Brief History of ChildFund in Ethiopia

Number of enrolled children (FY12): 37,927
Number of beneficiaries (FY12): 1,141,248

ChildFund Ethiopia was established in 1971 and currently supports 13 community-based child development and protection programmes in four regions (Amhara, Oromia, Southern Nation Nationalities and People – SNNP, and Addis Ababa). It is directly assisting over 37,000 children, about 30,000 families, and over 1 million community members.

Brief Programme Overview

ChildFund Ethiopia’s vision for children in Ethiopia is that they will grow up in an environment where basic survival, protection and development needs are met and that they will be enabled to become productive citizens. Interventions are carried out through a multi-sectoral approach, focused on ensuring successful transitions between infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence and young adulthood to meet the following goals:

• Deprived, Excluded and Vulnerable infants and young children have improved cognitive, psycho-social and physical development.
• Education quality and life skills of girls and boys are improved.
• Disadvantaged youth in urban and rural environments are engaged, safe, have applicable skills and are hopeful for the future.
• ChildFund is a partner of choice building alliances and sustainable partnerships to improve the wellbeing of deprived, excluded and vulnerable children.
• Strong linkages between sponsorship and programme are developed to improve the sponsorship relations process at all levels.
• Resources for deprived, excluded and vulnerable children are increased and diversified.

2012 Programme Achievements

Care and Development of infants and young children 

In FY12, 26 ECD centers were supported to improve access to safe water and personal hygiene. Initiatives included constructing 17 potable water points with a shower room, drilling two deep bore holes, and developing three springs to enable the community to enjoy safe water. In addition, a number of children received medical service (11,424), immunisation (3,102), supplementary food (6,390), vitamin A and de-worming (875), school fees (465) and uniforms (65).

Quality learning opportunities and enhancing achievements in basic education

ChildFund has made great strides in improving educational quality by upgrading infrastructure and renovating more than 18 schools; providing educational resources and materials for 21,340 children and teachers; providing training for teachers; creating and strengthening participatory school governance; creating access and/or strengthening alternative basic education; and improving community child protection systems and health services.

Leadership and livelihood skills for youth

To achieve the core outcome of skilled and involved youth, ChildFund assisted 623 youths with acquiring entrepreneurship skills and training. Training and Reproductive Health (RH) service were provided to 2,614 youths in an effort to protect them from RH-related infections. With Australian AID support, a youth livelihood security project was implemented to improve agricultural productivity of youth farmers and their families. In addition, 30 cisterns were constructed and handed over to involved youths, enabling them to start producing vegetables.

Emergency

Emergency relief efforts included: providing 18,431 drought affected people with general food support, edible oil and supplementary food; providing 5,876 malnourished under five children with supplementary food; and providing 1,622 pregnant/lactating mothers with supplementary food assistance through Siraro, Balaya and Sodo-Buee local partners. Further loss of assets was prevented by supporting livestock for the affected households, who sold these productive assets to cope with the drought.

ChildFund Ireland’s Grants

Early Childhood Development (ECD)

In Ethiopia, ChildFund is implementing an Irish Aid-funded Community Caring for Children programme (CCCP) which focusses on the first Life Stage, early childhood care and development. The programme was launched in 2012, and is being implemented in Siraro Woreda of the West Arsi Zone in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. It is also concurrently being implemented in Uganda and Mozambique. While the programme has a specific focus on early childhood development, issues of gender, prevention of gender-based violence, prevention of HIV and AIDS and the protection of the environment are also being mainstreamed into the programme.

The overall goal of the programme is that all children aged from 0 to 5 years old in the programme area are protected and supported to have equal opportunities to realise their rights and develop to their full potential. Specific outcomes aim to improve the quality of ECD services; to strengthen community structures for child care, protection and case management; and to improve a culture of learning and knowledge management on ECD approaches and practices. The programme will run until 2015 which coincides with the end of the Millennium Project and the Millennium Development Goals.

Water and Education

In Siraro Woreda, Oromia Region, most children start education late (10 years old). Parents often don’t allow their daughters to travel long distances to get to school before this age and girls’ participation rate is lower than that of boys. In addition to the low level of awareness about the long term benefits of education, school enrolment and performance of children is highly influenced by poor school environment. Out of nine schools in the project area, only three schools have access to potable water; many have no toilet. Lack of adequate facilities is one of the major causes of low school enrolment rates and high dropouts of students, particularly that of girls.

ChildFund Ireland, through its partner ChildFund Ethiopia and with funding from ‘Bank of Ireland Group Employees Fund for Third World Aid’, implemented a project in 2012 to address the school dropout rates and enhance children’s performance in the target schools. The project constructed water points to improve accessibility of water for 1,686 students through a pipeline extension from an existing source and raised awareness and involvement of communities and parents in the promotion of education, especially that of girls and in relation to hygiene.

Challenges

Inadequate resources, which is one of the major challenges that ChildFund Ethiopia experienced, prevented the organisation from expanding its coverage geographically to enable its programme interventions to reach more children.

Why Sponsorship is Important

ChildFund is recognised for its sustainable support to children in need. Out of the total number of 39,000 children enrolled in 13 Local Partners, 31,061 children have sponsors. The majority of the sponsors are from ChildFund International, with the rest contributed by other ChildFund Alliance members.  In FY12, 60% of the annual budget of ChildFund Ethiopia was secured through sponsorship funds. The Sponsor Relations department is working vigorously to ensure its reliability to partners.

Like many others in the operational areas of ChildFund Ethiopia, Nurya, Hiwot and Munaja are from poor families in Aynage (one of the local partners). They live in a community that believes “educating girls is a waste.” Girls are expected to marry and their husbands to provide the family’s income. Through enrolment in sponsorship, this is changing; communities, families, children and youth – especially girls— are recognising the importance of education and school. Today, Nurya, Hiwot and Munaja are realising their dreams. These visionaries are now 21 years old and enrolled in their third year at local universities.  Nurya explained, “Currently, I’m studying medicine in Gonder University, many thanks to the Association and ChildFund.  If I was not enrolled in the ChildFund project, I would have ended up being a housewife and mother of many.”  Hiwot and Munaja are third year students studying Management and Engineering, respectively, in Axum University.