ADDIS ABABA- Some 51 thousand people, who are graduates of the Urban Productive Safety Net Program, have prepared business plans to commence their own businesses, said Urban Job Creation and Food Security Agency (UJCFSA).
The majority of them, according to the Agency, are beneficiaries of the first round program which the Ethiopian government, in collaboration with the World Bank, launched three years ago with a budget of 450 million USD to tackle the growing number of poor in urban areas.
The program is part of the government’s urban food security and job creation strategy, which targets over 4.7 million of the urban poor living in 972 cities and towns across the country. Addis Ababa University has conducted a study and identified 130 business areas to make it easy for the graduates to select.
Agency Deputy General Director, Solomon Assefa, told The Ethiopian Herald that UJCFSA, in collaboration with stakeholders, has also provided the necessary business skill development training to the beneficiaries.
The training focused on financial management, marketing, marketing communication, risk management, and profit-making. So far, some of the beneficiaries have finalized the training in the areas where they are interested in.
The Agency will provide 500 USD for each beneficiary to start the business with. The Agency has been striving to establish working relations with microfinance institutions and enterprises to facilitate loan access and create market linkage for the beneficiaries, he added. The money which they have saved during their time in the program will be released once they are ready to start their businesses.
The primary goal of the project is to make the vulnerable and the poor self-reliant by creating a means for generating sustainable income. Prior to the implementation of the project, the beneficiaries of were marginalized members of the society. The first round program which started in 2016 has enabled them to expand and improve their social capital and trust, admiration and commonality within the community, Solomon said.
In the process of the program’s implementation, some 11,000 beneficiaries were discarded as they are found to be capable of managing their livelihood following a collaborative work with the local community. The activity will continue to identify members of the society who are not vulnerable enough to be part of the program and abuse it.
Tirunesh Gebissa, a beneficiary of the urban productive safety net program in Addis Ababa around Lideta, said that it has changed her life and given her children a better life.
“I am a mother of four. The income I have been earning by taking part in the public work of the productive safety net program has helped me to run my family’s life,” she said. “I have also received theoretical and practical training in managing poultry to start my own business in the near future.”
As to her, the training has changed her attitude about making a profit by properly utilizing the resources at hand. But financial limitations remain a challenge, she said. “The Agency has also pledged to establish loan access and create market linkage for us. This is also a big opportunity,” she said adding once her savings are released she would start the poultry business.”
The Ethiopian Herald, August 15/2019
BY MULATU BELACHEW
