A Legacy of Leadership: How Communities in Ethiopia Are Growing a Future Together

Photo: Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, where conflict, climate change, and worsening poverty are creating a complex and urgent humanitarian crisis, local leadership and deep-rooted community connection are sustaining progress and laying the groundwork for a brighter tomorrow.

In the Amhara Region, community members have remained at the forefront of change, even amid escalating violence and disruption. What began in 2022 as a project to support women farmers through agricultural training and business support has grown into something more enduring: a legacy of resilience, care, and collective leadership.

A thriving family farm in Ethiopia

Even as conflict displaced over a million people and threatened program continuity, the work did not stop. Some project activities were relocated to more stable areas in Oromia and the Southern Nations region, including Wonchi and Daramalo districts. But implementation in Amhara continued, especially on the critical business incubation hub, which is key to supporting and enhancing poultry, fishing, and vegetable farming initiatives for more than 500 women.

By training village-based agricultural workers and full-time community facilitators, the program ensured that knowledge, resources, and support would continue to flow to community members, not just for today, but for the future.

Adapting to instability with community-led solutions

As road closures and insecurity made outside travel difficult, local leaders became the backbone of this work. Kinvia’s implementing partner, CHADET, established monthly gatherings in central locations, where community members could share updates, learn new techniques, and return to their villages equipped to pass on what they’d learned. This approach, rooted in kinship and trust, helped communities continue growing even in the face of challenges.

Meanwhile, Ethiopia’s broader humanitarian crisis deepened. Years of prolonged drought, including the 2022–2023 drought – the worst in 40 years – as well as increasingly erratic rainfall, have killed livestock and collapsed harvests. These shocks, on top of the ongoing conflict and, in late 2024, a series of powerful earthquakes, further strained already fragile systems, worsening food insecurity and driving internal migration.

But through strong relationships with elders, religious leaders, and community organizations, the work stayed grounded. It remained, always, in the hands of the people it was meant to support, which helped sustain momentum and protect the integrity of the work.

Women driving resilience and recovery

Tekelu, tending to her new vegetable farm

At the heart of this progress were women, leading recovery, growing food, and building more sustainable livelihoods. With training in climate-smart agriculture and access to tools and inputs, women began increasing their yields, improving household nutrition, and earning independent income. Vegetable growers' associations, savings and credit cooperatives, and mentorship from local experts have helped women turn farming into more profitable and sustainable businesses.

One of those leaders is 24-year-old Tekelu, who previously relied on her husband’s tools to cultivate vegetables. After joining a vegetable producers’ group, she received training, tools, and support and now leads by example in her community.

Seeds of change in the face of challenge

To date, the work has:

• Reached over 6,400 people with gender equality training
• Supported over 500 women through business skills and women-led savings and credit groups
• Extended its messages of gender equality and resilience to over a million people via radio broadcasts.

Onion producing farmers proudly sharing their harvests

And the change is lasting. Across communities, women now report greater control over their finances and household decisions, and a visible decline in harmful traditional practices like forced marriage.

This is what a legacy looks like.

At Kinvia, when you give for future generations, you create a legacy that lasts. A gift in your will can help ensure that these seeds of change, rooted in community, care, and kinship, continue to grow for years to come.

Because communities know how to lead the way. With your legacy, they can continue to grow.