From a Patch of Soil to a Source of Hope

For 30-year-old Agape, providing for her family has always been closely tied to the land and the livestock they depend on for their livelihood. Agape lives with her husband and their five children in Mado Municipality, Moyale District of Borena Zone. But recurrent droughts have made it increasingly difficult for the family to depend on pastoralism as they once did. As pasture and water became scarce, their livestock grew weaker, their value declined, and the family's main source of income began to disappear. 

When this became their reality, Agape and her husband began taking on daily labor work whenever they could find it, spending long days working under the sun to earn enough to meet their family's basic needs. But with their income stretched thin, regularly putting diverse and nutritious food on the table became increasingly difficult. For Agape, the situation became even more painful when one of her youngest children, then four years old, was identified with severe acute malnutrition and admitted to Mado Health Center for treatment. 

When a family's livelihood is no longer enough 

The drought was affecting much more than the family's income. The loss of livestock meant losing an important source of food and security. The animals became too weak to sell, while the family could no longer rely on them as they had before.  Around them, other families were also facing similar struggles. Some people left for towns in search of work, while others stayed behind, relying on daily labor or assistance when it was available. 

For families who had depended on pastoralism for generations, the drought was changing not only how they earned a living, but how they were able to feed their children. For Agape, having a child affected by severe acute malnutrition made that reality even harder to bear. 

Finding another way to provide 

It was during this difficult period that Agape's household was identified through the From Crisis to Resilience: Nutrition-Centric Humanitarian Development Peace (HDP) Nexus Programming in Moyale Municipality, Borena Zone project. Implemented by SOS Children’s Villages in Ethiopia and Gayo Pastoral Development Initiative, with support from SOS Villages d’Enfants Monde Luxembourg and the Luxembourg Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Through the project, households identified through the severe acute malnutrition programme received nutrition-sensitive agriculture inputs, including vegetable seeds, chickens and basic agricultural tools, alongside technical support to establish a household garden. 

For Agape and her husband, this meant having an opportunity to grow food close to home. They started a small vegetable garden, and while it was modest, it gave the family something they could nurture themselves with. 

From a few seeds to food on the table 

With limited water available, the family learned how to make careful use of what they had. Through the technical support provided by the project, Agape and her husband learned how to sustain their garden, including reusing water from household activities such as handwashing and cleaning. Gradually, the garden began to produce. Radish, spinach, and collard greens now grow around their home, providing fresh vegetables for the family to eat. When the garden produces more than they need, they sell the surplus at the local market and use the income to support other household needs. 

Looking back on the change, Agape says, “Before we received the vegetable seeds, we had difficulty accessing vegetables regularly. Now we grow vegetables near our home, eat them with our family, and sell the surplus at the market. The garden has given us both food and income.” 

The chickens provided through the project are also growing well. Agape expects them to begin laying eggs soon, which she hopes will provide the family with another source of nutritious food and potentially additional income. 

A garden that can keep growing 

The support has given Agape and her husband more than the resources to start a garden. It has also given them knowledge they can continue to use. They have learned how to maintain vegetable production beyond the rainy season and make better use of the limited water available to them. The family now plans to purchase different varieties of vegetable seeds from local suppliers for the coming season and continue production independently. 

The garden has improved the family's access to fresh vegetables and contributed to more diverse meals. Producing food at home has also reduced the need to purchase some vegetables, allowing the family to use their limited income for other essential needs. And for Agape, the change is especially meaningful because of what her family has been through. 

“I am very happy that my child has now fully recovered, and I believe that improved access to nutritious food has contributed to our family’s well-being,” she says. 

More than what grows in the garden 

Agape's family is still living with the effects of drought. A small garden cannot replace the livestock they have lost or erase the challenges they continue to face due to climate change. But it has given them another way to meet some of their needs. It has put fresh food within reach, created an opportunity to earn a little extra income, and it has given the family knowledge they can carry forward beyond the support they received. Most importantly, it has given Agape something to build on. Her family is now preparing for the next season, planning which seeds to buy and how they can continue producing vegetables on their own. 

About the project  

From Crisis to Resilience: Nutrition-Centric Humanitarian Development Peace (HDP) Nexus Programming in Moyale Municipality, Borena Zone project is a three-year initiative, running from 2025 to 2028, aiming to address the interconnected challenges of food insecurity, malnutrition, livelihood vulnerability, and conflict, helping communities transition from crisis toward long-term stability and resilience. The project is expected to directly benefit approximately 54,929 people and indirectly reach an additional 72,964 individuals, prioritizing highly underserved groups including children under five, households affected by acute malnutrition, survivors of gender-based violence, persons with disabilities, internally displaced persons, youth, and female-headed households.  

The nutrition centric HDP Nexus project builds on Ethiopia’s broader nutrition agenda, aligned with the Seqota Declaration, a high-level commitment launched in 2015 to end stunting among children under two by 2030. It integrates humanitarian assistance, development programming, and peacebuilding interventions within a unified framework. 

*To respect the person's privacy, their real name has not been used