Empowering Mothers like Ardo: The Impact of a Sustainable Environmental Project
World Vision Ethiopia is implementing an environmental project called the Burqaa Initiative in the Oromia and Harari regions. This initiative aims to reduce environmental degradation, improve water balance and enhance the livelihoods of local communities. The seven-year project will also focus on strengthening the institutionalisation of water resource management. Through diverse income-generating activities, it will strive to enhance the livelihoods of local communities while restoring 114,000 cubic meters of water to the land, equivalent to the water in 45 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
The initiative takes various steps to conserve water, which comes from rainfall. It helps reduce environmental degradation, increase water balance, and improve the livelihoods of the community. By promoting better soil and land use, water storage, and improved water absorption, the initiative also strengthens water resource management which helped replenish rivers in the Upper Dabena and Hakim Gara areas. Ardo, a member of the community, has been one of the many who have directly benefited from the initiative’s efforts.
Ardo, a married mother of two, is from the Sofi neighbourhood in the Harari region. Her children, one in first grade and the other in kindergarten are her pride and joy. Ardo is an active participant in the Burqaa Initiative, which has provided her with a goat and chickens to breed. She now owns three goats and is excited about the potential profits from selling them.
Ardo shares, “If I sell the goats, I will earn a significant amount of money.” Thanks to the project, she has also been raising hens, which has become an important source of food and income for her family. “With the egg sales, we can feed our children and send them to school,” she explains.
“We are thankful that the project helped us solve so many of our problems including flooding, erosion, drought, and the resulting poverty,” she says with a smile. The project has had a significant effect on water and soil conservation, which greatly impacted the livelihoods.
“There’s a clear difference. The trees have started to grow again,” she notes with a smile. “Before the project, there wasn’t enough spring water for everyone. Now, there’s plenty for all of us.”
Ardo’s seven-year-old daughter, Sumaya, says she enjoys going to school every day and answering her teacher's questions. Like many children in the Sofi district, she was affected by nutritional shortages. However, this has now improved thanks to the family's increased income from the provision of goats, as well as the additional nutrition from eggs included in their diet.
The schooling of children like Sumaya in the Sofi district has been severely affected by environmental degradation and the resulting water shortages for drinking and household use, as they have had to travel longer distances to collect water.
However, this has changed due to the intervention of the project, which increased the availability of water and created more ponds. As a result, students are now able to focus more on their education rather than worrying about collecting water. Children like Sumaya benefit from the Burqaa Initiative-supported environmental clubs at the schools in the project implementation areas, which foster a love of nature and a dedication to environmental protection from a young age.
Funded by the Heineken Africa Foundation, the Burqaa Initiative has introduced a programme focused on carbon absorption, water resource management, and improving livelihoods.
Over the past three years, 86,190 cubic meters of water have been returned to the ground annually. This has made the areas suitable for irrigation, domestic water use, and other essential needs.
The initiative, now in its second phase, has restored 1,782 hectares of land, slightly smaller than Monaco, through soil and water conservation, afforestation, and reforestation, with 905 hectares focused on conservation and 877 hectares on natural regeneration. Additionally, 773,044 trees have been planted in both areas that are covered by sponsorship and non-sponsorship. Before the project, communities like Sofi received drinking water only once a week. However, with the implementation of Soil and Water Conservation measures, the water capacity of ponds and other water bodies has increased, enabling access to water both day and night.
The community had a need for improved chicken varieties, breeding goats, vegetable seeds, and geomembranes to retain rainwater for irrigation, all of which were provided by the project, significantly improving the livelihoods of Ardo and her neighbours. Once reliant on the rainy season, farmers can now irrigate their land year-round, growing crops such as onions, coffee, and papaya. The income from these crops has enabled them to send their children to school and ensure better nourishment for their families.
Economically, the Burqaa initiative has generated over 40 million birr (US$304,000) for 1,928 participants, enabling them to engage in income-generating activities like honey production using improved beehives, poultry farming, vegetable production, and wheat farming.
By Fekadu Ethiopia, Communications Coordinator (ILaNS), World Vision Ethiopia