Thousands of young people in Ethiopia are growing up in rural, agricultural landscapes. But they lack a key ingredient to earn a living. Farmland. We will give them an alternative and help them establish profitable beekeeping businesses on communal land, helping them work their way out of poverty.
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We will solve the problem of poverty and unemployment experienced by young people in two districts in Ethiopia. The mainstay of the local economy is agriculture, yet due to controls on land allocation and high population growth, many young people can’t access land to farm and earn a living. Forced to move to towns, ending up in low paid jobs, their life chances are adversely affected as they can’t afford to pay for basic needs. Their problems are made worse by lack of skills & access to credit.
We will help young people make use of communal forest land (not farmland – which they do not own) through beekeeping. Bees can be kept almost anywhere, as the bees themselves forage far, collecting nectar and pollen from vegetation in forest land and crop fields belonging to other people. We will facilitate access to degraded communal land and help the young, new beekeepers, restore this land - making it better for bees. We will provide skills training and help to access start-up capital.
