According to a 1990-1991 report,
only the limited number of people in Ethiopia had access to water:
19% nationwide and 11.5% in rural regions. The figure was extremely
low even compared to the average level of all African countries, 41%,
and securing access to clean water in Ethiopia proved a No.1 priority.
Water shortage cost people lots of time and labor, which in turn accelerated
poverty. Since drawing water from wells was assigned largely to women
and children, and since such tradition involved serious impact in
terms of health and hygiene, the situation surrounding water issues
in Ethiopia was also a gender-and-development (GAD) issue to be solved.
However, there are not the sufficient number of people with necessary
skills, and it was an urgent issue to improve the qualification of
existing technicians. For this reason, the Ministry of Water Resources
in Ethiopia introduced plans to found the first national center in
Ethiopia to train engineers and technicians in the field of water
production and supply and requested a fund from the Japanese Government.
In response, the Japanese Government started the above water project
in 1998,which is anticipated to complete in 2005.
The training normally lasts for two to three months, and the technicians
are trained through water-related procedures considered to be important
in real practice. The training center was founded in Addis Ababa with
the aim to make it possible for the trainees to play an active role
locally soon after the completion of the training. It started with
ten people from ten different states, and by the year 2002 there have
been 350 people who completed the training process. The trainees praise
the training procedures as practical, especially in such operations
as research on and the mining of water wells and repairing mining
tools leading to more efficient work.
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A 2000 report indicates that
by that year more people (31% nationwide; 24% in rural regions) had
access to water. But these figures were still far lower compared to
the average figures of other African countries. While many donor countries
and NGOs have supported water-well constructions, what is necessary
is to assist the country on a human-resources level. Japan, therefore,
hopes that the Japanese-funded training center continues to be a driving
force toward secure water supply system in Ethiopia.
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