Enhancing youth skills for improving the leather sector, creating more jobs

This clearly shows the significant potential for the leather sector to contribute to the national economy if it is harnessed well.

The value chain of the leather sector, which includes raw hide and skin processing, leather processing and manufacturing of footwear and leather goods, is also labour intensive with huge potential for creating jobs for the youth.

Nevertheless, the leather sector faces a number of challenges that stifle its growth. One of the challenges along the leather value chain is poor quality of raw hide and skin from the market players including abattoirs and traders. 

The poor quality is mainly attributed to slaughterhouse practices which damage hide and skin during slaughtering and flaying as well as storage and preservation.

In order to address these challenges, UNIDO is implementing the Leather Initiative for Sustainable Employment Creation (LISEC) project that aims to improve the leather value chain and create employment opportunities for the youth and women.

With funding from the European Union, UNIDO implements the LISEC project in partnership with Modjo City Administration, Oromia Region), Ministry of Industry and Ministry of Agriculture.  

The leather value chain embraces a continuum from processing raw hide and skin to finished leather and leather products. 

The Lisec project supports Ethiopia’s leather sector at three levels along the value chain: quality of raw hide and skin, quality finished leather, and investment on leather products manufacturing.

One of the interventions of the six-year project is improving the quality of hide and skin, which is the foundation for ensuring the quality of leather and leather products, through technology transfer, skill training, and awareness raising among abattoirs and raw hide and skin traders. 

The project is mainly implemented in Modjo City, a small town in Oromia region, and its surroundings. Modjo is a hub for the leather industry, hosting about 80 % of tanneries in Ethiopia, with over 75 % represents direct foreign investment that offers opportunities for technology and skills transfer.

As part of the project support, five abattoirs have been supported with modern slaughtering machines and tools to improve slaughtering practices and hide and skin management. With the installation and commissioning of the machines, capacity building trainings have also been given to slaughterhouse workers. 

“After receiving a training, I became a certified slaughtering machine operator. This boosts confidence in delivering better results by operating a new slaughtering machine which has also contributed to increased capacity for the company I work for,” said Shirtawi Tura, one of the employees of the leather sector in Mojo Town.

Shirtawi, 32, is married and father of two children. He has worked for Adama Abattoirs Enterprise for the past six years as a machine operator. The abattoir supplies meat to local butchers and supermarkets and raw skin and hides to traders and processors that supply to the tanneries in Modjo City. 

“The new machine and tools have significantly improved our efficiency,” said Shirtawi. “We are better in producing quality hides, as flaying machines and slaughtering boxes have made our work much easier. In addition, we can now better manage animals and reduce possible threats inflicted on workers.”

“The machines and training support have brought change to the way we do business,” said Dr. Andulem Zenebe, Manager of Zelalem Moges Abattoir, in Bushoftu town, Oromia Region. “The machines make us more efficient and help us significantly reduce high rejections of hide due to flay cut and other defects,” he said. The support also improved the production quality of both hide and meat, he added.

The leather can create multiple jobs along its value chain if stakeholders step up their efforts to address the challenges with the quality of hides and skins, occupational safety and health and environmental concerns as well as access to finance and issues related to strategies and policies.