An assessment of the causes of malnutrition in Ethiopia: A ...

ensure people’s democratic participation in them, making participatory rural development the
prime implementation mechanism; and (3) the specific roles of governmental and nongovernmental
bodies will be identified at each level in order to increase accountability for
performance and to enhance the managerial capability at regional and woreda levels.
iii) Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Program (SDPRP)
Poverty is a composite expression of the level of well-being of the household and
society. Poverty indices are estimated for various years based on data generated by either
Welfare Monitoring Surveys or Household Income Consumption and Expenditure (HICE)
surveys. From the 1999/2000 HICE survey, it has been calculated that the absolute poverty
head count index stood at about 44 percent, indicating the proportion of the Ethiopian
population that is unable to meet its basic needs. The level of rural absolute poverty was
found to be higher, at 45.4 percent, than urban, which was 36.9 percent (MOFED 2002a,
15). 12 . This high level of poverty is also reflected in the low level of literacy of households,
low level of schooling, stable but still large family size, and agricultural and livestockdominated
occupations 13 . It can be stated safely that this high level of poverty is the major
linchpin for the persistent underdevelopment and chronic malnutrition of the population and
the country. Poverty in Ethiopia is both the cause and the consequence of underdevelopment.
As part of the government’s ADLI and the Rural Development Strategies and
Policies, the first phase of the Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Program
(SDPRP 1) for 2002/03 to 2004/05 is currently under implementation. SDPRP is the major
program for tracking the achievement of the MDGs and its targets. The SDPRP document
states:
“The overarching objective of the Government’s poverty reduction strategy is to reduce
poverty through enhancing rapid economic growth while at the same time maintaining
macroeconomic stability. Poverty head count ratio is projected to decline by about 10
percent (4 percentage points) by the end of the [first phase] poverty reduction strategy
program period (2004/05) from its 1999/00 level of 44 percent. Real GDP is targeted to
grow by at least 7 percent on average during the period.”(MOFED 2002b, 41).
In addition to the core target of reducing the poverty level by half from the current
level, the SDPRP is also the lead program to deal with programs of other poverty-related
sectors, including agriculture, food security, education, health services, HIV/AIDS, roads,
water and sanitation, private sector development and macroeconomic stabilization policies. A
sideline reference is made in the document for the need to make provisions for nutrition and
health interventions (ibid, 67).
iv) Industrial Develo pment Strategy
The Industrial Development Strategy will be implemented along the lines of the
following principles (MOI 2002):
• Conviction that the private sector is the driving force of the industrial development
strategy;
12 The poverty count index is calculated on the basis of a poverty line of Birr 1075 per year, that means,
a basket of food items that would meet the consumption of 2200 kilocalories per day or an amount
valued at Birr 1075 per year. If the MDG poverty line of USD 1 per day is used, then the proportion of
the population in absolute poverty would be over 80 percent.
13 The DHS 2000 survey reported that 75 percent of the female and 52 percent of the male population
have no education and only 14 percent of the female and 29 percent of the male population have had an
incomplete primary education. In terms of occupation, about 84 percent of the male and 58 percent of
the female were engaged in farming and livestock rearing. Among those engaged in non-farming
activities, 84 percent of the male and 63 percent of the female population have received a secondary or
higher level of education (CSA & ORC Macro 2001, 12-21).
27