EDA provides Ethiopa’s marginalized urban communities
with empowering tools to help them become self-sustained
and improve their overall socio-economic status.
Tangible Deliverables
EDA provides alternative basic education, women’s empowerment
(income generation projects), HIV/AIDS awareness,
health and sanitation education, promotion of all Human
Rights, income generation for youth, and education in
all life skills issues.
Competitiveness and Efficiency of Deliveries
There are 12 education centers and over 8000 children who
are given access to education. The 2 health clinics that have
been built service over 10,000 people in the rural communities
and 200 HIV/AIDS patients are under the care and support
program. There are over 15 workshops yearly in each
town to educate and inform the community about leadership,
health, sanitation, and vital life issues such as HIV/AIDS.
Competitiveness and Efficiency of Delivery Systems
Since EDA receives all of its funding from prominent international
organizations, it is accountable to compete financially
and deliver its project activities with the highest efficiency
of financial and budget distribution. For example, in
order to establish home-based care services for 50 bed-ridden
HIV/AIDS patients, 60birr (approx. $9.00 CAD) is spent
per person, per month.
Management Accountability to Clients and Investors
EDA’s goal has always been to sustain a positive relation-ship between itself and the community members it
deals with and it holds itself responsible for the dignity
of the community members involved in all of
its programs. EDA’s ideology of management lies
in decentralized leadership. EDA is also accountable
to a Board of Directors which monitors and
evaluates all of EDA’s activities.
Sustainability
EDA’s goal is for the community members to
become leaders who take initiative to improve their
livelihood and the lives of those in their community.
Together with government institutions and EDA,
beneficiaries of the projects are involved in its commencement,
identification, planning, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation.
Volunteerism
Currently EDA has a very unique program in
place. It recruits 9 Canadian youth volunteers
with the help of Youth Challenge International
to aid in the facilitation of their projects. We are
pleased that Tania Khojasten, one of these volunteers,
has been able to join us this evening and
share her experiences with us. EDA’s livelihood is
largely based on the voluntary acts and generosity
of all people willing to contribute their time,
passion, skills and resources.
Tania Khojasten, Vida Golzari and Angelica Mengana
