An estimated 88% of Ethiopian children live in poverty. Not just financial insecurity, but a multi-dimensional poverty which includes lack of access to basic needs like housing, sanitation or education. In rural areas inequality runs deepest. The rural southern region of Ethiopia known as SNNPR is one of three regions where a staggering 91% of children live in poverty, compared to just 18% in the capital Addis Ababa.
In Koshe, children start school late and drop out quickly. Instead of learning skills in the classroom, they go straight to work, in the fields, in the home, on the streets, earning what pennies they can.
South Sudan is the world’s newest nation, and one of the world’s most fragile states. Years of war and violence mean education in South Sudan has been severely disrupted for generations. Only 27% of adults are literate, and prospects for children are dire.
Zambia has the fourth highest birth rate in the world and an extremely high HIV/AIDs burden. These factors combined with a high level of poverty – 60.5% of the population live below the poverty line – and a low level of education mean that life expectancy is low at 52 years old.
Kibera is the largest slum in Africa, located on the outskirts of Kenya's capital Nairobi. Heavily polluted by human waste and garbage, estimates vary, but up to one million people are believed to live crammed into an area of only 2.5 square kilometres, in wood and sheet metal shacks.
