Population Council Research that makes a difference

Religion is a powerful force in Ethiopia, and religious leaders have considerable influence within Ethiopian communities. Approximately half of the population of Ethiopia is Orthodox Christian, making the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC) the largest religious denomination in the country. For many rural Ethiopian communities, religious structures may be the only sustained institutional contact, especially where there are few roads, few schools, and where medical facilities are sparsely distributed. Incorporating developmental issues such as HIV and AIDS, reproductive health (RH), and gender equity into the daily teachings of the EOC could radically improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities.

The Developmental Bible is a resource that compliments the Metsihafe Gitsawie ("glossary of the day-to-day teachings of the Church" or "lexicon"), a calendar of spiritual and secular messages used by the EOC. Written in Amharic and consisting of two volumes: 365 daily messages and 52 Sunday readings; the Developmental Bible covers approximately 45 development issues.  His Holiness, Abune Paulos, Patriarch of the EOC, designated six senior scholars of the Church to formulate the curriculums based on the lexicon of the Church. The Population Council provided an orientation session for the scholars to strengthen their understanding of HIV and AIDS, RH, harmful traditional practices (HTPs), adolescent and youth development, and gender issues.

This five-year project with a two-year pilot phase will involve seven regions/dioceses in Ethiopia. A total of eight EOC training institutions were selected to participate in the pilot phase, and the project will be expanded to 20 training sites in the second phase. Activities will include working with appointed EOC scholars to formulate the Developmental Bible; conducting baseline and endline surveys to measure the impact and integration of the Developmental Bible into the training curriculums of EOC institutions; and organizing a series of training sessions for high-level members of the EOC, teachers from the EOC’s training institutions, priests, Sunday school instructors, and women Church association members.

Project impact

A baseline survey was conducted in 2008 to measure knowledge of HIV prevention methods, attitudes toward stigma and discrimination, gender-based violence (GBV), gender roles, early marriage, and female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C).  Over 3,000 priests, deacons, Sunday school, and women Church association members in 121 churches in Amhara, Tigray, Addis Ababa, and Southern Nations and Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR) were interviewed. The results of this evaluative survey suggest that members of the EOC community in these locations have generally low levels of knowledge about HIV/AIDS prevention, reproductive health, and the rights of women.  There also appear to be low levels of stigma and discrimination within the Church which suggests that messages concerning HIV will not be opposed. When asked about GBV, over one-fifth of the women respondents agreed with the statement "Husband is justified to beat his wife if she comes late in the evening."

The Developmental Bible has the potential to encourage individuals and communities to abandon practices that are harmful and to adopt healthy lifestyles supported by EOC teachings. Furthermore, when fully institutionalized, the Developmental Bible project could bring about large-scale, sustainable social change and development among the largest religious community in Ethiopia. Currently the Council is preparing an evaluative survey to measure the impact of this intervention.