“I improved my livelihood with a start of small capital”, farmer Worku Marize
Even He was doing a local Mat day & night; Mr. Worku could not get enough income to afford his household expense. The income earned from Mat sale used to buy a crop for consumption only. He was in doubt to fulfill his family utility expense and his children school expense. He is a productive safety net program (PSNP) beneficiary. Yet, He was trying to do moonlight to achieve his food security.
Mr. worku Marize (aged, 38) is a farmer. He is married and has 5 children. He lives in 011 kebele, MenzGera Woreda of North shoa Zone where the air being freezes usually near to zero. Most of the farmers are growing limited crop specious due to cold weather and loam soil. So, Famers are poor in the locality. Mr. Worku has a piece of land gifted from his parent that yields only less than a suck of crop. As a result without off-work, he could not secure his family food need and other socially desired needs.
The means to end his poverty was managing his money to diversify his income via other works. ORDA’s Feed the Future: Livelihood for Resilience Activity (GRAD II Project) has begun to work in MenzGera Woreda with budget secured from USAID through Care Ethiopia in consortium of SNV in 2016. The Project trained farmers on multi-income generation activities: Village economic & saving association (VESA) formation, shoat fattening, poultry & lentil production.
Through the relentless effort of the staff of Graduate with Resilience to achieve sustainable Development II Project (GRAD II Project), Farmer Worku had a hope to improve his livelihood means by engaging in one of the project activities. He Joined a VESA which has 22 members to save one hundred Birr per month & in return to take a loan. First he took Birr 700 loan and made a mat. Then he paid back the first loan. He took a second loan and fattens a sheep for first round & earned Birr 6,030 profit. He consequently fattens a sheep for 2nd round and earned Birr 2,810, fattens cattle for 3rd round & earned 1,410, fattens a sheep for 4th round & earned Birr 8,000. Generally he has earned Birr 26,890 from activities initiated by GRAD II project. Now is fattening 6 sheep and waiting more profit.
“The VESA helped me to save my money & to dream more in income generating activities by taking a loan. From the profit earned, I demolitio a stick and mud house & rebuilt a corrugated iron house a cost of Birr 12,000. In addition I bought a dairy cow, a cost of Birr 8,000; a donkey for shipping & a horse for my transportation”, said Mr. Worku.
He articulated that as he has been equipped with lifelong knowledge on how to improve one’s livelihood with the available opportunity. He reminded he was just leading less than hand to mouth living. But things were changed through new thinking and managing of the available resource. He said that he would go forward with astonishing results without Grad II project for the future thanks to GRAD II.
The GRAD II Project benefits 36,000 households to improve their livelihoods in Amhara region where it is implemented in three cluster of Woldiya Cluster (Habru, Gubalafto & Kobo woredas), Meket cluster (Wadila & Meket woredas) & Mehal Meda cluster (MenzGera & MenzMama Woredas).