ETHIOPIA: Caritas Ethiopia economically empowering women for a better nourished family
By Makeda Yohannes, CBCE Communications and Public Relation Officer
Due to the fact that in most rural areas in Ethiopia women bears the heavy burden of running household by making sure that the families are well fed and well taken care of, the Ethiopian Catholic Church Social and Development Commission (Caritas Ethiopia) is implementing a project that aims at empowering women economically to enable them improve the livelihood of their families.
Under the project dubbed Supporting Horn of Africa Resilience (SHARE) which is run with the support from EU and Caritas Belgium, Caritas Ethiopia is focusing on empowering women from very poor backgrounds under the project main objective is “to empower women is to empower a family.”
The Beneficiaries are selected by Commission’s Coordinating Office of Soddo in consultation with the local administration and the community and are given three goats or sheep based on their preference and agro-ecologic conditions of the area and accompanied by training on cattle breeding, saving and business skills.
The women are encouraged to organize themselves in a saving group and save every month. After breeding the livestock and getting an offspring the women according to the agreement of the project and government experts are required to sell the off springs and use the money to transform their asset to heifers, milking cows and donkeys.
According to Mr. Kinfu Guta, SHARE Project Coordinator, usually the women choose to buy milking cows considering the importance of owning a cow, which is not just about income generating but also provides milk for their children. He explains that the women are now thinking about economic growth rather than worrying about feeding their families for the day since they are involved in various alternative means of income generation activities.
According to Mr. Kinfu the success of the project can be measured by the drought resilience the beneficiaries have developed.
“Our project sites are among some of the places that were hit by the drought caused by El Nino in the year 2015 but during this time we have witnessed that our beneficiaries are managing well despite the persistent effects of the severe drought. That is our biggest achievement, creating women who use their capacity effectively to work and generate income by filling the gaps that used to prevent them from exploring their capability such as start-up funds and skills,” said Mr. Kinfu.
Tadelech Bobe is a beneficiary who resides in Damot Pulasa District, Kulo Shinto village. She is a widow and mother of six. She lives in a small hut with her family and she did not own any asset prior to her selection to benefit from the project. “I used to work as a daily labourer to feed my children, it was barely enough for our household cost so owning a sheep was beyond my imagination,” she said.
After appropriate training she was given three sheep and after proper breeding she got off springs which she reared till they were good enough to sell at a good price that allowed her to purchase a heifer. At the moment her heifer has also given her an offspring. At the same time the sheep has provided Tadelech with three more off springs raising the number of assets she owns to 6 sheep, a cow and a calf. She also saves through the savings group and began a small scale business selling beverages.
“Finally my dream for a better life has come to realization; I now own so many livestock and even have milk and butter for my children. My saving is 
also growing; I am now planning to construct for my family a better house with corrugated iron sheet. It is time for us to move to a better house, I have already bought the necessary materials for the construction, I used the money from my saving and the amount I earn from my business. After that I will continue to breed and sell my livestock at a profit and also look into better business opportunities, for me there is no going back to my former life of poverty,” she said.
Similarly, Meselech Dana is a beneficiary women living in Damot Pulasa district. For her and her family life is not easy as her family of 6 was living in a hut that was falling down. Her husband earned a small amount of money for their daily cost and her task was to run the household. After being selected as a beneficiary she received three goats from the project which she took good care of as per her training. She was lucky to get off springs that grew up to be healthy and were sold at a good price. The amount she got from selling 7 of the off springs allowed her to buy a heifer that is now pregnant. Shortly after Meselech got additional off springs which she sold to construct a better house for her family.
“I am now living in a better house with my family and as you can see I own a healthy cow and goats. For me this seemed impossible just a few years ago but now it is a reality thanks to the Catholic Church project, I plan to continue my savings and start a business and at the same time grow the number of livestock I own. It is also satisfying for me to see my children are better nourished,” she said excitedly.
These are just examples of women who have benefited from the project and have tremendously improved the living standards of their families. All the beneficiary women continue to save a certain amount from their income and work for a better life hoping to be financially independent in the near future.
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