Empowering Rural Livelihoods.

31 March-30 April 2006. Forty photographs by amateur photographers portraying rural life across the country. The exhibition is the result of a national competition Empowering Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia launched by the Ethiopia Strategy Support Program (ESSP) in 2005 to highlight initiatives aimed at improving life for rural dwellers. First prize has been awarded to Yonas Bogale with his photograph She will drink until she is satisfied. If so she will continue to live, taken at Selam Technical and Vocational College; second prize has gone to Jurgen Klein with his Eagerly writing student, taken in Silti Zone; and third prize to Ataklti Mulu for his photograph of oxen Ploughing traditionally in Adi Kolakul, a rural village 40km from Mekelle. Established in 2004, ESSP is a think tank initiative involving the Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI) and the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) that aims to bridge the gap between knowledge and policy on rural development issues.