Ethiopia

Libraries Without Borders has implemented two Ideas Box in the Dollo Ado region of Ethiopia for Somalian refugees.

Background

Over 200,000 somalian refugees have fled their country since the 1990s because of the food crisis and the conflict fueled by the  Al Shabaab armed group which considerably prevents food aid from being distributed. The refugees are mainly families of nomadic herders and farmers from the districts of Gedo, Bay and Bakool. Ethiopian camps on the Somali border, in the region of Dollo Ado, now host more than 140,000 refugees, a number that is constantly growing.

Our Actions

In December 2015, Libraries Without Borders and Save the Children deployed two Ideas Box in two Somali refugee camps, Malkadida and Bokolmanyo, in the Dollo Ado region in Ethiopia, close to the border with Somalia.

Two Ideas Box kits in Somali refugee camps

For more than twenty years, civil war and drought have pushed hundreds of thousands of Somalis to take shelter in Ethiopia, especially in camps near the border with Somalia, in Dollo Ado. Only 30% of the school-age children in these camps go to school. 

The fruit of a partnership between Libraries Without Borders, Save the Children, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees was to install two Ideas Box kits in the camps of Bokolmayo and Melkadida in 2015 to allow refugees to learn and entertain  themselves. Many of the children have never set foot in their country of origin, but there are many books and much educational content in Somali and about Somalia that speak to their roots and serve as a precious link between generations.

Our projects in Ethiopia

Enabling access to education and information for Somalian refugees in Dollo Ado
Objective

Emergency & post-conflict

Start date

2015

Status

Ongoing

ACTIONS

In December 2015, Libraries Without Borders and Save the Children deployed two Ideas Box in two Somali refugee camps, Malkadida and Bokolmanyo, in the Dollo Ado region in Ethiopia, close to the border with Somalia.

The two Ideas Box are destined to promote children’s rights in particular, through access to quality education as well as safe espaces for reading, exchanging and participating in activities.
New activities are being developed in 2016 for adults, including literacy workshops. Cultural activities will also bring together refugee and host populations to strengthen inter-community ties.

OBJECTIVES

  • Implementing 2 Ideas Box equipped with paper and digital content in Somali, Amharic and English
  • Training partner personnel to the use of the Ideas Box
  • Develop new activities for children and adults

WITH SUPPORT FROM

Financial partners

Operational partners