Women’s Economic Support in Dandi and Jeldu Districts in Ethiopia

Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

Amount: € 40, 480.64

Overview

The aim of the HUNDEE project was to establish a basis for the social and economic development of 735 poor rural women from the Dandi and Jaldu districts of Ethiopia. The aim was to ensure the women’s economic self-sufficiency and to defend their constitutional rights. The project specifically aimed to create a sound institutional basis through which women from the target localities could engage in profitable economic activities and undertake asset building projects while ensuring their human rights, thereby improving their well-being. The project also organised women who were unemployed and heads of their households in the locality around issues of common concern. Methods to reach these objectives included purchasing and mobilisation of construction materials, purchasing of grain and infrastructure investment projects to support the beneficiaries in their endeavours.

Key Results

• HUNDEE project changed livelihoods of 485 women from the Dandi and Jaldu districts of Ethiopia through training on the procedures relating to grain purchases and policies. These women were given employment at the cereal banks that were built in the districts and given the task of operating the day-to-day activities, with HUNDEE providing oversight role for the project. Thus giving the women from rural areas income generating activities which the association uses to finance major initiatives related to women’s rights and economic empowerment and ability to become self-sufficient and provide for their families.

• 250 female-headed households from the Dandi and Jaldu districts in Ethiopia were provided with a heifer, a cow that has not borne a calf. This forms part of the Dabaree concept where each beneficiary is obligated to provide an offspring of their heifer to another beneficiary designated by the council, thus, creating a self-sustaining program using minimal resources.