Women’s Participation, Empowerment, and Benefits of Community‐Based Degraded Land Rehabilitation Program in Burie Zuria and Enebsie Sar Midir Districts of Amhara Region, Ethiopia

Land rehabilitation programs have required active participation of all parts of the community for rehabilitating degraded lands in the community. Rural women have a critical role in ensuring sustainable land management and development. The purpose of the study was to assess women’s participation and empowerment in the degraded land rehabilitation program in the Burie Zuria and Enebsie Sar Midir Districts of Ethiopia. A cross‐sectional research design and a multistage sampling technique were utilized in this study. Purposefully, the researchers selected 243 women‐headed households from the total households in the study area. The qualitative and quantitative data were collected from both primary and secondary sources. The data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The result of the study showed that the majority of respondents (60% and 84.7%) participated in soil and water conservation in Burie Zuria and Enebsie Sar Midir Districts, respectively. About 95.2% and 93.2% of participants have decided themselves for using and controlling the assets in the Burie Zuria and Enebsie Sar Midir Districts, respectively. The study indicated that rehabilitated degraded lands are the primary source of water, fodder, and firewood for the communities. The finding indicated that women earned an income from animal fattening (8333.33 and 4000.0), grass collected for fodder and homemaking (490.09 and 733.64), and fuelwood collection (283.33 and 343.7) Ethiopian Birr using rehabilitated degraded lands in Burie Zuria and Enebsie Sar Midir Districts, respectively. Education, farmland size, farm income, household size, institution linkage, and distance to the rehabilitation site are factors affecting women’s participation in degraded land rehabilitation in the study area. Capacity building and positive reinforcement are important strategies to increase the participation of women in community‐based restoration of degraded lands programs in the study area.