A member of a social analysis and action group comes up with an innovative way of producing fodder, setting a good example for her community
Analysis and Action (SAA) group established in Cholkasa Kebele of the Borena Zone in Oromiya Region. Initially developed by CARE, SAA is an approach that is implemented to address root causes of societal and behavioral issues that are holding back communities. The USAID-supported, Pastoralist Areas Resilience Improvement through Market Expansion (PRIME) has adopted this approach to address underlying drivers of vulnerability to climate change and the behavioral and socio-cultural factors limiting adaptive capacity. The approach helps households, communities and local stakeholders reflect on their own perceptions of underlying causes of societal and behavioral issues that are holding back communities. The project has achieved concrete results through the application of this approach. Huqo’s story is an example of PRIME’s success in transforming lives by engaging communities in regularly recurring dialoges leading to an outcome of mutual changeHuqo’s group has so far met four times, and during these meetings, members deliberated on the benefits of fodder production and preservation as a risk management measure. [read more=”Continue Reading” less=”Less”]
The group also discussed the opportunity to earn extra income from the marketing of feed.To show how the group discussions transformed her thinking, Huqo explains, “Since our first discussion on fodder production, I started planning how I can start producing fodder in my plot. Thanks to the knowledge I acquired from our meetings, I began farming and planting feed crops.” Now, Huqo has proved to her neighbors and fellow-villagers the value of planting feed crops and she is a model fodder crop producer. As Huqo and her neighbors confirmed, others in Huqo’s village have started to benefit from her experience and have already started planting fodder seeds.Huqo Dulacha planted elephant grass and sugar cane when there was hardly any similar experience among the Borena pastoralist communities. At the time of a field visit in June, Huqo had begun harvesting and piling her fodder to reserve for the dry period. She had also started cattle fattening in her yard.PRIME has so far established 11 core groups and 57 sub-groups across its implementation areas, with total beneficiary members of 3096 of whom nearly 1,600 are women.Please click the link to download this success story, Social Analysis and Action Approach Enhances Reselience
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