03/03/2026
๐๐จ๐จ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฉ ๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ ๐ โ ๐๐จ๐ค๐จ๐ฒ๐จ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐ก๐ข๐ฆ๐ข ๐๐ฆ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐โ๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ง๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฒ-๐๐๐๐ข๐๐ข๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐ญ๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ฌ
Lokoyo Yerkol, 25, a mother of three, lives in Arikol Kebele of Dassenech Woreda. After fleeing her home and farmland in Kapusiya Kebele due to flooding from the Omo River, like hundreds of others, Lokoyo and her family sought refuge in Arikol, where life as a displaced family has become a daily struggle.
In February 2025, Lokoyo was invited to join Yedhimi Small Scale Enterprise, an income-generating group of 14 members established by the SPREAD Project, implemented with support from European Union and Danida. Today, she proudly serves as the Treasurer of the group โ a role she never imagined holding.
โWhen I joined, DCA showed us how energy-efficient stoves work,โ Lokoyo recalls. โAt first, we received some stoves as a demonstration, and we immediately saw the difference. Then we were trained on how to produce them ourselves โ now we can make them to sell.โ
๐ ๐๐๐ฐ ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ง ๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฆ
In the surrounding communities, most families still cook over traditional three-stone fires, heavily dependent on firewood. This not only drives deforestation but also exposes women and girls to gender-based violence (GBV) when they venture deep into forests to collect wood. Inside the home, the thick smoke from these fires fills kitchens, creating dangerous health risks such as respiratory illnesses and eye infections.
Lokoyo remembers those days vividly:
โThe smoke was too much,โ she says. โSometimes our eyes burned, and our children coughed all the time. But with these new stoves, we use much less wood, and there is hardly any smoke. We can even bake injera while cooking stew at the same time. It has changed everything.โ
๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ง๐จ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ
The project has gone beyond training by supporting the group with the construction of a production workshop, providing essential inputs like soil and sand, and preparing to inject seed capital to kickstart large-scale production.
The project has gone beyond training by supporting the group with the construction of a production workshop, providing essential inputs like soil and sand, and injecting seed capital to kickstart large-scale production.
With these resources, Yedhimi Small Scale Enterprise is now producting energy-efficient stoves, which consume far less fuel and create cleaner, healthier cooking environments. Members have also received entrepreneurship and savings training, equipping them with the skills to operate as a formal small-scale enterprise.
For Lokoyo, serving as Treasurer is more than managing finances โ it is helping her develop critical leadership skills, including decision-making, organization, and teamwork.
โWe have established a profit margin of 400 ETB per stove,โ Lokoyo explains. โWe bring our products to the market and hope to introduce these stoves to the larger community. We want to become role models.โ
๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐๐๐ญ ๐๐๐ฒ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐๐ก๐๐ง
Energy-efficient stoves are designed to use less firewood while producing more heat and less smoke than traditional open fires or basic stoves. The energy-efficient stoves are transforming more than just household cooking. By reducing firewood demand, the initiative helps conserve forests, prevent soil erosion, and enhance rainwater infiltration โ critical steps toward restoring the local environment. Less time spent collecting firewood means women and girls are safer and have more time for education and income-generating activities.
Thanks to the support of European Union in Ethiopia and Danida, The energy-efficient stoves are transforming more than just household cooking. By reducing firewood demand, the initiative helps conserve forests, prevent soil erosion, and enhance rainwater infiltration, all critical steps toward restoring the local environment. Less time spent collecting firewood means women and girls are safer and have more time for education and income-generating activities.
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