October

CST

2017
Together

members of
Cartias
Internationalis
 Note from the Programme Manager
During the past year we witnessed many successes
and are honored to continue to serve communi-
ties that are in the most need across Ethiopia. In a
bid to better work as a joint office one of the ma-
jor activities of the past year was the articulation
of our Country Strategy Paper (CSP) that will be
the bedrock of our activities in Ethiopia. Running
from 2017 to 2021 we have outlined two core
pillars that we will be focusing on for the next
five years: Women’s Empowerment and Resilient
Communities using a programme integration
approach.
The need for this transition was brought about
through reflections on how to best approach
emerging challenges and opportunities taking
place in Ethiopia and how we engage with our
three headquarters.
One of the key pillars of the country programme
will be women’s empowerment both as an
outcome and as a means to the other resilient
community programme. The programme
envisages that women are participating in formal
and informal decision-making at the individual,
household, and community level. Women will
have increased access and control over diversified
incomes, increased confidence and self-esteem,
as well as improved decision-making and negoti-
ating abilities. Men will proactively support their
partners in equally participating in household lev-
el decision-making including access to and use of
diversified incomes. In addition, community mem-
bers, leaders, duty bearers, and change agents
will actively support women in participating in
decision-making at the community level. CST has
secured funds from Irish Aid for this programme
for the next five years.
Creating resilient communities by integrating the
humanitarian and livelihood components in one
and using women empowerment as a cross cut-
ting theme will be the second key pillar of our in-
tervention. This is in response to the recent spate
of humanitarian crises mostly brought about by
climate change. On the humanitarian front we
continue to meet the needs of communities hard
hit by the crises. This year our goal is to reach
some 500,000 individuals. This will also include
looking towards strengthening our partners’
capacities in meeting the ever growing humani-
tarian crises in the country. Particularly through
our localization of Aid/Shifting the Power Project
we have worked towards increasing the role of
our local partners in humanitarian actions both in
terms of building their capacities as well allowing
them to work on networking and creating linkag-
es with like minded stakeholder.
CST is also planning to build the capacity of its
staff and Partners on the concepts of women
empowerment, resilience building, and organiza-
tional capacity and is going to promote evidence
based research that will support us to raise more
funds.
I wish to thank our partners, donors and our staff
for the dedication they have shown in 2009 E.C.
The joint office is fortunate to have such a won-
derful, positive and engaged community which
sincerely believes in our common mission.
With heartfelt thanks,
Teamrat Belai, Programme Manager
Editorial Team
Conor Molloy, CST Country Representative
Samson Haileyesus, CST Communication Officer
Photos: Samson Haileyesus
Layout: Samson Haileyesus
‘CST-Together’ is a quarterly magazine for CST
Together staff, CST headquarters staff, oversight
management team (JAGG-the Joint Agency
Governance Group), local partners, and inter-
national development partners.
CST Magazine: round-up news, success
stories, interviews and updates from CAFOD,
SCIAF and Trócaire (CST Together)
Address:
CAFOD / SCIAF / Trócaire
P O Box 1875, Addis Ababa,
Gulele Subcity, Swaziland Street, Enqulal
Fabrika,
Ethiopian Catholic Bishops Conference Centre
Tel: +251-(0)11-278-8843/44/45
Fax: +251-(0)11-278-8846
Email: reception@cst-together.org
Website: www.trocaire.org /
www.cafod.org.uk / www.sciaf.org.uk
 Note from Eoin Wrenn, Head of Region Horn and East Africa
(Trócaire) and member of the Joint Agency Governance Group (JAGG)

I have recently returned from a visit to south Ethiopia to witness first hand CST’s
and our partners’ response to the current drought that has devastated the lives of
so many people across the region. Despite having been to Ethiopia numerous times
this was my first time to travel to the very south of the country. It was a privilege to
travel through Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region (SNNPR) down
to South Omo in the very south. Despite the extreme hardships that hundreds of
thousands of people in the area are facing we were met with great warmth and
hospitality in Hamer, Dassanech, Tsemay and Bela communities in South Omo. At
times I felt I was in a National Geographic documentary given the ever-changing
topographies and landscapes, the diversity of the different ethnic groups in South
Omo with their own languages, rich cultures, colourful clothing, imaginative jewel-
lery and hair-raising war cry songs and dance.

What was very striking about South Omo was how barren much of the area was.
Riverbeds were parched and despite this being a pastoralist area we often drove
for miles and miles without seeing a single cow. It soon became apparent why this
was the case. Community after community spoke of nothing only the death of live-
stock and how their livelihoods have been destroyed as a result of their losing their
funds for the drought response across the Horn and
livestock. Every family we spoke to had lost cattle, from the more well off pastoral-
East Africa region which has left up to 24 million
ist who had 300 cows before the drought but was now left with 10, to those that
people in need of humanitarian assistance. Some
only had 10 cows before the drought but were now left with one. It was very clear
of the funds secured will be allocated to southern
that people have been traumatised by the loss of so many livestock and that their
Ethiopia, to help CST address ongoing humanitarian
outlook for the future is bleak. One Tsemay man asked me “now that our livestock
needs and to meet communities’ recovery and reha-
have died are we next?” CST’s response to this is a very definite “no”. Together
bilitation needs once the immediate crisis ends. The
with our partners the Diocese of Sodo and SCORE, and in collaboration with the
people of South Omo are a proud and resilient peo-
local government, we are supporting some of those most at risk in South Omo with
ple. They know how to cope with and recover from
food aid, emergency livestock feed and cash for work. While our support is limited,
drought but such is the severity of this drought,
it is making a difference while people wait for the next rains. Unlike other parts of
children, women and men will need our ongoing
the country there is a dearth of NGOs operating in South Omo making our support
support to recover from the huge losses and trauma
all the more important to help people cope with the crisis.
that the drought has inflicted on them.
Trócaire is holding a national church appeal in Ireland in late July to raise additional
C on t e tns
18
9
1

14
20

1 News in brief
9 Self Help Group Breaking Barriers within Communities
14 South Omo Elders take Inspiration from Peace Building efforts from Borana Communities
18 Water Points Bringing a Sense of Permanency for Pastoralist Communities
20 Conservative Agriculture: Making it easy for Small Holder farmers to increase Yields
22 Climate Change Resilience Project looks to raise Women Economic Engagement
Ne w s in br i ef

CST Provides Humanitarian Leadership Training to Executive Directors of Local

and National NGOs
In order to enhance the emergency prepared-
ness and response capacity of local and national
partners, CST, under the Shifting the Power Proj-
ect and in partnership with RedR UK, organized a
four days Humanitarian Leadership Training and
exposure visit in Nairobi Kenya from 18-22 Sep-
tember 2017.
The training focused on the humanitarian oper-
ations, management and leadership issues and
challenges in the sector. The training drew to-
gether 13 executive directors and program man-
agers from national NGOs in Ethiopia, together
with two Shifting the Power staff from CST. At-
tendees also visited Caritas Isiolo, a local partner
of Shifting the Power Kenya, to share learnings
and experiences in the journey of Shifting the
Power.
Participants report that the training has helped them to identify key themes of humanitarian leadership
and practice, understanding of leadership, and familiarity with tools and techniques to improve decision
making and problem solving skills in humanitarian situations. The training has also helped partners to
share experiences and establish working relationships to further strengthen and promote the localization
agenda in Ethiopia.

1
Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards (LEGS) Training Provided to
Partners
A Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards
(LEGS) training was held in a bid to build capacity
to support the saving of livestock based livelihoods
of communities affected by natural disasters. The
3-day LEGS training was held on from May 15 to May
17 ,2017 in Yabello town and from May 19 to May 21
2017 in Moyale town. Both trainings were conduct-
ed for local partners and representatives from the
district’s animals and fisheries bureau in southern
Ethiopia.
While Ethiopia battles residual needs from the
2015/2016 El Niño-induced drought, below average
2016 autumn rains in the southern and south east-
ern parts of the country has brought with it a new
humanitarian crisis in 2017. Failed rains have led to
drought affecting over 8.5 million people in these Trainees at Yabello town
regions of Ethiopia, resulting in critical shortages of
water and pasture in pastoralist areas. This has led to a sharp deterioration in the condition of livestock, and to live-
stock deaths in many places.
To put the severity of this drought into perspective, rainfall totals between June 2016 and May 2017 were the first or
second lowest in the past 36 years in many areas, including in Southern and South Eastern Ethiopia.
In May this year in Borana, an additional 135,577 vulnerable people suffered from acute food insecurity. All 13 dis-
tricts of the Borana Zone of South western Ethiopia have been severely affected by late April with 379,251 livestock,
amounting to 40-50 per cent of livestock, dying due to lack of pastures and water.
This has forced vulnerable households to migrate out of their villages in search of pasture and water leaving be-
2
hind women, children and the elderly without protection from
further sufferings.
The participants were exposed to the LEGS four-stage approach
to responding to livestock emergencies, identification of appro-
priate livelihood-based livestock interventions in emergency
response, and design with implementation response interven-
tions according to LEGS standards and guidelines. The training
was conducted by CST’s Humanitarian Coordinator, Mandefro
Aynalam.
“The aim of the training is to equip partners to provide a stan-
dardised as well as quality humanitarian response”, said Man-
defro.
Representatives from CST’s partners Community Initia-
Trainees at Moyale town
tives Facilitation and Assistance (CIFA), SOS SAHEL, Action
for Development (AFD) and district livestock and fisheries bureaus staff attended the training. The LEGS training
is part of the effort to make the livestock sector more resilient to the impacts of climate change in Borana.
LEGS are a set of international guidelines and standards for the design, implementation and assessment of live-
stock interventions to assist people affected by humanitarian crises, such as natural disasters. The LEGS training
is intended for agencies — NGOs, multi-lateral agencies and governments — that implement emergency inter-
ventions in disaster areas where livelihoods are derived from livestock.
In 2017 CST and partners are planning to reach 500,000 people with livestock support (fodder, water and vet-
erinary services), cash transfers, and access to clean water and sanitation in the most drought affected areas in
the south of the country. CST is currently working in Borena in all 13 woredas (districts) which are classified as
hotspot priority 1 woredas; South Omo zone within its five lowland woredas categorised as a hotspot priority 1
woredas, South Tigray where 6 priority 1 hotspot woredas are identified, as well as in Afar Zone 2, which contains 3
hotspot priority one woredas.
.

3
A Step Towards Localization of Aid: National NGOs Humanitarian Forum launched
The Shifting the Power (StP) project in Ethiopia is
supporting local NGOs to have systems, skills and
policies for quality humanitarian intervention. Along
with capacity building, StP has linked national NGO
partners with different networks and coordination to
create a venue for advocacy and in order to gain ben-
efits of these platform. The project witnessed tangible
changes at devolved networks and coordination. LN-
GOs which were not taking part in the humanitarian
taskforces, have become members and in some cases
some have even taken up the post of secretaries in
some districts. The devolved government and district
level INGOs acknowledged their contribution and
considered them as important humanitarian partners.
Despite the aforementioned glimpse at the lower
coordination, bringing the voice and influence of
LNGO to the national level, where most decisive deci-
4
sions are concentrated, is still a challenge. In Ethiopia,
among other things, a main challenge that hinders
NNGOs to engage in humanitarian interventions is
access to funds. For instance, big, in-country donors’
requirement of having a foreign currency bank ac-
count, contradicts with the mandates of NNGOs (as
per the directive of the National Bank prohibits LN-
GOs from having such accounts). As these and similar
decisions are made at the national level, it calls for the
same level of advocacy.
Unlike the district level, there should be a collective
voice to challenge the system as the influence of indi-
vidual NNGOs has not so far brought much change. To
this end the project discussed with the Consortium of
Christian Relief & Development Associations (CCRDA)
on how best to bring NNGOs’ voice to national level
decisions and the concept of having the national hu-
manitarian forum is found to be viable. The project provid-
ed financial and technical support, including a designated
professional staff to facilitate the launch of the Forum and
to design a system for sustainability.
The Forum was launched on September 7, 2017. The launch-
ing event saw members raising a number of challenges due
to decisions beyond their reach. Access to funds was the
major challenge mentioned, followed by access to informa-
tion and working space, which significantly hinder almost
all NNGOs to have meaningful participation in humanitari-
an intervention. The challenges are often related to the gov-
ernment and donors and attendees said it was beyond the
efforts of each NNGO to solve. Members then unequivo- Dr. Meshesha Shewarega, Executive Director of
cally agreed to establish and launch the national human- CCRDA speaking at the launch of the Forum
itarian forum. They selected six members as an interim
steering committees (interestingly, almost all members
were willing to be part of the committee) to facilitate the initial agendas until a formal steering committee
comes into place. The main theme of the Forum, as agreed by the members include, but not limited to:

• Strengthening and capitalize on the good relationship between INGOs and NNGOs on humanitarian relat-
ed partnership and coordination. Having strategic alliance to create synergy of roles in humanitarian inter-
vention. Evidencing the comparative advantage of INGO and NNGO on working in partnership and advocate
for that.
• Constructive engagement and dialogue with government and donors for creating enabling environment
o For NNGO to fully operate in humanitarian interventions
o And for global aid initiative, particularly for the localization of aid related agendas, to
be a good platform to function in the country.
• Having the country definition for localization of aid in line with the global concepts and initiatives and ad-
vocate (nationally and globally) for the realizations for this initiatives.
5
Local Partners receive training on Funding for Emergences
CST under its Shifting the Power (StP) project con-
ducted a training workshop from June 12 to June 15th
for local partners on funding for emergencies. The
workshop was held at Adama town for CST’s 10 national
partners under the StP project.
The training aimed at equipping CST’s ten local part-
ner organizations under the StP project working on
humanitarian actions to build their capacities on donor
mapping and engagement, effective donor relationship
and proposal development.
Speaking about at the training Challa Gidisa, Project
officer for the START project, noted that the training
was crucial for partners to compare notes on their
interventions as well as take lessons on how to better
address emerging challenges and opportunities related
to humanitarian actions in Ethiopia.
Shifting the Power (StP) project is funded by the Department for International Development (DfID) through
the Disaster and Emergencies Preparedness Programme (DEPP) and aims to contribute for a more acceptable
balance between international and local responses to disasters. The project works to enhance local NGOs’
capacities for better decision-making and leadership; achieve better representation and voice; and recogni-
tion in humanitarian system. At the same time it works to influence international organisations to support and
promote the work of local and national organisations. StP works in five project countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, DRC
Bangladesh and Pakistan by supporting 55 LNGO partners.
Shifting the Power project is implemented through a consortium approach: a consortium of 6 INGOs (CAFOD,
Concern, Tear Fund, Oxfam, Christian Aid, and Action Aid) and CAFOD is the lead in Ethiopia. Each consortium
INGO member has local NGO partners to support and in total ten local NGOs are targeted in Ethiopia.
6
Snapshot of current emergency in Ethiopia • 8.5 m people are in need of
• emergency food right now
• Poor belg rains (February -May) affected households’ food security
in belg-dependent woredas of Oromia and SNNP regions. As a result,
Southern and eastern Ethiopia continue to battle the impact of the • 2.25 million households will require
Indian Ocean Dipole-induced drought, exacerbated by disease out- livestock support
breaks, large scale loss of livelihood assets and displacement.
•3.6 m children and pregnant and lac-
• The start of the March to June 2017 rains was delayed by 10 to 40 days
tating mothers require supplementary
across the region,
feeding
• Cumulative total rainfall between March 1 and May 31 were less than
70 percent of average in much of south eastern and southern Ethiopia • 10.5 m people will not have regular
access to safe drinking water
•To put the severity of this drought into perspective, rainfall totals be-
tween June 2016 and May 2017 were the first or second lowest in
the past 36 years in many areas, including in Southern and South
Eastern Ethiopia.

CST’s response
As a network of Catholic agencies – CAFOD, Trócaire and SCIAF
work through and with Catholic Church and local NGO partners,
with communities and local government, who understand and know
the context well delivering humanitarian support to 500,000 indi-
viduals.

CST is supporting different emergency response projects in Borena

wherein all 13 woredas are classified as priority 1 woredas; South
Omo zone within it s5 lowland woredas are categorised as a hotspot
priority 1 woredas, and South Tigray where 6 priority 1 hotspot wore-
das are identified as well as in Afar Zone 2 that contains 3 hotspot
priority one woredas.
7
CST’s interventions
I. Livelihood Protection Support.
• To prevent and control occurrences and spread of livestock diseases, the joint office, in collaboration
with its partners, continues to provide veterinary services through para vets as well as through
government led vaccination campaign through logistics supports in the operational areas.
• Livestock feed, such as sugar cane, hay and concentrates, has been provided to drought affected
households with the aim of protecting core breeding stocks.
• So far, over 85,305 (41,799 M, 43,506 F) individuals have benefited from CST’s livelihood protection
support. From this, 57,888 individuals are receiving mass immunisation services for major drought-
caused livestock diseases such as Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP) and Certified
Veterinary Pain Practitioner (CVPP). An estimated 27,417 (13,434 M and 13,982 F) have accessed
treatment services for internal and external parasites, antibacterial disease and rumen proper
physiology-multivitamins.

• A total number of 236,722 heads of livestock owned by 85,305 individuals have received treatment and
vaccination services from the project interventions.
II. Emergency Food Security
• CST is addressing the emergency food security programme through conditional and unconditional
cash transfers. So far this year CST has reached 35,709 (17,497 M, 18,212 F) individuals. On top of this, in
Gamo Gofa Woreda, 672 individuals have received food ration as per set and agreed relief package
standards.
III. WaSH
• With an existing Water, Sanitation and Hygiene programme at Afar Zone 2, the joint programme
office reached 5,500 people affected by drought through awareness raising on hygiene and sanitation
and the provision of sanitary and hygiene materials. Due to this, the community has constructed
household latrines and have changed their sanitation and hygiene practice. Additionally, a water
pipeline has been extended, water points maintained and new bore holes constructed to benefit 10,000
individuals.
8
F e atu re s
Self Help Group breaking barriers within communities
The remote village of Wukari 1 village in the Maale
district of South Omo would seems an unlikely place
in which one would find women forming Self Help
Groups, taking leadership positions, participating and
influencing key decisions affecting their lives, and
benefiting from increased income generation. Three
years ago women in Wukari 1 had no informal right to
the finances or management of their households.
Home to 48 households, much of the village is made
up of poor households engaged in subsistence farm-
ing. The majority struggle with poverty. Life is espe-
cially difficult for the women who are already margin-
alized. The prevalence of polygamy and other harmful
traditional practices affecting women and girls in the
area have further eroded what little rights women had
within the household. It was often a common prac-
tice that a mother who had recently given birth would
be entirely secluded from the entire household and
would be housed in a shed outside the household. She
would be deemed unclean along with the child un- inequality requires positive discrimination in favour
til the child would be initiated within the rites of the of women (affirmative action). It was against this back-
community. Upon any contact with livestock utensils ground that the “Enhancing the Social and Economic
would be immediately destroyed. Besides the exclu- Empowerment of Women in Jinka Administrative
sion, mother and children would be exposed to the Town and Maale District’s women empowerment proj-
elements and disease. ect” was initiated by CST and Women Support Associ-
ation (WSA).
Very often in patriarchal societies men are privileged
in many ways that often perpetuates discrimination in Part of the project included encouraging group discus-
access to opportunities for women. Addressing gender sions with key traditional and law enforcement agen-
9
cies. It also included savings and loans schemes that
provided a powerful means of access to low levels of
finance for not only daily needs, but also to bring about
increased social capital and community organization
among women.
When CST and WSA set out to carry out the project
in Wukari 1 village, the requirement was that 20 wom-
en would form a group with their family’s approval,
must participate in a series of trainings and meetings.
Women would also be required to save regularly in the
established Self Help Groups (SHG); where they can
access loans and engage in different income generat-
ing activities; participate in family dialogues and com-
munity conversations; and set up community action
groups to support victims of violence.
At first the men showed resistance towards allowing
their wives to join an all-women’s group. Their deci-
sion was backed by traditions that any savings by wom-
en would amount to a wasted venture.
“My husband who works within the kebele (ward)
administration though was knowledgable about the
benefits of a women’s self help group initially was The prevalence of negative traditional beliefs had
resistant to the idea fearing ridicule from his friends relegated women’s roles in the household to only
had prevented me from joining. Iniitaly I had enrolled serve their husbands, according to Mariam
without his permission. hold. Now he not only encourages me to go to the
“We women according to tradition would have to meeting but also offers to pay for my monthly contri-
prostate before our husbands even while serving them bution if he suspected that I was short of money”, said
meals. But slowly he turned around, seeing that I am Mariam Siri who is a member of the Nash Erqo Self
earning the family income and bettering the house- Help Group established in September 2014.

10
Her husband had even refused to give her the two birr
minimum weekly savings. However, six months later
he offered to give her 60 ETB to put into her savings.
The women meet every Saturday at 7:00 am in the
morning first to discuss developments in the village
and then collect the weekly contributions.
The group initially started with a weekly savings of two
birr by each member and later on raised their savings
to 5 ETB, which is raised now to 10 ETB.
“Initially from the group I took a loan of 700 ETB to
cover some household items and buy school supplies
for my children. After repaying my loan I have started
a business venture by buying onions and other pro-
duce wholesale in the town market and sell it in retail
at the village market making a small profit. I have
saved 680 ETB so far”, said Mariam.
Like Mariam, others too have embarked in business-
es with some even entering a second or third cycle of
loans to further expand their enterprises.
The loan scheme from the group provides start up cap-
ital for petty trade and animal fattening. An interest of
two birr is levied for every 100 ETB taken as loan to be
paid within six months. The group has a total of 24,018 Ayseto Bogale now sees women are treated with
ETB capital from savings amounting to 13,603 ETB, in- respect and dignity in her village
come from interest at 350 ETB, 247 ETB from penalties
and clearing pastures along with the men.
and 9,818 ETB from fundraising. Fundraising comes
“The family dialogues really helped in having our
through payment for voluntary labour provided by the
husbands turn around and allow us to enter into the
women locally called Debo in exchange for weeding
Self Help Group. Now because of the changes in our
11
households more and more women are asking to join
our group, but we have already filled our quota.
“Those who initially refused to join our group fear-
ing backlash from their husbands now are asking us
to join. They have seen the changes here and we also
want them to be part of this good change” said Ayseto
Bogale.
“In the past we were treated no less than as dogs; to-
day women when going into labour, we [the Self Help
Group] make sure that an ambulance comes and takes
her to the health centre. This is a great departure from
staying at home alone in a shed. Women not only get
treatment during labour but also get treatment while
pregnant. And after giving birth, the woman is well
taken care of and has her group members come and
support her by giving her gifts.
“Before while pregnant we were forced to do all
household chores including fetching water carrying
three jerry cans (each with a capacity of 20 litres). Now
we take care good care of ourselves and avoid hard
chores”, added Tsidiko Tek .
The men, too, are now supporting the Group, offering Women now have access to health care services
to share in the household chores after attending fami- and the Group helps out according to Tsidiko Tek
ly dialogues sessions.
our partners and pitch in to help in the household
“I used to be very reluctant in allowing my wife to go chores.
to the self help group. But things have changed. We
did not know that what we were doing was abusing our “I now help out with the household tasks. During the
women. We just followed the traditions of our forefa- days where she has meetings I take the initiative to
thers, now that we are educated we see our wives as wake up the children, make breakfast, clean the house
12
and even make coffee. It is not something shameful
to work in the household but a lack of education that
has held us back for a long time. What we are doing is
lessening the burden of our wives”, said Nohe Demisse.
Emboldened by the economic enhancement, the wom-
en also started taking keen interest in social issues and
actively participated in the village development works.
The local authorities have also gone on board and are
working towards protecting women from abuse.
“In the past we used to be hit by our husbands, we did
not know where to go to have it stopped. Now we know
where to go and press charges. If any woman is hit we
will go and file a complaint at the local authorities.
We will have the woman treated in the clinic and will Due to the positive changes within the household
either resolve the issue either through Community husbands like Nohe Demisse now support their wives
Action Groups (CAG), a fine or in extreme cases with helping out in household chores
imprisonment. If a woman is afraid to file complaints provide the members with an opportunity to carry out
we as a group will file on her behalf. We also do the economic activities but also discuss and partake as
same for men who abuse alcohol”, said Echu Dessie, active players in the village’s social and economic situ-
head of the area’s women’s affairs office. ations. But most importantly, SGHs are giving women a
sense of power, and with their own money the Groups
Besides bringing equity within the household the proj-
are becoming self-sustaining.
ect has allowed the women to look further to future by
enrolling in adult education schemes as well as joining
credit unions to further access bigger loans to set up
larger enterprises. The group is now looking towards
setting up a mill in the village to cut travel to the town
to have their own grain mill, which will not only pro-
vide constant income, but will cut travel time to town.
SHGs, which are a women’s only gathering, not only
13
South Omo Elders take inspiration from peace building efforts from Borana
communities
Elders from the three ethnic groups of the South Omo, namely
Dasenech, Hammer and Nyangatom, are looking towards put-
ting in place common modalities aimed at curbing the cycle of
violence and cattle rustling among the three ethnic groups.
Complex, interlinked and rapidly evolving circumstances stem-
ming from competition for water, livestock, pasture, culture/tra-
dition of killing for heroic acts, and the environment exasperat-
ed with climate change has continued to cause violent conflicts
between the three ethnic groups of Dassenech, Hammer and
Nyangatom for generations.
The project dubbed Community-based Conflict Transformation
and Peace Building in South Omo is being co-implemented by
CST and Apostolic Vicariate of Sodo (Omorate Catholic Church).
Inspired by a recent experience sharing trip whereby elders of
the three tribes made a visit to Borana, the elders are upbeat at
making sure that they too could bring lasting peace among their
communities. The experience sharing trip was held in mid-June
in Moyale where the elders from the three communities took
insights on peace initiatives among the Borana, Gabra and Guji
clans.
Reflecting on the experience sharing trip, Aremor who is a tribal
chief among the Dasenech in Naika village, feels that the blood-
letting among the communities needs to end.
“I have a scar that shows that I had killed a man some twenty six
years ago. That was the first time that I killed. They came and
attacked the village seeking to steal some cattle I was shot in the
arm, I fell, he probably looking to finish me off he stood over me Aremor now believes the days of bloodletting
needs to end
14
and that is when I shot and killed him. I do not want con- go and water our
flict I have opened my eyes and I am now seeking peace”, cattle they (the other
said Aremor. tribes) come and tell
us this is our water
In 2014 Aremor also experienced a loss of his own when
and you cannot take
his son was killed in a skirmish.
water here. Then
“I was saddened with the loss of my son. I said I will not they move their set-
avenge his death and will not allow anyone to avenge on tlements and cattle
my behalf. I said let it end with the death of my son. I want further away which is
the cycle of hate to end”, said Aremor. sign of an impending
Despite sporadic cattle rustling no loss of lives have oc- attack or future cattle
curred since 2015 between the communities, although rustling we then
with the ongoing drought scarcity of pastures and water prepare ourselves for
threaten the shaky truce. the attack”.

“To prevent a further of cycle of killings we recover cattle “Everyone knows

stolen from other communities and put them in a sepa- the problem we need
rate shed and look to mediate their return to their rightful to make sure peace
owners, said Birye Kara. reigns. We need to
bring the experience
“We have modalities within the community where we from Moyale here.
fine those from within our community that steal cattle All three ethnicities
from others, rape or even kill. We would like to have sim- need to come up with
ilar agreed modality with other communities to prevent common bylaws and Birye Kara is looking towards
others from going down that path. implement them im- more dialogue and ties among
“We have heard that they [the three communities in Bora- mediately. We have the communities
na] inter marry this solidifying their ties which in return fences all around the
has prevented further conflicts as they have now become village fearing attacks”, said Fankas Dokrima.
kin, we would like to see that here as well”, continued “We have seen with our own eyes and heard through
Birye. our own ears. There are lots of cattle and lots of people
Lukaba Kina from the Nyangatom community in Shen- roaming freely. They told us that they are in this situa-
kora village for his part states that, “Water is a common tion because there are no conflict. They told us that they
source of conflict. When we go out in search of water and had reigned in their youth who were prone to violence
15
 through instituting traditional penalties. We have fences all
around our villages because of the fear of violence and cattle
stealing. If we had peace we would not need the fences”. said
Roperto Romelon.
The communities know too well that decades of insecuri-
ty have taken a toll on the communities. Constant fear of
attacks have forced communities to work focus more on
repelling attacks rather work towards building their liveli-
hoods.
Bole from the Hammer tribe in Turmi said: “From what we
saw in Moyale we understood very well that we can bring
peace to our area. We can have the peaceful return of stolen
cattle. Our problem is that we did not have education on how
to make peace. Now we know there is a possibility”.
“In the past the communities in Borana had conflict like
us. But now there is peace. There is no fear of attacks, cattle
roam freely and women and children go about their daily
business without fear. We too can have that if we all work
together”, added Shalla.
The elders of the three tribes noted that there is much to be
learned from the experiences in Borana. They also welcome
all efforts to further bring all three tribes together to this
effect the three communities in August had a youth festival
in Kuraz town to further solidify relations.
The project aims at enhancing peace building and conflict
transformation skills among the communities through
Water is often the source of conflict in the area established peace committees through dialogues, forums,
according to Lukaba Kina trainings and experience sharing; organize and strengthen
grassroots peace building institutions with representa-
tion from women, youth and elders; and strengthen early
warning system to mitigate occurrence of violent conflict
16
 Having a shared modality on how to punish From left to right: Shalla and Bole now see dialogue
perpetrators of conflict is key according to Roperto can lead to lasting peace based on the experience of
(left) and Fankas (right) the Borana communities
through the establishment of joint peace committee between
three districts.
The peace building project is being undertaken three dis-
tricts in South Omo Zone in Dassanesh(10 villages), Nyaga-
tom(four villages) and Hammer (four villages).

17
Water Points bringing a sense of Permanency for Pastoralist Communities
Welino Mahi is a local administration head as well
as liaison between the community of Hiywete vil-
lage and the local government. He is also a benefi-
ciary of a CST water point rehabilitation project.
Welino has lived in the area for the past four years
with is young family of three children.
“Life for the Afar is often precarious we are often
engage in a game of wits with nature. We have to
not only predict where we can get pastures and
water for our herds but also anticipate droughts and
flash floods. When there are no rains we depend on
rivers, when rains come we dig small wells to help
store water during lean rainy season.
“The water project has really changed our perspec-
tive. We now do not need to anticipate crises like
drought and people getting sick from polluted wa-
ter. Our women folk get access to water within 20 to
30 minutes”, said Welino.
Each water point has a committee that manages
the use of water. They help allocate time of use and
the committees also act as trainers for hygiene and
sanitation practices.
Through the water point rehabilitation project Welino Mahi, seeing that days of wandering
CST and the Mekelle branch of Adigrat Diocese about for pasture and water are coming to
Catholic Secretariat (ADCS), itself a branch of the an end
18
ECC-SDCO, underground water is pumped using a
generator and stored up in mountain tops. The wa-
ter is then channelled through pipes using gravity
to water points located in settlements.
“My generation and those before mine lived in
constant movement not knowing if our next set-
tlement would be feasible. We were always on the
fringes now I think my children can look forward to
a more stable life”, said Welino.
Welino and the community now have a chance of
thriving with prospects of having a permanent resi-
dency at Hiywete.
“Water is very important to us without it we simply
cannot exist. With clean water now available for us
we do not fall sick, our herd have water and we are
looking towards planting orchards and gaining ad-
ditional income. We extend our gratitude to people
who support us to have this clean water”, remarked Rehabilitated shallow wells have now started providing
Welino. water to communities
In the past lack of potable water would mean com-
munities would drink from open and contaminated
water sources exposing them to kidney and water
borne disease. Due to the pastoralist way of life
getting sick could easily mean death as search for
pastures and water would leave one several kilome-
tres from the nearest health centre. A prolonged
drought from 2015 has meant even longer treks for
water and further burdens on communities.
19
Conservative Agriculture: Making it easy for small holder farmers to increase
yields
Belaynesh Bacho is a 46 year old mother of seven chil-
dren (three boys and four girls). She lives in the village
of Genta Meyche kebele some 11 kilometres from the
university town of Arba Minch.
Belaynesh has a one hectare plot of land in which she
grows maize and teff twice a year. In addition she has a
small vegetable production which she uses both for the
family’s food source as well as sells surplus to buy essen-
tials.
Without another grown adult in the household to help
plough the family’s land she has often found it difficult
to produce the required 10 quintals (1 quintal = 100 kilo-
grams) of cereals that will help feed the family through-
out the year. As a result, her family’s annual cereal pro-
duction had reduced to only 3 quintals.
Thanks to the introduction of conservative agriculture
Belaynesh was introduced to an innovative method of
planting cereals with minimal labour. Conservation Ag-
riculture (CA) aims to achieve sustainable and profitable
agriculture and subsequently aims at improved liveli-
hoods of farmers through the application of the three
conservation agriculture principles: minimal soil distur-
bance, permanent soil cover and crop rotations. Con-
servation agriculture holds tremendous potential for all
sizes of farms and agro-ecological systems, but its adop-
tion is perhaps most urgently required by smallholder
farmers, especially those facing acute labour shortages.
20
Where once, one would have to plough the farmstead
three to four time before sowing, conservation agricul-
ture has now allowed Belaynesh to plough her farm with
only a hoe, yet also to see improved yields on her farm.
Through the use of mulch she has reduced the painstak-
ing task of ploughing, weeding as well as helped retain
moisture in her soil the latter coming handy in light of
persistent shortages of rainfall being experienced in
Ethiopia due to late and scarce rainfall.
The evidence is stated in the amount of produce Be-
laynesh stands to gain come late mid October.
“I used to produce a maximum of three quintals a sea-
son now because of the conservation agriculture I stand
to gain five to six quintals which has really increased
my land’s productivity.
“I am very satisfied with the results as this experience
has allowed me not only to be self reliant in the produc-
tion of cereals on my land but has a virtuous cycle on
my land as the land continues to get not only essential
nutrients but also improved productivity. I am very
confident in the way things work and would also like to
volunteer to teach other women on the benefits of con-
servation agriculture”, said Belaynesh.
Like Belaynesh, many by just digging pits for planting
called planting station in conservation agriculture term,
using manure for fertilizer and laying down corn stalks
for mulch, farmers are doubling and even tripling their
yields. Belaynesh has now disavowed the use of chemi-
cal fertilisers as she now calms the mulch is enough to
replenish the soils fertility together with the application
of manures and composts.
Belaynesh is also a member of the local Savings and
Internal Lending Community (SILC) called Orza wom-
en group where she saves about 72 ETB for the last six
months. She further explained that being a member of
such activities is a means for her and other beneficia-
ries to engage in other business activities other than
agriculture.
Prior to implementing conservation agriculture Be-
laynesh was given training on soil preparation, weeding,
the importance of mulch. She was also provided with
a hoe, spade, bush knives and sickle to help her in the
production. By way of a start up she was also provided
with three kilos each of maize ad haricot beans. Conservation Agriculture is now allowing families like
Belaynesh to increase their yeilds by two folds
In order to enrol within the project beneficiaries are
required to set aside a plot of land and willing to learn Zygyte Perasso, Lakka, Zygyte Baqolle, Ganta Meyche
and implement the training on their plots. and Dega Ochollo.
This support comes through the Livelihood Enhance-
ment by Promoting Conservation Agriculture (CA)
project aimed at increasing and diversifying of incomes
of households and increasing agricultural production
and productivity being co-implemented by CST and
the Spiritan Community Outreach Ethiopia (SCORE)
through the support of the Canadian Catholic Organiza-
tion for Development and Peace. The project has target-
ed 1,600 small farmers residing in five kebeles namely
21
Climate change resilience project looks to raise women economic engagement
Kaliti Kiya is a twenty five year old resident of The group members are benefiting from an income
Flo-Romsa. She has five children, four boys and generating activities group through accessing loans
one girl. She is currently a member of the control according to the group’s bylaws. Some of the ben-
committee of the Jirena Credit and Saving Coop- eficiaries like Kaliti have already engaged in petty
erative (JCSC) established in February 2014.The trade.
Cooperative provides saving and credit services to The scheme has been made possible through the
its 36 members. It also collects interest from loans UKM5 project, which helps increase women’s finan-
provided for business start up and expansion among cial inclusion by enabling them to access financial
the members. Since establishment, the members services and loans. This generates opportunities
have contributed saving and distribute loan to their for women to also have a say in the finances of the
members on a revolving basis. household and diversify the household’s liveli-
Prior to joining the cooperative Kaliti was given hoods.
training on savings and credit and business plans.
To supplement the family’s income she dabbles a Within two years the project plans to support five
little in petty trade by selling tea and sugar to the 70 Savings and Credit Co-ops (SACCOs) with a total
households in her village. membership of 1,334 members, of which 1,152 will
“In our village every house needs tea and sugar. I go be women.
to Mega town and purchase in bulk and sell them
from my house to make some money on the side.
“I very much enjoy the work I do. I make sure that
loans are paid on time and that everyone pays their
monthly dues on time. It is important that we stay
on top of the management of the cooperative. With
increased loans our capital and by extension our
dividends from our shares grow”, said Kaliti who is a
member of the cooperative’s control committee.
22
“ I very much enjoy the work I do. I
make sure that loans are paid on time
and that everyone pays their monthly
dues on time. It is important that we
stay on top of the management of the
cooperative. With increased loans our
capital and by extension our dividends
from our shares grow

23
UKAM5 Enhancing Access to Credit for the Most Vulnerable
Chukules Garaso is a fifty year old grandmother liv-
ing in the Flo-romsa villages. Chukules used to live a
comfortable life before her divorce with her husband.
She is a mother of eight children and grandmother of
ten children -- most of them currently under her care.
During better times Chukules used to plant maize,
wheat or beans on the family’s farmland.
“There has not been any rains for the past three years.
This, compounded with the fact that I only have one
ox, I could not look towards growing any crops”.
Three consecutive dry spells have resulted in wide-
spread crop failures across the Borana in Southern
Ethiopia. While Ethiopia battles residual needs from
the 2015/2016 El Niño-induced drought, below average
2016 autumn rains in the southern and south eastern
parts of the country has brought with it a new human-
itarian crisis in 2017 with 8.5m people in need of hu-
manitarian assistance in addition to the regular 7.9m
under the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP).
Chukules is a part of the savings and credit scheme
supported by the joint CAFOD, SCIAF and Trōcaire
programme and its local partners, which allows her
to source some money for investing in her children’s
future. The support comes by way of the ‘Enhancing
Resilience to Climate Change and Increasing Income
for Pastoralist, Agro-pastoralist and drop-out Pastoral-
ist’ project co-implemented by CST and partners.
24
Through the project Chukules and 36 other members
of the Jirena Credit and Saving Cooperative (which
includes 18 women and 18 men as members) access
seed money to begin petty trade, training on Business
Development Skills (BDS) and organisational and fi-
nancial management.
She has received training on developing a business
plan and capacity building from an Income Generat-
ing Activity (IGA).
“Saving is very good for us. We can access money
when someone is sick or borrow from the cooperative
when we need to expand our businesses”, said Chuku-
les.
Besides encouraging saving and providing seed mon-
ey for small businesses, the project helps empower
women. The group has their own savings to comple-
ment the seed money to help their business ventures.
The group is governed by bylaws they have been de-
veloped with the support of the cooperative promotion
office. To this end, all members have their own savings
pass book. Each member is required to save between
16 ETB [~£0.54] to 20 ETB [~£0.68] a month. To date,
Chukules has saved 48 ETB [~£1.63] during her three
month membership in the cooperative. She plans to a
take loan from her cooperative and buy a cow to sell
milk to support her growing brood of children and
grandchildren.
“ Saving is very good for us. We can
access money when someone is sick or
borrow from the cooperative when we
need to expand our businesses
”

25
IBLI Protecting Pastoralists from Losing their Cattle
Dhabo Gelma is a 38 year old mother of eight (three boys and On a good day Dhabo sells an average of five cups of milk at
five girls). Originally born in Dhuka some 15 years ago, she 6 ETB each [~£0.20] in the Moyale market located 27 kilome-
has been living in Debi Village for the past 24 years. tres away. After milking her cows she waits by the roadside
to get a bus to deliver the milk to her client, who in return
Dhabo’s livestock include two camels, five goats and seven
amalgamates all the milk he gets from those like Dhabo and
cattle.
sells it wholesale to hotels and cafés in town. Her client in
It is difficult for Dhabo and her husband to provide for their town will in return take one ETB out of Dhabo’s six ETB as
family of ten. Often Dhabo helps by collecting firewood and commission.
selling milk to the nearby towns to supplement the family’s
meagre income.
She has been in the government’s Productive Safety Net Pro-
gramme (PSNP) for the past ten years. The support she gets
from the PSNP is 15 kgs of wheat per person in her house-
hold, which is provided only during emergencies.
Though she is grateful for being included within the PSNP
she states that the help has helped her to only get by during
crises and has not helped her in the long run.
Drought, made worse and more regular by a changing cli-
mate, is the most prevalent crisis encountered by people in
Borana. Several pastoralist households in Borana are regu-
larly hit by increasingly severe droughts. These households
most often rely solely on livestock, which means that the
resulting livestock deaths have devastating effects on people,
households and whole communities.
“During good conditions they (our cattle) give good milk but
with the drought there is no grass. So to prevent my livestock
from dying I provide them with concentrated fodder which
reduces the milk productivity”, says Dhabo. Dhabo Gelma, a news beneficiary of the IBLI
scheme
26
While Ethiopia battles residual needs from the 2015/2016 To further encourage the use of IBLI, local organisation
El Niño-induced drought, below average 2016 autumn rains Community Initiatives Facilitation and Assistance (CIFA), in
in the southern and south eastern parts of the country has partnership with the joint office of CAFOD, SCIAF and Trõ-
brought with it a new humanitarian crisis in 2017. Currently caire (CST), subsidises 35 per cent of the IBLI premium.
8.5m people are in need of emergency humanitarian assis-
As a result, Dhabo insured four goats and two ox; she has re-
tance in addition to the regular 7.9m under the Productive
ceived a pay-out amounting 1250 ETB [~£41.67], thus making
Safety Net Programme (PSNP).
sure that she is covered from losses.
In May this year in Borana an additional 135,577 vulnerable
“The money has really helped me in preventing further
people have fallen into the acute food insecure category.
losses to my family. I plan to buy some fodder and another ox
All 13 districts of the Borana Zone of South western Ethiopia
with the money”, said Dhabo.
have been severely affected by late April with 379,251 live-
stock, amounting to 40-50% of livestock, dying due to lack of
By May 2017, some 134 households have bought policies un-
pastures and water.
der the IBLI scheme this year.
This has forced vulnerable households to migrate out of
their villages in search of pasture and water, leaving behind In recent years schemes like IBLI have helped to build
women, children and the elderly without protection from resilience among pastoralists who are at risk of losing their
further sufferings. livelihood because of a changing climate and drought.
Efforts to help communities counter the onslaught of cli-
mate change are being undertaken with funding secured
through UK Aid Match for the Enhancing Resilience to
Climate Change and Increasing Income for Pastoralist,
Agro-pastoralist and drop-out Pastoralist project. As one
component, the project supports communities through In-
dex Based Livestock Insurance (IBLI).
IBLI insures pastoralists in Borana against the livestock loss-
es that often follow severe drought, such as the one currently
being experienced. During drought, widespread livestock
mortality is caused primarily by forage scarcity as a result
the scheme tracks local forage conditions using real satellite
data to determine the severity of drought, predict area-aver-
age livestock losses, and calculate insurance pay outs.
27
 Websites

www. cafod.org.uk

www.sciaf.org.uk

www.trocaire.org
We hope you enjoyed this edition of CST-together. The next edition is due out in December 2017.
Please send your articles and photographs to reception@cst-together.org