Our plan in Ethiopia

Plan is working at the grassroots level in Ethiopia to help communities to make real and lasting change, so that their children have the opportunity to reach their full potential.

Plan has worked in Ethiopia since 1995, with current programs in the areas of Addis Ababa (Central), Lalibela (North), Shebedino (South) and Jimma (South-West) and a view to expand into Tigray (North) in 2009.  Plan Ethiopia's programs aim to address the following issues affecting children:

• Malnutrition due to a chronic food shortage
• High unemployment
• Children orphaned as a result of HIV and AIDS
• Childhood diseases such as respiratory illnesses, diarrhoea, contaminated water, measles, malnutrition, malaria and AIDS
• Child rights abuses of genital mutilation, child marriage, trafficking, sexual and emotional abuse
• Lack of child participation and educational resources in schools

Plan's programs and strategies to address these issues include:

Food and nutrition security

To ensure household food and nutrition security, Plan supports agricultural production improvement and diversification for household food consumption, raises nutritional awareness, facilitates emergency food aid and promotes strategies to improve and stabilise household income.

Maternal and childhood healthcare

To ensure their healthy growth and development, Plan assists women and children access to community medical and safe motherhood services, and promotes youth/adolescent reproductive health services.

HIV and AIDS

Ethiopia has close to 1 million AIDS orphans, with the number of child-headed households due to HIV and AIDS rising.  Plan assists children orphaned by HIV and AIDS, and AIDS affected families access to prevention, awareness, care, counselling and support services.

Child rights and community-based organisations

By building relationships between children, families, communities, non-governmental organisations and the government, child rights are acknowledged and respected. Plan Ethiopia assists the strengthening of child rights institutions, children's clubs or children forums and awareness raising, lobbying and advocacy on child rights.

Quality universal learning

Plan Ethiopia assists educational and awareness programs for childhood development, secondary education and adult learning.  This includes providing technical, educational support, and encouraging community involvement to sustain educational program management.

See Plan's work in progress

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Country Facts

Country	Ethiopia	Australia
Flag
Population	75.6 Million	21 Million
Language	Amharic	English
Capital	Addis Ababa	Canberra
GDP per capita (USD/year)	114	$37,300
Life expectancy	47.8	81.5
Access to safe drinking water	22%	100%
Literacy	28.9%	100%
Source:	United Nations: Millennium Development Goals Report 2006