The Kossoye Project began in 2005, building on a 45-year relationship between the Kossoye community of 7,000 persons in Ethopia and Dr. Dennis Carlson, who was Dean of the Public Health College at the University of Gondar in the 1960’s. The first four $10,000 grants from theAllPeopleBeHappy foundation (2009-2012) enabled the Ethiopian Household Vegetable Gardening Program to be launched throughout Kossoye. The funding was used for 1) support of the Community Health Worker stipends, 2) purchase of seeds and tools for the 3,000 elementary school children, 3) printing of gardening manuals, and 4) monthly coffee and health discussion sessions. Under now the direction of Dr. Andrew Carlson, the Kossoye Development Program (KDP) expanded in 2012 to the communities in Shenkur Mesk, 10 km to the south of Kossoye. With the annual $10,000 grants from the AllPeopleBeHappy foundation, the program further expanded in 2013 and 2014 to the 400,000 person Wogera District. In 2015, KDP expanded into seed potato distribution by constructing a storage warehouse for holding seed potatoes. In 2016, the program is thriving with 5X5 home garden project sites in nearly 50 communities, building a vegetable seed producer group, and distributing over 74,000 seed packets. In 2017, KDP distributed 135,000 seed sets, trained more than 1,000 elementary school teachers, 60 seed farmers, and 70 community leaders, faculty and staff from 9 universities. The 10th AllPeopleBeHappy grant to KDP in 2018 is being used to develop a sustainable vegetable seed market in northern Ethiopia by forming seed producer cooperatives, and supporting a seed sellers’ initiative to sell seeds at kiosks in rural market towns. (www.kossoyeproject.org)
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