Education and Child Protection Integrated Program in South Omo Zone

Boys and girls in the South Omo Zone face various protection concerns and risks. Over 100 harmful traditional practices affect the lives of women, girls, and boys in the zone. Protection concerns include rape, lack of access to education for girls, female genital mutilation, child marriage, and physical abuse. Hamer, Dassenech, and Nyangatom woredas are among the most marginalized areas in the South Omo Zone, lacking access to education, healthcare, clean water, and road infrastructure. Harmful traditional practices are widespread, and there is limited presence of development actors in these locations. It is evident that Harmful Traditional Practices (HTPs) have significant adverse effects on the well-being of women and children in the community. These practices, such as early and forced marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM/C), violence and abuse against women and girls, and the Mingi belief, are deeply rooted in the cultural and social norms of the community. Attitudinal transformation and behavioural change at the individual, family, and community levels are crucial for eliminating these practices. Equity gaps are evident at the education level, particularly concerning pre-primary education compared to other locations and the minimum requirement. Part of the reason that may have contributed to the disparities in education include: access-related gaps, such as distance to school, child labour, community awareness, gender-based violence, poor quality learning environment, lack of capacity buildings for teachers, and lack of support for children with disabilities.
There is also a high drop-out, and repetition rate in the area. The low learning outcomes also affect the quality/continuity of the education path and require further intervention in literacy and fine motor. The overall objective of the project is to enable boys and girls to enjoy the right to quality education and protection from violence and neglect through a well-functioning child protection system and improved access to education in the South Omo Zone of South Ethiopia Region, Ethiopia. The project will be implemented in 21 selected schools in Hammer, Dasenech, and Ngangatom districts of South Omo Zone, Southern Ethiopia Region, from September 2023 to September 2025. Activities that will contribute to improving quality education, such as providing capacity- building training for teachers, equipping pre-primary schools with furniture and other school infrastructure, constructing and maintaining schools, providing scholastic materials for needy students, and the like, will be implemented. In addition, the project implements activities that can enable child protection in the target area, like community awareness creation regarding HTPs and strengthening/captivating Women and Children Affair/WCA offices to provide quality services for protection issues. The project allocated more than ETB 75 million for the execution of the planned activities.