The Arsi Bale Rural Development Project (ABRDP) operates in two Zones of Oromia Regional State called Arsi and Bale for a total area of about 150,000 Km2 (or about 14% of Ethiopia) and a total of 4.4 (2004) million people (6 % of the total population). Due to fertile lands and consistent rainfall patterns, these two areas are considered to have a high agricultural potential. The project has completed Phase I (1996-2001) and is currently in Phase II (2002-2006).
ABRDP was conceived to intervene in a core productive area of the country to improve agricultural production, productivity and marketing by:
injecting cash and expertise in rural infrastructures such as roads, water supply, market infrastructures and irrigation;
making rural services and credit available to farmers;
Empowering people through local planning process and district capacity building.
The rationale behind the project is to create the necessary elements that could kick start the development of the area by generating synergies between sectors that will trigger a spillover effect of benefits that can be very widespread.
Some of the accomplishments of the project include the construction of 500 km all weather roads; small, medium, and large water supply schemes that serve a total of 400,000 people; 60,000 microfinance clients out of which 10,000 are women; construction of market facilities for poor, divorced women; and social asset creation programs for food insecure woredas (districts).
Type of financing
The project operates with counterpart funds from the Ethiopian Government and project funds from The Italian Development Cooperation. The total project cost is of about 66.7 million Euros of which about 70% (47 million Euros) is financed by the Government of Italy.
Goal of the Project
The Project aims to alleviate the hardship of the poorest segments of Arsi and Bale inhabitants by helping provide them with better rural infrastructures and rural services.
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