Debre Berhan-Habitat village

The largest Habitat Village in Debere Berhan

Debre Berhan is a town located 120 km north-east of Addis Ababa. Historically, Debre Berhan was established as the capital…

Debre Berhan is a town located 120 km north-east of Addis Ababa. Historically, Debre Berhan was established as the capital of Shewa Kingdom in 1438 by Emperor Zera Yaecob. The area is known for relatively cold weather ranging from 24° Celsius to little bit below zero in November and December with lowest recorded temperature of -2° Celsius. The rainy season falls between June and September. The town has an average elevation of 2,750 meter above see level.

With a population of about 378,000, Debre Berhan is a highland town endowed with an impressive landscape that attracts trade and investment.

Like many other towns in Ethiopia, the housing need in Debre Berhan is quite significant. Many families live in sub-standard housing without adequate water and sanitation facilities. Low income and families affected by vulnerabilities live in old, deteriorated houses made of wood, mud and corrugated iron sheet. Debre Berhan towns lacks household water supply, sanitation, hygiene, and solid waste management practices

With the aim of assisting families and individuals in dire need, Habitat for Humanity Ethiopia started work in Debre Berhan in 2004. Since then, decent and healthy houses have been constructed for families in need of shelter.

Before HFH Ethiopia started constructing homes in northern part of Debre Berhan called ‘Dibicho’ in 2004, the area was abandoned and used for garbage disposal. Even some families were not willing to become homeowners as the area was unwanted. Eventually, as Habitat for Humanity Ethiopia cleared the areas and constructed the first few homes for families affected by various aspects of vulnerability  low income and vulnerable family, the government started to provide land in the surrounding to families who afford constructing their own homes. The area turns to large settlement and new part of the town. Then, the government constructed a high school and health center. The Global Village team from USA who helped build homes families in Debre Berhan constructed a primary school. Habitat partners families grow themselves in many ways, started small businesses, upgraded their homes and lead community life.

Habitat has one of the best experiences of housing intervention in Debre Berhan town where we have built more than 635 houses in large settlement areas called “the Habitat Village”, inhabited by more than 5,953 individuals. This settlement is one of the largest Habitat settlements globally.  Moreover, Habitat has built a 12-seat school toilet for schoolgirls, and 5 communal toilets in the slum areas of Debre Berhan which served a total of 1,500 students and 312 individuals.

Improved Energy Utilization Project in Debre Berhan

Traditional stoves and cooking methods causes environmental, health and economic hardships to most of the families in the town of…

Traditional stoves and cooking methods causes environmental, health and economic hardships to most of the families in the town of Debre Berhan. The smoke and fume emitted from traditional cooking channels poses health risk to women and girls. Traditional stoves consume large amount of wood which in turn causes deforestation. It further exacerbates hardships for women and girls as they are assigned to buy or collect firewood; they spend most of their time which could have been used to engage in other activities.

Considering this challenges, Habitat for Humanity Ethiopia implements Improved Energy Utilization Project. Through this project, Habitat Ethiopia supports families in the town of Debre Berhan who live on low income and affected by vulnerability contexts in terms of responding to energy needs and health challenges caused by inefficient use of firewood, saw dust, cow dung, barks, and leaves.

The objective of the project is to create access to energy efficient improved kitchens and renewable energy sources (biogas). By installing energy saving stoves with biogas dissemination schemes and renovating kitchens, we aim to reduce wood consumption and heat wastage, minimize the cost of energy through sustainable use and improve the health of women and girls. Habitat for Humanity Ethiopia also provides capacity building training for community members on hygiene, sanitation, sustainable usage of biogas digester schemes and home keeping.

The one-year project supports 520 individuals who are affected by lack of improved kitchens and alternate energy sources.

The Major activities in the project are:

  • Supply and installation of 100 energy efficient stoves to accommodate safe and efficient use of About 56 energy saving stoves have been installed.
  • Renovation of 10 exiting communal kitchens and supply energy efficient stoves. 80 % of the work has been done.
  • Construction of four bio-gas digesters to generate light and heat energy and connect with home
The project is funded by Liz and Martin Howden from Great Britain who have been longtime volunteers and supporter of Habitat for Humanity Ethiopia program.

There is no smoke and heat; we lead healthy life- Etagegn Bekele

‘’The new stove saves not only saves firewood but improves health condition,’’ Etagegn Bekele said. Etagegn lives in rural locality…

‘’The new stove saves not only saves firewood but improves health condition,’’ Etagegn Bekele said. Etagegn lives in rural locality called Zanjira about 10 kilometers from the town of Debre Berhan. She supports seven family members through farming. She rears about 10 cattle and has plots of land to grow crops.

Collecting firewood becomes lifetime challenge for  Etagegn. Etagegn and other families in the rural locality use eucalyptus and cow-dung  for firewood and other woods but now the trees have been depleted due to deforestation. She buys about 40 kg firewood for 300 Birr(5 USD) in a week. About a quarter of the monthly income of the family is spent on firewood. Muck is also used for cooking to reduce expenses for firewood.

Etagegn bakes traditional bread called ‘Enjera’ on traditional furnace twice a week and makes stew and coffee every day.  The furnace consumes large amount of firewood and muck. “The smoke and fume stifles the home and it is hard to breath; our eyes are damaged,’’ Etagegn explained.

Through ‘Improved Energy Utilization Project’ Habitat for Humanity Ethiopia installed energy saving stoves for more than 100 families in Debere Berhan and rural neighborhood. The stoves utilize heat emitted from biogas digestion scheme by compressing animal dung and human waste.

Etagegn started to use energy saving stove in February 2023. ‘’Now we don’t use firewood. We don’t use dung for cooking, we use it for fertilizer to grow crops. There is no smoke and heat; we lead healthy life. The stoves save time to do other activities,’ she mentioned.

Etagegn uses the stove any time she wants. There is no cost incurred. The only thing she needs to do is collecting dung to the digester. ‘’I just lit and use it any time; it lightens our burden’’ she said.