ADDIS ABABA (Helvetas Ethiopia)– Many people in Ethiopia suffer from recurrent droughts, and climate change is exacerbating the problem. Helvetas, Swiss development organization, supports them in their efforts to make a living despite the scarcity of water. Helvetas Ethiopia is also improving rural infrastructure by building suspension footbridges and providing vocational training and capacity-building for local authorities.
The Ethiopian government invests heavily in education, and the economy is rapidly developing. But these developments hardly benefit Ethiopian farming families, who are confronted time and again with droughts and famines. Since 2002 Helvetas Ethiopia has been providing hands-on support to relieve their distress.
Support for farmers and nomadic herders
For example, Helvetas Ethiopia builds cisterns for farming families that store rainwater collected from the rooftops. Farmers also plant drought-tolerant crops on hillsides to reduce erosion – and grow more food. Furthermore, with Helvetas’ support, farmers make more varied use of the prickly pear (local name: beles), whose leaves supplement their diet and provide fodder for their animals, and whose fruits can be sold to the capital.
Nomadic herders also suffer from recurrent drought and receive emergency support from Helvetas Ethiopia.
Suspended bridges for remote regions
In the mountainous regions of Ethiopia, it often takes people a day or more to walk to the next village or water source. This is a major obstacle to rural development. Suspended footbridges connect remote settlements to traffic routes. This improves access to schools, markets and hospitals. Ethiopian engineers have been trained in bridge-building by Nepalese experts, who, thanks to a Helvetas’ project, have many years’ experience in building suspension footbridges.
More know-how for local authorities
Local authorities are improving their capacity to provide public services. With Helvetas’ know-how, they can plan, build and administer development projects themselves, such as drinking water facilities, irrigation systems and suspension bridges.
Helvetas Ethiopia has also been active in vocational training since 2015. Thanks to training courses in tailoring, carpentry, electrical wiring, hairdressing, cooking etc., young adults are improving their income as salaried employees or self-employed tradespersons.
SOURCE: helvetas.org
About HELVETAS
HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation, one of the major development organizations in Switzerland, came into existence on 1 July 2011 with the merger of two organizations: Helvetas (founded 1955) and Intercooperation (founded 1982).
As a politically and denominationally neutral association, HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation is engaged with over 1,400 staff in more than 30 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.