Ethiopian Tv Channel

Eleven-year old Andualem, among Ethiopias estimated 5.5 million underage workers, doesn't know that Sunday is World Day Against Child Labor.



checkoutethiopia.comAndualem works as welder at an auto-repair shop located in the center of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. His workplace is also his dwelling.

I worked as a carwash lad since I was seven. Then I managed to learn welding, he tells Anadolu Agency.

Welding is hard work; its especially bad for the eyes. I live in the garage where I work because the $1-2 a day income isn't enough to cover the cost for food and shelter.

My parents live in rural parts of the nation and I have never been to school. I came to Addis Ababa at the age of seven.

Another child, Mestawet, sells roasted cereals on the streets.

She says: My dad is a carpenter and my mother is a day-to-day laborer occasionally they work and sometimes they don't. Thus, I've to sell the roasted cereals to meet our needs.

Many people harass me; however, I never stop working the seven-year-old includes.



ethiopiacurrentnewsstories.comBased on a survey conducted in five selected regions by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, over 16,500 kids work in conventional weaving or are involved in farming.

Just over half these kids say they work to support their families but the bulk 73.4 percent don't go to school.

Ethiopias Central Statistical Agency says out of the countrys total child population of 22 million, more than 5.5 million are laborers between the ages of five and 14. Most of the kids work in the informal economy.

According to the ministry, the kids are regularly applied for low wages in 12-hour shifts. Some work on coffee and tea farms. Others in urban dry-waste collection or in small production shops.

Forty-eight-year old Agaredech has two kids working for traditional weavers.

Exactly what do we do? We are poor and they have to labor for us and themselves, she says. I understand how it is hard for them; we expect divine intervention.

Ethiopia, the second most populous country in Sub-Saharan Africa, has a population of 97 million of which nearly 30 percent live on less than $0.6 per day, according to the World Bank.

According to the labor ministry, Ethiopias market, which has a 10.9 percent growth rate, has helped families feed and send their kids to school.

A long way to go

Enhancing livelihoods, confronting child labor through a complete multi-sectoral plan is the strategy to end child labor, the ministry claims.

In a statement supplied to Anadolu Agency, the government says it is preparing a five-year plan to stop child labor in the nation.

Thus far, the ministry in collaboration with NGOs and civic organizations says it has managed to provide direct support and empower more than 30,000 children exposed to dangerous surroundings get access to schooling.

It also said that more than 1,270 underage workers have benefited from technical and vocational training.

Financial support was also supplied to 7,000 families with a view to preventing exposure of children to harmful environments, it said.

Nevertheless, for young laborers like Andualem and Mestawet, their future life seems to consist of one thing non stop working.

GERD Project Covers Ethiopians As One Family

The construction is being carried out taking into consideration the social and environmental impacts of the dam.

As the saying 'Yarns together can tie a lion' goes, Ethiopians at home together with their brothers and sisters abroad are working hand in glove to realize the aspiration of the state to join middle income economies by 2025.

Of all the upcoming, the continuing building of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Nile River is an iconic national endeavor that covers the fingerprints of all Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia.

Since the announcement of the introduction of the GERD undertaking by the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi five years back, Ethiopians regardless of ethnic and spiritual age and economic status even friends of Ethiopian are actively taking part for the realization. Ethiopians are continuing their contributions in cash, lottery game, SMS text, and in other fund raising programmes.

Additionally, the building of the Dam is underway around the clock. Thousands of workers at the GERD construction site are working to meet the time in a challenging topography and environmental condition.

In his excited explanation to visiting guests, GERD Project General Manager Eng. Simegnew Bekele said that the job is put amicably in the hearts and heads of all Ethiopians. "The GERD brought together all Ethiopians as one family."

Eng. Simegnew said that the job is on the right course to realizing country's move towards joining middle income economies.

According to him, during the previous regimes it was unthinkable to undertake development projects around edge regions. There were chaos and civil war. Currently, it truly is a fresh era both for the people and the authorities of Ethiopia, he said.

GERD is not only for Ethiopia it is symbolic for fair use of the water resource among upper and lower riparian states, he said. For sure, it would also be an iconic project for the economic integration of African states, as this integration is among the aspirations of the African Union.

He said the construction is being carried out taking into consideration the societal and environmental impacts of the dam.

Eng. Simegnew noted that state's policies and strategies have proven to be workable as the state has been registering successive economic growth and progressing in all sectors. He also called on the general public to provide continued support for the grand project.



checkoutethiopia.comLTV: Ethiopian Satellite TV Station Launched

LTV, Ethiopian satellite TV station that aspires for the greatest of life was found last Tuesday.

Speaking at the launching ceremony held at Sheraton Addis, Government Communication Affairs Office Minister Getachew Reda said that Ethiopia has diverse culture and traditions.

"When these cultural values, arty resources and heritages are spread by a media which is outside of our management the real picture of the country cannot be shown to the outside world," he added.

"This will let our identity to be evaluated and measured by the standards of outsiders and our ethnic allowance can not be definitely portrayed in the international stage."

According to him, when our cultural values and heritages are air by the people of Ethiopia themselves there will be a clear understanding what Ethiopia means.

As to him, there must be an opportunity which will show our individuality to the external world. In this regard, LTV will play a crucial part in boosting Ethiopian individuality to the outside world.

He also said the TV station will also have a critical role in filling gaps in the media sector.

In accordance with Getachew, though there are several diaspora investors engaged in various economic sectors in Ethiopia, there's little obligation to put money into the media industry.

Speaking at the big event, founder and president of LTV, Dr. Gemechis said that LTV aspires to serve Ethiopians and encourage their untapped cultural worth to the world.

In this respect, the initiative taken by Dr. Gemechis Buba deserves appreciation for his vision will place Ethiopia in worldwide media chart and begin other investors to engage in the sector.

According to him, Ethiopia has untapped cultural resources that should be encouraged in the global arena. In this regard, LTV will take the lead by supplying nicely research programmes.



ethiopiacurrentnewsstories.comHe also said the TV station will strive to promote its motto: "FOR The BEST OF LIFE".

Dr. Gemechis also said that the TV station envisions improving quality of life by filling openings that aren't filled by other TV stations.

Founded with the principle of "from the folks to the folks", the TV station will function as a bridge between the folks and scholars.

MSEs the Ethiopian Manner

The World Bank approved a loan of 200 million USD to support the increase and development of Small and Micro Enterprises (SMEs) in Ethiopia only over a week ago. The Bank's press release suggests that its recent study on SMEs finance in Ethiopia finds that funding constraints of Ethiopian SMEs are certainly one of the crucial barriers to job creation and growth.

Both demand-side and supply-side surveys clearly indicate the existence of a missing middle occurrence whereby small-scale enterprises are more credit constrained than either micro or medium/large businesses. The press release continues on to quote Francesco Strobbe, World Bank Task Team Leader of the Project, as saying "this project will address the missing middle challenge by providing financial and technical resources to SMEs and financial intermediaries in Ethiopia."

An article entitled "credits to small businesses and micro enterprises" states:

Small and micro-enterprises are normally more labour than capital intensive and have high relative production costs (because raw materials are bought in small quantities). They lack technical experience in creation, accounting, administration and stock management (due to low amounts of qualification). Most of the time they may be unregistered (or somewhat documented) and family-based.

The above mentioned characters of MSEs are indicative of their decreased ability to think of the collateral needed to obtain bank loans.

Therefore, there's a general funding difficulty of MSEs all around the world. The reality in Ethiopia is also along the international trend as the Ethiopian government has stated in the MSE development strategy support framework document that lack of access to sufficient finance is one of the significant problems these businesses face.

Coupled with present strategies under the second Growth and Transformation plan (GTP2) to revitalize the role of SMEs as agents of industrialization and ensure their development accordingly, the World Bank credit arrangement looks like a timely and relevant scheme to augment the execution of the nation's aims in the sector.

In a recent report entitled "Ethiopia's Great Run: The Growth Acceleration and Just How To Pace it," the World Bank indicated that Ethiopia's rapid growth and development within the last quarter of a century is on course to uplift the country into a middle income economy by 2025.

The report also pointed out that the state used a "exceptional" economical strategy through the course of the protracted economic rise and it called this approach "the Ethiopian way." The cause behind the label is the adaptive policies Ethiopia has put in place in executing the recommendations of the world's biggest international financial institutions.

The reported 200 million USD loan by the World Bank may also be seen in exactly the same limelight as the Ethiopian way of MSEs also has the symbols of the developmental democratic ideology it follows.

The MSE development strategy support framework document clearly states that there's a political reason behind the priority given to the development of MSEs.

The record states that the authorities is devoted to the fulfilment of the increase demands of farmers as they are the basis for the developmental state it aspires to see flourish. It further states that they'd also be influential in the usage of resources and development of jobs in urban centres mobilizing individuals to developmental efforts along the way.

So, the government intends to promote social and political goals through the use of MSEs included in its pro-poor policies. In Ethiopia, MSEs are being used as mechanisms of ensuring the equitable distribution of wealth.

The success stories of tens of thousands of youth across the country to have managed to come from unemployment to become business owners through the MSE scheme are corroborative of the pro-poor aspect of these enterprises. The human development aspect of MSEs that requires the training and advanced awakening of those involved also shows the social benefits associated with the scheme.