Fighting Poverty in Ethiopia

Since 2009, Kopin has engaged in partnerships with Ethiopia’s biggest Development NGO network, the Consortium of Christian Relief and Development Associations (CCRDA), as well as with Ethiopian community-based (CBOs) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), with the aim to support their work in providing sustainable services to severly impoverished communities.

Together with the Emmanuel Development Association (EDA), the development cooperation branch of Mekane Yesus (EECMY-DASSC) and with the Women & Children Development Organisation (WCDO), Kopin has over the past years focused on the provision of basic and advanced support services in the fields of health care (both general and with a focus on HIV/Aids affected persons), early education, biogas digestion and training.
Kopin’s work in the field of biogas digestion, set up to provide methane gas for community kitchens, the production of bio-fertiliser and sanitation facilities, has been supported by researchers from the University of Malta and the University of Western Sydney, Australia. The aim of this on-going collaboration is to scientifically monitor and evaluate the projects’ effects on the communities, in terms of community empowerment, environment, health and income generation.

Climate Change and Health Vulnerability in Informal Urban Settlements in the Ethiopian Rift Valley

Environment Research Paper published in IOPscience

Climate change in Ethiopia is occurring against a backdrop of rapid population growth and urbanization, entrenched poverty and a heavy burden of disease, and there is little information on specific health risks with which to approach adaptation planning and strengthen adaptive capacity. Using detailed household surveys (400 households, 1660 individuals, 100% participation) and focus groups in two informal urban communities in the Southern city of Shashemene, researchers Hilary Bambrick and Stefano Moncada identified locally relevant hazards and found that climate change is likely to intensify existing problems associated with poverty.

The researchers also showed that despite their proximity (situated only 1 km apart) the two communities differ in key characteristics that may affect climate change vulnerability and require nuanced approaches to adaptation. Detailed, community-level research is therefore necessary, especially where other sources of data are lacking, to ensure that adaptation activities in the world’s poorest communities address relevant risks.

View Environment Research Paper Here