Development Partner Internal Briefing Note Six
'Ziway or Dubai'
Deepening crisis in education for girls and boys in the CSSP pilot 'civil
society watershed' programme in Muneesa Woreda, Arsi Zone, Oromia
Managed by the British Council
with consortium partners INTRAC and the IDL group
CIVIL SOCIETY SUPPORT PROGRAMME
INTERNAL BRIEFING REPORT FOR CSSP DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS
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SUMMARY

Crisis in confidence in education as targets for student registration collapse in Muneesa woreda

CSSP partner Harmee launches Intern Scheme for female graduates to help young women
convert qualifications into effective employment

Muneesa Woreda Task Force launched to tackle rising migration, abduction of girls and drop-outs
1. At the start of the new academic term, the depth of the education crisis is clear in Muneesa Woreda, one
of CSSP’s pilot ‘watershed’ programmes.1 The rate of registration of students has been so slow that local
government has mounted a campaign to persuade parents and students to sign up.2 No one predicted the
scale of non-registration, or understands the factors that have contributed to this. ‘Please don’t disturb us;
we’re still mourning the passing of our prime minister’ was one reason provided by reluctant school-age
children, suggesting that something more profound is at play.
2. This example resonates with the perceived general collapse in confidence of parents and their
children in the value of education. People in Muneesa point to the absence of a return on investment in
education: a dearth of employment for graduates, and a weak causal link between education levels and
income – income that families plan for when they encourage their children to go to school. This situation
affects most those low income families who struggle to keep their children in education, and also seems
to contribute to increasing levels of migration of girls and women to the Middle East. In Muneesa woreda
alone 565 women and girls are estimated to have migrated last year.3 (Boys tend to migrate to
employment locations closer to home – such as Ziway.) This threatens to increase the gap in education
levels between richer and poorer people just as donors experiment with cash-on-delivery investments to
incentivise the education of girls and marginalised groups.
3. Until this year, the primary focus of local government in Muneesa has been the high drop-out rate of
students, caused partly by the local practice of abduction (especially from the poorest families) and the
migration of girls, often facilitated or forced by their families or boyfriends.4 Harmee responded by helping
the government to make education more attractive by delivering better quality education for girls
through additional tutorial, counselling and financial support to girls from Kersa Secondary School.
Exceptional results were achieved this year: for the first time, girl students have come top in Grades 9-12.
Kersa Secondary School achieved the best Ethiopia General School Certificate Exam results in Arsi
Zone, with a Harmee-supported girl coming top. With the District Education Bureau representative, she
recently received a prize from the Government of Oromia for all high-ranking students in the region.5
4. In July, Muneesa launched its first Woreda Task Force tackling three priorities identified by citizens and
government: migration and abduction of girls, and drop-outs from both sexes. The Task Force, comprising
14 representatives from government departments, agencies and civil society, meets twice a month.6
Analysis of the causes of each issue will be presented at an upcoming Woreda Conference. While
economic pressure provides a general cause for migration, task force members are puzzled why even
families with adequate employment are pushing wives and daughters to the Middle East.7 From the range
of available laws (Family Law, Penal Code, etc.), an attorney has developed bye-laws for the Task Force
1
See Internal DP Briefing No. 2 for a fuller description of the pilot project. The three pilot projects are designed to test the CSSP
‘watershed approach’ and the block grant mechanism.
2 The weekend before the start of school, only 80 per cent of anticipated students have enrolled.
3 CSSP was informed by a member of the Woreda Task Force that the number of out-migrations can be estimated from the number of
girls who apply to change their names on their ID cards to Muslim names.
4 Figures from Muneesa Education Office for 2012 indicate 33.3 per cent drop-out at Grade 9/10 and nearly 31 per cent from
Grades 9 to 12.
5 Information from Kersa Secondary School.
6 One representative each from the Education Bureau, the Court, Police, Women’s Affairs, Social Affairs, Civil service, Finance and
Economic Development, Mayor of Kersa; plus Christian and Muslim religious leaders, Idir, Elders and Harmee. Six of the 14
representatives are women.
7 In Kersa Secondary School the wives of three teachers have apparently departed for the Middle East in the last year.
CIVIL SOCIETY SUPPORT PROGRAMME
INTERNAL BRIEFING REPORT FOR CSSP DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS
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which set out roles and responsibilities of government and civil society actors relevant to the reduction of
abduction and other forms of physical and psychological harm to women and girls. The Idir Union of
Kersa, representing 17,000 people, is also considering the development of bye-laws to expel any
member who has in some way colluded with abduction of a girl. The consequences of expulsion are
extreme, raising questions about whether the Idir Union will be able to uphold the bye-law.8
5. The crisis in student registration represents a much bigger challenge, however, for both local government
and civil society actors: that of encouraging uptake of school places. This requires an understanding of
why there has been such a big collapse in confidence in education as the best route to well-being, and
the design of appropriate responses which provide positive incentives to both parents and children –
such as helping rural youth improve skills alongside intermediary technologies to improve production and
productivity.9 Different strategies are required since it is widely believed that children are increasingly
resistant or immune to commands or wishes of their parents.
6. An emerging culture of resistance in young people may also provide opportunities for influencing
cultural practices which currently work against the education of girls. Harmee has just launched its first
Intern Scheme for 10 female graduates who come from Muneesa woreda and neighbouring woredas
and zones in Oromia region. In the scheme, which is led by Ms Aberesh Bekelle10, participants have been
selected for their initiative and personal commitment to promoting well-being for the least powerful people.
The interns participate in a ten-month guided learning, training and research programme. This includes
attachments to Muneesa woreda government offices: Women and Children Affairs, Education, Justice
and Social Affairs and civil society organizations (associations of the disabled, older people, women,
youth and teachers). The girls also upgrade their communications (English) and computer skills. The
intention is to help them to be both more employable and economically independent, and more
effective in deploying theoretical and practical skills as they develop their understanding on issues such
as migration, abduction and other forms of physical and psychological harm to women and girls.
7. Many of the interns have themselves been affected by abduction and by the pressure to migrate to the
Middle East. Most have sisters whose education has been interrupted in order for them to raise income
for their families. One intern, Gifti, nearly went to the Middle East when she was Grade 9. While in Addis
Ababa sorting out her passport, she discovered that most migrants were leaving without completing
education. She decided to return and proceeded to study at Jimma University, with support from her
father. Her younger sister, however, was encouraged by her family to go to the Middle East. ‘She is crying
for her education now,’ Gifti says. ‘My mission in life is to convert my families and other families to the
value of education for girls, to stop them from forcing or facilitating girls to Arab countries.’
8. Gifti’s task, and the task of Harmee and the Woreda Task Force will be much harder if there are no
corresponding schemes to help graduates and School Leavers to convert their hard-won qualifications
into meaningful employment. People in Muneesa joke about graduates making cow pats. The issue is
not that graduates should not undertake menial tasks, but that the investment in education is wasted if
subsequent employment is limited to such tasks. CSSP plans to design and expand a range of intern
schemes for young people, with a special focus on girls, at different levels of education, across the
regions. Facilitated by the CSSP Regional Business Units, linked to local vocational and training colleges,
businesses and civil society – as well as local government departments – these will form part of the
planned CSSP ‘thematic’ investments for which Development Partners recently completed a survey.
The secretary of the Idir Union, also a member of the Woreda Task Force, says that if a member is expelled ‘no one will help him if
his house is on fire, no one will help him carry his dead to the cemetery and no one will celebrate the birth of a child.’
9 The education bureau will continue to mobilise families through the 1–5 household structure; however, this is unlikely to be sufficient
to keep children in school unless the causes of non-registration are addressed.
10 Aberesh Bekelle's case of abduction at the age of 14 is well known. The Ethiopian Women's Lawyers Association secured an
acquittal for her when she was charged with killing her abductor.
8