Preintervention

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Pre-intervention Features of the Project Area

The area in which the Project is working is known as Tekelehaimanot Woreda, Negus Woldegiorgis Sefer and Tureta Sefer. While the geographical location of that part of the inner city is in Teklehaimanot Woreda, during the early part of this century, Emperor Menilik allocated a large part of that area to one of the feudal lords. Unfortunately, even during the post Italian occupation period most of the land holding and ownership questions were never sorted out properly in that part of the city, hence the reason for the area not being attractive to developers. There were not many title- deed holders in the area.

The life and work of the large majority of the people in the area is directly linked and dependent on the large market, however, most of them are not house owners. The area is right in the heart of the city and on the border of the merkato. It is the largest market, not only in Ethiopia, but thought to be the largest in Africa. During the 5 year Italian occupation of Ethiopia, all beggars in Addis Abeba were made to settle in Kebele 30 and 41 - hence the name "Tureta Sefer", a nickname given more for lack of a more appropriate name since 'tureta' means 'pensioners'. In actual fact the beggars occupied a large section of Kebele 30 and some part of Kebele 41. To this day beggars from all over Ethiopia somehow find that corner of the town and lodge with fellow beggars in the area. This, by the way, has been a major obstacle to development work as the alms receiving habit hinders participation in development work which requires special effort to become self-sufficient through earning by work. For this reason also the community is intensively taught and encouraged to fight against 'inherited' poverty so as to break out of the vicious circle of poverty, fatalism, apathy and lack of dignity and self-esteem.

The baseline survey carried out June 1989 - December 1989 by IHA-UDP, prior to starting, in order to find out the prioritized felt needs may be summarized into the following major priority categories:

Housing,
Environmental health,
Roads and alleys,
Preventive Health (PHC),
Job creation and skill training,
Educational/Recreational activities for the youth and children,
Improvement, community shops,
Kindergarten and Primary Education,
Electric Light,
Welfare assistance for the aged, the socially disadvantaged and the handicapped,
Fuel Briquettes.

These were priorities set by the community, which closely matched the professionally set priorities.

The area is one of the most densely populated areas of the city. The four Kebeles were spread over an area of nearly 39 hectares Area by Kebele is as shown below:

Table 2 Statistics: Area, Population and Number of Houses in 19891[1]

a) Kebele 30    19.136 ha.
b) Kebele 41    6.5 ha.
c) Kebele 42    10.125 ha.
d) Kebele 43    9. 549 ha.

These four Kebeles account for 30,000 persons whilst Kebeles 29 and 40 had a combined population of 12,000. The sex ratio was 1:1.22 translating into 45 percent male and 55 percent female. The total number of households, excluding Kebeles 29 and 40, is 5,000. It has an estimated density of one person per square metre of occupied space. Eighty percent of the population is considered to be below the poverty line. Children and youth represented approximately 66 percent of the total population. Children under five represented approximately 25 percent of the total population.

Approximately 86 percent of the youth population was unemployed. Most of them lived and engaged in all kinds of questionable activities in the streets. Twenty five percent of the school age children were out of school and involved in all kinds of survival-promoting activities, some of which were be illegal. Of the children under five, between 12 percent and 18 percent were severely malnourished, 75 percent of the household heads were women, 10 percent out of the total population was disabled or aged-destitute. Curative health services were accessible to only 23 percent of the population.

In terms of physical conditions the locality presented a dismal picture. 659 dwelling units were so deteriorated that they were declared as unfit for human habitation. This represented 16.15 percent of all dwelling units in the area. Approximately 37 percent (1495 units) of all housing units required major and minor repairs. 39 percent of all latrines required major and minor repairs. Potable water supply was available nearby only to 29 percent of the total households. 1045 or 25.6 percent of the households had no cooking areas.

About 85 percent of all dwelling units (3072) are owned by the city government with monthly rents of less than Birr 10. Only 15 percent of the houses were privately owned.

[1] Source: Extracted from Baseline Survey 1989

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Glossary:

AHISDO: Addis Hiwot [New Life] Integrated Sustainable Development Organization

CBISDO: Community-Based Integrated Sustainable Development Organisation

CD: Community Development

EEW: Educational Extension Worker

IGU: Income Generating Unit

IHA-UDP: Integrated Holistic Approach Urban Development Project

NHG: Neighbourhood Group

PUG: Physical Upgrading

PHC: Primary Health Care

Is anything missing? If you think it would be helpful to add other terms to this list, please simply email the web editor.

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