Adolescent girls as well as children and young people that come from impoverished circumstances, are often overlooked, unable to access education and healthcare – failing to achieve their full potential.
These challenges not only threaten their education but also their opportunity to climb from poverty to prosperity.
To help the underprivileged climb from poverty to prosperity; giving equal opportunities to adolescent girls through the provision of a menstruation pack.
We have partnered with local organisations: Hope Enterprises and Dignity Period.
Freweini has dedicated her life to helping girls stay in school by providing them with menstruation packs. In 2009, she opened a local Ethiopian business with huge social impact.
Hope Enterprises helps thousands of impoverished children and young people to continue their education every year.
With five safe houses across Ethiopia, the Association for Women’s Sanctuary & Development (AWSAD) is a beacon of hope to those who have experienced domestic violence or abuse. Staffed 24 hours a day by AWSAD staff, they offer more than a safe place to sleep. Along with food and medication, AWSAD provides counselling and legal follow-up, basic literacy courses, art and dance therapy, self-defence classes and vocational skills training so that women can leave the shelter as confident, independent and workplace-ready individuals.
Two decades ago, the Hamlin Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa was the only place where fistula patients could be treated. Today, not only can patients access the treatment they need through six fistula centres across Ethiopia, but they can also access complete physical and social rehabilitation facilities. Hamlin’s College of Midwives actively recruits and trains new midwives and then deploys them back to their own rural communities to provide maternal healthcare and support in the regions they’re needed most.
Dignity Period helps Ethiopian girls stay in school by providing the supplies and education they need to manage menstruation. In areas where menstruation is a highly taboo subject and school dropout rates for girls are as high as 51% (over 20% higher than that for boys), this enables girls not only to finish their education but also to enjoy better joy and life prospects. Dignity Period works across the regions of Afar and Tigray, distributing locally-made, reusable sanitary pads and hygiene kits to girls in school, and also providing educational booklets to both girls and boys which help dispel myths and reduce the stigma behind menstruation.
Hope Enterprises has created the ‘Ladders of Hope’ programme to help people in need climb from poverty to prosperity. A key focus is education with 7 sites across Ethiopia where children and young people can access kindergarten through to primary/secondary school. Children assisted by Hope can also progress to university or vocational training. Once a student is accepted into a Hope school every effort is made to ensure their long-term success. Hope also works to improve community health through clean water and hygiene.
Founded by Australian nurse Valerie Browning in 1993, the Afar Pastoralist Development Association (APDA) was created alongside local Afar leaders who felt their needs were not being met by formal government services. Today, in addition to life-changing work in water harvesting, mobile health and education, APDA is dedicated to ending harmful practices, including female genital mutilation (FGM), child marriage and the lack of rights for women in marriage.
Cheshire Services aims to bring about a disability-inclusive society across
Ethiopia. They do this through their main activities: treating orthopedic disabilities among children and youth, creating community awareness to remove the stigma associated with disability, and provision of mobility aids and rough rider wheelchairs. Their Menagesha Rehabilitation Centre is their flagship site, providing both resident children and outpatients with corrective surgery, physiotherapy and custom-fitted prosthetic limbs and mobility aids. For children living in more remote areas, Cheshire Services run a mobile outreach service where a team of physiotherapists, orthopaedic technologists and a social worker can assess, treat and follow-up both new and old patients.
In 2018, Ethiopiaid’s donors and local partners made a real difference to students, vulnerable children and adults.
girls in Tigray and 11,000 girls in Afar who can now stay in school thanks to menstrual hygiene kits
students who are enrolled in HOPE’s 7 elementary and 6 secondary schools across Ethiopia
children on the streets of Addis Ababa who were fed breakfast and could attend free school each day
students in 102 schools across Afar who have the facts on puberty through informational booklets
destitute adults, disabled and elderly people received a free lunch service
Adolescent girls are often subjected to harmful traditional practices, such as female genital mutilation, gender-based violence and child marriage.
People living with disabilities are routinely denied their most basic human rights, and are cut off from education, employment and healthcare. In Ethiopia, many live in extreme poverty.
With your donation, our local partners can restore a vulnerable Ethiopian’s dignity and help them rewrite their story.
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