'Nice Children Don't Eat a Lot of Food'

Strained livelihoods and the role of aid in North Wollo, Ethiopia

"None of us, except the two smaller children, who haven't reached the age of reason, are eating meals of normal size. The two younger children are given food whenever they ask or cry for it. They are too small to be told: "nice children don't eat a lot of food. Be nice and don't ask for food every now and then"
(Household in Chereti Kebele, North Wollo Zone)

 

The above quotation illustrates how households cope with the first stage of food crisis and how food insecurity is an inherent part of everyday life and the upbringing of future generations. 'Nice children' are children who understand and adapt to the situation of food insecurity.

The book presents a longitudinal study of the impact of a development programme, the Joint Ethio-Danish Programme, in selected sites in North Wollo in Ethiopia and general changes in the area during the period 1997-2008.

The current study of North Wollo is discussed in the context of the long record of famine and food security problems in the area, as well as the national and killil policy framework and other measures that have been taken to cope with food security problems.

Pernille Sørensen (previously DIIS - Danish Institute for Development Studies, now independent consultant) and Selome Bekele (Department of Statistics, Addis Ababa University) conducted the food security study as part of a research component, the Impact Study, under the Joint Ethio-Danish Programme.