Skills for


When indigenous communities are integrated with wider society traditional women who don't have the modern skills to adapt become more dependent on others and get left behind.

The Hamar people are among the original inhabitants of the Omo Valley in Southern Ethiopia and have practiced a unique way of life (purely by their skilful management of nature) for thousands of years. However in recent decades their ability to subsist solely off the land and livestock has become more challenging, and the traditional economy is eroding at a fast pace.

Today, many Hamar people are unable to provide enough food and basic necessities for their families by themselves, nor do they have the modern skills to earn a living and meet society’s new demands for healthcare and education.

Hamar women are some of the most disadvantaged and marginalised people in the world. At serious risk are widowed women, who due to surviving their husbands are uniquely impoverished and challenged by illiteracy and lack of language skills. Young Hamar women who have rejected traditional marriage or escaped abusive partners also face extreme difficulties. Ostracised from their families, some run away to towns only to find new problems and little support when they get there.

Why your support is critical now

Women need to have their own money to be able to provide basic necessities such as food, shelter, healthcare and education for their families.

Traditional women from indigenous communities are marginalised from formal schooling and therefore lack basic skills to be self-sufficient in modern society.

Providing services and resources to support vulnerable Hamar women is also crucial for addressing the educational and medical problems of children.

Skills for

Our goal:

To build resilient livelihoods for vulnerable women in modernising indigenous societies through providing practical business training, start-up seed capital and ongoing mentoring services.

This project will help Hamar women who...

Live in villages near to town

Cannot read and write

Do not have a job

Would otherwise find it difficult to start a small business

Receive emergency food relief

Are widowed, or have escaped arranged or abusive marriages

Are strongly determined to help their families

What women will learn

Basic Amharic language


Business planning

Resource management and supply chain

Profit/loss and the concept of cost of time

Record keeping

Marketing and sales

People management skills

Negotiating skills

Risk management

Financial management, investments and savings

How women will learn

Training takes place over a 3-9 month period followed by 9 months of continuous weekly mentoring by local experts.

Small start-up grants are given to each group after the business planning module is complete and the women have agreed on a viable business idea.

Donate to empower indigenous women with a lasting impact

We are a small charity realistic about what donations can help achieve in Ethiopia. In phase 1 we will work with two Hamar villages located near to market towns, provide training for 50 women to start two small enterprises based on locally available resources.

The women in enterprise project will:

Give women access to skills and income to help them make healthy and sustainable choices for their families.

Kick start new small businesses and local economic growth.

Empower women to overcome their own problems and play a key role in wider society.

Create the conditions for positive community-led development.


Latest from the tribe

Sign up to receive our news direct to your inbox

You are subscribing to receive email updates about our ongoing project developments in Ethiopia and how you can support vulnerable indigenous communities where it's needed the most. We promise to keep your personal information confidential and will never sell or trade your details. You can unsubscribe by emailing or by updating your preferences through the unsubscribe link on any of our emails. Please read our Privacy policy.