Jerusalem Children and Community Development Organization (JeCCDO) has launched a 2nd humanitarian intervention Project since July 2021 entitled “Child Focused Humanitarian Responses to Crises in Conflict and War Affected Communities in Ataye”. The launching event took place on the 23rd of March 2022. The first round project was implemented from the period July to October 2021 and focused in addressing the needs of the April 2021 conflict-affected communities of Ataye town. The current project focuses on providing humanitarian aid to selected community groups affected by the December 2021 conflict, revitalizing schools, and strengthening the first-round project targets like women in IGA in Ataye town.  Both projects have been financed by Kindernothielfe (KNH) in Germany which is one of the longstanding and dependable funding partners of JeCCDO.

The launching workshop was attended by 35 people represented from North Shewa Zone Department of Finance and Zonal Office of Disaster Prevention and Food Security; Ataye town administration (Mayor office, office of women Children affair, police, kebele administration, school community, and finance office).   Besides, the JeCCDO head office and the Debre Bereahan Area Community Development Program Office (ACDPO) selected Staffs have attended the event.

During the event, Ato Bayable Balew JeCCDO Social Development and Grants Management Division Head welcomed the participants of the workshop and highlighted  JeCCDO’s geographic coverage and its focus areas, and objective of the launching workshop in brief. Bayable added that the project has been signed with the North Shewa Zone Finance Department and the Zonal Office of Disaster Prevention and Food Security. He also said that the project is financed by KNH, one of the key development partners of JeCCDO. In addition, he said that the objectives of the launching workshop are to officially declare the start of the project, introduce the project to the key stakeholders, create awareness on the duties and responsibilities of key stakeholders in the course of implementation of the action, and hold discussion and put the way forward.

Next to Ato Bayable’s welcoming and introductory speech, Ato Getaneh Bezawork the Debre Birehan ACDPO Manager made a highlight presentation of the project. According to Getaneh, the project has the goal of contributing to the efforts towards addressing the humanitarian needs and ensuring socioeconomic rehabilitation of war and violence-affected people in Ataye town. He also added that the project is planned to be implemented for the Period 15th March to 15th July 2022 and a total budget of birr 8.4 million has been allocated for program cost (93%) and admin cost (7%).

Numbers

Furthermore, he said that a total of 8723 people (5629 Female) directly and 4,837 people (3,425 female) indirectly will benefit from the different packages of the intervention. According to Ato Getaneh, the key components of the action include supply of food items to the most vulnerable community groups including under-five children and pregnant/lactating women, sanitary material support to households and women and girls, tutorial support and school capacity building, women economic empowerment, psychosocial support for victims of violence, health insurance overage, and promoting peace and peaceful co-existence. Getaneh also highlighted the approaches of the action, target selection criteria and roles of key stakeholders of the action.

At the end of presentation, there was discussion and refection session focused on target selection, role of stakeholders, monitoring and follow up, needs on the ground and capacity of the project, challenges of the previous project and lessons for the current action, acknowledgement of JeCCDO for the first round humanitarian response in the area and commitment of the town as well as the zone administration in supporting implementation of the new project.  Representatives from JeCCDO Head Office, and the Debre Birehan ACDPO jointly responded to some of the questions of the attendants and provided clarification accordingly. During the discussion, the participates expressed their commitment and readiness to play their parts and work in close collaboration with all the stakeholders for the successful accomplishment of project objectives.

Finally, the Ataye town Administration Deputy Mayor Ato Tsegaye Tasew has made a closing remark. Accordingly, the Deputy Mayor thanked JeCCDO for its fast humanitarian response to the people of Ataye town and in designing the second round humanitarian response project that benefits the conflict affected communities in the area. Besides, Tsegaye said that the town Administration is highly committed to support the project during its course of implementations. He also urged participants to fully engage and collaborate with the project in the course of its implementation.