The Contribution Of Social Development Program In Improving Livelihood Of Households: The Case Of Green-Re Project In Dugda District, Oromia, Ethiopia

Abstract

Ethiopia is a developing country with many undernourished people due to the fragile economy and ecological system that are vulnerable to climate change plus high population growth with limited capacity to respond. GREEN-RE is a pilot project under the Meki catholic secretariat (MCS) working on the dissemination of renewable energy technologies (Solar system and improved cooking stove (ICS)) and improved seed in the region to ensure growth, self-reliance, and reducing CO2 emission. But the role of this project on the livelihood of the households and the environment as well as the sustainability of such technology is not well addressed. So this thesis was initiated to assess the contribution of community-based GREEN-RE on the improvement of the livelihood of the project participants and the environment. This research was conducted in the Dugda district Oromiya region. Simple random sampling was used to select the sample households from four kebeles which were chosen by lottery methods. Primary data was collected from 142 randomly selected households by using questionnaires imported to CSPro. Additional information was also collected from key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and personal observations. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the included variables and data was analyzed using STATA and Microsoft excel. The result of the study on GREEN-RE’s contribution to the natural, financial, physical, human, and social capital reveals its positive contribution. The GREEN-RE project in the target areas supported the community in reducing the loss of forest, indoor air pollution, soil degradation & erosion, and high child & women work burden. It also contributed its part in enhancing the socio-economic status of the communities, improving the environment & empowering women. We suggest such projects like GREEN-RE should be extended to other rural areas as such projects have great positive impacts on the livelihood of the remote community. The government should encourage and facilitate donor agencies while installing solar systems in rural areas, subsidize solar technology, and develop the market for a solar stoves so that the poor may also purchase them easily considering their financial and purchasing ability