The WaterBlog
The road to community empowerment: Koti Kebele’s community
This blog is part of a dossier on locally-led adaptation, featuring insights and lessons from the Reversing the Flow (RtF) program. RtF empowers communities in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Sudan to build climate resilience through direct funding and a community-driven, landscape approach. Reversing the Flow (RtF) is an initiative launched in October 2024 by ORDA Ethiopia, with financial support from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), and technical MetaMeta. This project empowers communities in six watersheds of Koti Kebele, Yilmana Densa, North Gojjam Zone, Ethiopia, to address environmental and socio-economic challenges. The project aims to restore degraded lands, improve livelihoods, and promote sustainable development. Koti Kebele comprises six watersheds: Chinchiho, Kurfi, Dewol Washaye, Dawit Degami, Adafit, and Yibaba Gomengie. Spanning 2,735 hectares, these watersheds are home to 1,285 households, including 65 female-headed households. Despite its potential, the area faces significant challenges such as land degradation, erosion, deforestation, and socio-economic issues like youth unemployment and limited opportunities for women. The… Continued
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