A MONMOUTH-based charity is inviting the Duchess of Cornwall to Ethiopia to join its UK aid-funded bee keeping project.

Bees for Development, provides training and free information to beekeepers in more than 130 developing nations, and bee-lover Camilla was announced as the charity’s president in May.

Now it is hoped that she may travel with the charity to Africa to see how it is helping combat poverty in the world’s poorest countries, by training people to become beekeepers.

Charity founder Dr Nicola Bradbear - who has travelled to 50 low economic countries to do the work - said: “It is amazing that the Duchess of Cornwall has become our president and it would be wonderful to get her out to see a project.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine such a small charity could receive such wonderful patronage. I’d imagine that at some point she would appreciate an opportunity to visit some of our beekeepers.

“We have a £250,000 project under way in Ethiopia, supported by the UK Government through its UK Aid Direct scheme that is a great example of our work.”

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After announcing her new role on World Bee Day in May, Camilla said: "This remarkable charity has found a way to use the busy bee to help alleviate poverty and encourage biodiversity.

“It works to train and educate people in the simple methods needed to keep bees, often at little or no cost. This in turn provides a much-needed income to people living in some of the poorest and most isolated communities in the world. And it means that there are healthy hives of bees working to pollinate crops.”

The charity received a £50,000 grant through the Department for International Development’s (DFID) Small Charities Challenge Fund in July 2018.

It is now using a £250,000 UK Aid Direct grant to scale up that work in Amhara, north west Ethiopia, to train more than 500 people, especially those with disabilities, to work as beekeepers.

International Development Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said: “Bees for Development is wonderful example of how the UK Government has helped a small Welsh charity to grow and make a huge difference in Ethiopia – providing invaluable entrepreneurial experience to young people, so they can thrive and support their own communities.

“By supporting projects like this, the UK Government is proud to have played a part in helping Ethiopia triple the size of its economy since 2005, generating jobs and better incomes to give more than a million people a way out of poverty.”