Publications

This Working Paper presents key findings and case studies from the partnership on Domestic Accountability between the Minister for Development Cooperation of The Netherlands and SNV. The partnership was initiated in 2008, and has been operational since in four countries in East and Southern Africa, i.e. Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia.

This Working Paper germinated in a meeting in Dar es Salaam (December 2010), bringing together SNV staff from various countries involved in the Domestic Accountability partnership with their respective Netherlands Embassies.

A capability statement concerning our work on Agriculture in Africa which focuses on equity and growth for smallholders.

La présente note thématique est basée sur les expériences de la SNV en matière d’appui aux pasteurs en Afrique, en vue d’améliorer leurs moyens d’existence. Elle se fonde sur une large gamme d’études de cas qui, à travers le continent, mettent en évidence un certain nombre de traits communs aux
pratiques des pasteurs. La collaboration avec les pasteurs nous a appris qu’ils ne sont pas les traditionalistes que l’on décrit souvent. Ils s’adaptent au changement rapide comme tout autre groupe en Afrique. La présente note met en exergue l’éventail de stratégies d’adaptation, d’options de commercialisation et de mécanismes institutionnels qui ont cours à l’heure actuelle au sein de ces communautés. Ces expériences démontrent que le travail de la SNV a permis d’apporter des améliorations  tangibles aux moyens d’existence des éleveurs, tout en augmentant leur contribution au développement écon omique dans certains des milieux les plus difficiles en Afrique aujourd’hui.

Key findings of the research: confirmed that Ethiopian MFIs are highly dependent on fund from external sources and they will find it difficult to extend loan for biogas user while satisfying the current financial need of their clientele; they also lack human resource capacity to participate in the NBP; they exhibited low level application of modern technologies such as MIS as a result of their limited financial capacity; majority of the MFIs are not aware of biogas technology and its benefit to the society, the environment and the business opportunity for their own organisation provided through new loan product; even if there is lack of proper infrastructure which could result in higher interest rate for rural households compensating the resulting higher transaction cost, MFIs are not charging rural clients higher interest rate, they rather vary the interest rate based on the lending methodology, the type of loan products and repayment period which is the same for all rural, semi-urban and urban clients.

Main conclusions: without building their financial, human resource and institutional capacity, with their current limited capacity Ethiopia MFIs will find it difficult to participate in NBP; lack of awareness about biogas lead MFIs to think that providing loan for biogas user is a risky business and they put forward a number of pre-requisites and additional guarantee requirements for biodigesters for the sake of their own security; lack of awareness found out to be a low level problem that could be addressed by continuous training and awareness raising campaigns.

Article introduces briefly the history and status of biogas technology, as part of Ethiopian rural energy services. It elaborates on the development of a National Biogas Program with assistance from SNV. EREDPC was identified to coordinate the programme.

The artcile discusses the folowing topics:

- A step towards a national biogas program in Ethiopia;
- Rural Energy in Ethiopia;
- Institutional Arrangement;
- EREDPC and implementation experience of rural energy technologies;
- Status of biogas dissemination in Ethiopia;
- SNV and the Ethiopian National Biogas Program (NBP);
- Goal of the National Biogas Program;
- SNV Approach;
- Results;
- Moments of success;
- Lessons Learnt;
- Recommendations.

Contact details are provided.

In June 2010 SNV, together with IFAD, organised a conference on ‘brokering knowledge for upscaling best practices in Inclusive Markets Access in East & Southern Africa’, which brought together over 70 participants from 11 African countries from donor, public and private sector to share experiences. This report summarizes the main issues discussed during the conference, of which the main focus was seeking to bring about systemic change for larger-scale sustainable inclusive markets with a wider significance.

This publication has been produced as part of a series under the Building Advisory Practice (BAP) initiative of SNV East Africa; conceptualized and supported by a team of SNV staff and advisers. Lead consultant for the BAP initiative is Rob Sinclair.

The southern region of Ethiopia, Arabaminch Zuria, is known for its high potential in tropical fruit production and currently contributes 10 to 15% to national fruit production. However, its potential could be as high as 40%. SNV’s BOAM programme is therefore supporting the introduction of new and faster technology to change old mango trees into improved and marketable types. SNV started with identifying the major constraints in mango production and marketing, and proposed some leverage intervention strategies, such as strengthening producer organisations. A business plan was developed, and cooperatives were trained in general management principles and values. This lead, among others, to improved income for members, and an improved financial position of the cooperative.

This annual report provides more detail of the strategic position choices SNV made in East and Southern Africa in 2007 and illustrates our approach with case studies from our practice.

Energy in Africa capability statement

Strengthening the capacity of the Technical Educational Vocational Training Centres to deliver distance learning training in WaSH

This report assessed two toilet-linked biogas digesters to determine the presence of pathogenic microorganisms and nutrient value of the effluent slurry. These were Kokebe Tsebah Senior Secondary School and Higher 12 Medium Technical and Vocational Training Institute in Addis Ababa. The parameters analyzed were temperature, pH, biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, nitrate, phosphorous, potassium, total coliform and fecal coliform. They were all measured using standard methods. The efficiency of both digesters was evaluated based on concentration and percentage removal of the above parameters. The report shows that the efficiency of removal is better in Kokebe Tsebah digester than the higher 12 digester. The assessment of nutrients showed that there are enough amounts of nutrients like nitrate, potassium and phosphate that can increase soil fertility if applied to vegetables and crops.

In general, the results showed that Fermented slurry, sometimes called bio-slurry, is an excellent organic fertilizer which can make an important contribution to better crop yields and lasting soil fertility. Although the nutrient content of the slurry is high and it is important for use as a fertilizer, the high number of total coliforms and fecal coliforms found can contaminate the environment in which the effluent is being released. As a conclusion, effluent slurry of digesters could be a potential source of environmental pollution in general and human infection in particular. Therefore, in order to avoid pollution and utilize the slurry as a source of fertilizer the report ends with recommendations.

Ethiopia, while being an important actor in the world’s honey and beeswax sector, was until recently banned from exporting any animal-based product to the EU, where an excellent market for Ethiopian honey exists. To do so, a country needs to have the ‘Third Country with Approved Residue Monitoring Plan’, an EU regulation controlling exports to EU member states. Using information from experiences in Zambia, SNV prepared a successful action plan for Ethiopian honey Third Country Listing. Simultaneously, measures were taken and financially supported through SNV’s BOAM program to link exporters in Ethiopia to importers in the EU. Third Country listing is expected to also benefit the local market. Infrastructures that have been created make it possible to know who producers are, where they are located, how much they produce and what the quality of their produce is.

Report on the feasibility study of a national programme for
domestic biogas in Ethiopia (2006).

This report evaluates the feasibility of establishing a National Domestic Biogas Programme (NDBP) in Ethiopia, a country where rural domestic energy supply is entirely biomass based, energy consumption is high, demand of energy exceeds supply, and renewable energy levels are low.

Study findings concluded that there was significant technical potential for domestic biogas in the regions studied (Amhara, Oromia, SNNPRS and Tigray). However, despite the potential, important challenging areas have been also found: the low level of disposable income of rural households diminishes potential investments; the very limited rural dissemination infrastructure and scattered population pattern cause dissemination activities to be lengthy and expensive; gender imbalance in decision-making further discourages investment, etc. Further, 60% of the visited installations were not functioning due to technology problems (e.g. lack of technical back-up services), water shortage problems (e.g. large
distance to water sources cause plants to stop operating), dung shortage problems (e.g. amount of available dung did not meet farmers’ expectations), plants abandonment (e.g. when families moved to another area they could not bring along the installation), and loss of interest.

The main outcome of the study was to set a pilot biogas programme in four regions, over 5 years, estimated at €11 million, and use the results of this programme to determine Ethiopia’s future in the biogas sector. Further recommendations in terms of market oriented approach, reduction of investment costs, quality management, selection programme partners, etc. are provided in the report.