Diredawa city is the major export and import route of Ethiopia located on the eastern part of the Addis Ababa–Djibouti railroad. Dire Dawa is a commercial and industrial center located between 9° 27’ and 9° 49’ East longitude and 515 Km away from Addis Ababa.
357,000 people live in Dire Dawa administration region of which 73.5 % are found in urban areas. The city stands 3rd among the severely affected cities of HIV & AIDS in Ethiopia. According to the official report presented in the millennium campaign against AIDS by DDHAPCO and health office 10,999 people in Dire Dawa are living with HIV/AIDS. The estimated number of orphan and vulnerable children is more than 11,000.
In the 1994 census, among the total population of Dire Dawa city 45% were migrants and 53% were non-migrants. In addition to this, 44% of the males and 46% of the females were migrants. The migration to city is female selective. Seventy percent of current migrant are less than 25 years old, nearly 40 percent of them in the age group 15-24 years. Nearly 80 percent of the migrant population in Dire Dawa city has no education.
There are four target kebeles in this project i.e. kebele 02, 04, 05 & 06 with their estimated population of 36,185; 30,336; 30,662 & 29,492 respectively. The target kebeles are seriously affected by different socio economic problems. Low educational services, absence of adequate health facilities, sanitation and water are common to all kebeles. In addition due to the recent flood accident kebele 04, 05 & 06 are highly affected. As result a number of poor households were displaced and children were highly vulnerable to a wide range of problems. In places where the displaced people are made to re-settle, social services like education, health, water & electricity are not in place. Therefore, further intervention is required to address the need of children directly affected by the flood accident.
FSCE started operating in Dire Dawa since 1996. Since then it has contributed to the protection and support of disadvantaged children trough its integrated community based projects. In the intervention, the projects addressed the needs, protect poor house holds & their children, street children, sexually abused & exploited children, children in conflict with the law and other children exposed to a wide range of abuses. The support program for disadvantaged children run by FSCE Dire Dawa focuses on education, health, livelihoods promotion, child protection and rehabilitation
Since 2005 with technical and financial assistance of KNH, the project in Dire Dawa town has been scaled up to expand the existing interventions. Currently, the project in Dire Dawa operates mainly in three kebeles of the city (02, 04 & 06) serving 15000 residents directly and indirectly.
Having finished the first phase implementation, FSCE envisaged strengthening the program in the coming four years to avert the stressful and difficult conditions of life of these vulnerable children, their families and the poor communities.
The project will pursue its integrated development for four years (January 2008-December 2011)
Interventions in the project area includes
1. Education
By create access to basic education for 800(50% female) out-of-school children in the target kebeles (02, 04 and 06) through alternative basic child education
Improve the academic performance of 600 (50% female) school children in five elementary schools ( Aba Yohannes, Mariyam Sefer, Kezira, Sabian and Misrak Jegnoch) through tutorial and support
Capacity building training for pre-school and traditional school teachers, training workshop for formal school teachers , establishing/strengthening girls clubs, training /workshop for education office, kebele officials school directors and other stakeholders
2.Livelihoods promotion
By increasing income levels of 272 poor households & enable them to fulfill the survival needs of 1088 vulnerable children through accessing to saving and credit, equip them with marketable vocational and business skill trainings, establishing more work relations with co-operative development & promotion office and micro & small business enterprise office
3. Advocacy, child protection and awareness raising
Create an environment confortable for children among FBO s and CBO s, 1000HHs and 4,000 residents in the target communities
Promoting the awareness of the community in the operational areas of the project and children on ACRWC, UNCRC and relevant domestic laws
Handle 2000 abused cases of children and 500 children in conflict with the low in a child friendly manner and correct 180 of them through community based correction center
Provide psychosocial support to children reported to the Child protection units by strengthening capacity of the child protection units
Build the capacity of police officers and officials working in the child protection units through seminars, exposure visits, trainings and workshops
4. Prevention and Support program for Sexually Abused Children
Prevent and rehabilitate 300 sexually abused and exploited children by providing them different psycho-social services in temporary shelter (DIC) , arranging them vocational skills trainings ,health and reproductive health and services for small income generating activities.
5. Orphan and Vulnerable children Support Program
Access for 100 orphan and vulnerable children to basic and immediate survival need through financial support and ensure their essential services, including education, health care, and others through creating support groups and arranging foster care among the communities.
6. Community Health Promotion
Access to health information on reproductive health, HIV and AIDS and other related issues for all project targets i.e. 2300 youths (50 % females) 1,150 children, 722 mothers, and the community at large in target Keble's through discussion forums and peer education programs conducted among the target community and schools using coffee ceremonies and entertainment
Project Structure and management
The project is managed by a project manager and supported by five project officers (Deputy Project manager (Advocacy and child protection and child protection), Education, Livelihood, Community health, and project officers) and one Admin and Finance officer. They are responsible for the implementation and monitoring of the day-to-day activities of the project.
Project office Address
Tel. +251 251 119 696
E mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
P.O.B. 1422
Dire Dawa
Ethiopia
Dereje Tilahun
Acting Program Manager
