Rural Ethiopian women diversify livelihoods and boost entire communities’ climate resilience

The Market Approaches to Resilience (MAR) project (2015-19) in rural Ethiopia enhanced climate resilience for pastoralist communities by combining microfinance services with natural resource management. By intentionally targeting women for financial empowerment, the project created a 'multiplier effect' that improved household wellbeing and reduced the necessity for long-distance migration during droughts. The project reached 188,902 people and emphasized that systemic resilience requires long-term funding and the creation of a supportive institutional environment.

• The Market Approaches to Resilience (MAR) project (2015-19) improved climate resilience for pastoralist communities in rural Ethiopia by providing financial services to diversify assets and livelihoods. This 'systems approach' combined microfinance—including loans, savings, and credit—with the restoration of depleted landscapes through the planting of healthy trees and vegetation to buffer communities from shocks such as heatwaves, floods, and drought.
• Intentional gender-responsive design in the MAR project led to significant financial empowerment for rural women, which in turn enhanced the economic resilience of their families. The project set specific targets for women's participation, resulting in some Village Saving and Loan Associations (VSLA) being up to 80% female. By the end of its first phase, the project reached 70,825 women out of a total of 188,902 people.
• The project demonstrated that providing pastoralists with diverse economic options, such as small retail businesses, can reduce the need for long-distance migration to find grazing land during dry seasons. For example, one participant used a loan to start a retail business, allowing her to purchase livestock feed rather than migrating hundreds of kilometres.
• The MAR project highlighted that building systemic resilience requires longer investment periods than typical three-year funding cycles and intensive support to create an enabling environment. This included building trust between financial institutions and low-income pastoralists, improving financial literacy, and training community facilitators in book-keeping to ensure the sustainability of VSLAs.

APA

Gebremichael, M., Ayele, B., Andargatchew, A., & Dupar, M. (2020). Rural Ethiopian women diversify livelihoods and boost entire communities’ climate resilience. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/CDKN-Inside-story-gender-integration-Ethiopia-final.pdf

Chicago

Gebremichael, Medhanit, Befikadu Ayele, Arsema Andargatchew, and Mairi Dupar. Rural Ethiopian women diversify livelihoods and boost entire communities’ climate resilience. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2020. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/CDKN-Inside-story-gender-integration-Ethiopia-final.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Gebremichael |first1=Medhanit |last2=Ayele |first2=Befikadu |last3=Andargatchew |first3=Arsema |last4=Dupar |first4=Mairi |title=Rural Ethiopian women diversify livelihoods and boost entire communities’ climate resilience |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=October 2020 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/CDKN-Inside-story-gender-integration-Ethiopia-final.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{gebremichael2020rural, author = {Gebremichael, Medhanit and Ayele, Befikadu and Andargatchew, Arsema and Dupar, Mairi}, title = {{Rural Ethiopian women diversify livelihoods and boost entire communities’ climate resilience}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2020}, month = oct, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/CDKN-Inside-story-gender-integration-Ethiopia-final.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }