People in Need has been helping in Ethiopia for 20 years
Published: Sep 6, 2023 Reading time: 3 minutes
This year, we marked the 20th anniversary of our mission in Ethiopia. Since 2003, our small office in Hawassa has grown into our largest mission in Africa. Our team of more than 200 staff and employees focuses on development cooperation as well as humanitarian aid.
Twenty years of our work have resulted in more than two dozen newly built and equipped schools, nearly two thousand trained teachers, and one hundred thousand happy pupils. We have built and rehabilitated over a thousand drinking water sources for more than three quarters of a million Ethiopians, and improved the hygiene and sanitation situation. We have helped to cure many children of malnutrition and infectious diseases. Additionally, farmers are better able to cope with the impacts of climate change. 10,000 hectares of degraded landscape have been rehabilitated, and the team, together with locals, has planted nearly 10 million trees. Hundreds of successful small businesses and thousands of new jobs have been created.
In addition to long-term development programmes, we provide humanitarian aid in the south of the country and in the war-affected Tigray region. We focus in particular on people who have had to flee their homes due to conflict or have suffered due to drought or floods. The people we help receive support for a fresh start in the form of shelter, household equipment, money, and access to drinking water.
In addition to directly supporting communities, we work on systemic solutions and capacity development of local partners and governments.
People in Need in Ethiopia is only able to help thanks to the generous support of donors. Projects are funded by the Czech Development Agency and the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Union, the US and British governments, and many others. They are additionally supported by many Czech companies and thousands of individuals from their Club of Friends.
20 years of the mission in Ethiopia in numbers:
25 schools built and equipped, 100,000 children and young people have received better education, nearly 2,000 teachers are better qualified.
- Supported 21 vocational training schools in leather, agriculture, and electromechanics with nearly 3,000 successful graduates from short and long-term courses.
- More than 130 small enterprises in leather processing and agricultural production established.
- Rehabilitated 10,000 hectares of degraded landscape, formulated 30 landscape management plans, planted 10 million trees.
- More than 10 thousand farmers have been trained in sustainable landscape management practices in dozens of farmer training centres.
- Nearly 1,000 drinking water sources have been built or rehabilitated and are now properly managed by water committees.
- More than three quarters of a million people have gained access to drinking water and received information on good hygiene practices to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
- Nearly 300 institutional latrines with hand-washing facilities have been constructed in schools and health centres.
- We supported over 1.5 million people forced to flee their homes due to conflict, drought, and floods. We provided them with shelter, household equipment, money, and access to drinking water.