News

Gates Foundation commits $27 million to IDE project to promote affordable technologies for 1.75 million rural poor in India

Bill Gates Highlights Market Mechanisms as key to lifting Millions out of Poverty at the World Economic Forum in Davos

International Development Enterprises (IDE) has accepted a grant of $27 million over four years from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in support of its micro-irrigation programs for smallholder farmers in India.

Bill Gates, co-chair of the foundation, announced the project as part of a package of agricultural development grants at a press conference with Amos Namanga Ngongi, President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The project aims to directly affect up to 250,000 smallholder farm families—1.75 million people—in 14 diverse states of India, increasing farmers’ income by a minimum of $400 per year, and boosting the agricultural economy by $300 million at the grassroots level, a ratio of $12 generated to every $1 donated by the foundation. To accomplish this goal, IDE will employ its proven, creative approach to manufacture, market, and distribute affordable, scalable micro-irrigation systems through a newly-created private sector supply chain; train farmers to use micro-irrigation; and link them to high-value crop markets, using little more than their own existing resources.

“If we are serious about ending extreme hunger and poverty around the world, we must be serious about transforming agriculture for small farmers—most of whom are women” said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “These investments—from improving the quality of seeds, to developing healthier soil, to creating new markets—will pay off not only in children fed and lives saved. They can have a dramatic impact on poverty reduction as families generate additional income and improve their lives.”

Speaking from London, IDE-UK’s Chief Executive, Neil Jeffrey remarked, “We are greatly honored that the work of IDE has been recognized by the Gates Foundation to represent one of the most powerful approaches that exist to permanent poverty alleviation for smallholder farmers. We very much look forward to collaborating with the Foundation over the coming years, and, with their generous support, to empowering millions of hardworking people around the world to earn their own way out of poverty.”

IDE designs and promotes products specifically for the needs of families that live on less than $1 a day. The organization has focused on developing and marketing affordable technologies that lift, distribute and store water, such as a treadle pump, allowing farmers to increase production and double their income. This market-based approach alleviates rural poverty by allowing farmers to progress from subsistence agriculture to commercial farming, beginning their upward progress out of poverty, and enabling them to spend more on education and health.

Following a growing trend by billionaire philanthropists to challenge traditional development models Gates’ donation supports the idea that only by treating the world’s poorest families as consumers and not as recipients of aid can a solution to world poverty be found. The Gates Foundation believes that with strong partnerships and a redoubled commitment to agricultural development by donor and developing country governments, philanthropy and the private sector, hundreds of millions of small farmers will be able to boost their yields and incomes and lift themselves out of hunger and poverty. This grant comes just one year after the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded IDE a $13.4 million grant to develop and promote its innovative methods for the rural poor in Africa and Asia.

The IDE project in India aims to sell 160,000 foot powered water pumps (“treadle pumps”) and 90,000 drip irrigation systems. Major project activities will include technology development; development of manufacturing and retail supply chains, social marketing initiatives, and dissemination of technologies development and strategies developed more globally; and micro-credit.

Susan Kramer MP visits IDE-UK office

(left to right Susan Kramer - Barnes MP, Liz Ward - Operations Director, Paul Winner - IDE-UK Ambassador, Gwen McCann - Volunteer Coordinator)

Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Transport and local MP Susan Kramer recently paid a visit to the IDE-UK office to lend her support to our BBC Radio Four Appeal and to find out more about the charity's work.

One of Susan's priorities is to spend time visiting charities and voluntary groups within her constituency to learn more about the invaluable work being done within the community to support causes both at home and abroad.

She was delighted that Andrew Marr is presenting our BBC Radio Four Appeal and hopes that our supporters, new and longstanding, will give generously to help us to continue supporting poor farmers in Africa and Asia to double their income.

Honey and Pepper in Ethiopia

Ethiopia is one of the poorest nations in the world, yet despite the images of famine that we may associate with the country, it is ecologically diverse and has the potential to produce desirable products for world markets. Many of these could even end up on the shelves of your local supermarket.

Agriculture accounts for almost 41 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), 80 percent of exports, and 80 percent of the labour force. Many other economic activities depend on agriculture, including marketing, processing, and export of agricultural products. However, Ethiopians are not benefiting as much as they could from these processes.

IDE-UK has been introducing low cost irrigation for pepper producers and has been working with beekeepers in Ethiopia for some time. In April 2007, IDE-UK prepared two research papers, ‘Ensuring Small Scale Producers in Ethiopia to Achieve Sustainable and Fair Access to Honey Markets’ and also to Pepper Markets. Funded by Comic Relief, this research project aims to help small producers in Ethiopia achieve sustainable and fair access to these markets, thus improving their livelihoods.

The project, in conjunction with the Ethiopian Society for Appropriate Technology (ESAT) and SOS Sahel Ethiopia, used various research techniques, including economic analysis and interviews with stakeholders, to increase the understanding of the constraints and opportunities facing people in the honey and pepper sub-sectors.

Chili peppers are used in the daily diet of most Ethiopian societies and have good market potential. However, the research project noted that production and marketing activities are based on practices which are no longer appropriate for the modernising markets. IDE-UK and its partners aim to improve such methods so that small-scale farmers reap more benefits.

Similarly, the honey sub-sector is suffering from restrictive practices such as the inappropriate designs of beehives, which are unsuitable for use by women and people with limited mobility. The paper found that if methods were adapted, yields and quality would greatly increase, hopefully leading to other developments such as access to the EU market, from which they are currently denied.

Research was also undertaken in the UK pepper and honey markets which helped understand what the producers must do in order to gain access.
IDE-UK, ESAT and SOS Sahel Ethiopia have now submitted their findings to Comic Relief and are hoping to receive funding so that they can actually carry out the projects which would be so valuable to Ethiopian producers.

Outcomes of the projects include economic and social benefits, market and product development, environmental benefits, and an influence on national policy. All of these benefits will ensure that Ethiopian producers are able to overcome poverty by overcoming unfair trade restrictions and having fair access when marketing their products.

To view the reports in full, click on the following links, or visit our Resources section.

Report on Honey Producers
Report on Pepper Producers

Cyclists pedal for IDE

Cyclists Brennan Dwyer and father-and son-team, John and Clive Gibbard, braved a mountain stage of the Tour de France, the toughest of all sporting events, to raise money for IDE.

John, (26 months from his 70th birthday) is already planning a repeat ride next year!

Of the 7000 cyclists who started the course, nearly half did not complete or were swept up by the Broom wagon.

Clive completed the 180km course in an impressive 9 hours 40 minutes and 51 seconds. He was very grateful for the tremendous level of support, which proved “a huge lift for me and a big part in making me keep going in what I found was a pretty brutal test of endurance.”

Together Clive, John and Brennan raised over £4000 for IDE. Find out more about their rides by clicking here for Brennan (www.Justgiving.com/brenandwyer) and here for Clive and John
( www.justgiving.com/clivegibbard). A huge thanks to everyone who supported them.

Case Study Nepal

Laxmi Shahi and her family were forced to escape Nepal’s hilly regions and settle in the Southern flatlands of Terai. They were able to buy a small piece of land but all their money soon went on paying for treatment for their eldest daughter who has severe learning disabilities. When Laxmi’s husband also fell ill, she was left to support her family of five single handedly and with no experience or resources to cultivate the land.

Laxmi joined IDE’s local Women Enterprise income generating program. Laxmi was able to receive technical knowledge on chilli cultivation and was provided with a Rs10,000 ($140) microloan which enabled her to buy a treadle pump which has proved invaluable to her chilli raising. She was also put in touch with groups which could enhance her access to markets meaning she would be able to sell her chillis for a fair price and generate an income for her family.

After only one year with the program, Laxmi had increased her household income from Rs 3,000 ($42) to Rs 35,000 ($500). Additionally, she has gained a newfound respect from her initially sceptical husband. They now work as a team and he is proud of her entrepreneurial spirit.

Laxmi has also invested her income wisely and has bought more irrigation equipment and some goats. She is able to pay for her children’s education and healthcare, has paid off all her debts, and is now considered creditworthy.

‘I used to dread coming up with Rs 22 ($3) every month for the central savings fund as a member of the Chisapani Women Self Help Group. But after my harvest I could afford to contribute Rs 2,000 ($28) to the group’s fund as savings from my income’ – Laxmi Shahi.

IDE’s work with smallholders in Nepal means that they can earn an increased income through local markets and ensure a secure livelihood for them and their families. Laxmi Shahi and her family are just one example of the valuable work that IDE does in partnership with such entrepreneurial farmers, and she is testament to the success of these collaborations.

A new British Chief Executive for IDE International

IDE is delighted that Rosalind Copisarow has taken over the position of CEO, International Development Enterprises, based in Denver, USA. A micro-finance practitioner and consultant with 15 years’ experience in blue chip investment banks and 12 years in the not-for-profit sector, she joined IDE in early June. more>

Gates Foundation Awards$13.4 Million to IDE International for work in Ethiopia , Zambia, Nepal and Myanmar

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded International Development Enterprises (IDE) a $13.4 million grant to develop and promote low-cost irrigation methods for rural poor in Africa and Asia and to help create markets for the agricultural products they produce. more>

Design for the Other 90% Exhibition

IDE's affordable income-enhancing technologies are featured in a new exhibit at the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, located in New York City. On view from May to September 23, 2007, “Design for the Other 90%” features more than 30 works that demonstrate how design can be a dynamic force in transforming and even saving lives more>

IDE treadle pump wins prestigious Ashden Award

IDE India took home a prestigious award from the 2006 Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy held at the Royal Geographical Society in London on 15th June. more>