ETHIOPIA

Volver a la versión en español

It is one of the most ancient and independent state, and the second most populated (94 million inhabitants). With its capital, Adís Abeba, situated in the centre of the country, Ethiopia is located in the Africa´s Horn.

To get some more information about its culture and traditions, here, we are going to explain its cultural heritage.

Firstly, a country cultural heritage, are the habits and traditions, artistic expressions and lifestyles, that are pass from generation to generation. The most important aspects of this country are: 

• Gastronomy: It consists of various vegetables dishes or meat dishes, (normally stew) on a injera, fine and larged bread. The Orthodox Church and the Islam, don´t let them eat pork meat.

Injera

• Music: It is based on the music of the Ethiopian Saint, Yared. It was created 1600 years before in Europe, it is a musical typing created for the holy music and the author´s dance. 

Saint Yared

• The folkloric dance: The most common is the Esskista. It has fundamental elements of some villages of the Ethiopian´s high plateau. The Esketa or elbows dance. It seems when we are dancing it, the elbows and the head, aren´t part of the body. It is a symbolic part of its old tribal dances.

• Typical musical instruments: Krarc or Ethiopian lyre, it has 5 strings. Masenqo a violin that has only one string and it is very old.

Masenqo

PROBLEMS:

Ethiopia is a developing country that suffers from economic deficiencies that mark its progress and evolution. We show you a summary of the Ethiopia problems and how the European Union tries to find a solution. 

•  Lack of drinkable water and sanitary installations. Woman and girls walk big distances to find out water. Besides there, is a sexist behavior, it causes a social unbalance because they can´t go to school or participate in the daily life. There´s also poverty, lack of hygiene, which heads to health problems.

• Its economy is based on the agriculture, and this, in the rain. 12 million of people suffer from starvation.

• Ethiopia hosts the highest number of refugees in Africa with over 600 000 refugees. The refugees live in 24 camps located in Tigray, Afar, Somali, Gambella, and Benishangul Gumuz regions. The country is facing an influx of refugees mainly from South Sudan and Somalia, but also from Sudan and Eritrea.

• It is also a disaster prone country. Around 12 million people in the country are regularly exposed to droughts, floods, landslides, epidemics and earthquakes. These regular shocks have many negative consequences such as destruction of assets and livelihoods, extreme poverty, undernutrition, and extreme food insecurity.

• There are around 400 000 internally displaced people (IDPs) across the country. Clan clashes over scarce resources, floods and localised conflicts are the main causes of population displacements.

THE HELP OF THE EU:
In Ethiopia, the humanitarian assistance provided by the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO) focuses on three main pillars: emergency response, assistance to refugees and building resilience.

• Emergency response: the European Commission allocates funds with the aim of enhancing the speedy response to rapid-onset emergencies. Currently, the Commission is funding a consortium of partners which is undertaking rapid needs assessment and response based on pre-positioned stocks of relief items.

• Assistance to refugees: ECHO is helping refugees and the host communities in Dollo Ado and Jijiga camps (Somali refugees), Benishangul Gumuz camp (Sudanese refugees) and Gambella camp (South Sudanese refugees), through a multi-sector intervention of food assistance, health, nutrition, shelter, protection, water and sanitation, and education. In addition, ECHO is intervening in the growing Eritrean refugee situation in Tigray and Afar.

• Building resilience: ECHO is also working towards building the resilience of the communities facing recurrent disasters by working closely with the EU's development department (DEVCO). The joint EU initiative called RESET (Resilience building in Ethiopia) is implemented in drought-prone areas of the country. The initiative does not only address the symptoms of extreme poverty but also some of the main root causes of food insecurity and malnutrition, and in doing so it provides households with more coping capacity to resist future shocks. The European Union contributes with econommic aid to improve the situation of the countries that are suffering. It promotes the production of vegetables, milk and plants for the animals, as strengthen the health services of the animals too, and their vaccination. The EU manages water and the pasture zones. 

The European Union, by the FEDER, has helped with 160 million of euros. This money was designated for the transport, regional integration, feeding, rural development of the country, supply of services and to improve the govern.