Abdulhakim Shamsuddin was 14 and in high school in the city of Dire Dawa when he first heard that he could contribute to the building of a dam on the Blue Nile.

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, known by its acronym GERD, was pitched as Ethiopia’s most ambitious infrastructure venture, which promised to harness the river’s power to propel Ethiopia to reliable energy access and prosperity.

Not long after then-Prime Minister Meles Zenawi announced the project in April 2011, Shamsuddin’s teacher gave a presentation on the dam and its significance and encouraged students to give small contributions for its construction, then estimated at $4.5bn. Across the country, everyone – from civil servants to shoe shiners – pitched in.

The government turned to Ethiopians like Shamsuddin to help cro

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