming, but they face significant shortages of water. Without access to improved farming methods, and with lack of input and inadequate access to markets, they struggle to provide for themselves. “That is why Caritas Czech Republic will provide farmers with knowledge about modern farming methods, such as guidance on crop rotation, water management or irrigation systems,“ explains Jiří Škvor.
All this will help ensure better food security. These methods can help farmers grow more and better crops while using fewer natural resources and causing less harm to the environment.
We will support women in Ethiopia by involving them in economic activities
Not only climate change, but also the exclusion of women from economic activities influences the food security situation which continues to deteriorate, and puts many women and girls in danger of poverty. Caritas Czech Republic will focus on getting women actively involved and empowered in different activities. We aim to increase their involvement in agriculture and other economic activities, by providing them with the necessary skills and capital to start with.
Additionally, we will introduce Self-Help groups, in which women will acquire essential skills, such as leadership, bookkeeping, or training on climate adaptive and mitigation measures. We will also raise awareness about gender inequalities and gender-based violence.
Thanks to the cooperation with ECC-SDCO/S and our donor Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we can help many people in Ethiopia to adapt to climate change and improve their livelihoods.
