Rehabilitation of 64 Vulnerable Women in Ethiopia

Report of Rehabilitation of Vulnerable Women project   April till June 2019

Out of the 165 Women family leaders which are selected by Government Stakeholders and confirmed by Abraham’s Oasis Women project Officers,  162 have successfully completed the 2 days business training (120 Women are supported by Jackson Kemper foundation and the other 42 are funded by Global Giving Foundation and Michael Onlus). Three Women exclude themselves from the support of their own free will.

The two days business training incorporated parenting skills training that helps the women to look after their children in a  responsible and more professional way. Government Office representatives from Social Affairs Office, Women’s Affairs Office and from Micro and Small Enterprise Office Experts of each wereda were part of the 2 days business training. Those government representatives are the key role players in each wereda, who could solve the problems of those Women business owners. Once the business is in operation challenges like sales outlet area (Shade), Loan, Market linkage and other constraints can be solved by the responsible government offices. Because of this those representatives have shared the training and they have taken an assignment to do follow-up and support for those women business owners.

We have grouped the Women business owners in group of five, taking their geographical area into consideration and we let them choose one group leader among them, locally we call this system one to five network. The leader is supposed to be active and have a good business knowledge. The aim of this networking is to create a bond among them, so that they help each other in all aspects of business. The group leader plays a great roll, she advices them when they face challenges, give them her experience and report problems before they get worse. She is doing those things simultaneously while she is running her business as they are all living close to each other. 

We have started visiting the beneficiaries immediately after the training and purchase of IGA materials to make sure that they have started the business. We visited two weredas (Wereda Medebay Zana and Asgede Tsimbla) and all of them have started their IGA activities. Most of them started to earn an encouraging profit within 2 weeks time.  The Micro and Small Enterprises Expert, Women and Social Affairs Experts were part of the visiting team. All of us took assignments to help those women who need more follow up and support. Visiting those beneficiaries at their early start gives us the opportunity to make corrective action and identify the real gaps of the business owners.