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GEBRENA Bulletin News and Updates from the GIZ-SLM Programme and its Special Components
Issue 01 | October 2017
The new Ambassador, H.E. Brita Wagener, (3rd on right) and the Country Directors of KFW, Jan Blum (2nd on right),
and of GIZ, Matthias Rompel (far right) visit the homestead of a model farmer. The Manager of GIZ-SLM’s Tigray
Office, Tewodros Gebreegziabher (4th on left), explains the activities.
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The German Ambassador meets smallholder farmers in Tigray
The new German Ambassador is hosted to observe the German Development
Corporation's impact in the agricultural sector of Ethiopia
On 06 and 07 September, the new German Ambassador to Ethiopia and the African Union,
H.E. Brita Wagener, embarked on her first field mission which aimed to familiarise the
Ambassador with the interventions that are supported by the German Government in the
agriculture and education sectors.
Ambassador Wagener visited the Tigray region to get a glimpse of the work and impact that the
Sustainable Land Management (SLM) programme has had on the lives of smallholder farmers
and the improvement of the management of natural resources. The Country Directors of the
Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau
(KfW) accompanied her as she visited the rehabilitated watershed, May Atsemi, in Tahtay
Maichew district. She met with government focal persons, development agents and members of
the community, including a youth beekeeping group and a model farmer who is benefitting
from the Integrated Soil Fertility Management Project (ISFM+); an integrated special
component in GIZ-SLM that is funded by the German Government’s ‘One World- No Hunger’
initiative (SEWOH). Ambassador Wagener was impressed with the observations of the work that
the German Development Cooperation and its partners have been able to achieve on the
ground.
But what lies ahead for the Ambassador following her mission? In November, she will
spearhead the bi-lateral negotiations between the Governments of Ethiopia and Germany about
the future direction of the GIZ-SLM programme. This will seal the new Ethio-German
partnership in the agriculture sector.
Published by
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Sustainable Land Management (SLM) Programme Rahem Building, Diaspora Square, Meganagna P.O. Box 100 009, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
T +251-11 6 629 981/82/83/86/88/89 F +251 11 6629 975 I www.giz.de/ethiopia
Editing: Erna Mentesnot Hintz | Anna Summer
Layout: Erna Mentesnot Hintz
Illustration: Watershed logo | Bethlehem Molla Infographics | Erna Mentesnot Hintz
Next issue: November 2017
The German Ambassador meets smallholder farmers in Tigray 1
Improving agricultural education systems 2
What is Farmer Business School? 2
Infographic: Impacts of the National Sustainable Land Management Programmme 2
About the EU Support to the Sustainable Land Management Programme for Ethiopia 3
Healthier diets for mothers and their children in Tigray region 3
Farmers take the lead in the rural capacity development approach 4
Going beyond borders to share good practices from Ethiopia 4
Contents
1
IMPACTS OF THE NATIONAL SUSTAINABLE LAND MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME
Improving agricultural education systems
A working group to strengthen coordination in
development of curricula and training resources
The Support to the ATVET in Natural Resource Management
(NRM) and related Livelihoods component of GIZ organised an
official launch for the curriculum review working groups. The
ceremony was held on 04 September at the Beshale Hotel in Addis
Ababa and attended by over 30 participants from the NRM
Department and different ATVET Colleges.
The working group was established in June and comprises of the
heads, instructors and advisors of ATVET Colleges. The group aims
to support the customisation and improvement of the ATVET
curriculum delivered in five selected colleges. Following the
ceremony, the group set out to develop an assessment package for
extension training materials over a three day workshop.
GEBRENA Bulletin | News and Updates from the GIZ–SLM Programme and its Special Components | Issue 01 | October 2017
What is Farmer Business School?
A promise of better economic wellbeing for
Ethiopian smallholder farmers
The national Sustainable Land Management Programme
(SLMP) follows a three-staged watershed management
approach which includes community mobilisation, land
rehabilitation and economic development of the
rehabilitated watersheds. The concept of Farmer Business
School (FBS) offer great opportunities for the economic
development of farmers and rehabilitated watersheds.
The FBS, in general, targets at changing the mind-sets of
farmers by sensitising them for market opportunities and
possibilities to improve productivity, family income and
nutrition. FBS is an important tool to capacitate smallholder
farmers to start commercialisation of their produce and to
provide them with financial tools to make strategic and
operational business decisions. Furthermore, FBS is aimed at
widening the perspectives of farmers onto other segments of
the value chain. The training on FBS will be helpful in making
farmers strategically rethink their production choices and to
include them as much as possible into ongoing value chain
thinking and development. Applied to the Ethiopian context,
FBS can also improve farmers’ efficiency and utilisation of
limited resources through business planning.
Contributed by: Hanna Lemma, Intern, GIZ-SLM
2
GEBRENA Bulletin | News and Updates from the GIZ–SLM Programme and its Special Components | Issue 01 | October 2017
National extension workers and districts and community experts are in a better position to scale up approaches to new areas and transfer know how to communities.
Since 2008, areas benefitting from small scale irrigation result in higher yields and incomes.
Government partners received support at all administrative levels to plan and implement projects effectively. 1,773 watershed plans were developed with community participation.
Farming community groups have knowledge, skills and ownership to manage communal land sustainably.
Source: Impact Assessment of the SLMP Target
Regions (December 2016)
1.34 million Farmers & their families benefitted
4,500 hectares
Better irrigated farmland
450,000 hectares Land rehabilitated
1,313
Small-scale farming groups empowered
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Technical advisors from IAK-Ambero-Planco Consulting facilitate brainstorming
exercises with working group members during the three-day workshop.
IMPACTS OF THE NATIONAL SUSTAINABLE LAND MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME
GEBRENA Bulletin | News and Updates from the GIZ–SLM Programme and its Special Components | Issue 01 | October 2017 GEBRENA Bulletin | News and Updates from the GIZ–SLM Programme and its Special Components | Issue 01 | October 2017
3
Healthier diets for mothers and their children in Tigray region
A nutrition ambassador sets out to reach and change nutrition behaviours of rural communities
The Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture Project (NSAP) is part of the German
Government’s ‘One World-No Hunger’ initiative (SEWOH) and its approach is
aligned with the GIZ-SLM programme. The project aims to improve intake and
access to food for the most vulnerable households in three rural districts of the
Tigray region. More than 88,000 farmers are targeted with special focus of at
least 12,000 women of reproductive age and 3,000 children below 2 years of age.
An integral part of food and nutrition security is a society’s knowledge, attitudes,
norms and cultural practices. Therefore, the project devised a social and
behavioural change communication (SBCC) strategy which should help foster
positive nutrition behaviours amongst communities that lack important
knowledge and especially the awareness of changing behaviour towards a more
healthy and clean environment. The need for an influential and celebrated
individual to act as an ambassador for the issue arose.
Mahlet Gebregiorgis is a famous singer from Tigray region. As a woman and
young mother herself, she enthusiastically took on the role. Together with the
new nutrition ambassador, the NSAP developed campaign materials that teach
about good nutrition behaviours with a special focus on the needs of child-
bearing women and their infants. These include for example a song entitled
‘Aynit’ and various information education materials such as billboards, leaflets
and recipe books. The campaign will be launched officially in the coming
months. Mahlet will tour the targeted districts and appear in different regional
media outlets to promote how a diversified diet and a clean environment can
improve the health and wellbeing of families.
Mahlet Gebregiorgis holds a basket of fruits and vegetables
during the photoshoot for the nutrition campaign.
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Legend
Yayu Ecoregion Bale Ecoregion
About the EU Support to the Sustainable Land Management Programme (SLMP) for Ethiopia
High population growth, climate change, inappropriate
farming practices and uncontrolled grazing are the main
causes of land degradation, low agricultural productivity
and overuse of natural resources in Ethiopia. As a result,
ecoregions are diminishing and local communities are
struggling to make ends meet.
The EU Support to the (SLMP) Project builds on the Ethiopian
Government's SLMP and compliments the EU Share Project
that focuses on strengthening resilience coordination
mechanisms.
Duration 2016 - 2020
Budget EUR 19 million
Ecoregion names Bale Mountain National Park
Yayu Biosphere Reserve
Ecoregion
Location
South East Bale area and South West Yayu areas in
Oromia Region
Target Districts 11 (Bale 5, Yayu 6) | Highland: 2 in Bale and 6 in
Yayu | Lowland: 3 in Bale
Benefitting
Households
33,000 rural households
Area Coverage 33,000 hectares (3000 hectares per target district)
Building on the ongoing SLMP and harmonised with its framework,
the project has two overall goals. The development goal is to
improve livelihoods, food security and economic wellbeing of the
country’s farmers, herders and forest resource users. The environ-
mental goal is to rebuild Ethiopia’s natural capital by overcoming the
causes and mitigating the negative impacts of land degradation on the
structure and functional integrity of the country’s ecosystem.
Together, GIZ and KfW are responsible for the overall implementation
of the project.
Target areas of the EU support to the SLMP Project
GEBRENA Bulletin | News and Updates from the GIZ–SLM Programme and its Special Components | Issue 01 | October 2017
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Going beyond borders to share good practices from Ethiopia
Malawi learns from the Ethiopian experience of using the integrated watershed management approach
In late 2016, two country offices of GIZ in Africa came together - one to share and the other to learn. The collaboration aimed to help
stimulate the development of GIZ’s Social Protection Programme (SPP) in Malawi by adopting the integrated watershed management
approach to improve implementation of public works projects and to rehabilitate natural assets to help buffer climate shocks and
boost resilience of communities.
The GIZ-SLM programme in Ethiopia sent one of its many seasoned Watershed Management Advisors to Malawi in order to sensitise
GIZ-SPP and its stakeholders on the integrated watershed development approach. District officers and extension workers underwent
trainings on topics like nursery management and biophysical soil and water conservation and received practical implementation
manuals. And the establishment of a national watershed forum started the process of the development of the country-wide watershed
management roadmap.
Owen Chisinga, Assistant District Forestry Officer in Mchinji
district in Malawi stated: “Previously, we used to implement
public works projects using the single-sector approach. After
the training, we are now able to plan and implement projects
together with other sectors. We learnt that communities
need to understand and employ the approach. As a district, we
expect that the integrated watershed management approach is
applied at national level for successful implementation of the
Public Works Programme.”
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Farmers take the lead in the rural capacity development approaches
Farmer Field Schools are a new concept in Ethiopia. Unlike previously practiced approaches of watershed
development, this approach puts trained farmers and their groups at the forefront of the learning process.
In July 2017, the Integrated Soil Fertility Management Project (ISFM+)
conducted training workshops in Amhara, Oromia and Tigray with the
goal creating awareness about the concept of Farmer Field Schools (FSS)
and the role of farmers therein. Over 190 farmers, development agents
and focal persons from government attended. So, what is a FFS and how
does it work?
In the ISFM+ experience, a FFS is made up of 15 - 20 individual members
from community based institutions. The FFS selects one model famer
who provides a demonstration plot, commits to its management for
ISFM versus conventional farming practices and openly shares
knowledge of the learnings. The dates for the training and observation
events are set jointly by the model farmer and the FFS members. This
schedule serves as the curriculum and attendance is mandatory for all
members. The training events form the key operations of ISFM, both
before season start and during growing season. Whilst the development
agent guides and supports the model farmer and the members of the
FSS in the first year, in subsequent years, the model farmer takes the
lead in the FSS activities. For a well operated FFS, the model farmer also
keeps clear records of demonstration plots, model farmer and the FFS
member use ISFM technologies on their own farm plots, demonstrations
prove profitable and farmers outside the FFS adopt ISFM technologies.
Using this FFS, ISFM+ has the goal to spread ISFM approaches to
57,000 hectares of land in the regions of Amhara, Oromia and Tigray.
A wheat demonstration in action.