Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ADDISABABA402
2006-02-09 16:10:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Addis Ababa
Cable title:  

ETHIOPIA: FY2006 FUNDING REQUESTS FOR ESF

Tags:  KWMN KCRM PHUM ASEC ELAB SMIG USAID 
pdf how-to read a cable
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FM AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9026
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 3626
RUEHAE/AMEMBASSY ASMARA 0842
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ADDIS ABABA 000402 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KWMN KCRM PHUM ASEC ELAB SMIG USAID
SUBJECT: ETHIOPIA: FY2006 FUNDING REQUESTS FOR ESF
ANTI-TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS PROJECTS

REF: 05 STATE 226696

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ADDIS ABABA 000402

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KWMN KCRM PHUM ASEC ELAB SMIG USAID
SUBJECT: ETHIOPIA: FY2006 FUNDING REQUESTS FOR ESF
ANTI-TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS PROJECTS

REF: 05 STATE 226696


1. Embassy Addis Ababa submits two proposals for FY2006 ESF
anti-trafficking in persons projects. As requested, the
proposal information has been formatted per reftel guidelines
and listed in priority order. Due to space constraints, the
entire text of the project proposals could not be included in
this cable. Proposal summaries as submitted by the
prospective grantee have been provided below, but proposals
in their entirety have been emailed to AF/E: Michael
Gonzales, AF/RSA: Marinda Harpole, and G/TIP: Edward Flood.

PROPOSAL ONE (OF TWO): PROJECT CONCERN INTERNATIONAL
-------------- --------------


A. TITLE OF PROJECT

Path of Hope - "Finote Tesfa": Strengthening Safety-Nets to
Reduce Children's Vulnerability to Trafficking, Exploitive
Labor, Sexual Abuse and Life on the Streets in Ethiopia


B. NAME OF RECIPIENT

Project Concern International (PCI)


C. PROJECT DURATION

August 31, 2006 - July 31, 2009 (Project is new.)


D. DESCRIPTION

Executive Summary

Trafficking of children for exploitative labor is an
increasing challenge in Ethiopia. The International
Organization for Migration (IOM) reports that, "up to 20,000
children, some 10 years old, are sold each year by their
parents and trafficked by unscrupulous brokers to work in
cities across Ethiopia". While international trafficking is
of concern in this context, the IOM,s counter-trafficking
unit reports that internal trafficking in Ethiopia is among
the highest in the world. Ethiopian children are sold for as
little as $1.20 to work as domestic workers or prostitutes.
The downward spiral into a life of sexual and physical abuse
and exploitation often begins when poor, rural children in
Ethiopia become victims of child traffickers, who promise
them a better life and then sell them to face even greater
poverty and suffering. According to Alem Brook, legal expert
at the IOM in Addis Ababa, "parents are often deceived with
promises of money or that the child will be educated."

Roughly two-thirds of the children are trafficked by brokers
who take a percentage of the child,s earnings, and one-third
are trafficked by friends and family. Most boys and girls
end up as domestic laborers, commercial sex workers, weavers
or professional beggars (IOM, 2005). Increasing numbers of
women are trafficked abroad. The normalization of domestic
trafficking can lead to increased international trafficking,
which highlights the need for a special project to address
the challenges of domestic trafficking at villages of origin
and transit towns before they become even more acute.

Factors leading to child migration or trafficking for
purposes of labor in Ethiopia are multiple, complex and
interrelated, as described in greater detail in the
"Justification" section of this proposal. To summarize,
sending children to work in cities is a commonly accepted
practice, as is child labor in general. These factors
contribute to the ease with which children can fall victim to
trafficking, migration and situations of exploitative labor.
Children who have left their villages of origin, whether on
their own or after having been trafficked or manipulated into
leaving, arrive at transit and destination cities to face
additional pressures, dangers and risk factors. Despite
their dream of a better future, they face extreme difficulty
finding well-paying jobs because of their low educational
status and extreme competition for work in poverty-ridden
cities. They are often recruited by "brokers" that search
for vulnerable children arriving at the bus stations and
offer them support in finding employment and a place to
sleep. They may then be further recruited into commercial
sex. Some girls may enter domestic labor, which at best, is
very low paying, and at worst can be abusive, wages can be
withheld without cause, and children may be raped by the
homeowner or other family members. Sometimes traffickers
demonstrate their "good will" by finding domestic labor jobs
for the rural girls, and after winning their trust, lure them

ADDIS ABAB 00000402 002 OF 003


into the sex trade.

As a result of such abusive circumstances, many children
resort to desperate measures to survive, including begging on
the streets, sex commerce and other forms of economic
exploitation. Along this path, there are "tiered" levels of
vulnerability which become worse and worse. Ultimately,
children become most vulnerable on the streets. This path
from rural poverty, to urban poverty, and on to the worst
forms of labor and homelessness, results in children on the
streets who lack access to even the most basic services and
concrete options for improving their lives.

The "Path of Hope" project, or "Finote Tesfa", in the
Ethiopian language of Amharic, will prevent and mitigate
trafficking and child exploitative labor at three key points:
villages of origin, transit towns and destination cities.
The strategic objective (SO) of this project is stated as
follows: Reduced vulnerability of children in Ethiopia to
trafficking for exploitative labor, sexual abuse and life on
the streets. This SO will be supported by two intermediate
results (IRs):

- IR1: Increased community and family resiliency at villages
of origin to prevent child trafficking/migration.

- IR2: Increased awareness, monitoring, interception and
redirection of children in transit towns along migration
routes.

These IRs have been developed to address the problem of child
migration and trafficking at three levels - IR1, to be
implemented in villages of origin, focuses on primary
prevention. IR2, to be implemented in transit towns, focuses
on secondary prevention, and on protecting children from
potential traffickers and migration by using "honest brokers"
to intercept children and mitigate against factors that
manipulate them towards migration or trafficking. These IRs
are described in greater detail in the "Project Description"
section of this proposal, and are reflected in the Results
Framework for the project, found in Appendix A.
Additionally, a "Conceptual Diagram of the Path of Hope
Project" is found in Appendix B.

The project could be expanded to include a third module,
which would be implemented in destination cities, as
resources allow. (NOTE: Post supports the funding of the
third module. END NOTE.) If the Office to Monitor and Combat
Trafficking in Persons were interested, Project Concern
International (PCI) could submit this third module for
funding upon request. The module is already developed and
budgeted for, so submission would be expedited. This
complementary module would improve children,s access to
services, referrals and reunification, and would strengthen
the social safety-net that must be in place to reduce the
number of children on the streets and the potential for
international trafficking. All three of these targeted
strategies lead to the enhanced resiliency of Ethiopian
society to protect its children.

The Path of Hope project design has been developed by
incorporating the recommendations and lessons learned of
various organizations conducting similar work. Specifically,
the project interventions include: public awareness raising
activities, including education through community-based
groups and schools; family income generation activities and
women,s savings and loan groups in order to reduce the need
to send children away from home to help support the family;
education and engagement of bus drivers, shop keepers and
police in transit towns in order to better identify and
rescue children at-risk; and the recruitment and engagement
of youth and adult Advocates for Child,s Rights to reach out
to vulnerable children. These recommendations and insights
were gathered by means of a number of mechanisms, including:
1) key informant interviews with local government agencies,
NGOs and other Private Voluntary Organizations implementing
similar work; 2) focus group discussions (FGDs) with children
formerly living on the streets subjected to exploitative
labor; and 3) discussion groups held with Ethiopian NGOs
implementing similar work. A list of agencies consulted
during development of this proposal is included in Appendix

C.

The project will be implemented by Project Concern
International (PCI),together with two partner NGOs, Children
Aid-Ethiopia (CHAD-ET),and the Multi-purpose Community

ADDIS ABAB 00000402 003 OF 003


Development Project (MCDP). Letters of Support for this
project have been provided by these NGOs to PCI and are
presented in Appendix D.

CHAD-ET will reach 250,989 beneficiaries in the geographic
region of South Gonder, while MCDP will reach 123,762
beneficiaries in the Chencha Woreda of the Gamo Gofa Zone in
the Southern Nations, Nationalities People,s Region (SNNPR),
resulting in a total of 374,751 beneficiaries to be reached
over a three year project. Of these beneficiaries, 54,699
are children in South Gonder (to be reached by CHAD-ET) and
2,100 are children in SNNPR (to be reached by MCDP).

The total amount of this request submitted to the Office to
Combat Trafficking in Persons of the US Department of State
is $1,564,233 for three years, and a counterpart contribution
will be provided in the amount of $271,781 (or 15% of the
requested amount). This project could be enhanced through the
incorporation of a third module to be implemented in
destination cities, such as targeted areas of Addis Ababa, in
the amount of $289,644 as resources allow. This third
component is also described below and is meant to complement
the Path of Hope proposal concept described in this proposal.


E.- I.: Due to cable express space constraints, the
remainder of the project proposal has been emailed to AF/E:
Michael Gonzales, AF/RSA: Marinda Harpole, and G/TIP: Edward
Flood.

J: FUNDING MECHANISM: ESF Funds

K: EMBASSY POINT OF CONTACT: Nicholas Namba,
namban@state.gov.

PROPOSAL TWO (OF TWO): IOM
--------------


A. TITLE OF PROJECT

Let's Make a Difference Through 3P's: Prevention of
Trafficking, Protection of Victims of Trafficking, and
Prosecution of Traffickers.


B. NAME OF RECIPIENT

International Organization for Migration (IOM)


C. PROJECT DURATION

Twelve Months


D. DESCRIPTION

The overall objective of the project is to contribute to the
efforts of the Ethiopian government to combat trafficking in
human beings. The immediate objectives of the program are to
raise the awareness of the youth on trafficking and sexual
and reproductive health issues and bring about behavioral
change; provide direct assistance to victims of trafficking
and capacity enhancement of government bodies and NGOs. This
project will complement existing counter trafficking
activities towards the prevention of trafficking, protection
of victims of trafficking and prosecution of traffickers. The
major components of this Project include sensitization of in
and out-of-school youth to raise awareness and behavioral
change; return and reintegration assistance to victims of
trafficking with emphasis on their mental, physical social
well-being with direct assistance provided by a local NGO and
strengthening the institutional capacities of relevant
government bodies notably the Judicial Training Center (JTC)
in order to criminalize and prosecute traffickers. The
project would be implemented over 12 months with a total
estimated budget of USD 284,618.

E.- I. Due to cable express space constraints, the remainder
of the project proposal has been emailed to AF/E: Michael
Gonzales, AF/RSA: Marinda Harpole, and G/TIP: Edward Flood.

J: FUNDING MECHANISM: ESF Funds

K: EMBASSY POINT OF CONTACT: Nicholas Namba,
namban@state.gov.
HUDDLESTON