Who are you trying to help? What issue are you trying to address?

Recently, Ethiopia has experienced severe climatic and political upheaval, triggering untold suffering among its people. Armed conflicts have triggered involuntary migration in many areas and an estimated 300,000 to 350,000 people remain internally displaced.

Approximately 70,000 people are being relocated against their will to new villages, without compensation for loss of their land. These new villages lack the necessary infrastructure, adequate food, clean water, farmland and healthcare facilities.

In addition, stress-migration, where repeated crop failure, environmental degradation and economic collapse force entire communities to abandon their homes and merge with nearby settlements, can lead to significant pressure. This, coupled with a considerable influx of refugees from war and drought-ravaged neighbours, inflicts an enormous toll on host communities whose already depleted resources and woefully inadequate infrastructure are unable to cope.

The enforced movement of displaced people and refugees into rural communities has overburdened local resources, resulting in acute shortages of food and water and the failure of health and education services. Lack of adequate food leads to malnutrition and associated illnesses, while unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation spread diarrhoeal diseases such as cholera, typhoid and dysentery. Health services, where they exist at all, are in a shocking state of disrepair and there is an urgent need for basic medical equipment.

What is your project and how will it help?

Our aim is to improve access to health, education, food security, clean water and economic development for displaced people and host communities by strengthening and enhancing the effectiveness of local institutional capacity.

We take a ‘multi-sectoral’ approach to addressing the needs of vulnerable people in the belief that improvements in health care, for example, will be of little value in the long term without corresponding improvements in sanitation, education, food security, etc.

We are implementing a range of projects in support of displaced people and communities affected by involuntary migration in Ethiopia, in order to deliver heath, education, water and sanitation services, providing sustainable benefits in a manner which is both transparent and effective.

We also support food production and income generation activities as a means of acquiring self-sufficiency among affected communities.

Please find the attached document for more details regarding our projects.

How can other people partner with you on your project?

We welcome discussions with potential corporate partners with a view to addressing the root causes of the acute social and economic problems affecting displaced people, refugees and host communities in Ethiopia.

With the generous support of a commercial property development company, we have rent-free occupancy of a 7,000ft2 warehouse in Park Royal, West London, where we store and prepare consignments of humanitarian aid before shipment to Ethiopia.

We now seek support and the pro bono involvement of corporate partners to:

• develop our warehouse facilities in London,
• improve our supply chain logistics, including shipping,
• extend our Ethiopia operation, including warehousing and local transport,
• review and implement communications, publicity and fundraising activities.

We take the ‘Partnerships’ element of our name seriously and anticipate working in tandem with corporate supporters looking for a degree of staff participation and a sense of ownership through direct involvement in sustainable, life-transforming projects. Such initiatives offer potential branding opportunities, likely to contribute towards corporate social responsibility targets.

We believe that direct involvement in the whole life of projects, such as ours, can offer advantages not only to the beneficiary communities, but also to contributing partners in the operation. Ethiopia is a country where systems for the effective delivery of humanitarian aid are in place and partnerships between charities and the corporate sector are seen as an increasingly relevant means of making significant and enduring improvements to the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable people.

Please detail the resources that you need.

As a charity registered in Ethiopia as well as in the UK, we are able to import project-related items free of customs charges and import duty. For our projects, we would appreciate assistance with any, or all, of the following:

• Basic medical equipment and medicines for primary care health centres

• Water-well drilling equipment and bore casing

• School furniture, learning materials, and writing materials

• Building materials to repair and refurbish school classrooms and health centres, and to build latrines

• Tools, seeds and basic farm implements

• Irrigation equipment (water pumps pipes/hose, sprinklers and drippers)

• Financial support (total needed £100,000)

• Logistics and freight (project vehicles, sea containers plus shipping and internal transport)

• Resources and volunteers for our UK warehouse (forklift / pallet racking, large van/truck)