Sexual abuse, trafficking for labor and the sex trade and harmful traditional practices including early forced marriage and female genital mutilation affect the lives of children and youth across Ethiopia. EDA has been working to support these vulnerable young people since its inception in 1996.


Our Integrated Multi-Spectral Child Protection program focusses on children and families to prevent exploitation and abuse. Working with children, families, community-based organizations 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).


To date 1,300 young victims of trafficking have been intercepted and found a haven in our safe houses. The majority of these children and youth have been successfully re-united with their families. An additional 6,436 orpahns, vulnerable and abused children have received additional support in education, health, nutrition, legal support, and psycho-social services.

The poor and vulnerable across Ethiopia are seriously impacted by the lack of clean drinking water, limited access to toilets and showers, public health services, and improper disposal of human and household waste.
EDA has initiated the Water, Health Sanitation (WaSH) program to address the issues related to water and sanitation. We have worked with schools and communities to provide training and increase awareness of the importance of clean drinking water and waste management. WaSH programs have had a positive affect on the health and wellbeing of more than 12,000 Ethiopian school children and their families.
WaSH projects include:
• The construction of 17 bio-gas powered restaurants, which are fuelled by the bio-gas captured from adjoining public toilets
• The installation of water access points for drinking water and hand washing in 34 schools
• The construction of 100 pit privies in schools, with separate facilities for girls and boys
• Training in hand washing, simple home water treatment and menstrual hygiene in schools
• Installation and management of refuse bins and compost sites

The education and protection of needy children is the primary goal of the Emmanuel Development Association.  We strive to improve the education of all needy children, especially those who are orphans, vulnerable, and victims of abuse and trafficking. To date, almost 8 million Ethiopian children have benefited from high-quality EDA education programs in 116 primary schools and early childhood education centers. Our educational support services also include primary, upper primary, vocational and life skills training for at-risk children, youth, and victims of human trafficking, and basic literacy training for adults.

Our educational capacity-building programs include the construction of schools, WASH facilities, initial and ongoing training for early childhood and primary teachers, provision of books, learning materials, establishing a center of excellence for innovation and creativity on digital technologies for children, youth and playground equipment. We work in cooperation with the Ethiopian government, private institutions and as of 1997, 116 EDA schools, 28 libraries, and over 1247 communal pit latrines have been constructed and turned over to the government.

EDA also strengthens the capacity of government schools to enhance quality education in its operational areas. Over 289 primary schools in Amhara and SNNPR have been benefited from the establishment of 830 reading campuses and libraries in the community to promote reading culture and quality education for the students, youth, and communities.

Our education programs are highly successful. Since 2000 alone, almost 8 million students who were previously not in school enrolled in our primary and early childhood education centers. Grade 5 students in our programs saw an average increase in grades on national exams from 57% to 80% in one year.

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