TITLE:
From Waste to Employment Opportunities and Wealth Creation: A Case Study of Utilization of Livestock By-Products in Hargeisa, Somaliland
AUTHORS:
Wamalwa Kinyanjui, Mohamed Sajjad Noor
KEYWORDS:
SEED; Employment Creation; Bonecrafts; Soap Production; Economic Development
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.4 No.12,
December
10,
2013
ABSTRACT: This article
was conducted to establish the involvement of vulnerable women and youths in innovative
livestock by- products
value addition to create alternative employment opportunities and diversify
wealth creation livelihood activities through DFID UKaid Sustainable Employment
and Economic Development (SEED) funded programme and implemented by FAO Somalia
in the security fragile state of Somaliland that has few options of formal
employment opportunities. The study focused on the processes and achievements
of the SEED programme towards deriving maximum benefits from livestock
by-products instead of concentrating on meat production and consumption only.
During the programme intervention, an initial forty (40) beneficiaries of
various trade skills and academic levels were selected through SOMDA for capacity
development with competency based training (CBT) skills. One of the primary
advantages of CBT was that it focused on the success of each participant. The
training focused on each trainee attaining a small number of specific and
job-related competencies in bone-craft trinkets and laundry soap production. By
the end of SEED phase I, the intervention created a total of 120 direct jobs which were involved in soap and bone-crafts
production giving the impetus of making full use of the meat value chain and creating
a viable source of employment and income for women and youths in Somaliland
contributing to increased Somali economy from the main lifeline of Somalia
population that is anchored on livestock production and trade.