A simple potato, a powerful transformation

Fries, mashed, baked or scalloped — however you eat your potatoes, they’re a diet staple.

And, thanks to your support, the community of Woliso, Ethiopia are enjoying them too!

Worknesh Fufa (left) and Woyneshet Kassa (right) are part of a group who are earning income by producing seed potatoes. These potatoes are then sold to farmers in their community. Previously, the seed potatoes available in their community often failed to grow, or were poor quality.

Thanks to enthusiastic support from iDE donors and Global Affairs Canada, these entrepreneurs were able to receive business and agriculture training.

Before getting started producing potatoes, Fufa and Kassa had to work through challenges and social-cultural barriers. To help, iDE ran training and helped them access necessary start-up funds that they used to build a structure for storing the potatoes.

After successfully paying off their first loan with the earnings selling potatoes, the women say their community is becoming more willing to give women loans. Kassa said that “Previously, only men could take loans, with women signing as witnesses. Now, women can take loans themselves and sign as witnesses — a complete reversal.”

They’re also seeing positive changes at home, with their husbands taking on more childcare and household responsibilities while the women work. “I now collaborate with my husband. When I’m farming, he stays at home and does household work.”

Because of your care, Kassa can confidently say, “I am working, I have my income, and I’m growing in my career. I wasn’t confident enough to speak like this before. Now I’m very confident. I have changed.”

Want to read more? Check out this article in the Global Citizen: https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/with-a-fury-women-are-cultivating-confidence-in-2/