The EVERY ONE Campaign Tour exhibition showcases the artistic journey which is creating widespread awareness about maternal and child mortality in Ethiopia. I visited it yesterday, with my colleague Betty.
The EVERY ONE campaign, initiated by Save the Children UK, aims to help Ethiopia achieve the global Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5 (reducing child mortality and improving maternal health). EVERY ONE and Music May Day Ethiopia (a youth talent group which trains young people between the age of 15-25 in music, theatre, painting and dance) work with Save the Children and the Federal Ministry of Health to raise awareness about these vitally important issues.
At present the infant mortality rate here is 59 deaths every 1000 live births (though the trend is improving) while maternal mortality remains stuck at 676 deaths per 100,000 births – over 80% of mothers in Ethiopia give birth without advice from health professionals or going to health centres.
73 young men and women are participating in the EVERY ONE – Music May Day Ethiopia project and have travelled to remote areas in two major regions of Ethiopia (SNNPR and Amhara) and Addis Ababa to spread the campaign’s messages through community theatre, music and dance.
At the exhibition, I enjoyed a thought-provoking short play and dance performed by several talented members of the project – as part of this they sang the official EVERY ONE Campaign song: “Lemin Timut Enat?” (meaning “Why should a mother die?”). These innovative awareness raising events by the Music May Day team have contributed greatly to challenging traditional views on birth attendants and institutional delivery.
Apparently many of those who saw the powerful performance by Music May Day burst into tears – this was movingly captured in a series of pictures by young painters also involved in the project, which were on display at the exhibition. I believe the Campaign has already made a tremendous contribution to awareness raising.
More generally, Ethiopia is well on track to meet several of the MDGs, but needs to step up the pace. The British government is supporting these efforts through the work of our Department for International Development.
I am optimistic that Ethiopia will have made impressive progress by the target date of 2015, through the combined efforts of the government, donors and civil society.
As former director of Music Mayday’s fundraising and technical support office in The Netherlands I am extremely proud of my ex-colleagues of Music Mayday Ethiopia. It is an outstanding job they did with this Every One campaign and it looks like all the years of hard work and believing in the mission are starting to really pay off. I am happy to read that you, being an ambasador who without a doubt attends many other events, are so enthousiastic about what you experienced with Music Mayday in Ethiopia. Thank you for your kind support!
This to congratulate MMET and its partners who believe in young artists and engage them in such noble cause. It is a fact that Art has not yet given that much value in development process of the country. Your initiative is definitely could be taken as a model and surely an inspiration for similar projects and campaigns.
Once again …Congratulation ALL!
looks great, are you keeping track of how much the British government gives and what it gets back?
Dear Frisco, thanks for your message. The UK’s development aid is aimed at transforming the lives of millions of the world’s poorest people. The money we give to developing countries such as Ethiopia makes a big difference. In Ethiopia alone, UK aid saved one child per hour; and sent 1.7 million children to school and provided clean water for 90,000 people last year. We are committed to delivering value for money for British taxpayers, and achieving results. To learn more about UK Aid, please visit http://www.dfid.gov.uk
It is so wonderful to see such a scene of bliss for Music mayday and every one campaign team. Though we all are still expected to work on together in reducing maternal and child mortality , it was a great contribution.
Mr.Ambassador thank you for your pleasant & friendly approach and meticulous blog.
What an interesting piece!
I believe, the fact that artistic approaches are untapped in Ethiopia is another way to tackle existing development challenges, especially those mainly related to awareness gap.
Thank you Mr. Ambassador for your lovely blog, and thank you the UK Government for helping Ethiopia achieve these set goals!
Regards!