International Development Enterprises (iDE) wins 2011/2012 Civil Society Best Practice Award

Innovation to Tackle Rural Poverty

iDE

has

been

honored

for

its

extraordinary achievement in contributing to the poverty reduction initiatives in rural Ethiopia. Its approaches have been hailed as ground breaking, innovative, affordable and scalable, with the potential to help thousands of rural households to escape abject poverty.

Farmer Centered Innovative Approaches are leading iDE and smallholder farmers to the biggest Award of all: Improved food security, increased rural household income and enhanced livelihood opportunities

Best Practice Awards Ceremony

Winners of the annual civil society best practice award were honored in the presence of His Excellency Ato Hailemariam Desalegn, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, other government Ministers including Minister of Energy and Water Resources, State Minister of Health, Director General of the Charities and Societies Agency, the donor community and representatives of civil society agencies. During his address, the Deputy Prime Minister congratulated the winners and stressed the highly valued partnership between his government and the Civil Society in their efforts to achieve the MDGs and he highlighted the contribution of civil society actors in realizing the Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) of the country. The award ceremony was coordinated by the Consortium of Christian Relief and Development Agency (CCRDA) and celebrated with a showcase of the best practices and innovations of various civil society organizations. The award ceremony was organized so as to recognize the value and virtue of humanitarian and development activities in saving lives and creating livelihood opportunities. It also aimed to highlight the contribution of these programs to the national development process.

Solution-focused, market-driven new thinking frees smallholder farmers from poverty-destined mental trap and unleashes the potential to improve livelihoods.

iDE Ethiopia Kirkos Subcity; Kebele 08, house # 429; P.O.Box: 7892, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; TEL: +251114167524; +251114672906/07/08; FAX: 0114673341; Email: ide ethiopia@ide.org.et ; website: ide-ethiopia.org OR www.ideorg.org

iDE has worked internationally for over 29 years developing and promoting manual irrigation that is accessible to the poor. iDE
Ethiopia began its work in 2007 and has since worked on projects funded by USAID, EU, CIDA, The Royal Netherlands Government, Comic Relief, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Using two-pronged strategies, i.e. providing access to affordable irrigation technologies and creating connections to markets, iDE Ethiopia has impacted more than 30,000 households and improved household economy and human wellbeing.

Our Innovations, the Reasons for our Success

Empowering Farmers: iDE is unique in its approach to poverty reduction. Farmers pay for the irrigation technologies, agricultural inputs and services themselves, providing them with the opportunity to invest in their own development. Disruptive Innovation: iDE believes that solution-focused, market-driven new thinking frees rural farmers from poverty-destined mental trap and unleashes the potential to improve livelihoods. Household Irrigation Technologies: the pumps, wells, drips, and other equipment that iDE employs are innovative because they are simple, easy to use and maintain, affordable, and environment-friendly
ICT Extension: iDE is collaborating with Digital

Two-Pronged Approach: iDEs inputs assist farmers in getting the most out of their crops on-season, while irrigation technologies provide rural farmers with a means of production and income in the off-season. Community Marketing Agents: Farmers learn best about improved practices and technologies from their own peers. iDE recruits and trains entrepreneurial and successful farmers to promote iDE technologies and provide extension services to their community.

Green to create agriculture extension videos that provide a new, highly effective, and visual way to enable farmers to learn improved practices. Human Centered Design (HCD): iDE is nonprescriptive in creating solutions, employing HCD to develop a deep understanding of the user and the supply chain to generate insights that inform strategies for product design, supply chain strengthening, and stakeholder engagement. This enables iDE activities to tailored to the specific local context.

Farmers are Customers: iDE sees rural farmers as customers; we do not aspire to be a community of benefactors and beneficiaries. iDE does not create income; our customer investors do we only create opportunities.

Kebede Ayele, Country Director of iDE receives the Best Practice Award from H.E Hailemariam Dessalegn, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia

iDE Ethiopia Kirkos Subcity; Kebele 08, house # 429; P.O.Box: 7892, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; TEL: +251114167524; +251114672906/07/08; FAX: 0114673341; Email: ide ethiopia@ide.org.et ; website: ide-ethiopia.org OR www.ideorg.org