Many young people are growing up in poverty in Ethiopia with no opportunities to escape the chronic destitution of their parents. This Project gives them an opportunity - through bees. We will provide beekeeping training, and their first bee colony, and so help them build a business that will provide a regular income throughout their lives. Bees feed on trees and the Project will enable new beekeepers to plant trees. Honey and beeswax can be sold for a high price and provide much-needed income.
In Amhara 23% of the population are destitute, and are unable to pay for education and healthcare. This problem is acute for young people - they lack land and employment and have uncertain futures. Our Project gives young people a better start - a business opportunity through beekeeping. Land in Ethiopia is degraded by over-grazing, leading to soil erosion and biodiversity loss. Beekeeping tackles this problem by providing an alternative income and an incentive to protect forests for bee forage.
Beekeeping is low-cost to start and environmentally beneficial. Our Project helps young people from poor families to develop a sustainable livelihood - through bees. We will give 400 young people training in beehive making, beekeeping, honey and beeswax harvesting and marketing. We will also provide training in profit and loss analysis, and business. Each young person will be given a bee colony to start. We will also plant trees, to combat deforestation and provide forage for bees.
The Project will increase the livelihood chances of 400 marginalised and vulnerable young people, half of them young women. By emphasising business development training, their beekeeping enterprises will be sustainable and profitable in the long term. Our target is an annual US$100 profit from honey and beeswax sales for each new beekeeper, providing much-needed income for food, housing and healthcare. This income will help support the future families of the Project participants.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
