On February 21, 2025, CAAP signed an MoU with the Somali Regional State Cooperative Promotion Agency (RCPA) and Barwako Savings and Credit Cooperative (Barwako SACCO) to provide a loanable revolving fund of ETB 16 million in four tranches with in 2025 to Barwako SACCO members. Initially benefiting 160 SACCO women members in Jedane Kebele, Shinile Woreda, each receiving ETB 100,000 for on- and off-farm income-generating activities through a Business Plan Competition, this fund is expected to reach thousands of women as it continues to revolve. These women entrepreneurs were trained on basic business skills, life skills, and basic health skills training along with continuous business development services (BDS).
Following the MoU signing, CAAP began constructing a three-room multipurpose facility to serve as an office, business center, training venue, and marketplace in Jedane Kebele for Barwako SACCO and its women entrepreneurs. CAAP also provided office equipment, furniture, stationery, consumables, and IT supplies, ensuring the center is fully functional.
Under the RISE Project, 200 additional vulnerable women in Jedane Kebele—who are unable to join Barwako SACCO—will receive climate-resilient technologies (including horticulture, hand tools, poultry, beekeeping, and goats) and capacity building, including access to the CSA demonstration site. Each households to recieve an average of ETB40,000 inkind support. The project also started a water pipeline expansion to connect 81 households, improving access to drinking water and enabling backyard gardening.
This initiative is part of the Resilience and Institutional Support to Empower Women in Somali Region (RISE) Project, funded by UN Women Ethiopia, which aims to improve resilience and livelihood opportunities for climate change and conflict-affected women and girls and their families in Jedane Kebele of Shinile Woreda, Somali region.