Ethiopia has launched a lowland livelihood resilience project at a cost of $450 million to improve the livelihoods of pastoralists.
The funds for the six-year projects were secured from the International Development Association (IDA), part of the World Bank that helps the world’s poorest countries.
A two-day workshop marking the launch of the project opened today in the presence of federal and regional Government officials, including Muferihat Kamil, Minister of Peace.
The project will be used to improve the livelihoods and resilience of 2.5m pastoralists and agro-pastoralists in low land areas. About 30% of beneficiaries are women.
The project will put communities in charge of their own development priorities by enabling them to identify, lead and manage local development initiatives.
It will also reduce long-term environmental degradation and communities’ vulnerability to climate change-related droughts.
Ethiopia is one of the countries with a sizeable part of their population living on animal husbandry and following their animals as they search for pasture and water in order to sustain their herds. Frequently, pastoralists have an ethnic and cultural background that distinguishes and, in most cases, marginalizes them from the mainstream population.
MG/abj/APA