Project Location

GTF's Working Context

Ethiopia is ranked 210^th of a total of 210 countries in GNP per capita terms and 208^th in terms of GNP per capita measured at Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) by the 1999/2000 World Bank World Development Report. This standing of the country among the community of nations is confirmed by the human development based rankings in the Human Development Report of the UNDP, which locates it at 172^nd out of 174 countries (UNDP 1999) Ethiopia’s real per capita GNP is US $100 (1998). In comparison the average for low-income African countries was $ 520. Its underdevelopment is astounding when the condition of the people is put into perspective. An estimated 50 per cent of the population live in absolute poverty. 12 out of 100 children born alive do not reach age one. A further 8 of these children die before their 5^th birthday. Less than a third of the primary school age children go to school, of which only 19 percent advance to junior secondary level. Only 9 percent out of this age cohort are at secondary level & one percent advance to the tertiary level.The implications of these alarming indicators on the level of poverty is simply staggering. A 1998 study by the UN Economic Commission for Africa suggests that Ethiopia must increase its economic growth rate by 8 percent per annum and sustain this over the target period if it is to reduce poverty by half by the internationally agreed year of 2015. The fragile nature of the economy, coupled with its susceptibility to exogenous shocks such as recurring droughts as well as the level of deprivation and ignorance is much more than we read about in the medieval period in history books.