Initiative:

Diversification in East and Southern Africa

In 2023, Ukama Ustawi (UU) significantly expanded its interventions in Ethiopia through various collaborative efforts. These included a national policy dialogue on irrigation policy, held in November in collaboration with partners. UU focused on promoting irrigation technology for smallholder irrigators, initiating a market-based agro-advisory platform for livestock, and conducting a Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) assessment to address gender issues within agribusiness. Additionally, UU demonstrated a co-financing model for green energy-based irrigation and developed a public-private partnership business model. The year also saw the creation of five innovation profiles and the completion of a synthesis report analyzing the socio-economic and institutional challenges facing small and medium-sized agribusinesses in the region.

In 2024, Ukama Ustawi (UU) will continue with various agricultural interventions in Ethiopia, including the collection of data from trials, the development of public-private partnership business model and dialogue on the multi-stakeholder platform, capacity-building training and the introduction of new socio-technological bundle trials. Country-focused reports will be produced to understand the climate impact on crop yield and trade. UU will support the uptake and implementation of Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa’s (ASARECA) Policy Practice Index Tool by Ethiopia National Agricultural Research System (NARS) and develop Gender Mainstreaming Guidelines for Ethiopia. Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) will be strengthened to drive the small-scale irrigation strategy.

Partnerships

  • Ministry of Agriculture Ethiopia
  • Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR)
  • The Pan-Africa Bean Research Alliance (PABRA)
  • Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI)
  • Netherlands Development Cooperation (SNV)
  • Ministry of Water and Energy Ethiopia
  • Farm Africa Ethiopia
  • AKADEMIYA2063
  • Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA)
  • African Group of Negotiators Experts Support (AGNES)
  • Agora Microfinance
  • Wageningen University & Research (WUR)
  • Financial Access
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