APDA was created alongside local Afar leaders who felt their needs were not being met by formal government services. APDA is dedicated to ending harmful practices, including female genital mutilation (FGM), child marriage and the lack of rights for women in marriage. They also run life-changing projects in water harvesting, mobile health and education, and have been providing life-saving emergency support, in response to the recent locust plagues and conflict in the region.
Atsede’s Maternity Clinic’s ‘Midwives on the Move’ project provides home visits to pregnant women living in the mountainous terrain of the Gurage Zone – where many of the women they work with either aren’t able to travel to health facilities for antenatal appointments, or do not think they are important enough. Alongside the antenatal, delivery and postnatal care they provide, they are working to change attitudes in communities, emphasising the importance of maternal health care and empowering women to make informed decisions about their own health. Atsede’s Maternity Clinic was founded by 2019’s International Midwife of the Year, Atsede Kidane, and British midwife Indie McDowell.
Cheshire Services is working towards a future where all children living with a disability in Ethiopia can access healthcare, education and live with dignity. Their Menagesha Rehabilitation Centre in Oromia region 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. Through their Sustainable Livelihoods Project, they support families with a parent or child living with a disability with agricultural and basic business training, so they are able to support themselves. They also run wider gender and disability awareness training within communities, bringing about better social inclusion, especially for mothers of children with disabilities.
Hamlin Fistula Hospital provides surgery, rehabilitation and skills training to survivors of obstetric fistula, a devastating childbirth injury which creates holes in the birth canal. One of the hospital’s biggest successes is the Hamlin College of Midwives, which aims to address the country’s midwife shortage and accomplish their founder Dr Catherine Hamlin’s dream of “a midwife in every village.” Upon graduation each midwife is posted to rural communities, to provide quality maternal health services to thousands of women- ensuring safer births and preventing injuries like obstetric fistula.
HHOJ works to eradicate obstetric fistula in Ethiopia in two ways: firstly by identifying, referring and rehabilitating women living with obstetric fistula, and secondly by breaking down the social stigma behind fistula and showing how communities can support women who have suffered fistula injuries. Through their Safe Motherhood Ambassador programme, women who have been cured return to their communities to identify new cases of fistula and educate expectant mothers on safe delivery. HHOJ also works on a wider community level, hosting community workshops, training religious leaders, holding film screenings and educating men and women, to raise awareness and change attitudes towards this socially-isolating condition.
Hope Enterprises’ programme helps vulnerable young people to climb from poverty to prosperity. Their Technical and Vocational Training (TVET) equips young people from impoverished families across Addis Ababa with valuable skills for meaningful employment in electronics, auto mechanics, hospitality, catering and tailoring. Learning skills which are in high demand by employers means that they can find jobs after graduation, earn a reliable income to support themselves and their families and confidently contribute to their communities. Hope Enterprises also works to fight hunger and malnutrition by providing free meals to vulnerable adults and children living on the streets of Addis Ababa and Dessie.
Young people with limited opportunities are able to access higher education through HEUC’s sponsorship programme. Bursaries are provided for the poorest students, removing many of the practical barriers to education and enabling them to gain qualifications that will lead to professional employment.
Hope of Light provide obstetric fistula treatment at 3 fistula health centres in Gondar, Jimma and Assela. They were founded by Dr Ambaye, a fistula surgeon with over 27 years’ experience, who was trained by the awe-inspiring Dr Catherine Hamlin. As well as providing medical supplies for fistula care, Dr Ambaye trains doctors in fistula surgery, raises awareness with health professionals and her team provide post-operative counselling for patients.
Hospice Ethiopia is the only organisation in Ethiopia providing community-based palliative care for people who are terminally ill. Their project provides in-home care, including pain management and counselling for patients, and grief support and financial assistance for family members. The organisation also works to create greater awareness about palliative care – something not widely known about – by training health professionals in pain assessment and control, encouraging referrals to hospice care from general health clinics, and undertaking and sharing research in palliative care across Ethiopia.
NaPAN’s goal is to see an Ethiopia free from podoconiosis (podo). Podo is a debilitating condition caused by barefoot exposure to irritant minerals in the soil, resulting in painful swelling of the feet and legs. It afflicts an estimated 1 million people living in the agricultural regions of Ethiopia, leaving them struggling to walk, work or have a normal life. NaPAN work in communities, educating people on prevention, treatment and self-care, so that people living with the impact of podoconiosis can manage their symptoms, continue their education, return to work, and participate in their communities once again with dignity and without shame. They also raise awareness of prevention, spreading the message of what people can do to help eradicate podoconiosis altogether.
SCWOP provide a lifeline for vulnerable elderly people and the children in their care. Based in Addis Ababa, SCWOP provides a basic monthly pension to help cover essentials such as food, clothes and medical bills. They also provide extra support for those who are caring for orphaned grandchildren, so they can continue their education.
Stigma surrounding menstruation means that many girls in Ethiopia are ashamed to ask for help, and often drop out of school. Based in Addis Ababa, Studio Samuel’s project supports vulnerable girls to stay in school by distributing free reusable period packs, and through offering extra-curricular after school courses in IT and business skills, sewing, life skills and creative arts. Studio Samuel helps girls continue their education and develop important skills for future employment. Support is also given to access healthcare, tutoring and scholarships that they otherwise would miss out on. Some of the girls also go on to lead presentations at other schools on how to use the sanitary kits, encouraging both girls and boys to break the taboo.
Wings of Healing have established four emergency clinics in Axum and Adwa Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps. These clinics provide emergency and essential medical care for displaced persons, particularly mothers, pregnant women, and young children. They are working to prevent communicable diseases and the spread of infectious diseases, reduce malnutrition, provide access to basic pharmaceuticals, and provide care for victims of gender-based and sexual violence.
The first time Kalkidan Abera met with Hospice Ethiopia, she felt as though angels had come to help her…
We are working with three main partners to ensure conflict-affected people get what they need as quickly as our partners can deliver it…
For the hundreds of women who visit Healing Hands of Joy after sustaining fistula injuries, the centres are a special place, full of warmth and love…
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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.
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