Our impact on hunger

Dawuro, in southern Ethiopia, is very remote and very beautiful. But life here is hard. In 2018 the Ethiopian government invited us to work with local communities in this zone to improve the nutrition and wellbeing of 90,0000 people.

Three years on, the families we worked with in Loma, Mareka and Gena Bossa districts are eating more and better food, and 99% of them are food secure – up from just 5% at the beginning of the project.

Our project, 75% funded by a UK Aid Direct grant and match-funded by Medicor Foundation, Rabobank and the Beatrice Laing Trust, was delivered by Ripple Effect Ethiopia in partnership with the highly regarded Dawuro Development Association (DDA). Working more with established partner organisations such as the DDA is a growing feature of our approach (as discussed in more detail on our blog Breadth vs Depth).

The project took place in a context of severe poverty, malnutrition, extreme climate events, and traditional practices and cultural taboos around food and nutrition that harm people’s welfare. These included the avoidance of eating protein-rich foods including eggs, milk, chicken and mutton, the isolation of pregnant women from nutritional and other social support, and feeding infants food with little nutritional value.

To address this, we developed a network of 180 self-help groups that built knowledge and skills among everyone from household members to local government personnel in four key areas: agricultural production; improved nutrition; water and hygiene; gender relations.

Through a combination of well-tailored training, practical demonstrations and personal follow-up, we made sure the benefits of our farm systems training spread beyond the self-help groups, with strong evidence of neighbours and the wider community sharing knowledge imparted by our trained farmers. Three years on, here’s what we have achieved together…

In Dawuro, 4,500 families took part in Ripple Effect’s training on farm management, soil conservation and composting, improved vegetable and fruit production (including drought-resistant varieties), pest management, vegetable gardening, crop rotation, water conservation and livestock rearing.

90% of farmers are now putting their training into action to improve productivity, with 99% of households now food secure – a figure 29% higher than the project target.

The sale of surplus crops at market has quadrupled average annual household income from just £33.36 at the start of the project to £127.50 at the end. This was despite the impact of Covid-19, during which farmers were unable to sell surplus produce at markets and had to try to preserve or store it, or consume it themselves.

Environmentally-friendly practices such as mulching, composting and soil and water conservation have decreased soil erosion and increased the use of rainwater for crops – techniques that have reduced the need to buy fertiliser and enabled farmers to grow produce all year round.

The project also introduced fodder crops and high-production, drought resistant fruit seedlings that are able to produce crops during previously unproductive seasons. The percentage of farming families planting vegetable and fruit tree seeds increased from 20% to 94% at the project’s close: 14% above the target.

The project enabled farmers to see their smallholdings as businesses, and to balance the production of food crops for home consumption, fodder, and sale – practices that together enable farmers to achieve ‘food security’.

Farmers also learned how to keep records, calculate profit and loss, identify marketing opportunities, set prices, and use the power of cooperatives.

Almost 3,000 people attended public campaigns at community events in Dawuro to share key nutritional messages. School children planted kitchen gardens growing onions, tomatoes and cabbages, and attended sessions on cooking meals using at least four different food groups. And school libraries were supplied with books on diet and nutrition.

By the end of the project, almost 15% more families were eating a balanced diet (up from 2.9% to 17%) – evidence of real change in the mindset and attitude of farmers who have started to move away from traditional diets with very low nutritional value.

90% of families now eat cereals (up from 60%); 50% eat dark green leafy vegetables (up from 9%), and 50% eat pulses (up from 12%).

The sample group of women in our self-help groups increased their average body weight by almost 5kg over the project period, taking them into the “normal” weight category. Crucially, just 3% of children aged under five were underweight at project end (down from 20%). Breastfeeding mothers now feed infants for longer, bringing health benefits to mothers and babies.

There is no point improving a family’s diet if their health continues to be undermined by lack of access to clean water, and poor hygiene practices. Throughout the project, families learned simple ways to improve home hygiene and sanitation, and there was a high uptake of amenities such as latrines, tip-taps and drying racks. This has led to a reported fall in the incidence of water-borne diseases.

Our work in Dawuro reached 3,750 people with safe and reliable water sources, including 10 newly capped springs and 26 roof water-harvesting structures on schools and health posts. Water user committees were established and trained to maintain the springs, protect water sources from contamination and collect and manage maintenance contributions.

Women’s domestic workload decreased and their decision-making power increased thanks to our transformative household methodology that enables families to understand household workloads and power dynamics.

Many men now do domestic household chores such as cleaning and cooking, and women have gained more time to participate and engage in other productive tasks, including initiatives to earn extra family income.

The physical impact of pregnancy and the value of breastfeeding became better understood, with pregnant and breastfeeding women now eating their fair share of food. By the project’s close, 94% of group members reported improved family relationships and 98% of female self-help group members reported full involvement in decision-making about the farm.

Savings and loans groups have given small farmers financial independence, supporting them in developing their farm businesses and to pay medical and school fees. More than 75% of families now access village loans, with some groups establishing their own businesses by pooling their capital.

This newly established culture of saving, together with access to credit, created a social safety net for families to rely on during crises such as the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

• Families are now eating three meals a day - up from two
• 98% of women are involved in household decision-making
• Annual household income increased from £33 to £128
• The average weight of a sample group of young women increased by 5kg

Asamannech, 35, from Dawuro, used to struggle to provide food for her two children. She attended Ripple Effect training in sustainable farming techniques, learned to make compost and to plant nutrient-rich vegetables. She built a poultry shed, and used the savings from selling vegetables to buy five chickens.

“Last year I won an award from my self-help group, for being a model farmer and mother,” she says. “It was the happiest moment in my life.”