Shashamene Biogas and Environmental Sanitation Project - Ethiopia

The Shashamene Biogas and Environmental Sanitation Project is helping vulnerable communities turn waste into a resource that benefits them.

Fast facts:

200 households, or around 720 individuals, have benefitted from this activity;
A project opening workshop was held with the participation of community members, community-based organizations and government representatives. About 40 people participated in the workshop, during which the activity was explained and a discussion was facilitated in order to get a better understanding of the views of the target group;
Environmental sanitation and hygiene training was offered to 45 households (totaling approximately 200 individuals) over a five day period.

The problem

The town of Shashamene in Ethiopia is struggling with waterborne illnesses due to lack of decent sanitation facilities, as well as problems resulting from poor air quality and diminishing resources.

The solution

This activity built and set up a biogas digester system, recruited staff and provided training. The project is being implemented and run by the same community it benefits. By capturing and combusting biogas, anaerobic digesters prevent fugitive methane emissions resulting from decomposing organic waste. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential 25 times that of carbon dioxide. When the captured biogas is combusted, methane is converted into carbon dioxide and water. Prior to the project, the community relied heavily on firewood for cooking purposes. By reducing the need for firewood and the burning of solid biomass, this project is not only reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but reducing deforestation as well.

Helping the planet

This activity is mitigating climate change by reducing emissions with the use of biomethane produced by the biogas, thus reducing the amount of firewood and coal being utilized by households. Furthermore, improvements in the public health and financial spheres can contribute to building local adaptive capacity, thus increasing the chances of promoting good climate change adaptation.

Helping people

This activity promotes gender equality by increasing the amount of time saved by women in the collection and purchase of coal and firewood. When women are cutting back the time spent collecting firewood, surrounding woodlands are being protected from deforestation and women can redirect that time to focusing on empowering activities like income generation. The community is invested in this project’s continuation, by offering basis maintenance and cleaning of the biogas digester system’s facilities.

Scaling Up

The project is scalable in that similar, larger systems can be set up in other communities throughout the region.