Supporter: Anna Clarkson

Tafessu Jiru, 35, has gone from unemployment to a managerial position in an environmentally-friendly start-up business funded by Mercy Corps. Photo: Cathy Ratcliff/Mercy Corps Ethiopia

As a single mother with a 13-year-old son, Tafessu Jiru doesn't have a lot of kitchen scraps coming from her household. Most everything is put to prudent use.

But a little bit of garbage goes a long way in Akaki Kaliti, an impoverished neighborhood in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. When you add the scraps from Tafessu's kitchen to those from the kitchens of her friends, it turns into quite a pile.

A pile of money, that is.

With support from Mercy Corps and a local organisation called Women in Self-Employment (WISE), Tafessu and some of her neighbors are finding a way to transform potato skins and fruit peels into fuel. They are one of five female-led Savings and Credit Cooperatives who are not only pulling their families out of poverty, but also helping save the environment by creating and selling alternative fuel briquettes.

Determination despite difficulty

Nothing has ever come easily for Tafessu, but she's struggled hard nonetheless to find a better life. After starting school at a late age and repeating two class levels during her education, she finally graduated from high school at the age of 24. Not long after that, she lost her first job at a local coffee-processing factory — leaving her to scramble for odd jobs to support her young son.

Now 35, she lives with her son, parents, two sisters and a nephew in a 324-square-foot room in a gritty part of Addis Ababa. The extended family scraped by on Tafessu's mother's pension until Tafessu learned about an international organisation helping Ethiopian women set up their own businesses: Mercy Corps.

Members of a women's Saving and Credit Cooperative meet to discuss business plans. Photo: Cathy Ratcliff/Mercy Corps Ethiopia

She received her first loan nine months ago and quickly turned that money into a successful business selling supplies to local beekeepers. Tafessu was able to bring in a modest profit to buoy her family, as well as pay her loan back ahead of schedule.

This burgeoning business acumen caught the attention of Mercy Corps and WISE, who were beginning a new programme to not only raise the fortunes of poor Ethiopian families but also protect the country against accelerating climate change.

Innovation becomes opportunity

The idea of turning organic household waste into fuel briquettes for home cooking and heating had been explored for some time by the Ethiopian Government, in collaboration with international organisations. But the dream of coming up with a successful business model had not been realized. Scientifically these briquettes have been proven to burn just as well as wood charcoal with less smoke and, of course, no dependency on already-scarce wood supplies.

The only raw materials necessary to their manufacture are various organic waste products such as food scraps. The process itself is simple: the organic material is slowly burned over the course of a few days, then put through a mill to produce a fine dust. That dust is then mixed with clay and water in a special machine called an agglomerator, which produces the actual briquettes.

The briquettes look and burn much like conventional charcoal, but give off less smoke and rely on household waste products rather than trees. Photo: Cathy Ratcliff/Mercy Corps Ethiopia

Mercy Corps identified this potential economic development opportunity in mid-2007 and, that December, launched a new programme to help female entrepreneurs manufacture fuel briquettes and manage six small businesses. This programme was capitalized by £30,000 from Mercy Corps' Phoenix Fund, which raises private seed money from socially conscious investors to begin innovative small projects in places where aid money is typically hard to come by.

With this funding, Tafessu and 29 other low-income women are receiving the training, equipment and support they need to start environmentally aware businesses that will provide an affordable, climate-friendly product to households in some of Addis Ababa's poorest neighbourhoods.

The long-term goal of the project is that the business activities of these 30 women will succeed and expand, leading to more job opportunities for citizens of Addis Ababa — a city with a self-reported unemployment rate around 40 percent. More immediately, the programme is striving to provide participants with a sustainable income of about £1,095 per year, which is a considerable improvement over the dollar a day that many people here earn.

Owing much to her own perseverance and vibrant personality, Tafessu has been named the manager for her small six-woman business. It won't be easy; these women will depend on each other for everything as their enterprise gets underway and goes through inevitable growing pains. But Mercy Corps staff members, as well as her own peers, believe Tafessu is up to the job.

"I hope that my work will give hope to other women and set an example of how they can improve their current situation," Tafessu says. "My dream is for our new business to be a huge success so that I can support my entire family and make my son proud of his mother."

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The population of Kosovo waited more than eight years for final status to be declared. During this time, their lives have been in limbo, jobs have become scarce and dismayed youth have struggled to find hope for their future within Kosovo. International agencies on the ground such as Mercy Corps, which has worked in Kosovo for 15 years, recognise that a successful transition is critical to enable the people of Kosovo to continue with much needed economic and social progress.

With independence now declared, Mercy Corps has captured a snapshot of how long-delayed status impacted the lives of people living in Kosovo. These individuals have survived years of instability, hardship and frustration and now, regardless of their sex, age or ethnicity, they are starting to unleash their hope for a positive, lasting change for the future.

The single parent — Zade Islamaj

As a single parent with only four years of primary education, life in Kosovo is hard for 33-year-old Zade Islamaj, a Roma who lives in the Istog/Istok Municipality. Together with her five children, she has been forced to live with her brother-in-law after her own house was burned down during the conflict in 1999. Her husband is missing, after leaving the family two years ago to find work and never coming home again. Zade remains jobless except for a small income she can earn through selling the milk from a dairy cow provided by Mercy Corps.

But Zade is hopeful now that Kosovo's status has been declared: "I hope that I will be able to find a job in Kosovo to support my children during their education, so that they do not have to leave school early like I did. I also hope I will have a house of my own again one day, and of course I continue to hope very much that my husband will one day come home to us."

The grandfather — Velibor Trajkovic

At the age of 77, Velibor lives in Novoberde/Novo Brdo, one of Kosovo's poorest municipalities. His small village contains only 30 households of Roma and Serbian Kosovars, with an average of eight people living in each house. Velibor lives in an old house, badly needing repair, with five other family members.

For 30 years, Velibor worked hard in the municipality as a magnesium miner but, when the mines were closed in 1994, the population was left on the edge of poverty with no employment opportunities. Since then, Velibor has been unable to get a job and has provided for his family by farming livestock, wheat, corn and hay that produces enough food for his family but only occasionally generates enough surplus to sell at the market for a small profit.

"People are very worried about lack of employment in Kosovo. I hope that the status declaration will keep our youth in Kosovo by creating more job opportunities," Velibor said. "My own son is a candidate for displacement to other western European countries if the situation does not improve, and I do not want him to leave. My hope is for foreign and private investors to help us keep our youth here with their families, where they belong."

The unemployed — Trajko Marinkovic

From 1993 to 1999, 39-year-old Trajko, a Serbian Kosovar, used to have his own company selling safety equipment to workers in Prishtine/Pristina city. But when violence erupted in 1999, Trajko and his wife had to close the business.

Today, Trajko still remains unemployed. His family's only income is from selling milk and cheese at the local market and farming on their land. Trajko did attempt to set up a glue making business, but due to the diminishing economy in Kosovo he was unable to secure any investments to start the business. Instead, he was forced to sell the glue machines and use the money to support his wife and three children.

He lives in a multi-ethnic village with 120 families, half of whom are Serbian Kosovar and half Albanian Kosovar. His community was helped by Mercy Corps to work with their municipality and build a new road for the village.

Trajko believes that his freedom of movement is limited and, since 1999, he has never returned to Prishtine/Pristina. "Delayed status resolution affected opportunities for all people in Kosovo, and everyone is psychologically stressed with this situation. The concerns associated with economic investments and planning of the future come second to the concerns we have for our own health."

The restaurant owner — Salih Demiralija

Salih Demiralija, 36, runs a small family-owned fast food restaurant in Peje/Pec, the westernmost city in Kosovo. As a Gorani, Salih welcomes every customer through the door of his modest restaurant, regardless of their ethnicity.

During the Kosovo conflict, Salih moved with his brother to Montenegro for safety where they sold cigarettes on the streets to make money. Since being reunited with their parents in Kosovo in 1999, they have all lived together in a small two roomed house.

Salih hopes that status determination will quickly improve the economy of Kosovo and foreign investment will provide much needed jobs for unemployed Kosovar youth.

"I hope that I will be able to employ youth, regardless of their ethnic backgrounds — everyone is welcome in my shop. I also want to expand the family business, which my father started, so that I can comfortably support my family in the future."

The Teenager — Sokol Kantanolli

At the age of 19 Sokol Kantanolli, an Albanian Kosovar, is one of the fortunate youth living in Kosovo because he is employed. After finishing school last year Sokol joined his mother and sister running the family-owned grocery shop in Peje/Pec. He is in the privileged position of being able to save money to go to Prishtine/Pristina University where he will be studying economics next year.

Sokol's father works in a private beer factory in Peje/Pec and, with their joint income, the family are able to afford to live in a new house with three separate rooms.

"I hope that status resolution will improve the educational system in Kosovo by providing better teaching and services for students at schools and universities. I am hopeful that when I am finished university the economic situation will be much better so that there are good job opportunities for me and so that my family's business can grow from strength to strength."

The entrepreneur — Fadil Abdullahu

Fadil Abdullahu is in a privileged and rare position. At the age of 44, he has a more successful business now than before the conflict in Kosovo.

Before the worst violence in 1999 Fadil, an Albanian Kosovar, bought and sold small amounts of flowers to make some money. During this period, he realised there was a lack of packaging available for producers in the region.

After the conflict, he set up his own business producing different sized paper bags suitable for holding a wide variety of products. Initially he began with three employees and today he has more than 10. With the help of Mercy Corps, he has been able to purchase a cutting machine so that he can increase the quantity and variety of bags he produces.

Fadil is married and his wife works in the city's post office. They are fortunate enough to earn enough income to live in a large house with eight rooms and brand new furniture. This is a luxury very few people in Kosovo can afford.

Despite his own successful business Fadil is appreciates that few people in Kosovo are in such a well-off situation.

"I hope that [status resolution] will put an end to the constant delays in Kosovo's economic growth and foreign investments. I think that many other businesses will be able to thrive again once independence is declared and, of course, I am hopeful that my own business will continue to grow and I can employ more people."

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