Contact details:
Children in Crossfire,
FREEPOST
2 St Josephs Avenue,
Derry / Londonderry.
BT48 6TH
Northern Ireland
Tel: +44 (0)28 7126 9898
Fax: +44 (0)28 7126 6630
Working in Partnership
Children in Crossfire's strength derives from our relationships with partner organisations and communities around the world. At the heart of all these relationships - many of them long established - is a shared commitment to service. We continue to develop new partnerships as the scale and scope of our work grows. Using the experience of our practical development work, Children in Crossfire and our partners maximise our impact by informing and influencing a wider audience - for instance, key decision-makers in governments, locally and internationally.
Responding to Need
Children Children in Crossfire responds to community needs, so we are involved in a wide range of initiatives. In each country we focus on the areas where we can make a difference - for instance, agriculture and food security, emergency relief, human rights, or water and environmental sanitation. From this, distinctive country strategies emerge.
Costings
We are committed to keeping our administrative costs to a minimum while ensuring that first class support is given to our partners and communities overseas. In the 2003/04 financial year, for every £1 received, 98 pence was spent directly on overseas development project activities. For a more detailed finanacial summary, including received and expended funding, why not download a copy of our 2004 Annual Report. The report is in .pdf format and may take a minute or two to download. If you are using Internet Explorer, right click on the Report link (above) and select the option "save target as" and save to your desktop. Thank you.
About us ~ Fighting Poverty
Children in Crossfire exists to make a significant and lasting contribution towards the eradication of poverty. We do this not alone, but by working in a vibrant web of collaborating agencies, each of us contributing something valuable and unique towards our shared vision for a better world.
Children in Crossfire supports local initiatives that improve the daily lives for people living in some of the world's poorest communities - for instance, greater income-earning opportunities, improved health facilities, or clean water supplies. At the heart of our commitment to tackle poverty is the belief that it is within local communities that the most effective and sustainable development initiatives are to be found. Strengthening the ability of these communities to establish and sustain development initiatives is a central theme in all our work. The work that is presented throughout this website represents the results of the commitment of all those who have joined us in our work.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you, our funding partners, our partner organisations, our Associate Members, our employees, and our volunteers.
Best wishes,
Don McLeish (Chair) Richard Moore (Director)
Spread a little joy with The Miami Showband & Friends
“Joy To The World” Single and Concerts In aid of Children in Crossfire
Tuesday 16 September: Vicar Street , Dublin
Wednesday 17 September: The Grand Opera House, Belfast
The late Jim Aiken described the now legendary Miami Showband Memorial Concert at Vicar Street in 2005 as ‘the greatest showband concert ever staged’. On that occasion the reception given to the three surviving band members Des Lee, Stephen Travers and Ray Millar by the capacity audience was unprecedented. Nobody could forget that magical summer night in Dublin and it was that very concert that started the ball rolling toward a full blown countrywide Reunion Tour.
It has taken three years to organise further concerts and on Tues 16 Sept the band will return to Vicar Street for a very special concert to say ‘thank you’ to the Irish people for their love and support for over three decades. On the following night, Wed 17 Sept, they will travel North for a second show at The Grand Opera House, a symbolic gesture to finally reunite their massive fan base that was spread throughout every city, town and village on this island.
The original Miami band members, Des Lee, Stephen Travers and Ray Millar, will be accompanied on stage by three of Irelands finest musicians, Johnny Fean (Horslips), Gerry Brown (Dana’s Musical Director) and Barry Woods (The Real McCoy).
The public demand for these concerts is the ultimate proof that the music of The Miami Showband has indeed outlasted the sound of the guns that attempted to silence it and drive a wedge between two great communities.
Like other famous Irish Musicians such as Christy Moore and Christie Hennessy, The Miami Showband has formed a strong link with the charity Children in Crossfire and the profits from both concerts and the single will be donated to this charity.
In 1972, aged 10, while walking home from school, Richard Moore , the founder of Children in Crossfire, was struck in the face by a rubber bullet and permanently blinded. Astonishingly, his terrible experience has never turned to anger or bitterness or in any way stunted his development as a remarkable humanitarian. ‘I learned to see life in a different way’ is how he describes his remarkable acceptance of what, for most, would be a debilitating trauma.
In May 2008, Stephen Travers accepted an offer from Richard Moore to witness, in person, the work of the organisation in East Africa . He says his visit to Tanzania as the representative of the band was ‘a life changing experience’ and consequently, The Miami Showband is now fully committed to highlighting the wonderful work of Children in Crossfire.
The Miami Showband, with the children Hazlewood Integrated College Belfast, recently recorded the very appropriate Hoyt Axton song Joy to the World in aid of the charity.
To download the single please click on the image below. Also, if you enjoy the single and feel you would like to make a donation please feel free to do so using the link below or on the right of this page.
Thank you to all the guys in The Miami Showband & Friends and we hope you enjoy this free single as much as we do.
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Focus on The Gambia
The Gambia Organisation of the Visually Impaired.
The Gambia organization of the Visually Impaired (GOVI) was founded in 1991 by an amalgamation of the Gambia Society for the Blind and the Gambia Association of the blind.
This organization is the only registered body that advocates and provides direct services to visually impaired persons through series of intervention programmes and projects including education for the young and the rehabilitation of both adults and children blind in their own communities.
It currently operates a Community Based Rehabilitation and a primary school for children with visual impairments.
The school is based in Kanifing Town, within Gambia’s main city of Banjul, and currently has between 25-30 students attending.
‘Children in Crossfire’ in partnership with the Royal National Institute of the Blind, NI, plan to support GOVI school to open and operate an Information Technology and Teaching Resource Centre.
This centre will provide computers, access to specialised software for the visually impaired, Braille printers, large print teaching aids and books and other educational resources.
Whilst the resource centre will be of direct benefit to the GOVI school, it will also be incorporated into the Gambian Ministry for State Education’s ‘Integrated Education Programme’. This is a pilot initiative to try and integrate, where possible, children with visual impairments into mainstream schools.
To do so, there is an extensive training programme for teachers through the local university and the GOVI resource centre will become a central part of the wider government training, allowing the teachers to have access to a greater range of teaching resources, and allowing more children to be effectively integrated in their learning.
Focus on Tanzania
Ocean Road Cancer Institute
The Ocean Road Cancer Institute, in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania’s main city is the only hospital in Eastern Africa where chemotherapy is offered free of charge, and is host to the Government of Tanzania, Ministry of Health Child Cancer Unit. The ministry tries to provide finances for as much of the chemotherapy treatment and care needed as they can, however, despite their efforts, resources are insufficient and the level of care and treatment is extremely poor.
One of the main focuses of ‘Children in Crossfire’s’ country programme in Tanzania is to ensure access to social services for most vulnerable children and young people particularly those with disabilities.
The children admitted to the cancer institute are extremely vulnerable. Not only are they fighting cancer and being hospitalized at the institute for anywhere between 3 – 12 months, but during this time they have no access at all to educational or recreational facilities.
Children in Crossfire’ are working with the local ministry administrators to develop measures that will ensure the children’s access to such facilities, continuing to help them develop and reach there full potential. These will include the training and employment of teachers, the development of an appropriate curriculum and the purchase of educational resources to allow children on the ward to continue their schooling.
However, the success of this education programme also requires that the children have access to the necessary health care facilities on the ward.
Currently the children’s ward is staffed by a team of 4 doctors, 10 nurses and 3-4 nursing assistants attending to between 35-60 inpatients…in 17 beds. Often these children must share their beds and food with the family members who come to the wards as full time carers.
This situation is further compounded by a shortage of adequate facilities for treating the children. Blood is in short supply, and even if there were enough donors, there are not enough intravenous pumps to ensure proper infusion. A shortage of IV drips also affects the quality of chemotherapy treatment which requires the infusion of drugs at very precise rates. Equipment such as IV pumps, drip stands and monitors would make a massive difference to the work on the ward. Children who receive chemotherapy generally become immuno-suppressed and require careful management of their fevers with expensive antibiotic, antifungal and antiviral drugs, which are sometimes unavailable and/or unaffordable.
And there are other urgent needs, such as a special designated area with a ventilation hood to protect staff administering treatment, and an incinerator to safely dispose of medical waste.
‘Children in Crossfire’ also support the purchase of medical equipment, the proper installation and testing of equipment and the training of staff in medical protocols and the management and maintenance routines for the equipment.
A few years ago the survival rate of children on the ward was only around 30%, but with hard work and effort, the survival rate is up to around 70% - and with access to the correct treatment this can increase further so that most of the children will recover and have the chance to live a fulfilling and fruitful life.
Lake Victoria Disability Centre
Lake Victoria Disability Centre (LVDC) is a vocational training centre for disabled youths, based in Musoma town in north west Tanzania. The target group is youths with disabilities, male and female of ages between 10 and 25 years. In Tanzania approximately 85% of people with disabilities have no education beyond primary school, and of that, 50% have never been to school at all.
Without an education, these people have little or no hope of finding employment or earning an income. They become a financial burden on their families and are further excluded from and neglected by society.
The LVDC currently comprises of 3 small workshops and at present there 20 students training in the carpentry and woodworking department, the metal workshop where mobility aids are made (a centre that fabricates mobility aids such as wheelchairs and tricycles for the community that otherwise would not be available to them) and the dressmaking and knitting department. When students complete their students they are given support to start up their own income generating activities.
LVDC also offers a Community Based Apprenticeship Programme to cater for disabled youngsters who wish to train in vocational skills but are not able to come to the centre in Musoma. There are 40 young people that currently participate in the programme come from different parts of Mara region (the districts of Serengeti, Bunda, Tarime and Musoma urban). Through the Community Based Apprenticeship Programme, students are linked to well-established small and medium scale workshops for a specific period of time to obtain specific skills. A curriculum has been developed and segmented into training modules. This will assist the trainers leading the workshops in rolling out a truly competence based training programmes, designed to reach out to all students involved regardless of their background knowledge or speed and pace of learning.
The demand for the services offered by LVDC is quickly increasing and they lack both the resources and organisational capacity to meet such needs. ‘Children in Crossfire’ are helping LVDC to locate to a new site where they will construct and equip newer and bigger workshops. This will increase the capacity of the centre from 40 to almost 150 students. CiC are also helping them to develop an organisational strategic plan and provide additional staff and training.
CiC are also supporting LVDC with plans to establish and develop and outreach programme, whereby a trained community worker would visit students who have graduated from the centre to help them get started up in a small business of to find employment. They will also raise local community awareness on disability issues.
In addition to the more practical support, CiC are assisting LVDC to liaise with the Ministry of Education, Vocational Education Training Authority, to lobby for the LVDC curriculum to be officially recognised and the centre to become government accredited.
Huruma School for Disabled Children
Huruma school (meaning ‘mercy’) is based in Tanzania’s second largest city, Mwanza. It was established by the ‘Wazazi Watoto Walemavu Pasiansi’, a group of parents who have children with disabilities.
Local primary schools had neither the capacity, resources nor ability to integrate such children into the classes, and so the parents took the initiative to open their own school. This was a radical and pioneering move, as the area in which they live still has many traditional cultural taboos about disability, which believed that it was a waste of time and money to try to educate disabled children.
‘Children in Crossfire’ helped to construct classrooms in 2006, and now around 40-50 attend daily classes. There is a vast range of disability ranging from albinism and downs syndrome to more severe forms of cerebral palsy.
The school is making a real significant difference, and last year one student with cerebral palsy was given special discretion from the local education authority to sit his Std 4 primary school exams. He was the first student ever in western Tanzania to have sat such an official examination.
Teachers and students in the neighbouring government primary school are now becoming more aware that children with disabilities can contribute something positive to society and we hope to build on this increased awareness to foster closer links between the two schools.
‘Children in Crossfire’ are supporting the school to purchase building materials to improve the learning conditions within the school. CiC are also helping to purchase educational equipment and resources and more importantly to train the staff and the board of governors in how to better teach disabled children and manage a school.
CiC will also help the school to implement an outreach programme that will raise awareness in the local community about disability issues and provide support to parents and children in the home.
Kivulini Women’s & Children’s Rights Organisation
In partnership with Kivulini Women’s & Children’s Rights Organisation, CIC are supporting a project that will train and support local law enforcement officers and community groups in children’s rights and how to deal with cases of domestic abuse, especially against children. Kivulini Women’s Rights Organization is a registered non-governmental organization based in Mwanza, western Tanzania. Kivulini advocates for women’s and girl’s rights in Tanzania by emphasizing the prevention of domestic against women and girls.
The Kiswahili word Kivulini means “in the shade”. It implies a place of safety, under a tree or otherwise, where people meet for discussions and offer support to one another.
Kivulini was established in 1999 to create opportunities for community members to come together, talk, organize and work towards preventing domestic violence so that women and girls are able to enjoy their rights as stipulated in the Constitution of The United Republic of Tanzania, African Charter and various human rights conventions.
Kivulini’s vision is to see a community free from domestic violence where women’s rights are respected and valued. Kivulini’s mission seeks to achieve this vision by facilitating an enabling social, economical, and legal environment which guarantees women and girls right to live in violence free communities through self empowerment, advocacy and building an active social movement for change.
‘Children in Crossfire’ are supporting Kivulini in four main aspects of their work as summaraised below, and in particular are helping them to research and document the situation of domestic violence against children with disabilities in Tanzania, and to ensure this most vulnerable group is integrated into the organisations wider programme activities.
• Community Mobilisation
The Specific objective of this Programme is to develop and strengthen the capacities of community members and local administration to understand the impact of domestic violence against women and girls and act locally towards its prevention in through awareness raising, media and community participation.
• Capacity Building
The specific objective of this program is to increase the institutional capacities of 9 CSOs (including Kivulini) to effectively implement prevention programs on violence against women and girls with emphasize on domestic violence in the Lake Region through various trainings.
• Policy Advocacy
The specific objective of this program is to advocate and lobby for better laws, polices and structural reforms to prevent Violence Against Women with special focus on domestic violence against women and abuses of girls through capacity building, media and campaigns.
• Legal Aid
The specific objective of this programme is to train and support paralegals within the community to offer free support, counselling and legal advice to women and children who are victims of domestic violence.
Mother and child health and nutrition project in Moshi
In Moshi Diocese, with it’s head offices in Moshi Town, is situated at the foot of mount Kilimanjaro and covers an area of 5,029 km2 and a population of approximately 1,055,000.
They offer a range of both religious and social services to the local community which include churches; hospitals and outreach health facilities; schools; vocational training centre’s and orphanages.
‘Children in Crossfire’ have a well established partnership with the Catholic Diocese of Moshi (DoM) in northern Tanzania, with working visits being facilitated regularly between the two organizations. CIC are assisting the DoM with the construction of St. Amadeus Girls Secondary School.
Tanzania is amongst the poorest countries in the world with the majority of the population living in rural areas and below the poverty line. In poor communities such as these, young girls are particularly vulnerable and exposed to the violation of their human rights.
Although primary education is free in Tanzania and the enrollment rate relatively high, retention of girls at school has remained a serious problem. It is common practice for young girls in Tanzania to be responsible for domestic and agricultural chores, and education for girls is often less valued than education for boys. Subsequently girls often have to drop out of school, miss classes and combine their school work with their domestic responsibilities.
Major educational issues for girls are late entry into primary school, early marriage, poor performance in the primary school leaving exam, and high rates of class repetition.
Figures from 2006 show that from the 46% of primary aged girls enrolled in school, only 6% of all girls in Tanzania continue on to secondary education. It is also estimated that 35% of young females in Tanzania are illiterate.
The gender gap in secondary school is at risk of increasing ever more after the abolition of the quota system for girls. Girls with disabilities are even more vulnerable and even more neglected.
This is a problem that Children in Crossfire wish to address, not only to give girls greater access to their right to an education, but also to ensure the continued development of the families, communities and society in which these girls live.
The school is pioneering, in that it will have a strong and particular focus on teaching science subjects – which are traditionally considered not to be subjects that girls should study. It is also pioneering in that, through the partnership with CIC, special provision and attention will be given to integrate girls from the most vulnerable situations and girls with disabilities.
The school is currently under construction, with the classroom blocks almost completed. The dormitories and science labs will be completed in 2009, and we expect the first intake of students early in 2010.
Once the school has been opened, ‘Children in Crossfire’ plan to support the DoM to run a ‘scholarship and mentoring’ project. This scheme will provide school fees to allow girls from especially difficult and vulnerable backgrounds to attend St. Amadeus School.
Additionally, a number of ‘mentors’ will be trained to offer practical and emotional support and counseling to the girls so that they can make the most of their opportunity to study.
The Tanzania Early Childhood Development Network (TECDEN)
The Tanzania Early Childhood Development Network (TECDEN) was founded in 2000, and registered in 2004. Based in the main city of Dar Es Salaam, it is a network of Tanzanian civil society organizations working in partnership to influence policies and practices related to Early Childhood Development by sharing information and experiences and by generating knowledge and understanding.
The TECDEN vision is:
A Tanzania where young children, from conception to 8 years, are treasured in such a way that their basic rights are met and their rights to both survive and thrive are realized through holistic approaches to supporting their development.
To create an enabling environment for strengthening the capacity of TECDEN members to strategically engage in key policy and Programme Development processes at all levels to influence the improvement of support for holistic development of all infants and young children.
TECDEN work toward this vision in 4 main areas:
• Engaging in policy dialouge at all levels to influence ECD best practises, policies, programs, and legislations.
• Facilitating the effective coordination and promotion of TECDEN's activities as performed by member groups at different levels.
• Facilitating communication, networking and information sharing among and beyond members both locally and globally.
• Facilitating the enhancement of capacity of network members to be proactive and take a leading role in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of ECD activities.
TECDEN has been invited by the Government of Tanzania to develop an ECD policy that will inform the practice of key government ministries with responsibility for the provision of social services to young children.
‘Children in Crossfire’ are supporting TECDEN to consult with its member groups in the development of this policy. This will ensure that young children and those directly responsible for their care have their voiced expressed and can fully participate in the policy development process. As an outcome the policy will reflect the experiences of local ECD professionals. Through this consultation process, CiC is also assisting TECDEN to build it’s own organisational capacity and provide capacity building training to it’s member groups.
‘CRED-PRO’ - Child’s rights curriculum development
Known as ‘CRED-PRO’ this initative brings together organisations with the responsibility for the care of children in Tanzania.
The objective of CRED-PRO is:
To develop, in collaboration with relevant government and civil society partners in Tanzania, a sustainable child rights curriculum for professionals working with children from pre-birth to eight years which can be incorporated into the training of staff working in the fields of, for example, health, education, ECD, community development and civil society organisations.
Tanzania ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1991. It also ratified, in 2003, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC). In so doing, it committed to ensuring that rights are respected for every child. However, if children’s rights are to be realised, it is necessary for the adults with whom they have contact to understand and respect those rights. When the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the international body responsible for monitoring governments’ implementation of the Convention, examined the Tanzanian Government on its progress in implementing the CRC in 2006, it specifically recommended that action should be taken to ensure that all professionals working with children should have training on children’s rights and their implications for policy and practice. For example, teachers, social workers, doctors, nurses, psychologists, lawyers, judges, police, residential staff, and early years’ workers all play a role in children’s lives. It is important that they are equipped with the knowledge and capacities to fulfil their responsibilities towards children’s rights:
• In their individual professional practice
• In the design and delivery of services
• As advocates for the promotion and protection of children’s rights in legislation, policy and resource allocation
‘Children in Crossfire’ joined the CRED-PRO advisory committee, which includes representatives from local government ministries and both local and international NGO’s.
CiC have taken on a significant leadership role within the committee and in our role are advocating for the needs of children with disabilities to be included in the curriculum.
We are also piloting, in partnership with the Tanzania Institute of Education, a programme to deliver the draft curriculum to groups of professionals. Eventually it is hoped the government of Tanzania will incorporate the curriculum into the formal programmes at their various professional training institutions
As part of our contributions to the committee, CiC have produced a research paper on ‘The Situation of Children with Disabilities in Tanzania’, which we will launch during the ‘Disability and Development’ week on 9th June 2009
Children's Act advocacy
In partnership with UNICEF and other NGO’s, CIC are involved in a working group that is developing a ‘Children’s Act’ for presentation to the local parliament so that children’s rights are recognised in law. CIC have special responsibility for advocating on behalf of children with disabilities.
Children in Crossfire would like to thank:
IRISH AID & ALL OUR SUPPORTERS FOR HELPING US TO IMPLEMENT THESE PROJECTS
Focus on Ethiopia
St. Luke's College of Nursing Scholarship Project
‘Children in Crossfire’ are working in partnership with St. Luke’s College of Nursing in Wolisso Town (also known as Giyon) in south west Ethiopia.
St. Luke’s hospital in the only hospital of it’s kind in the whole of South West Shoa Zone, and serves a population of over 1.2 million.
Preventable diseases still result in unnecessarily high death rates in South West Shoa. On average, 8% of patients reporting to the hospital with malaria, diarrhoea, malnutrition and anaemia died despite being attended to and receiving treatment. High levels of HIV/AIDS further compounds the problem.
The nursing college based at the hospital is only a 7 years old, but has already built up a national reputation as one of the best medical training centres in the country.
‘Children in Crossfire’ are supporting 23 young people from across Ethiopia and who are from poor and vulnerable backgrounds with full scholarships to complete a 3 yr Diploma in Nursing Studies.
These young people, who could not otherwise afford to pursue their education, will be professionally trained and qualified as nurses and also given the opportunity of full time employment in the local health care sector.
This will serve the dual purposes of enabling the young people to provide financial support to their families, and of benefitting local health institutions that will have more and better trained nursing staff and be able to offer improved health care services.
‘Children in Crossfire’ are impressed by the services offered by St. Luke’s in spite of a severe lack of resources, and by the enthusiasm and effort of the college’s students and staff.
Together we are building the capacity and effectiveness of the college to provide ever better training. In doing so, CiC have:
• Supported 2 graduate nurses to complete a BSc in Nursing
• Supported 5 graduate nurses to complete ‘Health Officer’ training – which qualifies them to tutor at the college; supervise students on the wards and operate as departmental heads at the hospital.
• Employ a full time tutor at the college for 3 years.
• Provide 15 apartments for college and hospital staff to reside near the facility.
• Provide educational resources for the college library.
This project is not only helping to change the lives of vulnerable young people, but also to save the lives of millions of Ethiopia’s poor and vulnerable.
Wolisso Youth Development Project
This The local government administration of the ‘Kebele 1’ district of Wolisso Town (also known as Giyon), in South West Ethiopia, carried out some baseline research amongst young people living in the area to identify their concerns and needs. One major concern raised was the lack of educational and recreational facilities available for youth who have left or dropped out of school. In most cases these young people have little or no prospect of furthering their education or of finding employment. Many end up out of necessity and through a sheer frustration at the lack of opportunities, turning to alcohol and drugs for entertainment. Many also become involved in petty crime, even prostitution to get some income. Some are also living on the streets. Rates of teenage pregnancy are higher than they should be, and the risk of HIV infection is a very real and frightening prospect for these young people.
This places a great physical, emotional and financial strain on these young people and their families, which are in addition to the everyday difficulties they face living in a poverty stricken, developing country.
Currently, there are no educational or recreational services available to young people in Wolisso, outside of schools of private fee paying institutions. In response to this, the local government administration in partnership with the local community, wish to establish an ‘integrated youth care centre’. It is their hope that establishing such a centre will serve four main purposes:
• The centre will offer relevant and appropriate training courses for local young school leavers. These courses will either help them gain additional academic qualifications, or provide vocational advice and training to assist find employment or establish their own small businesses.
• The centre will have a library facility for young people to study while participating in the various training courses. The library will also give opportunity for the young people to broaden their horizons and learning, through providing access to IT facilities, internet facilities and through the broad range of learning resources that will be made available.
• The centre will have a sports and recreation field, to encourage young people to exercise their ‘right to play’, get involved in specifically designed sports and recreation activities, and develop their own personal and teamwork skills.
• The centre will provide appropriate counseling and advice services to the young people and will encourage them to establish various ‘interest groups’ and/or ‘peer support’ groups so that they have the opportunity to support one another to become active and productive citizens.
‘Children in Crossfire’ are currently constructing the youth centre and sports field and later plan to train staff for the centre and equip the library.
It is expected that the neighbouring St. Luke’s Hospital (with whom CIC operate a nurses training programme) will be involved in establishing the project and help in facilitating training and counselling in the areas of personal health and hygiene, HIV/AIDS awareness etc.
Wonji Child Feeding & Subsidised Treatment Programme
This project will provide a feeding and nutrition programme and improve access to essential medicines to mothers and children attending post and ante natal clinics.
This Gari & Jarso Water Projects, Ethiopia
Catholic Secretariat of Nekemte, Social and Development Coordination Office is based in Nekemte Town in western Ethiopia. Amongst a number of religious and social services that they provide to the local community is a kindergarten and improved livestock development projects at Gari village.
Currently, the kindergarten, a local livestock development project and the village households do not have their own water supply system. People must fetch their daily supplies of water from a riverbed about 1.3 km away, and carry it in jerry-cans on their shoulders or on the back of a donkey.
The children at Gari Catholic Church Kindergarten suffer from this poor accessibility to water. As a result much time is taken up during the day, for the purposes of fetching water, and children must go to the river before or after attending school. Even then, the water they are drinking is unclean and untreated.
Of greater concern, is the fact that water borne diseases are common amongst students, which can adversely affect their learning and attendance.
The same office manages and operates a medical clinic at Jarso village.
This clinic provides curative services for all types of ailments, commonly experienced by the local population, with outreach services offered for four days per month at four rural outreach stations.
The main emphasis is on post-natal and ante-natal care; children and babies and health education, including HIV/AIDS awareness programme.
Currently, the clinic does not have its own water supply system. The water for the usage at the clinic must be fetched from a protected spring almost 1km away from the clinic compound, and is carried in jerry-cans on peoples shoulders or on the backs of donkeys uphill.
Obviously this causes great difficulties for both staff and patients of the clinic, not only is a lot of extra time and effort needed to keep the clinic hygienically clean, but patients are not being offered the standard of care that the clinic staff would like to give.
Child deliveries are being conducted in circumstances where there is either very little water or sometimes no water at all. Other patients are forced to take their prescribed medicines and drinking water from unclean and unsafe sources.
In addition, the clinic has plans to expand its services to include a laboratory service, which will not be possible or practical without a clean, dependable and accessible water supply to the clinic.
The establishment of such a water supply would be of great significance and benefit to the local population who depend on the health services provided by the clinic.
‘Children in Crossfire’ have supported the office to dig wells, install pumps, fit pipes and construct water tanks with taps, so that both these facilities can have an accessible and clean water supply.
Akaki/Kaliti Housing Project, Addis Ababa
Children in Crossfire are supporting a vulnerable community in Kebele 13, a slum area in Ethiopia’s capital city Addis Abeba.
These sixty families, covering four generations, are suffer terrible conditions. With no place to call home they have had no choice but to erect temporary shelter in a local cemetery. Some of the residents have been living in this slum for over 20 years. Homes made of plastic sheets, scrap iron, cardboard and whatever else people can find, stand along side the haunting graves.
Living conditions are appalling.
• There is no sanitation and water supply
• The people have little or no access to education or employment opportunities, and many of the women and young girls are forced to turn to prostitution to survive.
• They cannot access or afford health care services, and disease is rife and mostly goes untreated. At least a quarter of the residents have some form of disability.
• The families not only life in squalor, but in danger, with the fear of exploitation or attack from others a constant worry.
‘Children in Crossfire’ are working in partnership with the Catholic Vicariate of Addis Abeba and The Fransican Missionaries of Our Lady to help these families. Working together with the local authorities, our partners are planning to re-house these homeless families. Plans to construct apartment blocks, which will provide the families with security, shelter, clean water and sanitation, are well under way, but much government bureaucracy is delaying this process.
The Ethiopian government is very sceptical about organisations and projects that promote human rights, especially those supported by foreign organisations and donors, and this makes progress a very delicate and difficult matter.
While we wait for the ‘green light’ to begin constructing or to purchase new homes for these families, CiC are supporting a humanitarian relief project to assist the families. This project includes a feeding programme, especially for the children, and will supply other essential items such as clothes, blankets and cooking equipment to the families. We also plan to support a community health nurse and a teacher to begin providing informal health care and education to the residents. (We would have liked to supply tents and/or better quality tarpaulin sheets for the temporary houses, but local authorities are against altering the physical condition of the slum, and doing so would put the residents’ homes and lives at risk).
Once housing for these families has been arranged, CiC will support our partners to help the families to form a ‘residents association’. This community group will then promote education, skills training and social integration within the local community.
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Focus on Development Education
Children in Crossfire runs a range of education initiatives within Ireland thataim to develop an understanding of theglobal dimension and ourrole increating abetter world for all. Throughincreased awareness and collective action we can all play a role in making the world a fairer place. In this way, the development education team is working with the organisation's overall mission to contrinute to the eradication of global poverty. Please take time to read about some of the education projects Children in Crossfire are working on at the minute.
Development Education Mission Statement: “To increase critical awareness of local and global issues among young people and educationalists, giving them knowledge and skills that will empower both individuals and their communities to participate in action for a more equal, shared and just world.”
8 Good Reasons
8 Good Reasons is a DFID sponsored 3 year project that aims to promote active citizenship by providing training for teachers and usingcreative artsas a tool for social change, increase awareness and action on global justice issues - creating an appreciation of the role we all can play in promoting a more just, shared and equal world.
Fair Trade Campaign
Children in Crossfire are part of a Steering Group of organisations involved in the campaign to make Derry a Fairtrade City.
Find out about the DevEd Team
Click below for photos and contact details!
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Make a Gift ... Make a Difference
A: You can make a donation online via credit card . To do so, please click here. You will be transferred to a secure server. Or you can set up a Direct debit online, to donate via this method click here.
B: If you prefer to donate via telephone, call +44 (0)28 7126 9898.
C: If you prefer to make a one-off postal donation, please print off this form and complete section B, which includes the instructions and neccessary postal information.
D: To give gradually/regularly via Direct Debit, please print off this form and complete section C, which includes the instructions and neccessary postal information.
INFORMATION: Donation forms and instructions are in PDF format. To download, move cursor over the relevant link, right click with mouse and select "save target as". Save the item to your Desktop. Double click to open and select "File" + "Print". Thank you. .
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Contact details
Children in Crossfire,
FREEPOST
2 St Josephs Avenue,
Derry / Londonderry.
BT48 6TH
Northern Ireland
Tel: +44 (0)28 7126 9898
Fax: +44 (0)28 7126 6630
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