ADHENO Integrated Rural Development Association is an Ethiopian non-profit, non-governmental organization based in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia. It was established in 2003 by concerned citizens, and registered with the Ethiopian Ministry of Justice for the purpose of contributing toward the alleviation of extreme poverty in North Shoa, one of the poorest regions of the country. Its specific objectives include:
- Environmental Rehabilitation: Recovering the productive potential of the natural environment through afforestation and conservation of natural resources (soil, water and flora). This will help rehabilitate the degraded land and restore its productive capacity thus improving the crop yield which, in turn, will mitigate the endemic poverty in the area.
- Basic Education: Development of the human productive capacity through improved access to basic education and skills development.
- Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment: Providing training and capital to help women and youth start small local businesses to generate revenue, and develop a way out of poverty and dependency.
- Health and Nutrition: Providing access to basic healthcare and improved nutrition (especially for children).
Gudifetcha of Trees or Tree Gudifecha is a strategy devised by ADHENO to Improve survival of planted trees. It is based on an Ethiopian tradition (known as Gudifecha) for adopting children. Gudifecha of Trees is an award winning concept developed by the ADHENO Executive Director, Dr. Fisseha Haile Meskal, to encourage environmentalism among farmers by developing in them a sense of caring and nurturing for trees, much as they would have for children. The project idea won a World Bank prize in 2003 for innovation and best practices and won grants from the Embassy of Ireland and Christian Relief and Development Association (CRDA). It has been successfully implemented in the North Shewoa region of Ethiopia.
The project has forged close partnership with the community in melding indigenous local traditional approaches to resource management with modern concepts of conservation and sound agro economic principles. In addition, the project builds on over a thousand years of local Christian tradition of reverence for trees around churches through focused efforts aimed at resuscitating native species in specially designated area enclosures around churches.
Given the alarming rate of deforestation and desertification in Ethiopia, and the associated falling of agricultural yields, Gudifetcha of Trees is especially critical in ensuring that the land recovers some of its productivity.