Ethiopia

Our cur­rent 15 pro­grammes in Ethiopia are sit­u­at­ed in the Regions of Oro­mia and Amhara and are led by an expe­ri­enced region­al coor­di­na­tor locat­ed in Addis Aba­ba. The present part­ners besides finan­cial part­ners are pri­mar­i­ly small­er NGOs with estab­lished women and fam­i­ly sup­port pro­grammes of their own. The Swis­s­hand pro­gramme offers a wellap­pre­ci­at­ed addi­tion to such. Legal restric­tions con­cern­ing the grant­i­ng of loans are able to be bypassed along­side coop­er­a­tives. Through Swisshand’s pro­gramme, those in need are giv­en a chance to become entre­pre­neurs through received train­ing cours­es, in hopes of secur­ing a liveli­hood for their families.

Agri­cul­ture is as such a crit­i­cal source of income.

The topo­graph­i­cal loca­tion of Ethiopia pos­es as an oppor­tu­ni­ty for the cul­ti­va­tion of var­i­ous nat­ur­al plant species as well as var­i­ous crop plants. Specif­i­cal­ly, the cul­ti­va­tion of the cof­fee bean grants the best chance at a sus­tain­able finan­cial inde­pen­dence of a fam­i­ly. The agri­cul­tur­al econ­o­my with mil­let, man­ioc, yams, sweet pota­toes, and legumes con­tributes to a vast major­i­ty of sub­sis­tence farm­ing with­in the region.

As a result of wide­spread pover­ty and rapid pop­u­la­tion growth, more spaces of land for farm­ing, pas­ture farm­ing, and indus­tri­al agri­cul­ture are being used up. This caus­es a loss of employ­ment and income oppor­tu­ni­ties for the families.

It may appear on a map as though our active pro­grammes are dis­trib­uted in close prox­im­i­ty of one anoth­er. The dis­tances, how­ev­er, are sub­stan­tial and the roads dur­ing the rainy sea­son become near­ly impass­able. To trans­port the pro­duced goods to the near­est mar­ket­place, hour­long walks across land­scapes are to be expect­ed. The nat­ur­al land­scapes and their par­tic­u­lar cli­mat­ic con­di­tions in the regions of Oromio and Amhara, along with the ongo­ing drought and extreme pre­cip­i­ta­tion inci­dents, have led to loss of impor­tant cul­ti­va­tion areas. In many fam­i­lies it occurs that the men are unable to work and remain unem­ployed fol­low­ing their par­tic­i­pa­tion in the mil­i­tary. The women are there­fore often left to their own devices.

In Ethiopia only around 53 per­cent (2013) of chil­dren fin­ish pri­ma­ry school. Com­mon­ly, they are told to con­tribute to the liveli­hood of the fam­i­ly at a young age. Through Swisshand’s train­ing, par­ents, specif­i­cal­ly women, are giv­en the train­ing to become inde­pen­dent and self­suf­fi­cient entre­pre­neurs, allow­ing their chil­dren the abil­i­ty to con­tin­ue vis­it­ing school.

A Swis­s­hand pro­gramme in the slum region of the cap­i­tal, Addis Aba­ba, is a prospec­tive pilot pro­gramme. Of the 4.4 mil­lion inhab­i­tants, many still live in very bad conditions.

Through the gen­er­at­ed funds with help from Swis­s­hand and on site coop­er­a­tion, the peo­ple of this region should be able to be giv­en the chance for a bet­ter and more sus­tain­able livelihood.

The pop­u­la­tion of 110 mil­lion inhab­i­tants is influ­enced heav­i­ly by the dom­i­nant two-thirds of Chris­t­ian ortho­dox belief sys­tem. A major­i­ty of the most remote vil­lages con­sist of a mix between Chris­tians and Mus­lims and are com­posed of a vari­ety of eth­nic­i­ties. Such a diverse com­po­si­tion of eth­nic­i­ties has led to civ­il unrest through­out the his­to­ry of the coun­try. Recent polit­i­cal advances give rise to a hope­ful and peace­ful future and intro­duce new chances for a bet­ter life for the peo­ple in Ethiopia.

The turn­ing point in Lubuaba’s life

Bizunesh is hap­py about the luck in her stables

Keriya has been mak­ing pot­tery since her child­hood fol­low­ing the teach­ings of her parents