Livelihoods
Blog Post: Posted August 24, 2010, 12:53 am by Juan Christie
Revving the local economy
Country: Indonesia
Topics: Livelihoods, Economic Development
Last month, the Mercy Corps team here in West Sumatra — of which I am a member —delivered sewing machines to 85 local women who were affected by last year's earthquake. We gave them a complete package, instead of just giving away the machine, so that they could get their small businesses up and running right away. So each women got the sewing machine, 14 cones of seven coloured yarns, 12 packs of needles, two liters of lubricating oil and one roll of fabric. Quite a haul, really — and kind of hard to be transported if you are using a motorcycle.
A local seamstress, who'd been affected by last year's devastating earthquake, receives a sewing machine and materials from Mercy Corps for her small business. Photo: Juan Christie/Mercy Corps
So the women who'd received the sewing machine and other materials hired motorcycles with sidecars attached to them. Some of the women shared the cost of having a sidecar to haul two packages to their respective houses. As word spread, more motorcycles sidecars came to the rescue. One particularly enterprising group of women from a nearby village even managed to hire a small pick-up truck, hauling four packages in one go!
I think we could safely say that we were helping to rev up the local economy by providing an opportunity for these motorcycle drivers to earn an extra income with their sidecars. One driver said that he earned twice as much as a typical day from his two trips to four houses. Another said that, besides earning extra income, he could help his neighbors with the sewing machine and other materials they'd received.
We're expecting an even bigger economic impact from the day's distribution of sewing machines: as these women resume their seamstress businesses, they'll not only sell their creations but also use that income to buy more materials as well food and other supplies for their household needs. It's a multiplier effect that began with getting the machines and materials home.
With the holy month of Ramadhan underway, we are hoping that this year they can have a merry Eid al-Fitr and finally move on from the devastating 2009 earthquake.
Blog Post: Posted August 19, 2010, 9:52 am by Mark Chadwick
Losing some preconceptions in Afghanistan
Country: Afghanistan
Topics: Livelihoods, Agriculture
I should know by now, but the important lessons are always worth repeating. Although blessed with the opportunity to travel often, I packed a lot of preconceptions when I set out for Afghanistan; this country that dominates our headlines but whose people we know so little.
I was ready for palpable tension in Kabul; no one wanting to linger on the streets, a pervading sadness. But in my short time there (and it was a short time), I saw nothing of that. Instead bustle, chatter, shops with names like “Kabul Asia Fashion”, advertisements for mobile phones, clothes, college courses and smiling teenagers — everything I ought to have expected but somehow didn’t — the old truth (and one time British Airways slogan) that there’s more that brings us together than keeps us apart.
Alongside the more immediate tragedies of this conflict are the missed opportunities of our mutual isolation. It’s a pity that the construction contractor I got talking to on my flight home never got to see anything of Afghanistan except the inside of Kabul compounds and armoured vehicles. It’s a shame that Afghans with expertise in development can’t always get visas to attend training courses in the United Kingdom that will help them contribute even more to their country.
Mercy Corps works closely with communities and implements programmes together with them, wherever security allows. It is a privilege in these difficult times to have the chance to meet with ordinary Afghans in an uncomplicated way.
I had the chance to visit a Mercy Corps agricultural programme, funded by the European Commission, in a comparatively stable part of the country in the east. This programme is demonstrating improved seeds and planting techniques, setting up women with poultry as a source of income, linking farmers to markets and putting money into the household budgets and local economy by hiring local labour to build and improve infrastructure, not least irrigation.
From the air, it’s hard not to be struck by the difference that canals make to the otherwise sparse and arid country and just how important these arteries are to rural life. Building this water infrastructure and helping Afghans improve its management is a big part of what Mercy Corps does around the country.
I accidentally stepped in one of the water channels, to the amusement of local children in one village. I’m claiming this was a deliberate ice-breaking strategy…or at least I’d use that excuse if we hadn’t already been warmly welcomed. Everywhere we were met with great warmth and we had to reluctantly decline many offers of lunch, (although still managed to eat some excellent watermelon). We promised we’d take up their lunch offers next time.
I hope we can.
Blog Post: Posted August 16, 2010, 10:37 am by Lisa Inks
Breaking ground, in more ways than one
Country: Uganda
A young woman crafts grass into a thatched roof for a building in Karamoja. Photo: Lisa Inks/Mercy Corps
Plumb in the middle of two conflicting communities in Karamoja, there is an area of bush called Moruitit. Moruitit has long been a hideout for the competing Jie and Dodoth warriors who have rustled cattle, stolen property and ambushed vehicles in an ongoing conflict.
But we might, tentatively, say that’s history. That was before the start of three joint livelihood projects orchestrated by Building Bridges to Peace (BBP), a Mercy Corps programme that strengthens both social and economic relationships between conflicting groups. That was before dozens of Jie and Dodth walked the several-kilometre jaunt last week to camp out at Moruitit and clear the way for a joint cassava farm, joint forest and joint cattle market.
Men carrying the polewood that will help create buildings. Photo: Lisa Inks/Mercy Corps
The area is bustling now — men stirring vats of beans radiating plumes of steam, people springing up huts in neat clusters and clearing an area for a new health centre — as Jie and Dodoth get cash for work, side by side.
On the fifth day of the project, I spoke with a cluster of men coming in to take lunch and, with one eyebrow raised, asked them where they were from. Their alternating responses resounded: Rengen, Sidok, Rengen, Rengen, Sidok, and so on. These men, who by most accounts are in conflict, were propping their elbows on each other’s shoulders and joking together with garden hoes in hand.
One year ago, 20 percent of communities here had no hope for peace. But when we conducted a midterm assessment in June, that number had reduced to five percent. BBP has spent the last year in Karamoja facilitating intercultural exchanges and peace dialogues, establishing Peace Committees to resolve disputes within and between communities, and planning the implementation of livelihoods-building projects. These projects seem a long time in coming: staff took months to facilitate community brainstorming meetings, build consensus among conflicting groups and buoy up the capacity of local partners to deal with the day-to-day challenges of running such a project.
A man tethers polewood together for a roof. Photo: Lisa Inks/Mercy Corps
To be sure — despite the stunning visual of integration — challenges will remain. Staff members are working vigilantly to address food, water and health needs, take appropriate security measures and maintain an air of conviviality when historic bitterness makes the flaring of tensions a constant risk.
But these three projects are just the beginning: over the next few weeks, BBP will be implementing three more, in three different sites that have long been tracts of fear, mistrust and restricted movement. And it will continue to use peace dialogues and intercultural exchanges to support the livelihoods projects in addressing the largely economic roots of conflict.
The midterm evaluation also found enormous support for this multifaceted approach unique to BBP: during one phase of the participatory assessment, nine out of nine groups said that people will stop raiding cattle if they have other livelihood options. As the joint farms and joint markets grow and hopefully flourish, communities may finally put that belief to the test.
When I came to Karamoja, in the beginning of June, a bridge near Moruitit displayed a chilling portent: half of a human skull, perched on the ledge, a warning signal to all who passed. When we left the site of the joint livelihoods projects, our spirits were lifted. And the skull that had been on the bridge was nowhere in sight.
Blog Post: Posted August 15, 2010, 6:37 am by Sarah Royall
What is community?
Country: Tajikistan
Tajikistan is a small former Soviet Republic situated just north of Afghanistan. The contrast between the two neighboring countries is striking. The occasional bullet-ridden and bombed-out buildings alongside slowly decomposing scraps of former tanks are regular reminders of the violent six-year civil war that ended just barely a decade ago and went largely unpublicized in the West. Some communities have suffered enduring conflicts with violent flare-ups as recently as last year — and this is where you’ll find Mercy Corps working.
Everybody helps out in Tajik communities. Photo: Sadullo Ubaidulloev for Mercy Corps
Despite these past conflicts, all over Tajikistan we find communities working together to promote peace and improve one another’s situations. “Hashars” are Tajik community get-togethers. Unlike the neighborly meet-ups in my neighborhood in America where we share gossip over drinks, here the community gets together to work on a project that benefits everyone, such as improving the roads or cutting hay that everyone can use.
A community in Obi Mehnat, Rasht Valley gathers to discuss their ideas to tackle youth unemployment. Photo: Sarah Royall for Mercy Corps
On a recent field visit to a village high in the mountains, we came to what appeared to be the end of a barely passable road. It’s obvious to see why the community has asked for our help in improving these roads. The community members decided to start the work themselves and organised a community hashar, repairing the worst part of the road. Since there are so many miles of roads that are in need of serious repairs, especially before the challenging winter weather sets in, our contribution can stretch a little further now that the community has started the first few feet.
When our recent project began in Tajikistan, we started by forming Community Action Groups (CAGs) who steer all of our work in these villages. A few weeks ago, our team led a training about the Vision for Change with one of our CAGs. Afterwards, the participants were eager to share how they related to our values. It was clear that this really resonated with them, especially because the idea of community-led development is already a strong concept in their culture.
Posted August 9, 2010
Making the Economy Buzz
Country: Kosovo
Ali Rama is a 50-year-old beekeeper from the Vushtri Municipality in northern Kosovo. While Ali has enjoyed relative success in his honey production and sales for the last 10 years, he was looking to expand his business into new opportunities.
Mercy Corps supported Ali to implement quality standards for organic honey production and — this year, for the first time in Kosovo — he has begun to produce organic honey. Conventional honey is sold for eight euros a kilogram, and after Mercy Corps’ trainings in the methodology of organic honey production, he now sells for 10 euros.
Mercy Corps supported Ali to identify gaps in the marketplace and, together, they settled on production of organic honey as a potential niche for Ali’s honey business to increase its sales. He has begun to sell honey in Kosovo and is exploring the lucrative market for exporting in the near future.
Ali Rama with one of his organic beehives. Photo: Mercy Corps
“For me as a producer of honey, production of organic honey was a new experience,” he said. “Mercy Corps supported me at every stage of development of organic honey.”
With Mercy Corps’ support and shifting his operations to organic honey, Ali has increased his production capacities from a single beehive producing about 30 kilograms of honey, to eight beehives that yield a total of 240 kilograms of organic honey. Compared to previous years, he has increased the value of his production by roughly 20 percent and increased his income by 25 percent, from 1,200 euros to 2,400.
With the better market prices that organic honey commands, the increase in Ali's income this year made his life much easier by covering expenses for the education of his five children. Mercy Corps supported Ali for two years with capacity building and linkages with markets.
Through the Kosovo Value Chain Revitalisation programme, we've supported Ali and 58 other beekeepers with technical trainings to improve their production and business capacity, as well as contribute towards sustainable economic development of their businesses and the overall Kosovo economy.
Posted August 9, 2010
How a Tractor Changes Everything
Country: Kosovo
This tractor, the purchase of which was facilitated by Mercy Corps project funds, is helping once-contentious ethnic groups in one part of Kosovo work together to improve their farmlands and livelihoods. Photo: Mercy Corps
The village of Videja is a rural community of 1,000 residents near the Dukagjini Valley, the heart of western Kosovo's agricultural lands. Kosovo Serbs, who for centuries have represented the vast majority of the population in Videje, are still recovering from the conflict of 1999 through continuous post-war refugee and internally displaced persons returns processes. They face high unemployment and few income-earning opportunities.
Farming and raising livestock are the main sources of income for all ethnic groups that live in Videje and its seven surrounding villages. These ethnic groups — Kosovo Albanians, Kosovo Serbs and Roma — live in relative harmony today and are eager to find ways for cooperation and common welfare, putting their past differences and conflicts aside.
An important element of Kosovo’s future stability and overall prosperity lies in the country’s ability to return and re-integrate internally displaced people and refugee populations to their native homes in a peaceful and sustainable fashion. Through Mercy Corps’ Kosovo Economic Support for Sustainable Returns (KESSR) programme, we are facilitating these peaceful returns by partnering with municipal governments to provide household grants for items like greenhouses and agricultural equipment to help families return and re-establish themselves. To improve the economic environment for returns, the Videje community and municipal government presented a project to Mercy Corps to purchase tractor and tractor attachments for the community’s needs. With a 30 percent contribution from the community, Mercy Corps supplied the remaining necessary funds towards purchase of the tractor.
Nominated by his peers to lead this initiative, Nemanja Vulicevic — a 21-year-old Kosovo Serb returnee from Videje — is representing his fellow farmers to the municipality and leading activities under this project. Returned in 2005 from a refugee camp in Krusevac, Serbia, Nemanja — who lives together with his parents, brother, sister-in-law and their three young children — proudly shows the 400 working hours registered on the tractor’s metre.
“We had nothing without the tractor — the tractor does not care about nationality or religion,” Nemanja says.
Seven months after the programme began, the economic benefits to the community are evident: more arable land planted, more corn harvested and more grass and alfalfa baled. The tractor has also provided chronically needed transport of products to local market or raw materials (including seeds, fertilizer and timber) to households.
“There are families that are planning to return and their land is already planted; when they return they will have wheat, corn and alfalfa to eat or trade,” Nemanja explains.
Perhaps more importantly — in addition to the economic benefits — the tractor provides a free-of-charge service to farmers for seven area villages, all of them of mixed ethnicity, all of which were formerly in conflict with one another. Now, more than 90 Albanian, Serb and Roma farmers all use the tractor to plow, harvest, bale, fertilize or transport, improving their farmlands and communities together.
Posted August 9, 2010
Not Small Potatoes
Country: Kosovo
Naim Fejza in his field. Photo: Mercy Corps
Naim Fejza is a veteran potato farmer in the small town of Mogila in southern Kosovo. For his entire adult life, he and his household — which includes his parents, wife and three children — have eked out a living on the small income from the sales of potatoes on their farm.
Mogila is a typical Kosovo village of 1,700 residents, where communities of both Albanian and Serb ethnic backgrounds live and work together precariously, relying on crops such as potatoes, wheat and corn for their livelihoods. The mixed-ethnic Mogila Farmers’ Association and municipal authorities approached Mercy Corps with a proposal to provide assistance to farmers of all ethnic backgrounds, in order to improve crop production capacity and overall economic standing.
Following a series of community meetings, the Farmers’ Association and other local farmers nominated Naim to act as the primary representative of the project to Mercy Corps and the local government. With support from the local government and the Farmers’ Association, Mercy Corps facilitated the delivery of farm equipment to Mogila to make their agricultural ventures more efficient. The farmers rent the machinery from the association to use on their lands.
Six months after the project's start, implementation is showing its benefits to the farmers, the Farmer's Association and the wider community. With the new machinery, Naim and the Farmers’ Association have increased the surface planted with varieties of vegetables by an average of more than 100 percent. At the same time, the cost of planting has dropped in half, from the previo£90 per hectare to the present £42
Some farmers have doubled their sales from previous years. Farmers also export their products to Macedonia, Albania and Serbia, as well as selling at local markets. In addition, with the new surplus income, Naim has invested in and built a 500-square-metre greenhouse for pepper seedlings that will increase the quality and their quantity of peppers produced. The Farmers’ Assocation has also grown from 30 to 100 members.
Naim, the pleased father of three, says, “I simply can’t explain the value of Mercy Corps’ assistance — it has doubled the planted surface, cut the cost in half and given meaning to the term ‘profit’.”
Blog Post: Posted August 4, 2010, 2:06 pm by Tara Noronha
In northern Uganda, hope springs eternal
Country: Uganda
As the brutal twenty-year civil war in Uganda has unofficially ended, many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have exited Pader — a district in the country’s northern Acholiland — which was for many years at the epicenter of atrocities committed by the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Pastoralist warriors fomenting tensions in Uganda’s eastern Karamoja region now beckon many aid efforts, as do protracted conflicts in neighboring Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
But while the days of abduction and murder at the hands of the LRA have ended in “post-conflict” Pader, a long and arduous road to recovery remains. Land disputes between returning Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have replaced battles between Ugandan forces and LRA rebels. The teacher-to-student ratio in Pader schools often hovers at 1:100. Additionally, northern Ugandans face unprecedented unemployment numbers, as well as few prospects for income generation.
These issues acutely affect youth. A staggering 83 percent of young people in Uganda are currently unemployed— a devastating figure which brands the country with the highest youth unemployment rate in the world. Yet, despite all of these seemingly insurmountable obstacles to economic and social stability, hope remains.
Just ask Akello.
Akello with her daughter in northern Uganda's Pader district. Photo: Tara Noronha/Mercy Corps
She is a soft-spoken twenty-year-old living in the Lira Palwo sub-county of Pader district. Akello is an entrepreneur, the mother of three young children and a child soldier once abducted and pressed into service by the LRA.
She is also a participant in Mercy Corps’ Youth Empowerment Programme (YEP), which operates in Pader with support from the W. Glen Boyd Charitable Foundation. Through YEP, Akello received a small grant to help grow her fish business. She’s also involved in the programme’s Life Skills training, which engages youth in dialogue on topics such as HIV/AIDS, the dangers of early marriage and the importance of effective communication.
Although reserved, Akello is not shy when vocalizing the ways in which the grant from Mercy Corps has allowed her to expand her enterprise. She now buys her fish in bulk and has diversified her business by selling both small and medium-sized fish. She is also devising plans to begin another small enterprise.
This is no tiny feat in a district where 75 percent of individuals report no cash income. Her husband, a farmer, is supportive of her entrepreneurial drive. “My husband is very happy,” Akello told me, smiling. “And he’s proud of our new income.”
Mercy Corps believes in the power and potential of youth, particularly those transitioning from conflict to post-conflict environments. Because of this, our doors have remained open since our Pader office began work in 2006.
Akello is just one of more than 1,000 youth (ages 14-30) benefitting from YEP, a programme which aims to ensure that war-affected youth in northern Uganda are empowered economically, through an increased ability to earn an income, and personally, through an increased ability to make critical life decisions and healthier choices. Yes, Mercy Corps also has teams working in Karamoja (as well as Sudan and Congo), but we continue to work with vulnerable youth in Acholiland, recognizing that these young individuals have the capacity to transform their society and bolster the economy.
Through resilience and courage, and with a little guidance and support, Akello is just one of many young individuals leading the way.
Blog Post: Posted July 20, 2010, 11:13 pm by Elizabeth Hallinan
Greening Afghanistan
Country: Afghanistan
I’m just going to say it — people think of Afghanistan as a pile of rocks. I see where the mental image comes from; photos on the news do seem to showcase the sand and rocks in their effort to capture the grittiness of soldiers at war. But I know an Afghanistan of a different color: green.
In northern Afghanistan — where I work on a project promoting improved livelihoods through agriculture, infrastructure and livestock — there is the rich green carpet of potato plants in Takhar, the red-tinged green leaves of saplings in our timber plots in Badakhshan and technicolor green seedlings in the new rice paddies in Baghlan.
Our agriculture projects are not the only opportunities for supporting a greener Afghanistan. Now, we are using ‘greening’ techniques on our infrastructure projects as well. Northern Afghanistan is home to snowy mountains and rushing rivers, and as a result flood protection and erosion control are a major concern. The project builds retaining walls, wash culverts and canals to channel and control the water, but recently we have started looking far upstream to try to address the deforestation and soil erosion that make these floods so devastating.
The Yakatal "super passage" wash culvert in Taloqan, Takhar province, serves as a testing ground for this approach. This massive culvert is 120 meters (almost 400 feet) across and protects a local irrigation canal from being washed out by floods by channeling water up and over the covered canal. The culvert basically serves as a highway that contains the water as it runs downhill. This year, the new culvert contained the spring’s heavy flooding, but the sheer volume of water convinced Takhar Program Manager Kerry Sly of the need to work with the local shura (council) to control flooding at the source.
Yaka Zarang village resident Mohammad Ahmad explains the nature of the problem with relying on super passages alone: “Construction of super passages has its benefits, like quick protection of an area which is under threat of flood. After years, the passage will be destroyed by heavy floods anyway. All heavy floods are caused by consecutive rain fall in naked land which has nothing in its soil, and flood washes out everything from the surface of the land, like top soil and fertile land, and eventually farmers or people can not use that land for anything. Also, the river becomes full of mud and dirt which is washed away from the hills of upper areas.”
The Yakatal village elders remember a time when the hills above the village were covered with trees and shrubs and there was better land for grazing. They were eager to work with Mercy Corps to mitigate the current problems with soil erosion and deforestation to protect their downstream land. The shura agreed that the village would provide labor for starting nurseries, replanting trees and constructing a reservoir, as well as a promise to ensure that no more trees would be felled for fuel.
Mohammad Ahmad explains, “If we cover the area with forest and plants, we can easily reduce the floods' effects. Trees, plants and bushes absorb the water into soil, and roots keep the ground strong not to be swept away by fast rain. If we made terraces around the hills it is another way of reducing the flood flow, in the terraces we can plant pistachio, Russian willow and acacia, and these are all soil erosion controllers.”
With the help of the community, Mercy Corps targeted a 200 hectare (almost 500 acre) area that will be replanted with local varieties appropriate to the current dry conditions — and best suited for preventing erosion and improving soil moisture — such as pistachio, lilac, aspen, juniper, acacia, Russian willow, almond and walnut.
Trees thrive in Afghanistan, if given half a chance. By rebuilding a watershed, the community will restore the horticultural tradition and protect their agricultural land from future floods.
Coping with the Economic Crisis:
Blog Post: Posted June 10, 2010, 12:05 pm by Lyndsey Romick
D-z-u-d spells "disaster" for Mongolian herders
Country: Mongolia
Ever heard of a "dzud"? It's pronounced zuhd, and it's an extraordinarily harsh Mongolian winter -- the kind where temperatures plummet, animals freeze to death, and you can enter your house only through the roof because that's how high the snow is. Any Mongolian will tell you they're bad news.
The dzud during the winter of 2009-2010 was "a national catastrophe," according to Mercy Corps' Oidov Vaanchig, who's based in the capital of Ulan Bator. A shortage of grass during the preceding summer meant that herds of sheep, goats, camels, horses, and cows couldn't put on enough fat to get them through the winter. And herders didn't stock enough animal feed because the financial crisis cut into their cashmere sales. As a result, the unusually cold temperatures killed between 8 and 15 million animals. An estimated 45,000 people lost their entire herd.
A cow or goat skull in the Gobi Desert. Photo: Thatcher Cook for Mercy Corps
All those rotting carcasses have been a problem. Herders were unable to bury the dead animals during the winter because the ground was frozen, and burning the carcasses is too risky in Mongolia's dry climate. Serious health problems could result if the rancid flesh is allowed to decay and permeate the water supply. Mercy Corps encouraged rural herders to partner with local veterinary clinics to clean up the carcasses before disease becomes rampant.
We are also training herders to diversify their income so they don't have to completely rely on their animals for survival. Participating herders learn how to sustainably manage pastures and produce vegetables and dairy products while developing business skills in accounting, marketing, and risk-management. We are trying to get herders to share information on commodity prices, and trade knowledge-based skills with each other.
Better access to loans and markets can mean more income for rural herders and ex-herders. And if herders become less vulnerable to nasty weather, maybe the next time you hear about a dzud, the news won't be so bad.
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