Capital

Children first

Capital: - What is the role of UNICEF in Ethiopia?
Mr. Bjorn Ljungqvist: The UNICEF is part of the United Nations system and makes sure that the need of children that dwell all over the world is met. What really entitles us now can well be described in what is called the Convention on the Right of the Child, which has been adopted by virtually all countries in the world including Ethiopia. This convention guides UNICEF in what it does here in Ethiopia.
However, UNICEF does not provide food, health and education but is present to advise the government, parents, communities and organizations on how they can together create a situation where children get the kind of support they need. This is the general role of UNICEF in all countries including Ethiopia.
Capital: - In what respects has the situation for Ethiopian children lagged in contrast to most of the rest of the world?
Mr. Bjorn: In many aspects, the situation for Ethiopian children has been lagging behind from those of most of the rest of the world.
That means for example, for Ethiopia to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) it is going to be more challenging because many of those goals are going to be related to children’s rights such as levels of education, malaria control, child mortality, water access sanitation and others. Here in Ethiopia you might say children’s needs are greater than any other place, so it is clear that the presence of UNICEF will be more significant in this country. As a result, UNICEF programs here in Ethiopia have grown about four to five times in size over the last five years. In fact, this is now the largest UNICEF program in the world. What we are specifically doing is that we are especially working in all areas with our key partner, the government, since it is the one that has ultimate responsibility to create conducive situations for Ethiopia’s children.
Regarding education, Ethiopia was lagging very badly behind the rest of the world. But over the last eight to ten years there has been tremendous progress on the numbers of children that go to school which has increased six fold. However, children in Ethiopia of the 20 million, there are three million who still not in school. We try to find the means to assist these children, who are often live in a remote area or in a nomadic population.
In water and sanitation also, Ethiopia was not doing well and UNICEF, along with other partners, has been playing an important role in this sector. However, over the last few years Ethiopia has done rapid catch up and has registered great results. So, things are very encouraging as well as challenging.
The large number of children on the streets, child labor, child trafficking, sexual abuse, etc. are also areas that need attention; by devising consistent and more effective ways of care giving and providing the proper support for children who encounter such problems.
Capital: - What would you consider to be the major challenges for UNICEF while executing programs in Ethiopia?
Mr. Bjorn: - Among the major challenges are that the government, the people are very eager to see the situation improved in all areas, rapidly. Therefore, making sure there is the capacity to execute all projects is a challenge itself. For instance, if you take the area of education you can not bring all children into school because there are no enough teachers or books. Also, the limited number of medicines in health centers and physicians and nurses are all challenges, not to mention brain drain.
The major challenge is that all children that go to school do not get quality education and do not have appropriate places for spending their leisure time. We have initiated efforts with the government and others, to ensure that schools become child friendly, are move comfortable, have good teachers and text books and safe environments. When we come to other areas like the protection of children, we have special problems such as addressing the necessary facilities for orphans. This is complicated because there is no real infrastructure to care for these children effectively. In some places, there are capable NGOs and community based organizations, and they do a good job but limited in effect.
There are close to six million orphans. For that purpose we still are trying to develop effective strategies to deal with the situation. Though much of the work still remains the initial progress is encouraging. Nutrition has also been a major challenge as until recently, it has been difficult to define the right mechanisms but again only a few months ago the government adopted a new National Nutrition Strategy and Policy, which in our view is exactly the right thing that needs to be done.
So, we are here together with some other partners like the World Bank, Canadian, SIDA and so on and are now organizing ourselves for full support of the implementation of all those programs. Regarding child health, UNICEF to build up a new health extension program that insures children and others get basic services like immunization, and hygiene treatment against key diseases. We are very excited that the government has adopted an effective policy which we firmly support. We can encourage other donor partners to join in and also make sure that these policies have strategies in order to become successful as soon as possible.
Capital: - What has UNICEF contributed to support children that are out of school and live in drought-prone areas?
Mr. Bjorn:- Whenever emergencies, wars, threats, drought or floods occur, what normally happens is whatever project at hand is interrupted and children are taken out of school. One of the things that we are working on tirelessly is to address the necessary requirements and make sure that they are maintained so education is as quickly as possible.
Capital: - How does the prevailing political situation of the world determine how UNICEF operates?
Mr. Bjorn: - I think the world in general is contiguous to be supported by the UN system. I would like to say that about UNICEF in particular, because all the children across the world are somehow linked to UNICEF. UNICEF is enabled to maintain a strong position and continues to increase its resources and activities globally.
Capital: - How has the state of the world’s children improved by any definable measure, especially in Africa?
Mr. Bjorn: - For the world in general it is very clear that there have been many important improvements and most countries have rapid economic development and fairer share is reserved for children’s services. That is why education, child survival and other things have been improved quite significantly. However, for Africa there more issues related to both poverty and other challenges. Some countries are doing fairly well-including Ethiopia and African states are becoming more serious. The most important thing is that investment on children is critically and extremely important for the world’s future.
Capital: - Regarding infant mortality, the rate is still unacceptably high in many parts of the world. What has UNICEF done and will do to minimize this rate?
Mr. Bjorn: - Regarding child and infant mortality in particular, the good news is that rates are decreasing.
Capital: - What is your message to families with young children?
Mr. Bjorn: - Families have to spend more time with their offspring to get proper and healthful children. They need to further encourage and support their children since they are the future of the country.