The Fall Armyworm (FAW) Spodoptera frugiperda is a major economic pest of maize across the American continents from the United States to Brazil. Without proper containment, the FAW can cause maize yield losses between 30-40%. In Brazil, the government spends in excess of $600 million USD annually to control FAW on approximately 15 million hectares …
We established our four impact programs focused on Healthcare, Education, Financial Inclusion, and Agriculture – now we want to make them sustainable through cooperatives managed exclusively by farmer-leaders. The Leadership Program at Nuru Ethiopia (NE) has been experiencing something of a reboot lately. We spent our early years focused on crafting a functioning NGO led …
In 2014, Nuru Ethiopia (NE) started its agriculture program in a single woreda (district), Boreda Woreda, in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region of Ethiopia. During its inaugural year, NE offered its agriculture program across 3 cooperatives and saw yield increases of 84%. Much has happened in the last three years, including the design …
Last year, the Nuru Education team celebrated World Book and Copyright Day by sharing their favorite books and why they love to read. This year, the Nuru Ethiopia Education team wants to share how they’ve increased access to books in Boreda Woreda (District) in Southern Ethiopia. Over the last two years, Nuru Ethiopia Education team: …
In March 2017, staff members from Nuru Ethiopia visited Nuru Kenya in Isibania, Kenya. None of the Ethiopian staff had ever left their home country and two of them were taking their first flights ever. As the airplane departed Addis Ababa, destined for Nairobi, the staff members clenched their jaws and tightly gripped their armrests. …
In early 2015, when Nuru’s Education team was beginning the Program Planning Process, one of the biggest challenges identified by community members, schools, teachers and students was lack of quality latrines at schools. Upon inspection many schools had old, rundown latrines that were poorly constructed and barely functional. Some did not have any at all. …
When I set off to work for my three-month pro bono consulting assignment with Nuru Ethiopia, I wondered whether I could transfer my professional skills to real-life situations that could be of true benefit to a community or region. For me, this was a first-time mission to provide advisory services in an unknown territory, with …
ADAMA—The Charities and Societies Agency (ChSA) within Ethiopia has awarded an “A” grade to Nuru Ethiopia. The grading system is based on how well NGOs comply with ChSA guidelines and how effectively NGOs are working within their communities. For this new grading exercise, ChSA considered over 3,000 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), including over 400 international NGOs. Nuru Ethiopia …
In July 2016, Nuru Ethiopia celebrated with the community as smallholder farmers passed a key milestone: successfully facilitating the formation of the Hidota Grain Producer Farmer’s Cooperative Union PLC. This is the first time Nuru has facilitated the creation of such a large enterprise run exclusively by farmer members. The union presently serves 14 primary cooperatives …
Zelalem Abera is the Healthcare Program Manager for Nuru Ethiopia. Zelalem earned his M.S. in Applied Human Nutrition and a B.S. in Public Health with distinction from Hawassa University. He also holds a Diploma in Nursing from Gonder University. He has worked in the health field at a clinical level at different government public health centers and …
Feven Yimer is the Education Program Manager for Nuru Ethiopia. She has a Masters in Sociology from Indra Gandhi National Open University and a Bachelors of Education in Biology from Debube University, Dilla College of Teacher Education and Health Sciences. Prior to joining Nuru Ethiopia, Feven worked as a subject teacher at multiple schools for …
As I reflect on the exciting nature of the past three weeks—the sound of water filling a 100,000-liter tanker which had been empty for 8 years, community members cheering at the site of clean water flowing out of water sources that hadn’t worked for 5 years and jerry cans of all sizes waiting to be …
In 2016, Nuru Ethiopia expanded its Agriculture Program to serve farmers in two new kebeles in Kucha, a region north of Boreda where Nuru Ethiopia has been working since 2014. In this interview with Berhanu Gumara, a native of Kucha, he shares about his work as an Agriculture Extension and Rural Livelihoods Field Officer with …
After a tough year of drought in 2015, Nuru Ethiopia Agriculture, in partnership with farmer-owned, farmer-run cooperatives, is offering a comprehensive loan package of maize and haricot beans inputs, extension services, training and market linkages to more than 2,000 farmers. Nuru supports its cooperatives by constructing small granaries to store seed and fertilizer inputs and later …
As the world celebrates World Book and Copyright Day on Saturday, April 23rd, members of the Nuru Education team reflect on what books influenced them as children and why books are important to us all. What was your favorite book or series when you were a child? “My favorite storybook growing up was Things Fall …