Education
EDA education projects take a holistic approach to ensure that both boys and girls have equal opportunities to access quality education.
Poor reading and writing skills in the lower grades have a negative impact on a child’s academic success through primary, secondary, and post-secondary education. EDA has partnered with private stakeholders, the school community, the government, and Debra Berhan Teachers Training College to provide young students with a safe school environment and a solid academic foundation.


Our education initiatives in the area include the construction of primary schools and early childhood education and care centers (ECCE); provision of books; reading assessment tools; computers; learning materials; adult literacy programs; napping mats; playground equipment and initial and ongoing teacher training. It is our goal to ensure that these programs are robust and will eventually be turned over to the community and government.
To date our programs have resulted in:
• 1121 ECCE children currently attending kindergarten
• 2250 adults/parents attending 6 literacy centers
• 90 school leaders being trained
• 3750 school children aged 4 to 6 attending our sponsored primary schools
• 1250 school children aged 6-17 are attending our sponsored secondary schools
• 173 teachers and facilitators receiving initial and ongoing training


Child Protection
EDA is committed to building and sustaining a community-based child protection system in cooperation with community groups and government institutions to create a safe, nurturing environment for vulnerable children. To date, we have intercepted over 1300 children being trafficked for different forms of abuse and exploitation in towns and the surrounding communities.
We have provided these girls and boys with safe houses, education and additional necessary support while raising awareness of the danger in schools and communities.
Our Integrated Multi-Spectral Child Protection program focusses on children and families to prevent exploitation and abuse. Working with children, families, community-based organizations (CBOs) and key government agencies we have raised awareness of the dangers of abuse and exploitation to 18,470 individuals (7,388 males and 11,082 females). An additional 6,436 identified vulnerable children have received additional support in education, health, nutrition, legal support, shelter and care and psycho-social services.
In the near future we hope to establish these child protection and support services in another eight towns in the area.


Youth Livelihood Project
EDAs Youth Livelihood project has given 300 local young women and men the training, support and financial backing they need to establish a secure, sustainable vocation. We work along with the government Ministry of Education to identify and place youths in the program.
The program enhances the relevance of basic education through training focussing on business finance, entrepreneurship, financial literacy and personal money management. Master student trainers go on to pass their skills on to new program members. Students are also given the technical training they will need to successfully run their enterprise.
EDA provides the young entrepreneurs with a small start up grant to secure a site for their business, purchase equipment and raw materials.