Women in Agriculture Ethiopia - Wolkite · PDF fileWomen in Agriculture – Ethiopia...
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Women in Agriculture – Ethiopia Annual Report February 2016 – February 2017 University of Maryland Rotary Club Bahir Dar University Debre Berhan University Wolkite University
Transcript of Women in Agriculture Ethiopia - Wolkite · PDF fileWomen in Agriculture – Ethiopia...
Women in Agriculture – Ethiopia Annual Report
February 2016 – February 2017
University of Maryland
Rotary Club
Bahir Dar University
Debre Berhan University
Wolkite University
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Table of Contents
Overview ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 3
Background …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………... 3
Managing Partner: University of Maryland ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 4
Sponsor: Rotary Club …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4
Partner Updates
Bahir Dar University …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 5
Debre Berhan University ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 7
Wolkite University ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 9
Annual Meeting of Partners in Addis Ababa and Debre Berhan ……………………………………………….………….. 11
Directory …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 15
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OVERVIEW The WIA Program in Ethiopia seeks to enable public institutions of higher learning to develop
agricultural activities that benefit vulnerable women. The Program is managed by the University of
Maryland with financial and administrative support from the Rotary Club, in partnership with Bahir Dar,
Debre Berhan, and Wolkite Universities.
In December 2015, the partnership officially formed and $60,000 USD was apportioned by Rotary Club,
to be managed by the Addis Ababa – Bole Chapter. Each University would receive $20,000 total,
distributed in $5,000 segments contingent on programmatic and financial reporting.
By February 2016, the first distribution of funding enabled faculty at each university to develop
demonstration sites, farmer field school networks, educational workshops, school gardens, and other
activities that support local women in managing their own kitchen gardens. As of February 2017,
$25,000 has been distributed across the three universities. The meeting in February 2017 allowed the
partners to come together to discuss program updates, success and challenges, strategic planning for
the remaining of the funding, and possibilities for future collaboration.
BACKGROUND The Rotary Club of College Park became drawn to the WIA project concept during a presentation given
by James Hanson and former UMD Faculty, Rebecca Ramsing. Also instrumental in the creation and
later in the management of the Program is Hiwot Menbere, a UMD affiliate, and Stephanie
Grutzmacher, a former UMD faculty member in the Department of Family Science (FMSC).
The initiative began to gather momentum, and by the time that Rotary International agreed to match
funds to donate, the University of Maryland had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with three
public learning institutions in Ethiopia: Bahir Dar, Debre Berhan, and Wolkite Universities. Recently, the
Ethiopian government set new priorities for the development of higher education, including the
institutionalization of community service as a function of universities. Faculty members at public
universities – including the three WIA partners – are required to dedicate 25% of their time efforts
towards community outreach; for College of Agriculture faculty, this means agricultural extension.
In December 2015, Rebecca Ramsing and Taryn Devereux, WIA program coordinator, traveled to
Ethiopia to meet with the local Rotary Addis Ababa Chapter, as well as the WIA Regional Program
Manager from each university. During that trip, each university laid out a work plan and agreed on a
program budget for the next two years. Although the total amount was modest – each University is to
receive up to $20,000 to support WIA activities – this seed money can potentially enable those faculty
members to get these projects off the ground as more sustainable and long-term funding options are
explored.
The Universities have each implemented a wide variety of WIA activities, ranging from integrated fish
farming system demonstrations on their campuses, to introducing new chicken breeds to local women
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who collect, consume and sell fresh eggs in their communities. Every few months, the university
partners submit programmatic and financial reports in exchange for the next installment of funds.
Beyond working with a small budget dedicated almost exclusively to direct costs, challenges have
ranged from Ethiopian Faculty members being stretched thing (teaching multiple classes, managing the
WIA project, and still being expected to publish); institutional barriers to maintaining consistent financial
records; and a high degree of turnover among university faculty and administrators.
MANAGING PARTNER: UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND The University of Maryland’s International Women in Agriculture (WIA) program seeks to prepare
female extension educators and leaders to work with poor or vulnerable women so as to improve family
food security. The WIA Program is based on three key approaches: 1) Demonstration Farms, 2) Farmer
Field Schools, and 3) Women to Women Training. These approaches empower women to expand or
initiate low-input agricultural practices on their farms, including: vegetable gardening, small-scale
poultry production, composting to improve soil quality, improved post-harvest handling and food
preservation, preparation of nutrition meals, and marketing of agricultural products.
The WIA Program is housed in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics (AREC) in the
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (AGNR). Dr. James Hanson is the Director of the Program
and Chair of AREC. The Program is managed by Taryn Devereux, Faculty Specialist in AREC. In addition to
managing the WIA Program in Ethiopia, and various College Park campus initiatives, UMD has led the
successful Women’s Program in the USAID-funded Afghanistan Agricultural Extension Project (AAEP-II)
since 2011. For more information about WIA-Ethiopia:
http://www.arec.umd.edu/extension/women-agriculture/women-agriculture-ethiopia
SPONSOR: ROTARY CLUB Rotary International (http://www.rotary.org) is an international service organization that seeks to bring
together business and professional leaders in order to provide humanitarian services, encourage high
ethical standards in all vocations, and to advance goodwill and peace around the world. As part of the
commitment to service, Rotary International and its local chapters will fundraise for causes in line with
its core mission.
Rotary College Park (http://www.collegeparkrotary.net) is currently led by Mike Twigg, who led the
initial fundraising efforts for the WIA Program in Ethiopia with the University of Maryland. Currently,
Rotary Club Addis Ababa locally manages implementation efforts in Ethiopia.
Following the Annual Meeting of the Partners in Ethiopia, on March 1, 2017, representatives from WIA
at UMD presented updates on the Program to RC-College Park members in Maryland.
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PARTNER UPDATES
Bahir Dar University Bahir Dar University (http://www.bdu.edu.et) is located in the capital of the Amhara National Regional
State. It is the second largest university in Ethiopia, and home to approximately 52,830 students. BDU
aspires to become a Top 10 Premier Research University in Africa by 2025. The mission of the university
is “to contribute significantly for the nation and beyond through quality education, research and
community service.”
The WIA Program is housed in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. The BDU local
manager was originally Hailu Mazengia; the project is now managed with Fisseha Moges.
The first reported submitted by BDU outlines a total of 8 trainings provided to 22 women extension
agents. The training series began with an introduction to the WIA Program, and developed sites on
campus for a demonstration garden and compost preparation pit. The trainings offered included such
topics as water conservation and utilization in water scarce areas (using techniques such as perma-
gardening and keyhole gardening), human nutrition, feed preparation, poultry production and
management, vegetable gardening, soil management, apiculture, and water conservation for root crops.
Crops included cabbage, pepper, lettuce, beetroot, and carrot. The Program also reported a training on
mother and child nutrition.
Image 1: BDU Farm Workers Setting up the Demonstration Garden for Trainings
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Beyond its partnership with UMD, BDU also collaborates with a number of local organizations, including
the Amhara Development Association (ADA), the Bahir Dar Urban Agriculture Office, the Amhara Region
Livestock Agency, the Organization for Rehabilitation and Development in Amhara (ORDA), the Bahir Dar
City Women, Youth and Children Association, and the Zenzelima Kebele Administration.
Image 2: Women Attending a Training at BDU
Next semester, the WIA faculty plans to continue focusing on perma-gardening, key-hole gardening,
vegetable production, and poultry management. Pending approval of the first submitted programming
and financial report, BDU will receive its next installment of $5,000 for a total of $10,000 received.
BDU intends to improve the participant screening process. BDU also intended to purchase materials for
the construction of a model chicken house, transitional hives, and top parts. Both the campus
demonstration garden and the Women’s Field off-campus will be further developed for additional
trainings. The Faculty plans to continue collecting data on this Project.
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Debre Berhan University Debre Berhan University (http://www.dbu.edu.et) is located in the town of Debre Berhan in the Amhara
Region, North Showa Zone. It is one of 13 new public universities established in 2007 by the Ethiopian
government, and as of 2014, is home to 5,387 students. The mission of DBU is to produce efficient
graduates by offering quality research assisted education, and to undertake problem-solving research
based on national needs that will benefit the larger community. DBU aspires to be the best university in
Ethiopia by 2020.
The WIA Program is housed in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resource Sciences. The Program is
co-managed by Tsigemariam Beshe, Dean of the College, and Hailu Terefe, a Lecturer and Doctoral
Candidate, under the guidance of Dr. Temesgen Tibebu, Community Services Director. DBU also has a
formal, working relationship with the University of Maryland’s School of Public Health
(https://agnr.umd.edu/news/agnr-works-debre-berhan-university-and-school-public-health-order-
promote-agriculture-programs).
The first report submitted in April 2016 details activities related to the demonstration farm that was
established in the early months of the Project, and the later trainings that were developed. This includes
the construction of greenhouses and compost systems. Trainings on vegetable production were also
reported. Due to a change in leadership, this Report remained pending for a few months in anticipation
of additional programmatic and financial information.
The revised report outlines the completion of the composting system and small-scale drop irrigation on
the demonstration site. Training topics included the preparation and utilization of compost, small-scale
irrigation and water management, and poultry management. This reported was approved and the
second installment of $5,000 was distributed in August 2016.
Image 3: Women attending a Poultry Management Training at DBU, July-Aug 2016
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One such training, on Small-scale Poultry Production, was a 5-part series that took place starting late
July 2016 that included a total of 25 women attendees. This training covered a variety of information,
including poultry housing, feeding, breeding, health, and general management. The objective of this
training was to empower women by improving their income and household nutrition through poultry
production.
DBU also has selected 4 primary schools in the area, and has prepared land for setting up school
gardens. These gardens provide hands-on education to local children, and also incorporate their families
– and in particular their mothers – in the trainings. Students are able to bring home vegetables and
other goods from the garden at the end of the season.
The third report was submitted in February 2017, and is currently pending.
Image 4: Participants at a "Dish Preparation" Training at DBU that sought to teach local farmers how to prepare healthy ingredients that can be grown in Kitchen Gardens
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Wolkite University Wolkite University (http://www.wku.edu.et) is located in south-western Ethiopia. It is a third generation
public university launched in 2011, home to about 12,600 students. The University is focused on
community service and conducting problem-solving research for the community, and working towards
building capacity that will push forward the country’s economic growth.
The WIA Program is housed in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The Program is
managed by Abreham Mulatu, with the support of the University Research and Community Service Vice
President, Dr. Sisay Shewambare, and Admas Berhanu, the Research Director.
The first report submitted in July 2016 by WKU outlines a series of trainings provided to sixteen (16)
women participants and two (2) extension agents. This report outlines the establishment of a
demonstration farm at the university, and the use of the initial funds for preparing land and purchasing
inputs. Seed beds were prepared for women raising different transplantable and non-transplantable
vegetable crops, as well as the construction of chicken houses that are able to house ten (10) hybrid
hens. The College developed and distributed training manuals in Amharic on topics related to vegetable,
fruit and root crop production, harvesting and post-harvest care, crop protection (e.g. integrated pest
management), compost preparation, simple irrigation techniques (e.g. drip irrigation), and poultry
production.
Image 5: A Women's Plot in Wolkite
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The Second Report, first submitted in September 2016 and then as a final document in January 2017,
described a continuation of activities for women on the demonstration site, including the preparation of
a permanent vegetable field for transplanting seedlings, and the development of a compost system. This
report shows an increase in the number of training beneficiaries at the Women’s Farm to forty (40)
women. At this site, the main activities including the preparation of seedlings, diversification of crop
varieties, poultry management (additional chickens were purchased and given to eight (8) newly
selected household women), fruit tree management, and for three households, the installation of
modern beehives.
Image 6: WKU Training at a local School
The Third Report submitted in March 2017, describes a continuation of these activities for the fourth
installment. This Report was approved as of March 2017.
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Annual Meeting of Partners in Addis Ababa and Debre Berhan On February 1-2, 2017, partners and stakeholders from the University of Maryland, Oregon State
University, Bahir Dar University, Debre Berhan University, Wolkite University and Rotary Club – Addis
Ababa came together for a two-day workshop on the Women in Agriculture Program. The workshop was
organized by Taryn Devereux and Melekte Truneh from the University of Maryland, with support from
Hiwot Menbere, an affiliate of the University. Further assistance came from Stephanie Grutzmacher,
formerly at UMD, now an Assistant Professor of Health Sciences at Oregon State University.
The Day 1 Session was held at the Siyonat Hotel in Addis Ababa, with a full day of activities planned for
the Partners. Delegations from each Partner University – including faculty members, administrators,
finance officers and Public Relations staff – attended, and were joined later in the day by the leadership
from the Addis Ababa Rotary Club. This was the first time since the original organization meeting in
December 2015 for the WIA Partners to come together to discuss the Project.
Image 7: Attendees at the Day 1 Session in Addis Ababa
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UMD objectives of the workshops:
Facilitate a ‘Lessons Learned Session’ for the university partners in order to identify:
o Challenges towards implementation experienced in the past year;
o Possible strategies to overcome those challenges, including:
Immediate steps,
Long-term Steps,
Who to ask for help within their institutions,
What UMD and/or RC can do to assist.
Provide a space for university partners to present on updates to UMD and the RC-Addis Ababa;
Facilitate a dialogue between the university partners and the RC-AA to address modifications to
the Partnership agreement;
Conduct individual meetings with each Partner to address challenges related to programmatic
reporting and finance management;
Share news and potential collaboration opportunities for future programming.
Trip to Debre Berhan
The Day 2 Session was hosted by Debre Berhan University in Debre Berhan. Partners who were able
traveled from Addis Ababa to Debre Berhan and stayed overnight. The following day was spent touring
the DBU campus, and in particular, the University Demonstration Farm. This included various plots using
different in-puts and agricultural methods, an aquaculture system integrated with poultry, and the early
stages of a large composting system.
Students in the College of Agriculture are encouraged to participate in these demonstration plots, which
are used by Faculty members and campus Farm Managers to test new agricultural methods and provide
demonstrations to the local women in the WIA Program.
The trip to Debre Berhan also included visits to Farmer Field Schools (FFS) set up by WIA Program
members at DBU. These FFS women are participating in a poultry project wherein upon purchasing
materials to construct hen houses and building the structures on their properties, they receive from the
Project 10 improved breed hens and training on best management practices. These women then provide
similar training to other women in their communities.
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Image 8: Photo taken during tour of Debre Berhan University campus, February 2, 2017. From Left to Right: Sodere Nurgi, Stephanie Crutzmacher, Kasahun Tsigemariam, Taryn Devereux, Melekte Truneh
Tigest shows off one of her chickens she keeps in a coop that she constructed on her property in Debre
Berhan. As part of the WIA Program at Debre Berhan University (DBU), she received about ten chickens
as well as training from DBU faculty in the College of Agriculture. She is a Farmer Field School Leader and
provides training to other women in the community on poultry management.
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Trip Outcomes
Trouble shooting of institutional and programmatic challenges; Renewed commitment to WIA project implementation; Introductions to new RC-Addis Ababa leadership; The WIA Program was approached by one of its partner universities – Wolkite University – to
apply for the UKAid SPHEIR Partnership Program as the Project Lead. Together with the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) the Partnership submitted an application to SPHEIR. The objective is to build institutional capacity at Wolkite University to better integrate community service efforts with academic programming, by elevating administrative capacities. Application is currently pending.
Commitment by Rotary Club – Addis Ababa to modify the agreement to include Overhead Costs
in the Budget for the Partners.
WIA Ethiopia - Program Directory Funded by Rotary District 7620 together with Rotary Foundation World Fund, Global Grant No. 1524153
In partnership with Bahir Dar University, Debre Berhan University, and Wolkite University
INSTITUTION NAME TITLE / POSITION PHONE EMAIL University of Maryland
(UMD)
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (AGNR)
Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics
(AREC)
Dr. James Hanson AREC Chair, WIA Director, & PI on Ethiopia Project
+1 (301) 405-8122 [email protected]
Taryn Devereux AREC Faculty Specialist, WIA
Program Coordinator +1 (301) 405-0077 [email protected]
Melekte Truneh AREC Director of Financial
Services +1 (301) 405-1292 [email protected]
Hiwot Menbere UMD Affiliate +1 (410) 491-2888 [email protected]
Rotary Club of College Park, MD
Mike Twigg President & (International)
Focal Person +1 (301) 674-2715 [email protected]
William Cammac Secondary Contact
(International)
Jose-Luis Izursa Secondary Contact
(International)
Rotary Club of Addis Ababa
Melaku Beza Yiman President
+ 251 9 112 06 477 [email protected]
Brook Debebe Secretary
Mullunesh Tennagashaw
Account Signatory
+ 251 9 122 11 601 [email protected]
Jarso Mulugeta Rotary Member
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Rolf Gautschi Treasurer (Host) & Account
Signatory + 251 9 112 00 663 [email protected]
Bahir Dar University
Fisseha Moges
Lecturer in the College of Agriculture,
WIA Regional Program Manager
Dessalegn Molla Dean of the College of
Agriculture [email protected]
Meti Gizawmaranata Graduate Student + 251 9 12 67 87 [email protected]
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Melkamu Alemayehu
Postgraduate Student, Research and Community
Service Coordinator, Course Chair of Horticulture Courses
+ 251 9 114 06 594 [email protected]
Tesfaye Shiferaw Vice President of Research and
Community Services [email protected]
Addis Admas Moges
Financial Services Director + 251 9 180 21 513 [email protected]
Debre Berhan University
Hailu Terefe PhD Candidate, WIA Regional
Program Co-Manager + 251 9 111 98 554 [email protected]
Tsigemariam Bashe College of Agriculture Dean, WIA Regional Program Co-
Manager tsigemar20012gmail.com
Yoseph Getiye College Dean Representative + 251 9 212 84226 [email protected]
Etsegenet Hailemichael
Plant Science Department Head
+251 9 34224269
Dr. Almaz Afera Research & Community Services Vice President
Dr. Asmare Melese Research Director [email protected]
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Temesgen Tibebu
Community Services Director
Rekik Bekele Animal Science Department
Head +251 9 11424444 [email protected]
Fekade H. Michael Finance Director
Wolkite University
Abreham Mulatu Faculty Horticulturist and WIA
Regional Program Manager + 251 919807785 [email protected]
Dr. Sisay Shewambare
Research & Community Services Vice President
Admas Berhanu Research Director
Thomas Gebre Community Services Director
Fekadu Simma Finance Director
