EMBASSY ADDIS ABABA S/GWI PROJECT PROPOSALS SUBMISSION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADDIS ABABA 000338 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/E: JWIEGERT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KWMN PREL KPAO PHUM AID CDC COM TRSY ET SUBJECT: EMBASSY ADDIS ABABA S/GWI PROJECT PROPOSALS SUBMISSION REF: STATE 132094 ADDIS ABAB 00000338 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. Embassy Addis Ababa is pleased to submit the following seven proposals for consideration by the Secretary's Office of Global Women's Issues (S/GWI) for the FY 2010 Small Grants Initiative. The mission's submissions are submitted in priority rank order. ¶2. First-Ranked Proposal: KMG-Ethiopia, an indigenous non-for profit organization headquartered in Southern Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNP),submitted a proposal entitled "Building Capacity of Girls and Women to Struggle for and to Protect their Economic and Social Well Being." The project aims to invest in the education, livelihoods and leadership skills of approximately 10,000 of the uncircumcised girls who are organized as groups in SNNP and who firmly stand against any form of violence and discrimination against their own and any women and girls in their communities. The goal of the project is to "Transform the uncircumcised girls' movement into well organized, vibrant, and independent prototype to accelerate efforts towards gender equality." It will accomplish this by 1) Enabling uncircumcised girls group members to have good knowledge of leadership, resources mapping, mobilizing and planning; 2) Improving academic performance and 1,507 girls taking national and regional examinations; 3) Strengthening girls movements on environmental rehabilitation and soil and water conservation in their respective districts; and 4) Improving young women's leadership and helping them strengthen their fights against any form of violence and discrimination. The target beneficiaries are in Kembatta Tembaro zone of SNNP. KMG has proposed a budget of USD 107,715 for this project, of which USD 7,715 in counterpart funding would be provided by KMG. ¶3. Second-Ranked Proposal: The National Network of Positive Ethiopians (NNPWE),a network of 22 associations of women living with HIV, submitted a proposal for a project entitled, "Ensuring the Socio-Economic Security of HIV/AIDS Infected Women and Associations." The project aims to reduce the socio-economic impact of HIV/AIDS on women. NNPWE seeks to achieve this goal by increasing the income and the decision making power of women living with HIV; sustaining the income generating ability of member associations; increasing the access of socio-economic support for skilled women living with HIV; enhancing psycho-social status and capacity of women living with HIV through creating linkages and referral systems; and strengthening the project implementation capacity of NNPWE. The project will reportedly target 2000 beneficiaries in Wonji, Adama and Nekemte in Oromia Regional State, Arbaminch, Hossaena and Yergalem in SNNPR, and Mekele, Gonder, Dire-Dawa, and Afar. NNPWE estimates the project will cost USD 100,000. ¶4. Third-Ranked Proposal: Tiret Community Empowerment for Change Association (TCECA) is a non-governmental organization working on community-based capacity-building in Ethiopia since 2005. Their proposal entitled, "Girl's Education: Enhancing Access and Equality of Primary Education with Particular Emphasis on Eliminating Gender-Based Violence" (GBV) seeks to effectively improve school environments and teaching processes to ensure all girls benefit from equal education, while striving to eliminate GBV. It will accomplish this by 1) providing access to Early Childhood Care and Education to 1,300 preschool girls through the establishment of 4 community-based ECCE and Alternative Basic Education (ABE) centers; 2) providing educational access to 1,500 out-of-school girls through the establishment of 10 ABE centers to enable girls to enroll/continue their education; 3) improving the quality of primary education for 3,000 girls through the establishment and strengthening of 4 Child Friendly Schools, creating communication materials on the rights of the child, and by establishing mechanisms to report abuse and support victims through the school system; and by 4) improving the quality of primary education for over 1,000 girls through innovative cluster-based educational interventions, inclusive of continuous professional development of teachers, development of gender-sensitive teaching-learning materials, and the improvement of teacher-student rapport in/outside the classroom. The target beneficiaries of this project reside in three Woredas, namely Elu, Becho and Woliso in the Southwest Shoa Zone of Oromia Regional State. TCECA has proposed a budget of USD 96,468.00. ¶5. Fourth-Ranked Proposal: Pastoralist Welfare Organization (PWO), a local pastoral NGO operating in Somali Region, submitted a proposal entitled, "Pastoral School Girls Privacy Project." The project aims to improve girls' privacy at schools in order to keep them in school. The project seeks to achieve this goal by constructing toilets in the selected schools and provide toilet utilization, management and hygiene training to school and communities. Also, with this project 200 orphaned school girls or girls from poor households will receive school uniforms, exercise ADDIS ABAB 00000338 002.2 OF 002 books, and other materials. Further, this project seeks to create awareness through community conferences on the importance of pastoral girls' education for clan, religious and kebele leaders. This project will reportedly benefit 1000 girls in Dollo Ado woreda in Somali Region. PWO estimates the project to cost USD 100,000. ¶6. Fifth-Ranked Proposal: The Renaissance Creation-Generation Save Association (RCGSA),a NGO working to improve the social constraints related to gender imbalance, HIV/AIDS, poverty and environmental degradation prevailing in Ethiopia, submitted a proposal entitled "Kemeshi-Sirba Women Empowerment Project (KSWEP)." The project aims to empower women to actively participate in community decision-making, development activities and other societal functions through promotion of reproductive health and economic development. The project aims to achieve these goals by focusing on factors that negatively influence the lives of women as well as factors that can improve their participation in societal functions both qualitatively and quantitatively; raising awareness for local women, female students and all concerned bodies; networking with Community Bases Organizations, Government Organizations and Non-Governmental Organizations and religious organizations. This project will reportedly target 900 women and 3000 high school students in Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State. The RCGSA estimates that this project will cost USD 100,000. ¶7. Sixth-Ranked Proposal: Awi Development Association (AwiDA),a NGO working to promote sustainable development in Awi, Amhara Region and in Metekel, Beneshangul-Gumuz Region, submitted a proposal entitled "Girls and Women Empowerment." The project seeks to reduce the rate of early marriage in the seven counties of Awi Zone by 20% in 2010-2011. AwiDA seeks to do this by conducting peer education, producing and distributing of information, education, communication materials; organize Girls' and Women's Rights Protection Committees in 20 kebeles; conduct an information sharing workshop to 700 individuals; conduct public education on women's and girls' roles through folk media; and celebrate International Women's Day. This project will reportedly benefit nearly 600,000 girls and women in the Awi zone of Amhara Regional State. The AwiDA estimates that the project will cost USD 100,000. ¶8. Seventh-Ranked Proposal: The Center for African Women Economic Empowerment (CAWEE) in Addis Ababa has submitted a proposal entitled "Jewelry Sub-sector Product Development and Market Promotion Program". This project would employ two international consultants in product development to assist women-owned and women-managed Ethiopian jewelry manufacturers to reach the North American markets. The project consultants, in consultation with relevant local partners, would identify six companies that have the best potential to attain initial export success. These companies would not only benefit from the consultants' expertise, but also by participation in international trade fairs, one-on-one buyer and seller encounters, and guidance on preparing marketing materials. The goal would be to assist these companies to incorporate traditional Ethiopian designs into modern jewelry. Through this 18-month process, these jewelry companies are expected to outsource some of their work to at least 50 other local companies. This project would impact about 1,000 individuals (primarily women) in the industry overall and indirectly would boost the standard of living of approximately 8,000 Ethiopian family members. The proposed budget for the project is USD 100,576. ¶9. The projects meet the guidance provided by S/GWI and are in concert with current USG foreign assistance programming in Ethiopia in the areas of combating the practice of genital mutilation; improving economic development for women; reducing gender based violence; improving girls' education and school attendance; reducing girls' rate for early marriage; and empowering women in community decision making. Budget annexes and proposal narratives for each proposal will be submitted to S/GWI by email as requested. Projects selected for funding should receive, in cooperation with Post, a thorough review of technical designs and budget figures, in order for the selected projects to reflect current best practices, to integrate with existing programming, and to reflect local political and operational constraints. If selected for funding, the managing office for projects executed by KMG and CAWEE will be the Political and Economic Section. The contact person in the Political and Economic Section is Deputy Political and Economic Counselor, Kate Pongonis (Pongonisk@state.gov). All other projects, if selected for funding, will be managed by USAID. The contact person at USAID is Brendan Wheeler (BWheeler@usaid.gov). YATES