Strengthen local economies by
restoring degraded landscapes

In the regions Amhara (Gubalafto) and Oromia (middle Awash) in Ethiopia, our partner MetaMeta aims to strengthen the local, rural economies.

By restoring landscapes through water buffering and erosion control, introducing regenerative agriculture practices, and generating awareness and traction for underutilized rural livelihoods opportunities (e.g. poultry rearing, biofertilizer production, and marketing) they show the local communities how they can increase their income.

The two regions differ in terms of geology, soil, climate, and agricultural practices. For this reason, the projects address a wide range of issues and demonstrate a great variety of solutions. Activities so far include: training for biofertilizer production, setting up youth-led tree nurseries, supporting government-led landscape restoration campaigns, business development training, and restoring and regreening degraded land through regenerative agriculture.

Justdiggit supports the projects with its expertise in media, communication, and behavior change.

Expected impact

11,200

people will benefit

130,000 ha

will be restored

11,200 people will benefit

The projects will reach 11,200 people in Gubalafto and Middle Awash, of which more than 7,000 are women. They will benefit from the increased productive rural livelihoods, created by the projects.

8358F75C-B436-4A0A-8CCF-3EC19D958937_1_201_a

130,000 ha will be restored

The projects focus on large stretches of extremely degraded areas. In total 130,000 ha of land will be restored with help of regenerative agriculture practices.

Ethiopia, MetaMeta project_30,000 ha restored

The power of
media and communication

Justdiggit uses media and communication to increase the effect of (large scale) landscape restoration.

Over the years we gained knowledge and a lot of experience on how to develop and implement different communication approaches and have built up a large network of media partners globally. With this media and communication power, we now support MetaMeta with their projects in both Gubalafto and Middle Awash. For example, we created a flyer for smallholder farmers on how to make biofertilizers for their lands, to enhance the fertility of the soil, increasing their crop yields.

decorative image

The landscape in the Amhara region

decorative image

Green Future Farming

The projects in Gubalafto and Middle Awash are part of the Green Future Farming (GFF) program, an initiative from RAIN, MetaMeta, and Justdiggit. Green Future Farming is a four-year project aimed at showing how in three completely different landscapes, in three different countries (Uganda, Ethiopia, and Kenya), regenerative agriculture can benefit both farmers and the environment. By combining investment in landscape restoration and management, mainstreaming regenerative agriculture, and strengthening local value chains, the project aims to make rural economies more dynamic.

What makes the GFF program special is the fact that each organization not only runs its own local program, but also supports the other programs within its own expertise. The ultimate goal of these programs is to create a green future for many, particularly for women and young people, in different parts of East Africa. The program is supported by IKEA Foundation.

Watch the GFF introduction movie

Other work

All our work