Project area Abune Ginde Beret
General information
Abune Ginde Beret lies directly to the east of the Ginde Beret project area. The valley below is difficult to access. The edge of the cliffs and rough terrain make access to medical and educational facilities difficult. The impassable terrain is one of the reasons why development does not reach many villages: people are literally cut off from it.
Project start: 2012
Area: 1,360 km²
Population: approx. 126,000
Main town in the region: Bake Kalate
Location: 170 km north-west of Addis Ababa
Initial situation before the start of the project
The majority of the population in Abune Ginde Beret lives from agriculture. However, due to progressive erosion, unreliable rainfall and decreasing soil fertility, yields are usually too low. Another major problem is the lack of access to clean drinking water and poor medical care. The eye infection trachoma is also widespread.
The biggest challenges in Abune Ginde Beret at the start of our work in 2012:
- Four out of five people had no access to clean drinking water.
- Every second child under the age of ten was affected by the eye infection trachoma.
- At 74 per cent, paraffin is the main source of light in the evening, followed by wood (24 per cent) and electricity (2 per cent).
- Erosion and deforestation make large areas unusable for agricultural use.
Achievements in the first three years of the project
- 38 tree nurseries
- 7 million tree seedlings planted for reforestation
- 327 ha were reforested
- 174 km of roads built
- 368 improved beehives distributed
- 59 wells built
- 10 water catchment basins built
- 9 new schools built
- 13,611 participants in literacy courses
- 4,412 participants in courses on improved agricultural cultivation methods
- 1,828 eye operations carried out
- 45,845 people have undergone voluntary counselling and testing for HIV/AIDS
- 984 microcredit borrowers
- 10,622 households with wood-saving stoves