Local Resources and Development in Ethiopia

 My father recently sent this to me via email detailing his recent trip to a city in northern Ethiopia which suffers from many issues including food shortages, drought and lack of social and human capital. His technique for improving on their situation focuses on the use of local resources which decreases foreign dependency and promotes sustainable growth on a local and individual level. The families he focuses on are often those with the greatest obstacles hindering their well-being (such as chronic disease or extreme poverty and lack of education.) What follows is an extract from the message he sent me detailing his agenda for his week of training in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.

I am off for the week to Bahir Dar, a medium sized city up north, (headwaters to the Blue Nile actually) to look at the remnants of the Urban Gardens Project. Have seen lots of great people struggling to maintain gardens that were poorly established in the first place.  Difficult to see the waste and dashed hope - though it is still early days. There was Way too much focus on technology (in this case, large scale drip irrigation) at the school gardens without corresponding focus on soil quality, depth and resilience. When the water stopped (too expensive, broken lines hard to fix, etc), so too did the production of chard, kale and cabbage because the soil beds were literally only 4" deep, rock hard and the roots also only 4" deep... so when the water stopped...so did the growth. So far, all the gardens are completely dysfunctional. But my report and recommendations will say that this, although a 'failure', the lessons aren't lost. The gravest error would be to repeat the same mistake by redoubling efforts at drip irrigation.  What I will suggest, and which is getting considerable traction, is the use of tires, sacks, and other small, yet high yielding methods that ALL children can easily manage, AND take home to their simple urban homes to practice. One great failing of technology such as drip is that it builds a greater dependency and a lack of resilience. We need to help kids and adults see all the resources which are around them, (often 'waste' products like charcoal bits, wood ash and compostables after marketday) and teach them ways that they can teach themselves and others how to turn that 'waste' into asset...you got it - bio-intensive gardens using compost and local waste to really kick some food security butt!