‘Hoe kijkt coördinator Tilahun Tadesse terug op het project?
De partner vertelt... van 6 maart 2024 door Tilahun Tadesse
Elk jaar vragen we onze partner hoe het project is gegaan en welke lessen de partner heeft geleerd.
Context and summary
Describe the original plan/idea for the project. Has the project been executed as planned?
Terepeza Development Association has been engaged in an extensive work of organising self-help groups (SHGs). One of the project implementation areas was Offa Woreda of Wolayita Zone in SNNP region of Ethiopia. The key interventions in SHG organisations are selecting/identification of poor community members, orientation and training, conducting regular discussion and dialogue and organising them in small groups per neighbourhood of 12 to 15 members based on their willingness. The SHG organisation has worked very well in meeting the original target of improving small scale financial access to help those small holder poor households save meager cash and get small loans to engage in income generating petty businesses; social cohesion among the members to increase social support among themselves and confidence building for poor people especially for poor rural household heads. One of the key challenges for SHGs was lack of better working capital and working premises for them to meet as well as keep their properties and documentation due to lack of capacity to set up offices and storage facilities. SHGs also structured into cluster level associations and federations at Woreda level to have a clear supporting structure and system for better engagement with other actors and markets. With support from World Servants, TDA planned to construct community centres which will be managed by Woreda based SHG federation which is under the ownership of all SHGs and their members. World Servants provided financial resources with the assumption that some of the costs would be covered by the community through community contribution as well as TDA. The project has been under implementation since January 2020 and was completed in March 2023, without a group. The office set up is nicely completed with three offices, one store area for property and latrines for both men and women. The office is currently being used by the SHG federation leaders.
Give a (short) general description of the implementation of the project.
The project was implemented in Gesuba town of Offa Woreda of Wolayita Zone in SNNPR region of Ethiopia by TDA with funding support by World Servants. It is a community centre to be used as office and storage area for SHGs organised in Offa Woreda through their representatives to the federation, for meetings, documentation as well as storage of their belongings. There are 641 SHGs in total, from which 331 are SHGs formed with female members and 172 are formed by both men and women while 138 are formed by men. The SHGs also formed 22 cluster level associations and one federation. The Gesuba town municipality granted land for the construction of the community centre and TDA with financial support from WS implemented the construction work while also engaging the community. Through the SHGs federations contributed labour and local materials. TDA also allocated financial resources to finalise the construction. The construction was done on land granted by the municipality of Gesuba town.
TDA conducted the facilitation of construction and supervision including purchase and transportation of construction materials, renting storage space in the vicinity of the construction site, hiring local skilled labour for the construction work and supervision work with staff from both Gesuba and Soddo, TDA main office.
How do you look back on the following topics? How was it arranged, what went well, what could be done better?
Construction
Buildings worked on
The design work was done by an external engineer advisor to TDA. The community did the cleaning of the site and other activities including excavation and clearance. Most of the construction materials were purchased locally. The community also contributed different types of wood for formwork and other uses. Most of the stones, sand, cement, iron sheets, nails, and timber products were purchased. A skilled construction foreman, masons and assistant masons were also paid for their daily work.
The Gesuba Community centre construction has been completed as planned and the community has started to use the office and storage area as their working premises.
• The whole construction work of the main building, including roof works, installation of electricity, plastering of walls, and installation of external doors completed.
• External latrine pit excavation and both masonry and concrete slab construction works completed.
• The compound of the building was decorated and fenced.
• The community also purchased furniture, mainly chairs, tables and benches.
Tasks to be done
The construction of the office is completed and the SHG federation started to use it while formal handing over will be done.
Programs
Children program
Not applicable (no group).
Cultural and touristic outings
Not applicable (no group).
Life Skills program and Football for Water (also include the amount of tranings given and the number of people from the community actively involved in training).
Not applicable (no group).
Cooperation and involvement
Leadership team World Servants
There has been continuous leadership and support from the team in World Servants with continuous follow-up. The correspondence included follow-up and updates as well as support, including financial transfer of 3500 euros to meet some portion of the construction with inflated costs of materials for construction.
Local leaders / key persons
The Offa Woreda administrator and head of the Gesuba town municipality have been continually monitoring and supporting the work. TDA management has been supporting and even decided to allocate some of the costs from internal resource mobilisation to finish the construction related to the inflation of the cost of construction materials.
Community
The community, mainly the SHG and cluster level association members, has been part of the implementation process of this project and engaged in activities including labour contribution as well as decision making engaging the community. There has been follow-up by the community on the progress of the construction work.
Beneficiaries
The SHGs are the direct beneficiaries and are constantly following the construction process of the community centres.
The community is happy with the office and all the 22 cluster level associations received the constructed centre as office and storage area for both office work and a marketing centre for the SHGs in Offa woreda.
(Local) authorities
The local government granted land of 2000 m2 from Gesuba town administration for the construction with site outline and design map certified by the authority.
The local government is also happy with the opportunity created, which can help SHGs to provide more support to their members in engaging in better structured work and marketing activities which will improve their income and wellbeing.
Facilitation of the team
Accommodation
Not applicable (no group).
Food
Not applicable (no group).
Transportation
Not applicable (no group).
Safety
Not applicable (no group).
Lessons learned
Community centres are very important structures for the community to meet and use as social and physical assets. It increases social and economic wellbeing of the community and SHGs are very primary institutions of the community with meager financial resources and hence require some support to go beyond the routine saving. The support from WS helped to increase their capacity.
The delay in construction work in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic and conflict in Ethiopia affected the project by delaying the construction time while the price of the construction also inflated. This also put pressure on TDA to allocate additional resources from other sources.
The work and support from World Servants is doing a great deal of happiness to the community and addressing the community challenges. There will also be an opportunity for WS to meet the Offa community that started to use the construction and learn how it feels to help the community. Hence, if there is some visiting program, it would be very good to build a relationship with the community.
Challenges encountered:
• Ever increasing inflation of the cost of construction materials due to devaluation of the Ethiopian birr in relation to foreign currencies.
• COVID pandemic deprived the travel and field work including the arrival of volunteers from World Servants.
• The insecurity and conflict in Ethiopia following the change in government added to restricted movement and high inflation.
• Longer delay in starting the construction work in Bayira Koyisha Woreda.
• The push from government to take back the land granted in different areas for other uses due to longer delays without construction.
