Nuru Ethiopia 2023 Impact Report

Nuru Ethiopia 2023 Impact Report
Authors: Heath Prince and Thomas Boswell (Ray Marshall Center); Tatek Amataw (Nuru Ethiopia); and Casey Harrison, Matt Lineal, Ian Schwenke, and Bethany Ibrahim (Nuru)
Date: October 2024
Publication Type: Report, 26 pp.

Introduction
In 2023, Nuru Ethiopia (NE) offered cooperative and rural livelihood interventions to 28,096 individuals in the South Ethiopia Region. These individuals were members of five distinct cooperative unions to which NE offered support, including members from 203 primary cooperatives. This report samples farmers from two of the NE-supported unions, Hidota (Gamo Zone) and Esipe Dicha (Gofa Zone) with whom NE has supported since 2016 and 2021 respectively. In 2023, the NE interventions led to the following outcomes:

Cooperative Impact:

• NE-supported cooperative unions achieved an average SCOPEinsight score of 4.65 out of 5.0, representing a continued improvement over the 4.4 achieved in 2022. This score is associated with very professional agribusinesses and is well above the regional average.
• 100% of NE-supported cooperative unions achieved net profitability from their business operations in 2023.

Agricultural and Livelihood Diversification Impact:

• Combined livelihood diversification and cash crop activities led NE-supported farmers to an average net income of $609 USD. This represents a 162% increase over the 2020 baseline value of $233 USD, and the 4th consecutive year of increased incomes.
• 91% of farmers adopted the majority of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices.

Gender and Social Inclusion

• NE successfully surveyed 657 women using the IFPRI & USAID developed Abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (A-WEAI)1. Results indicated NE-supported women scored higher than national empowerment benchmarks.

In 2023, NE solidified its cooperative approach by shifting primary support from individual cooperatives to unions. This allowed resources, training, and capacity building to be cascaded efficiently from unions to their member cooperatives. NE achieved its highest-ever yields and incomes, demonstrating increased efficiency with fewer resources. With exceptionally high SCOPEinsight scores, this report marks the final evaluation for Hidota and Esipe Dicha unions and the transition to a new cohort of unions for future support.