Don Bosco Rural Development

This webpage present the methods, strategies and successes of an integrated rural development programme. The programme was co-funded by Jugend Eine Welt and the Austrian Development Cooperation and implemented in Nepal and Mozambique by Salesians of Don Bosco as local partners.

When the programme commenced in 2004 in Nepal, the implementing team concentrated on community development. Pilot initiatives in savings, agriculture, health and education were successful. Based on this fundament the programme was further expanded with the ultimate objective to create sustainable structures within the communities and Don Bosco partners to further carry on with the activities.

The setting-up of saving groups led to micro-credit schemes and cooperatives was successful and intensified; in the last years provision of renewable energy - solar energy in particular – became a priority for partners and beneficiaries alike. Renewable energy is a priority on all levels – starting from the Sustainable Development Goals (Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy). The experiences made over the past years in Nepal and Mozambique are from 2016 onwards used to develop a training programme for solar – technicians in Ethiopia.  The Don Bosco partners of Jugend Eine Welt operate more than 700 vocational training centres worldwide and are thus the ideal partner to skill local technicians, who are urgently needed to make the use of sustainable energy a reality.