A profession with a future: German-style paving trade

Paving stones have come to symbolise economic upswing in Ethiopia. Growing numbers of young people want to be trained in the paving trade and to set up their own businesses. The demand is there: 80 per cent of all of the country's roads are not paved.

On a large square in the city of Adama south of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, 2,000 workers daily fashion chunks of natural stone into paving stones, which must measure exactly 10 cubic centimetres. The stones are then used to convert dangerous, bumpy tracks into drivable roads.

In just two years, this form of road construction has provided 30,000 people with work. In three years, as many as 750,000 jobs could well be created. There is enough work there for at least 15 years. One great advantage is that the raw materials are easily available everywhere and are much less expensive than concrete or asphalt.

The boom is the result of the paving stone project that GTZ is managing on behalf of the Ethiopian Government. German master craftspeople trained the first apprentices in the spring of 2007, among them many women. The initial task was to pave the construction sites of the 13 new universities being built by GTZ under a contract from Ethiopia. But the demand for this kind of paving exists in all of Ethiopia’s cities. Five training centres throughout the country now train stone producers, paving craftspersons, foremen and instructors.

The paving project is offering a large number of young people new prospects. Each year, 1.5 million young people leave school without any hope of further training or a job. Many of them can now earn good wages and do something to improve themselves. In Adama, skilled pavers have already joined forces to form 150 small businesses.

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