Utah State University self-reliance program aids Ethiopians

Ethiopians who herd goats, sheep and cows around East Africa have long lived in isolation, generation after generation. As poverty among these communities has grown, a Utah State University-led program has sought to build their self-reliance by showing women how to diversify their families? sources of income and food, establish lending clubs and work to help everyone in the group in so-called collective activities.

While cellphones proved helpful, the program did not resort to new technology, building instead on what was already available, such as termite mounds that can be hollowed out and used as ovens.

Researchers took advantage of a devastating drought to investigate how those in the program fared compared with others from similar communities who did not participate. Their study, published this month in Science, found that participating families were better off after a drought killed up to half the region?s livestock and exposed millions to famine.

?Oftentimes when we see crises in Africa, we believe they need more drought-resistant seed or some technical solution,? said Layne Coppock, a professor in USU?s department of environment and society. ?If we can build their capability to problem solve, that may be a more effective way to tackle these problems.?

Coppock, lead author of the new study, launched the Pastoral Risk Management Project, or PARIMA, in 1999. USU?s involvement ended a few years ago, but the project continues under the direction of Ethiopian colleagues based in Addis Ababa.

?Capacity building? ? or showing the herders how to expand their economic opportunities ? can be very inexpensive. Coppock estimates it cost about $36 per participant to administer the program. PARIMA, which was funded by USAID, began when his team introduced 15 Ethiopian women to peers in neighboring Kenya, where innovative women had broken out of traditional roles.

?That was the inspiration,? Coppock said. ?Seeing people like them having such better lives even though their physical world was so similar, it blew them away.?

A hallmark of PARIMA is microfinance within the community. People pooled surplus funds and lent them to those building small enterprises. They included crushed-rock operations to supply materials for local construction projects, bakeries, local tourism programs, vegetable cash crops, dairy processing and building rental dwellings.

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Since 2001, participants have dispensed more than 5,000 loans with a cumulative value of $645,000. That?s an average of $129 per loan. The rate of repayment ? with interest ? has been 96 percent.

By the time a three-year drought started in 2005, 59 collective-action groups had been established. With Ethiopia-based colleagues Solomon Desta and Getachew Gebru, both one-time USU research associates, and Seyoum Tezera (all three are with Managing Risk for Improved Livelihoods, the nonprofit that runs the program) Coppock set up a research protocol to gauge the program?s effectiveness.

The team identified three study groups, each consisting of up to 60 randomly chosen individuals. Two groups had undergone PARIMA training, but one came from communities that also received grants to capitalize livestock trade. A control group consisted of people from similar communities who had not participated in the program.

Researchers? survey questions were geared to assess their subjects? health, quality of life, confidence in the future, interest in their kids? education, condition of their stock and ability to generate cash income. Coppock said the groups from his program experienced less hunger, displacement and strife.

?The interventions assisted people at a time when the social-ecological system was put to a severe test,? he wrote.

bmaffly@slrib.com

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/53077321-78/program-coppock-drought-usu.html.csp

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