Boreda

The district of Boreda is located 406 kilometres south of Addis Ababa in the Goma Zone in the regional state of South Ethiopia. The main town is Zefine. The 464 km² area extends at an altitude of approx. 2,250 metres on a high plateau with some low hills not far from Lake Abaya, which is part of the chain of lakes that runs through the African Rift Valley. In the two rainy seasons – the larger one from June to October, the smaller one from February to May – an average of 1,500 mm of rain falls each year. The approx. 101,430 inhabitants, 51.7 % men, 48.3 % women, live mainly from agriculture and livestock farming, but the produce is barely enough to provide their families with sufficient and balanced food throughout the year.

Project start: 2023
Area: 464 km²
Population: approx. 101,430
Location: 406 km south of Addis Ababa

The majority of the population of Boreda lives from subsistence farming. The yields from the relatively small areas of just under 0.5 hectares and livestock farming are barely enough to provide families with a sufficient and balanced diet. The farmers use outdated seeds as well as unproductive farming methods and livestock farming. The soil is eroded and depleted. Due to population pressure, the forest cover has declined sharply and wood is needed for cooking and building.

Boreda has 53 schools, most of which are made of wood and clay and are therefore quickly falling into disrepair. The rooms are dark, it often drips in when it rains and there is a lack of furniture. Many pupils therefore stay away from school.

The 32 health facilities in the district are in poor condition, as they are also often made of wood and mud. There is a lack of materials and training opportunities for medical staff.

Women bear the main burden in the household, look after the children, procure water and wood for cooking and help with the field work. They have no income of their own. The access to microcredits is difficult.

Just 18.7 % of the district’s population has access to hygienically safe drinking water. The remaining people have to fetch water from unprotected water points, rivers or water holes. Diarrheal diseases are the result, and children in particular suffer as a consequence. Women and girls are traditionally involved in fetching water. They have to walk several times a day to the often distant contaminated water points, which makes it difficult for girls to attend school regularly. Health centres and schools have no water supply. The inhabitants of the main town of Zefine also have hardly any access to drinking water.