The LVIA presence in Ethiopia

The LVIA began its work in Ethiopia in 1972, sending the first volunteer as a teacher for a technical school based in Meki a village in the present-day Oromia Region about 150 km south of Addis Abeba in the zone of East Shoa.Such a presence marked the beginning of the collaboration between LVIA and the Vicariate of Meki, founder and responsible for the technical school. Within this institutional framework began the promotion and the development of the activities in the water sector that still today characterizes the presence of LVIA in the area. In 1974 LVIA began to operate in Mendida, a village 150 km north of Addis Abeba. Here too the first intervention was in the field of education with the construction of a technical school run by the Cistercian Fathers and the consequent start of lessons. Over the years the typology of intervention has widened and further integrated development projects have followed that involved water supplies, agriculture, horticulture, reforestation, improvement of the environment and technical education.

In 1998 LVIA promoted the birth of a local NGO, the SCDA - Shoa Community Development Association – that merged together the local staff who had collaborated in the previous projects in such a way as to support their autonomy and sustainability. Since then a series of initiatives aimed at the institutional support of the local NGO have been promoted: Financial assistance through the initiatives in the Oromo Region, the joint presentation of projects (British Embassy, Block Grant, CIDA, ECHO) to finance the activities arranged with the Amara Region and expand the presence of the SCDA in the Afar Region.

With the end of the civil war in 1992, LVIA began a series of emergency aid missions to Addis Abeba to provide assistance to the large numbers of refugees who were settling in the capital.
The experience acquired with some of the most marginal sectors of society lead the LVIA to carry out a new intervention (1995-1999) financed by the CEI and again addressed at the refugees. The project was intended to encourage them to leave the camps voluntarily and reintegrate into the life of society and therefore focused its interventions on professional training and mentoring.

From the 80s the LVIA has operated in the area of Meki predominantly in the water sector, with a consistent intervention of drilling and equipping wells with wind pumps for a total of 54 water plants in collaboration with the Diocese of Meki.

Subsequently from 2001 the area of intervention has extended with the opening of a headquarters in Shashamane and the presence of a permanent volunteer to promote a more integrated approach to respond to the problems in Shashamane wereda, Siraro and Arsi Negelle. From 2005 the focus in East Shoa has passed decisively to the area of Shashamane (3 wereda) with interventions in the social sphere, innovation in agriculture and activity to support local economic activities such as microcredit and dairy processing groups.

From 1995 the LVIA also set up its own presence in Moyale, a village straddling the Oromo and Somala regions in the extreme south of Ethiopia on the border with Kenya with a project financed by the European Union. The interventions concern the reconstruction of medical and veterinary clinics, primary school, water supply systems (by a special system by means of drilling and installing solar energy pumps) and the supply of some input for agriculture such as seeds and tools. A second funding from the European Union allowed the consolidation of the LVIA presence intent on improving assured food supply through availability of water and food both in terms of local production of food and work creation. The final evolution of the LVIA strategy in the zone envisages increasing attention to the evolution of the agricultural and animal husbandry systems through a philosophy that entails an increasing exchange with the actors working in a wider geographical area.

Since 2002 the LVIA has been operating in the Southern Nation through the implementation of emergency programmes in the water sector and since 2005 by means of a joined-up assured food supply intervention in Alaba and Shahego Wereda and the logistical support of another auxiliary office in Bonosha-Shashego wereda.