Ethiopian Civil Societies Coalition for Scaling Up Nutrition (ECSC SUN) has been implementing Women Economic Empowerment and Adolescent Initiative (WEE & AI) intervention in Tigray, Afar and Somali regions. This WEE & AI is intended to promote Gender equality through women empowerment for better nutrition outcome. That is why the project focused on women and provided vegetable seedlings, dairy goat/sheep and agricultural hand tools last year. Using the provided skill and input target groups are trying to produce nutritious food, to consume diversified food and to change feeding practice.
There are differences in the agroecology of the regions, working culture of the community and commitment of the implementing partners. Accordingly, their performance varies among the intervention areas. To facilitate learning from one to another, experience sharing visit was arranged in Tigray region, Kelete Awlalo) woreda, Wukero area.
During the visit, demonstration of school gardening was observed in Tahitay Hade Qesanded primary school. Then three of the project participants’ home gardening was visited.
Target groups in Tigray produced vegetable using small plot of land and plastic bags for vertical farming methods. They used natural fertilizer to boost the productivity of fruit and vegetable. Not only consume what they have produced, they also earned money by selling the execs product. Preparing diversified food and feeding their children nutritious food helped target groups to maintain their children’s health and growth.
They have money saving mechanisms like Ekub that helps them to start poultry production by their own effort, using saved money. Not only that, but they also used home grown technology to construct/build chicken coop.
After the visit through discussion held and experience shared. According to the visiting team from Afar and Somali, they are inspired with what they have observed. They plan to transfer the knowledge and skill they got from the visit to their communities as get back home. As to the visitors, social and behavioral change communication works are highly needed to use resources properly in their respective villages.
