Emergency Response

On October 10, 2024, H.E. Julia Niblet, Ambassador of Australia to Ethiopia, paid a working visit to ChildFund Ethiopia to assess the impact of the Sustainability and Environmental Protection project, funded by the Australian Embassy Direct Aid Program. During her visit, Ambassador Niblet met with ChildFund Ethiopia Country Director, Lilly Omondi, and engaged with women who are transforming their communities through environmental conservation and sustainable livelihoods.

Launched in December 2022 and implemented in partnership with Future Generation’s Organization, the project directly supports 800 pastoralist women with training, tools, and financial support. So far, 300 women have launched small businesses and planted over 10,000 forest trees and 6,200 fruit trees for sale.

“Through this project, 60 women-led Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs), with over 1,200 members, have established 15 community-run nurseries and raised more than 321,000 seedlings, ranging from shade and fruit trees to medicinal species like moringa,” explained Lilly. “With strong collaboration from local government, schools, and partners, we’ve achieved an impressive 80% tree survival rate. Plans are underway to scale seedling production to 500,000 annually and fully integrate tree planting in schools.”

“We see these trees as a way of protecting our land, our water, and also making money because we sell the seedlings,” says Yetunde, a mother of four and VSLA member.

Beyond tree planting, the project has brought improvements in nutrition. Women like Robe and Guye now cultivate vegetables and incorporate moringa into their diets—a locally grown tree known for its medicinal properties.

“My family never ate lettuce before. Now we grow and eat it regularly. I even served it to guests from Addis Ababa who loved it!” says Guye.
“My mother-in-law has high blood pressure,” adds Robe. “After we started using moringa leaves, her health improved.”

Transformative Outcomes

With visible changes in household income, food security, and land restoration, the project’s impact is undeniable:

• School compounds: Shade and fruits reduced classroom temperatures, improving learning conditions.
• Degraded communal lands: Shade, medicinal and fruit trees covered the once degraded communal lands, and the women sold fruits for additional income and contributed to an increase of 80% in tree cover in the areas allocated for tree-planting by the government helping prevent soil erosion and flooding.
• Tree Nurseries: The women groups established nursery sites, ensuring a continuous supply of a variety of high-quality fruit, medicinal, and shade tree seedlings and these were sold and/or used to improve their plots of land in their homesteads increasing local biodiversity.

Ambassador Niblet applauded the initiative: “This project truly demonstrates ChildFund’s leadership in meeting critical community needs and building resilient livelihoods that benefit entire communities. It also teaches us a lot about the importance of investing in locally led initiatives and the power of working together.”

Calling for continued partnership, Lilly emphasized the importance of scaling the initiative. “Thank you to the Australian government for your support and partnership. We have achieved a lot together, but we need to reach more deserving children and their families across the country. ChildFund has an ambitious plan to reach 7 million children, their families, and communities. We can only achieve this by exploring more innovative ways to scale up our impact and invest more resources in these communities. We hope your government will continue to walk this journey with us.