Ginbo (sometimes spelled Gimbo) is one of the 77 woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. The name Ginbo comes from one of the provinces in the former Kingdom of Kaffa. That province, as well as the Kafficho provinces Bonga and Manjo, became districts with the Ethiopian conquest in 1896, and these districts were later merged to form the modern woreda.
Part of the Keficho Shekicho Zone, Ginbo is bordered on the south by Decha, on the west by Chena, on the north by the Gojeb River which separates it from the Oromia Region, on the east by Menjiwo, and on the southeast by Telo. Towns in Ginbo include Bonga, Diri, Gojeb, Keboch, Ufa and Wushwush.
The primary food crops include enset and maize; other staple foods include wheat and barley. A major cash crop in this woreda is tea; there is a large tea plantation at Wushwush.[1] Notable landmarks include a Christian monastery 12 kilometers from Bonga which dates to 1550, and the Bonga Forest Reserve covering some 500 square kilometers of the surrounding hillsides.[2]
Ginbo was selected by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2004 as one of several woredas for voluntary resettlement for farmers from overpopulated areas, becoming the new home for a total of 7800 heads of households and 31,200 total family members.[3]
Based on figures published by the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, this woreda has an estimated total population of 147,905, of whom 75,060 are men and 72,845 are women; 32,577 or 22.03% of its population are urban dwellers, which is greater than the Zone average of 9.7%. With an estimated area of 1,269.38 square kilometers, Ginbo has an estimated population density of 116.5 people per square kilometer, which is greater than the Zone average of 81.9.[4]
In the 1994 national census Ginbo had a population of 99,847, of whom 49,364 were men and 50,483 women; 17,976 or 18% of its population were urban dwellers. The three largest ethnic groups reported in this woreda were the Kafficho (76.74%), the Amhara (15.19%), and the Oromo (4.25%); all other ethnic groups made up 3.82% of the population. Kafa was spoken as a first language by 76.49% of the inhabitants, 18% spoke Amharic, and 3.16% spoke Oromiffa; the remaining 2.35% spoke all other primary languages reported.[5] Concerning education, 36.29% of the population were considered literate; 25.8% of children aged 7-12 were in primary school; 13.05% of the children aged 13-14 were in junior secondary school; and 7.81% of the inhabitants aged 15-18 were in senior secondary school. Concerning sanitary conditions, about 50.28% of the urban houses and 21.90% of all houses had access to safe drinking water at the time of the census, while about 67.08% of the urban and 24.95% of the total had toilet facilities.[6]