BEES for Development in Monmouth (BfD) is to receive a £50,000 grant from UK Aid to support its work in Ethiopia.

The funding, which comes as part of the Small Charities Challenge Fund, will support the poorest young families in the country’s Amhara Region to get started with beekeeping.

Farming is not an option for many in Ethiopia. Beekeeping offers young people without access to land a viable income earning opportunity with very low start-up costs to ensure they avoid falling into deep poverty.

The BfD project will include an enterprise challenge scheme - giving awards for the best ideas and inspiring young beekeepers for many years to come.

BfD Director Dr Nicola Bradbear said: “We’re a specialist organisation, with a niche set of skills. This grant will enable us to help families in Ethiopia keep bees profitably, so they can earn extra income to buy school uniforms, pay medical costs, buy food and pay-off debts.”

Penny Mordaunt, International Development Secretary said: “Small, UK-based charities up-and-down the country, often staffed by volunteers, are incredibly valuable in making a difference around the world. DFID’s Small Charities Challenge Fund celebrates their innovative work in some of the world’s poorest countries.”

 She said BfD was a great example of how a small community in Wales was helping to make a huge difference in Ethiopia - providing young people with an invaluable entrepreneurial experience, helping them thrive and support their own community.

BfD focuses on simple methods of sustainable beekeeping, always using local bees and local materials. Founded in 1993 it has helped many thousands of remote and poor families to earn essential income to meet their basic needs - with farmers encouraged to make simple, low-cost beehives so that more people can harvest and sell honey.

The organisation currently manages projects at community and national levels in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana and Uganda.

Back home, it has successfully lobbied Monmouthshire County Council to reduce verge and hedge cutting and was instrumental in the establishment of the campaigning organisation, Bee Friendly Monmouthshire.

For more information visit www.beesfordevelopment.org