YEHA
In 2007, Ethiopiaid began supporting YEHA, a project which specializes in teaching bio-farming techniques to rural farmers and helping them to generate a sustainable livelihood. Agriculture is the biggest industry sector in the Ethiopian economy, yet there is a severe lack of expertise in effective resource and land management. Without this, the industry will never prosper or progress.
Ethiopiaid has provided funding to help set up postgraduate level training in farming and agricultural management, which is endorsed by Addis Ababa University. However, the unique feature of this training is that it is designed to generate a direct improvement to the lives of rural farmers as well as to the students.
The postgraduate qualifications will enable the students to become experts in Ethiopian agriculture and use their skills and knowledge in their future careers. Training in this area is not widely covered by the current educational system in Ethiopia and certainly not to this level of expertise. By addressing this deficiency, Ethiopia's land and natural resources will no longer fail to support the country as there will be sufficient knowledge for proper resource management and development to occur.
In addition, the research projects that must be carried out by students as part of their study programme, will be used to tackle real-life problems faced by Ethiopian farmers. Students will be assigned to work in local farms as part of their training and develop new solutions to current issues. This means that not only will the students benefit academically, but the local community will also see immediate results.
We think this is a unique opportunity to provide a lasting change in Ethiopia at the same time as achieving some immediate improvements in the lives of rural communities.