Members of the cooperative are community members who are willing and committed to coordinate their labor and knowledge to bring about holistic economic development
The cooperative includes weaker and stronger members of the community, and we share the benefits and risks of the venture equally. Cooperative members are assigned work according to their skills by the Field Work Assignment Committee.
All members work to eradicate poverty and achieve maximum economic growth for the whole community. Each cooperative member must follow and respect all the values and principles in parallel with the expansion of these community values.
In addition to formulating and implementing the Community Statute, the cooperative members also formulate and implement the Cooperative Statute.
Awra Amba Community Farmers and Handicrafts Multipurpose Cooperative was legally recognized and certified by the Amhara National Regional State Cooperatives Promotion Agency in February 2008.
Vision of the cooperative:
to develop the economy at a high level by assigning work tasks according to people’s skills, knowledge, taking into account the weak and strong members of the cooperative. All members work in different types of jobs according to their abilities.
Mission of the cooperative:
to spread the best practices of the cooperative to all humanity in a qualitative way. We also want to coordinate the members to use their ability to work effectively for economic growth, as well as to show how to apply and implement the work culture and living in solidarity with each person of the cooperative.
How we share the proceeds
Once a year, we audit all the activities of the cooperative and calculate the annual profit. Then a percentage of the profit is shared equally among all cooperative members and the remaining part is used to improve the capacity or capital of the cooperative
Working hours and organization
Cooperative work begins at eight in the morning and ends at five in the evening. Lunch is taken between 1 and 2 pm. Although the normal work day ends at 5 p.m., members volunteer to work until 6:30 p.m. or later. We also take turns standing guard at night to keep the village safe.
Tuesdays are community work days, when all community members work to raise money for a fund known as Lewegen Derash (Charity). This fund is used to support people who are unable to work, to provide treatment for sick people who have no money, to provide educational materials for children, etc.
On Sundays, members of the congregation can do their own private work or take a day off if they wish. In addition to Sundays, we often continue our private work after our community work is done, from 6:30 p.m. until bedtime. Sometimes, if there is community work to be done on Sunday, it will always come first.
Most cooperative members have regular types of work. If there is work that is not regular (tentative), some members will be assigned to do it, depending on the person’s ability.
Assigning people to tentative work is done during an occasion when cooperative members meet regularly in the morning for greeting before the cooperative work starts.
The members also meet in the evening. This means that when they faced challenges in their work, the participants raised their problems.
Then the members discuss the problem to be solved. Through this discussion, the problem is solved for the next day.
Finally, if we prefer to go home to do our private tasks, we will go and do our tasks. If we prefer to stay and share the comments and feedback from the visitors, we will stay and participate in the presentation of the visitors’ comments by the guides.
Awra Amba Trading
Since Ethiopian law does not allow cooperatives to operate outside the area in which they are located, we created a company that can operate anywhere in Ethiopia. This also allows us to export our economic model and ideas. 99 percent of the shares of the company belong to the cooperative.
Awra Amba Microfinance Institution
The Awra Amba community needed financing to grow and invest in the many new projects necessary to transform itself from a rural, poor community into a developed one with industry and services. However, bank financing was very costly, with interest rates in excess of 25% (implying a project return rate of 65%, which is almost impossible to achieve) and with collateral requirements such as land ownership, which is impossible to have in a rural community. Thus, the community was excluded from the financial sector.
To overcome these problems, the idea of a community-owned microfinance institution was born around 2014. It took nine years to get it off the ground, four of which were spent on the licensing process and the other five on finding capital. Now the project is up and running with four branches and a head office in Bahir Dar.
The challenge now is to create a service that is consistent with the community’s human-centered values and relevant to the urban and rural poor it seeks to reach.
Activities
For many years now, in order to maintain our economic model, we have been diversifying our activities, flanking our more traditional productions with other activities that also bring Awra Amba into the world of services and industry.
Agricolture
Agriculture is the oldest activity, as all the founders of the community are of peasant origin. Nowadays, in the economy of Awra Amba, it is an important but secondary activity due to the very small area available, which has also been cleared to build houses, schools or for reforestation.
The government’s land redistribution policy allocates land individually to different family heads. In practice, neither individuals nor families enjoy it individually, as the enjoyment is collective: it is pooled in the cooperative, managed and worked collectively.
Weaving
As for the cooperative, its weaving activity began in 2003 with the arrival of weaving machines. Today, our weaving workshop has more than twenty modern looms, made of wood or metal. It produces fabrics by the meter, scarves, blankets, tablecloths, jackets and dresses.
These items are sold either to wholesalers who resell them to traders, or in the cooperative shops, including the workshop shop.
Weaving is primarily a family activity, with almost all residents having a loom, traditional or modern, at home.
Flour mill
Regarding the milling activity, the cooperative acquired a first mill in 2003 and then continued to equip itself. In 2010, it owned six electric mills for grinding teff, maize and sorghum from the village and neighboring farmers.
In early 2012, three new electric mills were added, one for teff, the second for maize, and the last for rice husking. Today, there are about ten mills in permanent operation. They are also supplied by trucks that bring grain from far away.
Oil mill
Since 2016, the cooperative has also been equipped with oil mills for the production of nug oil. Nug is an endemic plant native to the Ethiopian highlands that has been cultivated for several millennia for the production of edible oil, particularly in India and Ethiopia.
Its oil is not only used for food, but also for the production of paints, soaps, and lighting. It is a very good substitute for olive oil, which is considered very good for health. In Ethiopia, there is a strong local demand for nugu oil, especially as a substitute for imported and unhealthy palm oil. The cooperative buys the nug from neighboring farmers and sells the oil.
A large shed with two large tanks has been built to store it. And, in keeping with our concern for the environment and eco-sustainability, the meal produced is used to feed livestock.
Bricks factory
Bricks are one of the most sought-after products at this stage of major construction development in the Amhara region and throughout Ethiopia. Within Awra Amba, hundreds are produced daily and sold elsewhere.
Breeding and fodder
At Awra Amba, we also pay close attention to the welfare of our animals: dairy cows and chickens for egg production. This experience has also led us to implement high quality feed production so that the animals can eat in the healthiest way possible.
Shops
The cooperative opened four shops (food, clothing, household tools, etc.) and two food bazaars in Awra Amba for local customers. Then it also opened shops to sell its products, first locally and then in the neighboring towns of Woreta and Alember (both 14 km away). We also have a large shop in Bahir Dar (68 km away) and one in Addis Ababa.
The shop in Addis Ababa also serves as a representative center for all our products. Here dealers can view and purchase them and then distribute them throughout the country. Recently, we also opened an online shop to sell our products outside Ethiopia.
Trade
At the request of neighboring communities, the cooperative plays an important role in stabilizing the grain market when prices rise. When prices are low, it buys grain in bulk from the Gojam or elsewhere. It then stores it in a large warehouse.
When market prices are high, it resells it at an affordable price in nearby or more distant markets.
Tourism
Awra Amba became an official tourist attraction in 2001 after being identified as a potential tourist destination by the Ministry of Tourism in 1995. In 2006, the community was listed in the Bradt Tourist Guide, the most widely used guide for foreign tourists in Ethiopia.
Since then, Awra Amba has been welcoming a large number of visitors for the past fifteen years. Visitors pay the same entrance fee regardless of their nationality, but with a reduced price for students. It is possible to hire a guide to visit the village.
The Awra Amba community has also built a small café-restaurant serving drinks and meals at very affordable prices, as well as a small guesthouse with simple but very comfortable rooms with bathroom.
Renting rooms
Community members rent rooms to Awra Amba school teachers, health workers, and secondary school students.
