Worancha ወራንቻ

This article was reported by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a Washington DC-based global network of 185 reporters in 65 countries who collaborate on transnational investigations. Internal watchdog finds link between World Bank financing and Ethiopian government's mass resettlement of indigenous group The World Bank repeatedly violated its own rules while funding a development initiative in Ethiopia that has been dogged by complaints that it sponsored forced evictions of thousands of indigenous people, according to a  leaked report  by a watchdog panel at the bank. The report, which was obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, examines a health and education initiative that was buoyed by nearly $2 billion in World Bank funding over the last decade. Members of the indigenous Anuak people in Ethiopia’s Gambella province charged that Ethiopian authorities used some of the bank’s money to support a massive forced relocati

Author Amy Borgman (right) leads a provider training. Photo:  www.groundsforhealth.org   By: Amy Borgman There is more to volunteering with Grounds for Health than the campaign on the ground, reaching “women at the end of the road.” Just getting there is half the fun and gives even more of a perspective of what is out there in our wide, wonderful world. My 6 AM flight left sleepy Burlington airport and dropped me off at LaGuardia where I transferred to the Emirates Airbus, holding 600 people on two levels; the economy passengers separated from the  other  passengers by a staircase and velvet rope. This is good training for the next part of the adventure. Ethiopia is a wonderful country. The capitol, Addis Ababa, is a large cosmopolitan city of several million people that spreads over many miles. But as you head south towards the Sidama zone where the  campaign  took place, you see a more rural vista. Roads become increasingly worn and traffic consists less of cars than of

“ There is Only Coffee” We hope you take a few minutes to watch this video shared with us by our coffee roaster: Peace Coffee.  It’s a beautiful video tribute to the coffee growers of the Sidama Farmers Cooperative Union in Ethiopia. These farmers produce the coffee that is in our very own Goodness Blend and they embody our motto: “For the Love of Coffee and Community”. Source: www.downtowngoodness.com

Street Photography - Southern Ethiopia - Old Sidama Man Photo by   Manfred Mueller ,  posted on   http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/forums/thread39668.htm     Pos

The rulers of Ethiopia have never failed to acknowledge that ultimate sovereign power belongs to the people of Ethiopia whenever elections are impending. However, political parties invariably play a more prominent role than the electorate in the electoral process. Though political parties enjoy public support, albeit at varying degrees, the bickering and mud-slinging they engage in always drowns out the voice of the most decisive actor in the whole process—the public.  The state of a country’s political space is a critically important factor in the building of a democratic system. When the space is permissive, it allows all political parties to operate freely and enables voters to exercise their right to choose their; this will render elections a genuine expression of the will of the people. On the contrary, elections will be meaningless if the space is so restrictive as to deny voters of viable alternatives from which they can choose.  Ethiopia has conducted four controve