There is a lack of water in Ethiopia, which is decreasing the production and increasing poverty in local communities. How to deal with the lack of water? Can we test and implement new technologies to improve agricultural productions as a new challenge? There is also a very limited local market in Oromia and Somali region because of the level of poverty level in local communities. Currently, the broader market (national and export) is under control of a small group. One of the key questions is how to get decent access to the national or international market (e.g. export)?

Women are more likely to have primary domestic responsibilities and to have interrupted careers, which create work-family conflict. In terms of skill development, women are impeded by an overload of unpaid care work, lack of access to education, low literacy levels and prejudiced attitudes towards them. A primary and continuing obstacle faced by women appears to be the difficulty in securing capital funding for new business ventures. Financial conditions for women business owners are less favorable than for men. Youngsters lose their motivation by lack of job opportunities and companies and trainings are not youth friendly.

There is a risk that this program will stay at the level of trainings. Also, trainings are not always fitting to the market needs and are project based. Creating a sense of community and shared-ownership is one of the most difficult pieces of hub-building. There is a need to create a cooler, modern and attractive space for rural youth which functions as an idea generating place for testing new products. Also, where they can find information on jobs, access to markets and finance, mentors and joint services. There is also a need to build decent pipelines to existing companies and set up internships.

Deborah Tien is currently the Executive Director of Twende, a social innovation center in Arusha, Tanzania. She also works with several collective action ideas and initiatives in Arusha and around the world, in an effort to help build a world with more creative justice and unexpected collisions. In her spare time, she enjoys reading & discussing, seeing new places, and seeing old places anew. Deborah graduated with a BA in Astrophysics from Wellesley College. . Deborah has been based in Arusha, Tanzania, for 4+ years, working with the Twende team. Twendes primary focus is on local technology development, especially around empowerment of local Tanzanians to design and make their own technologies to solve their own problems.