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Ethiopia

Market-based approaches are new to Ethiopia, but since 2007, iDE has been demonstrating how business can address the most challenging conditions in poverty and sanitation.

Childhood friends find new vocations in southern Ethiopia

Five rural university graduates without work build a thriving welding business in just two months.

The RIPA project offers farming communities alternative income sources by boosting livestock and crop production and providing technical and vocational training, including skills like welding.

Read more: For rural youth, RIPA provides not just an alternative income source but a crucial lifeline

Cultivating Confidence With Potatoes in Central Ethiopia

Transforming communities from the ground up through financial empowerment and agricultural entrepreneurship

Without fair opportunities, rural women face deepening poverty, limited job prospects, and financial dependence. This inequality hinders community growth. By offering upskilling, financial literacy, and sustainable farming knowledge, we can empower them to achieve self-reliance and long-term resilience. 

Read more: Women in Ethiopia are breaking social taboos and embracing entrepreneurship through iDE’s empowering gender training.

Why we’re here—

Agriculture in Ethiopia accounts for 80 percent of the labor force and over 40 percent of the gross domestic product. Over the past half-century, Ethiopia has struggled with frequent droughts, leading to disruptions in its agriculture as well as a series of humanitarian crises. It is also home to the second-largest population in Africa. Ethiopia’s agricultural productivity is extremely low, due to an underutilization of water resources, with only 6 percent of its groundwater used for irrigation. Malnutrition is widespread due to the resulting lack of sufficient food for the majority of the population and chronic diseases from poor sanitation.

Women economically empowered in three African countries

Women entrepreneurs deliver greater business results

The US$6.4 million ($8.5 million CAD) project, being implemented by iDE and funded by Global Affairs Canada, has been designed to enhance economic empowerment, well-being and inclusive growth by providing support to women involved in agricultural value chains.

Read more: 25,000 women are being targeted across Sub Saharan Africa – in Zambia, Ethiopia and Ghana

Leading the cause for WASH

Building a sanitation market in Ethiopia

Market-based approaches are new to the sanitation and hygiene sector in Ethiopia. Through pilot and scale-up projects, iDE brings applicable and relevant strategies to build sustainable delivery of these services to Ethiopian households. 

Read more: How iDE is building the market for sanitation through partnerships and community outreach

Young pastoralists expand business

Eager entrepreneurs want to work but are unaware of or unequipped for job opportunities

While both men and women in the lowlands of Ethiopia have increased their engagement in local markets, they often lack access, agency, and commercial scale.

Read more: Livelihood variety for the next generation

The future for Ethiopian coffee farmers

In the birthplace of coffee, Ethiopian farmers are adopting new practices to enhance a way of life that’s been passed down for generations.

In the birthplace of coffee, Ethiopian farmers are adopting new practices to enhance a way of life that’s been passed down for generations. With the support of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, iDE is working with farmers in Jimma, Ethiopia to practice sustainable coffee production.

Read more: Enhancing coffee production in Ethiopia

How We Do It —

Agriculture

iDE increases small-scale farmers’ incomes by using a market-based approach to promote manual well-drilling and household irrigation technologies. iDE collaborates with the Ethiopian government to connect farmers to agricultural extension services, technical support, and improved seed varieties. Additionally, iDE supports and encourages farmers to diversify into high-value commercial crops, livestock products, and other high-value agricultural commodities such as honey. These activities are changing Ethiopian farmers’ perception of farming, in that they begin viewing and practicing farming as a business, rather than as a way of life.

Learn more about iDE's commitment to Agriculture.

WASH

iDE seeks to improve health outcomes by providing access to safe drinking water through low-cost and affordable household water technologies and by promoting rural sanitation through iDE’s sanitation marketing approach. In both cases, iDE encourages the adoption of improved products and practices among the rural poor, while simultaneously creating both profitable and sustainable enterprises. iDE also trains sales agents to sell to rural consumers directly. These agents receive a commission on their sales, ensuring the sustainability of the model.

Learn more about iDE's commitment to WASH.

Resilience to Climate Change

Agriculture in Ethiopia depends on rainfall. Temperatures are expected to rise, along with more varied rainfall patterns, likely leading to extreme flooding and drought.

iDE helps people in rural areas build their resilience to climate extremes through the use of water-saving and climate-smart agricultural technologies and practices.

Learn more about iDE’s commitment to Resource-Smart Technologies.

Download PDF: Actions For Resilience

Gender Equity

Fathers and husbands determine whether Ethiopian women have access to resources and can engage in their community, even though women make up the majority of the agricultural labor force. When women are able to have control of their own incomes, they are more likely than men to spend it on the betterment of their families.

By focusing on women as customers and entrepreneurs, iDE strengthens their participation in rural value chains and increases their access to technology, know-how, finance, and markets.

Learn more: iDE’s commitment to Gender Equity

Download PDF: Gender Equity | Vision & Principles

Nutrition

Although declining recently, nearly half of Ethiopian children under five are stunted due to chronic under- and malnutrition. Vitamin deficiencies are prevalent in Ethiopia, where the diet of the rural population consists mainly of cereals, root vegetables, and beans.

By promoting high-value, nutritious crops, iDE empowers farmers to earn more income and provides their families and communities a with more varied diet, fueling them with the energy and mental ability they need to be successful. iDE also improves access to safe water and sanitation, keeping people healthy and able to absorb the nutrients gained from an improved diet.

Learn more about iDE’s commitment to Nutrition.

Emerging Women Leaders

Ethiopia’s women leaders find confidence and hope to achieve their visions

This model economically empowers women as they invest and save money for the future, but also addresses aspects of social empowerment through new relationships and increased agency.

Read more: Women step into leadership positions by joining Women Economic Groups

iDE IN ETHIOPIA

Kirkos-Gofa main road, Tanzania Street, opposite to Suisse Clinic
PO Box 7892, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Phone: +251-11-467-2906
+251-11-467-2907
+251-11-467-2908
Fax: +251-11-467-3341
E-mail: Ethiopia@ideglobal.org

Our partners—

  • Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research
  • Allan & Nesta Ferguson Foundation
  • Big Lottery Fund
  • Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
  • Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
  • Comart Foundation
  • Digital Green
  • Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency
  • European Commission
  • Frankfurt School
  • Global Affairs Canada
  • Headley Trust
  • Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation
  • International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
  • Sainsbury Family Trust
  • Syngenta Foundation
  • The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership
  • UNICEF
  • United States Agency for International Development
  • Vitol Foundation
  • Waterloo Foundation