A new initiative is set to create employment for thousands of young Ethiopians over the next five years.

The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), the Mastercard Foundation and the Ethiopian Jobs Creation Commission have embarked on a five-year programme to secure employment in the country’s honey and silk value chains for 100 000 youths.

According to ICIPE, the US$55.6 million More Young Entrepreneurs in Silk and Honey (MOYESH) project includes integrating beekeeping and sericulture (silk production) enterprises around protected forests and community-based watersheds; providing youths with access to financial markets and information services; strengthening the technical, entrepreneurship, soft and financial literacy skills of the youth, partners and local institutions;  establishing strong private-public partnerships; involving youth in value addition activities of honey and silk products; and generating evidence-based knowledge to support further scaling and adoption.

The MOYESH project builds on a previous initiative led by ICIPE that resulted in the establishment 12 500 jobs and marketplaces for honey and beeswax between 2016 and 2019.

‘Youth are a thriving part of the economy,” says Reeta Roy, president and CEO of the Mastercard Foundation. ‘By creating opportunities in beekeeping and silkworm farming, thousands of young Ethiopian women and men will start on the path to becoming successful entrepreneurs and contribute to their country’s continued economic growth.’

MOYESH will be initially be implemented throughout four of Ethiopia’s nine states, with the goal of scaling up technologies and good practices to other areas.

19 November 2019
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