Selection Ethiopia
Horn Afrique Poultry Farm
Through Enhanced Employment through Entrepreneurship in Ethiopia (ETHEOPIE), HAPF aims at supplying steady and quality eggs and broilers to satisfy the ever-increasing demand for poultry products in Eastern Ethiopia. Horn Afrique poultry Farm currently produces and delivers fresh chicken eggs and meat in the Somali region and eastern regions of Ethiopia. The farms are located in Jijiga city and currently supply 6 thousands eggs daily, supply pullets and quality poultry feed. With the support of CFYE, we will expand our market, create decent work, meet customer demand by establishing, and installing automated layers cage with a capacity of 20 thousand layers, slaughter for broilers, feed mill capable of producing 200 quintals of feed per day, chicken incubators with a capacity of hatching 10 thousand eggs per month. This integrated farm will help absorb more young people than other sectors in Somali Region of Ethiopia. As a recipient of the 2024 exclusive top-up call, we will be able to expand infrastructure, provide comprehensive training, establish market linkages, adopt innovative technology, and support youth entrepreneurship, creating additional employment opportunities and promoting sustainable income for young people.
The Problem
Despite high economic growth registered over the past ten years in Ethiopia, adequate decent jobs have not been created. Agriculture contributes 31.7% to the GDP with a 4.9% growth rate per annum, and yet the key sub-sectors of livestock including poultry remain underdeveloped. The current poultry products and services remain extremely poor. Not only the quality and timeliness of the products are compromised but also the impact of uninspected products from other areas could pose serious human health concerns.
Moreover, although there are more women than ever in the labor market, there are still large inequalities in the Somali Region with an unequal division of unpaid care, domestic work and discrimination in public offices. Unlike other areas in Ethiopia, the challenges facing women in the Somali region regarding decent employment are larger due to socio-cultural barriers.
The Solution
We aim to address the challenges of unemployment among youth through two interrelated strategies.
1. Wage employment on our farm
HAPF will continue to create 110 and/or match 61 employees through a fair and transparent recruitment process. The employees will periodically receive on-job training including soft skills, packaging, marketing and technical training. This will specifically focus on poultry production management, electro-mechanical training and safety rules. These 171 youth (>50 female) will be employed in the layer and broiler production facilities, the chicken slaughter line, feed mill, hatchery, warehouse and transport units.
Throughout our employment process, women will be given tailored benefits to address the socio-economic barriers in place. This includes:
- flexible working hours
- child and maternal care facilities for young mothers including time for breast-feeding
- maternity leave
- special recruitment packages that favor them
These benefits complement the second focus of our strategy,
2. Self-employment initiatives through entrepreneurship
An important pathway toward achieving sustainable livelihoods for young women and men is in entrepreneurship and self-employment. This drives private sector growth and provides plentiful economic opportunities. Supporting youth to succeed in self-employment is critical for their own livelihoods. Fostering entrepreneurship can positively impact earnings, employment and business performance outcomes among youth.
Additionality
With CFYE support, the project will be better designed, proceed more quickly and reach more young people than it otherwise would have. Our business model will enable 250 young men and women to access new or better employment, including waged or salary jobs and self-employment. The co-funding from CFYE helps achieve great milestones in terms of quality, quantity and sustainable products/services at affordable prices. We can improve the working conditions, quality of jobs, and income levels for young women whose equal access to decent employment are compromised. The financial and strategic technical contribution from CFYE is therefore of greater importance not only to HAPF but also to the entire community in contributing to reducing widespread unemployment rates amongst youth.
