Masha is a town in south-western

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

. Located in the

Sheka Zone Sheka is a zone in the Southwest Ethiopia Regional State of Ethiopia. Sheka is bordered on the south by Bench Maji, on the west by the Gambela Region, on the north by the Oromia Region, and on the east by Keffa. The administrative center of She ...

in the

Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region The Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (often abbreviated as SNNPR; ) was a regional state in southwestern Ethiopia. It was formed from the merger of five ''kililoch'', called Regions 7 to 11, following the regional council ele ...

(SNNPR), this town has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 2223 meters above sea level. Masha had been the administrative center of the Sheka Zone until 1996 when that Zone was combined with the

Keffa Zone Keffa or Kaffa, is a zone in the South West Region of Ethiopia. The administrative center is Bonga. History The Zone is named after the Kingdom of Kaffa. Kaffa was part of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (SNNPR) unti ...

to create the Kaficho Shekacho Zone, when it was demoted to the administrative center of only the Masha Anderacha

woreda Districts of Ethiopia, also called woredas (; ''woreda''), are the third level of the administrative divisions of Ethiopia – after ''List of zones of Ethiopia, zones'' and the ''Regions of Ethiopia, regional states''. These districts are f ...

. When the two former Zones were re-created towards the end of 2000, Masha once again became the capital of the restored Sheka Zone. According to the SNNPR's Bureau of Finance and Economic Development, Masha's amenities include electrical service provided by a diesel generator, a bank, and a branch of one of the local

microfinance Microfinance consists of financial services targeting individuals and small businesses (SMEs) who lack access to conventional banking and related services. Microfinance includes microcredit, the provision of small loans to poor clients; saving ...

organizations. In 2004, the Ministry of Agriculture proposed the Masha Anderacha woreda as part of a voluntary resettlement program, which led to the local settlement of over 2,000 people from other areas.

Demographics

Based on figures from the

Central Statistical Agency The Central Statistical Agency, also known as the Ethiopian Statistical Service (ESS; Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ ስታቲስቲክስ አገልግሎት), is an Ethiopian government agency designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that ...

in 2005, Masha has an estimated total population of 11,122 of whom 5,393 are men and 5,729 are women.CSA 2005 National Statistics
, Table B.4 The 1994 national census reported this town had a total population of 6,138 of whom 2,986 were men and 3,152 were women.

References

Populated places in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region {{SouthernNationsET-geo-stub