On March 8 and 9, International Women’s Day (IWD) was celebrated at Sher Ethiopia. Inspire Inclusion was the world wide theme, and we organized a set of activities in light of this.

The festivities started on March 8 with a welcoming speech by our COO Aswin Endeman and our operations director Andrew Brooke-Smith. They emphasized the importance of inclusion to our company, where we actively work on equality for all our employees and where we value the contribution of all our colleagues.

After that, the gender committee had a virtual meeting with the women of the city council of Zoeterwoude, a village in The Netherlands. They were also celebrating International Women’s Day, and it was truly inspiring to share experiences and to learn from each other.

On March 9, we celebrated IWD at our farms for all employees. In Ziway, a photobooth was installed at the entrance gate, and the gender committee welcomed employees with music and dancing. Many pictures were taken at the booth and it was a good and happy start of the working day for many.

Inclusion also means that Sher Ethiopia wants to emphasize that it is important that every employee that comes to work feels comfortable about personal hygiene. For that reason, the company distributed ‘Mela for her’ reusable sanitary kits to harvesters on all farms. Women of other departments will not be forgotten, more will follow.

Finally, a gender committee convention was organized at the clubhouse at Ziway farm. There was a panel discussion that covered topics related to women’s rights, gender equality, and the challenges and achievements of women in various spheres of life.

We look back on a great day where we celebrated the achievements of women throughout the company and where we got inspired to keep on working on inclusion. The motto ‘Invest in women, accelerate progress’ will help us all to keep this in mind.

Following on from the project that started in the autumn of 2022, we recently handed out Mela for her reusable sanitary pads to 350 girls aged between 12 & 13 at our Sher Schools. This is made possible by the tremendous support of the Dutch Flower Foundation.

Mela (መላ) means solution in Amharic. A solution for a problem that unfortunately exists for many young women and girls in Africa: a lack of affordable sanitary products. For many people, menstrual hygiene is an inconvenience or taboo. For millions of girls around the world, it can pose barriers to education, health, self-esteem, and human rights. And for many, the start of menstruation typically means a loss of days in school.

MELA FOR HER is an Ethiopian social start-up enterprise that transforms women and girls’ lives across Ethiopia by providing them with affordable and eco-friendly menstrual products and menstrual health education.

In this project, the Sher-schools, Mela for her and Dutch Flower Foundation teamed up. Besides handing out the pads, a team of experts has trained a group of Sher-school teachers and through the girls-club all girls are offered a training on menstrual health.

We would like to thank the Mela for her team for the fruitful collaboration and we sincerely thank the Dutch Flower Foundation for their unwavering support. Together we contribute to a world where girls can enjoy their right to dignity, enabling them to reach their full potential in life.

Recently we supported Elders Day in Batu/Ziway, an annual celebration dedicated to honouring and appreciating the contributions and wisdom of senior citizens in our community. The event aimed to recognize the valuable role of elders and provide them with a platform to share their experiences, engage in enjoyable activities and foster intergenerational connections.

In the welcoming remarks by his excellency Ato Ahmedin Ismael (town mayor) a moment of silence was asked to honour the elders who have passed away.

As a company we showed our commitment to this event by handing over 500 kg of maize flour and 50L cooking oil to 50 disadvantaged senior citizens.

Recently, for the third time the Gerrit and Nel Barnhoorn Scholarships have been awarded to four Sher-school graduates. The Barnhoorn family are the founders of Sher Ethiopia and its schools. Each year 4 students are granted a scholarship that helps them to cover a large part of their study-expenses and cost of living at a university of their choice in Ethiopia. The main goal of the scholarship is to help high achieving students with disadvantaged backgrounds.

Students Neima Aschalew, Jemila Hedeto, Mohamed Ahimed and Yordanos Shanbel received their prizes from Mrs. Lulit Tadele and Mr. Aswin Endeman. On behalf of Sher Management, they congratulated the winners and thanked the Sher School teachers and supporting staff for their hard work over the past 16 years.

Of all graduates, 8 students were nominated for a scholarship of whom 4 were selected. The others received a laptop. The ceremony took place in the presence of the students’ families, Sher Ethiopia managers, community elders, Sher School staff, the parents committee, and several government officials.

We thank Mr. and Mrs. Barnhoorn for their unwavering support for the Sher Schools and Hospital over the years and we are extremely proud of these students as they are a true example of the positive impact that Sher Ethiopia has on the community in Ziway and surrounding areas. We wish all our graduated students a bright future, wherever it may take them.

Sher schools in Ethiopia accommodate over 6500 students at three locations. Approximately 400 children – starting at the age of 4 – are admitted to Sher schools every year. Admission takes place on a 50-50 basis, with an equal split between the children of employees and children from the local community.

On November 21, Sher School proudly opened a new Elementary School in Adami Tulu. The ribbon was cut by his excellency Mr. Usman Tuse, Deputy Mayor of Batu/Ziway Town, Mr. Kedir, Head of Batu Education office and Mr. Aswin Endeman, Manager Business Support and CSR of Sher Ethiopia, in the presence of Adami Tulu community representatives, Elders, Sher Ethiopia management representatives, teachers, and a total number of 192 students. A joyful day for all!

Providing education free of charge is a core value at Sher Ethiopia. When the construction of a second farm in 2017 was finished, we invested in new school sites in Adami Tulu village. In 2019 the Sher Kindergarten opened its doors. It currently holds 342 students. After a short hick-up due to the Covid pandemic, the first batch of students have now gone through all KG levels, and the joyful moment came to open the new Elementary School. The two school sites are only 500 meters apart.

Sher is planning to add 4 new classrooms each year. As a result, this new Elementary School will grow to almost 1500 students in 8 years’ time. The compound is large enough to add a High School as well. Sher Schools are open to children from Sher employees as well as children from the local community.

Our thanks go out to everyone who helped realize this new school. From our own construction team to the civil servants, from the teachers to the cleaners. Thanks to everyone!

We hope this school will be a symbol of unity, progress, and the enduring spirit of the Adami Tulu community. May it be a place where dreams take flight and where the flame of knowledge is passed from one generation to the next.

Recently, Dutch Flower Foundation has donated a new autoclave machine to Sher hospital. The machine, worth close to 10.000 dollars, is used to sterilize operation materials and surgical instruments. For the operating theater the autoclave is essential. Doctor Dems (medical director) explains: “At Sher Hospital at least two major operations take place per day. The new autoclave will help to save lives. With this donation we can continue to guarantee the quality of our services “.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Dutch Flower Foundation on behalf of all employees of the Sher hospital for this generous donation.

At Sher hospital all Sher employees (approx. 12.500) and Sher-students (6.500) get free medical care. Members of the community are served at a low-cost rate. Over 100.000 patients are treated every year.

Dutch Flower Foundation (DFF) aims to improve the living conditions and well-being of people in need and in particular children. Through the activities of DFF, DFG gives substance to its responsibility for the world in which we live.

Last week we were able to distribute eyeglasses and supportive devices to members of our staff through the support of the Fairtrade Dignified Opportunities Nurtured through Trade & Sustainability program (DONUTS program).

The objectives of this 4-year program are gender equality, youth, and vulnerable groups and especially persons with disabilities. Besides that, the program aims to strengthen the capacities of the Fairtrade Producers Organizations (POs) and the trade unions. The program is funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.

At Sher Ethiopia, inclusion of employees with disabilities has always been a priority. Therefore, we are grateful that the DONUTS program has supported 108 disabled employees with devices.

In this project Sher Ethiopia and Fairtrade Africa teamed up with Gerarbet Rehabilitation Association. This association carried out the measurements for the beneficiaries to determine the kind of device required and the proper fitting of the devices. These include a.o. tricycles, crutches, artificial limbs, eyeglasses, and hearing devices.

We are happy to see that 108 employees can live and work more comfortably. A big thank you to our respected partners!

September 16 is World Clean Up Day where people around the world unite and join forces to clean up litter and waste from the environment. At Sher, every three months we actively contribute by cleaning the surrounding environments of our farms in Adami Tulu and Koka. In Ziway we join forces with our neighboring farms. Over 100 Sher-employees participate in these cleaning activities.

Litter is not only unpleasant to look at; eventually, it will pollute the environment and make its way to rivers, lakes, and the oceans, endangering animals and harming the planet and our health.

We would like to thank our devoted employees and volunteers for not only cleaning up once a year but every quarter. We call on everyone to join forces on September 16.

The Green Legacy Initiative, which aims at curbing the effects of climate change and deforestation, was launched in May 2021. So far 3.7 billion seedlings have been planted across Ethiopia. Every year we contribute to the campaign. In July our colleagues helped to plant over 46.000 seedlings on Worja & Kamo Gerbi Hill. This was a great collaboration between the local administration offices, the local investors, and the community members.

Besides planting seedlings at the preserved areas, we also planted 300 fruit bearing trees and 1.000 indigenous seedlings at our 4 Sher School compounds. We would like to thank all colleagues and volunteers that participated in these planting initiatives.