Wag-Himera

Wag Himera (ዋግ ኽምራ) is located in northern Ethiopia between38° 15’ to 39°15’ E longitudes and 12° 25’ to 13° 25’ N latitudes. The administrative unit covers about 9,039.04 km2. The topography of Wag Himera is a spectacular consisting of mountain terrains and gorges ranging from 989 m to 4043 m above sea level. Sekota, the capital town of the zone, is 720 kms from Addis Ababa (the national capital), and 430 from Bahir Dar (the regional capital). Sekota serves as the intersection among the four capital towns of the neighboring administrative zones of Amhara (Woldia, Debre Tabor, and Gondar) and Tigray (Maychew) regional states. The town is also located in the middle of the four big urban areas of the northern half of Ethiopia, namely, Bahir Dar, Gondar, Mekele, and Dessie. This geographic location of Sekota and Wag Himra serves a unique opportunity to turn the town and the zone in to an economic, tourism, and transport hub of the northern half of Ethiopia.

Wag Himra is one of the administrative zones in Amhara region in Ethiopia. The zone is also one of the three Nationality zones in the region, and hence vested with extra legislative and executive privileges. Wag Himra is structured into six administrative districts (local known as Woredas) and one municipality. The administrative zone shares border with three zones of Amhara region (North Wollo, South Gondar, and North Gondar), and two zones of Tigray region (Southern and Central Tigray).

The population of Wag Himra is estimated to be more than half a million of which 50% are women. This implies gender aspect is very important for the development in the area. About 90% of the population in Wag Himra lives in rural areas implying rural development is the key for lifting many out of poverty. The average household size is estimated to be 4.2 with ca. 45% of the population being aged less than 15 years. The large share of the young population serves both an opportunity (a positive net labor supply each year) and a challenge (high dependency ratio which is 94 dependents per 100 economically active peoples).

Wag Himra is one the areas known for its long history of human settlement and agricultural practices in Ethiopia. It is also associated with the Zagwe Dynasty (ruled Ethiopia from ca. 900 to 1270 AD). Today, the historical artifacts from this long and rich history of the society are found in many parts of the zone and reflected in many aspects of the society.

On the other hand, however, Wag and its environs have been subjected to frequent wars and conflicts, particularly, since the second half of the 19th century. First, the zone is located within the geographic circle where power struggle for political centralization (in a bid to build modern Ethiopia) has begun and been fought for decades since the middle 19th century. Needless to say, among them were also rulers from Wag Himra itself. Second, most of the wars to defend the country from foreign aggressions (e.g., Matemma-1889, Adwa-1896, and  Maychew-1936) were fought in the northern half of Ethiopia in general and not far from 300 kms radius from Wag Himra in particular. Third, in the 1980s, Wag Himra served as base for guerrilla fighters (especially that of Ethiopian Peoples’ Democratic Movement – EPDM) that contributed to eventually overthrew the Derg regime in 1991. Not only these wars had consumed the youth of Wag Himra in their times, but had left far reaching social, economic, and environmental consequences.  Yet, the resilient people of Wag-Himera has prevailed against all the odds. 

The long history of settlement and agricultural practices along with the topography have led to land degradation and soil erosion in Wag Himra. This along with the erratic precipitation in the area has subjected the zone in to a vicious circle of poverty, food insecurity, malnutrition, and migration. In 2004/05, more than half of the zone’s population (55%) was living under national poverty line. About 70% of the households in Wag Himra reports shocks related to environmental changes (drought, famine, crop failure, and animal death) as major shocks significantly impinging on their livelihoods. Following this, as there are only limited livelihood opportunities, the vast majority of the population in the area either sell livestock or other assets and/or use previous savings as main coping mechanisms at the times of droughts. Putting altogether, the nexus between environment and poverty is blunt in Wag Himra. Likewise, the hidden momentum of lost (and migrated) generations of elites due to the wars and conflicts in the 19th and 20th century is still a living memory in the society. According to the 2007
population and housing census, only 22% of the population aged above five years have basic and above literacy. This in turn leads to inefficient public institutions, inadequate access to health and education facilities, and transport and energy infrastructures. Today, in Wag Himra, one hospital serves nearly 200,000 peoples. In 2007, about 66% of the households depend on unprotected water while about 65% of the households do not have toilet while only 4% of the households use clean energy for cooking. According to the 2011 Ethiopia’s Rural Facilities and Services Atlas, in Wag Himra, there was only one improved water facility per 9,600 rural population, one rural health facility per 19,800 rural population, and one primary school per 2,700 rural population, and one agricultural extension service to 3,146 rural population. It worth to mention here that the access indicators presented here are not indicators of facility or service qualities which are even worse. On top of this, the demographic characteristics of the area (rapid population growth, and overwhelmingly young and rural) pose challenges as much as representing opportunities. High population growth in rural areas results in dwindling per capita agricultural land thereby pushing outmigration. Youth in urban areas need employment and livelihood opportunities for which urban 
infrastructure and development is crucial. 

Wag Himra has huge underutilized (and yet uncovered) potentials in livestock, apiculture, fishing, tourism, and mining sectors. Its dynamic youth population (serving cheap labor), its geographic location (serving to become an economic hub in the northern half of Ethiopia), its topographic, historical, and cultural attractions (serving a huge potential for tourism), and its untapped natural resources (more than 28 rivers which can be used for irrigation with considerable investment though, an artificial lake for fishing, and undiscovered minerals and gemstones) provide multiple opportunities. However, some major steps are still needed to be able to fully exploit the aforementioned potentials. These include documenting the demographic and natural resources potentials, and historical values of the society, building institutional capacity, and promoting private investment.