CCRDA

CCRDA Holds Its 245^th Members’ General Assembly

Participants of the General Assembly

CCRDA held its 245^th Members’ General Assembly on March 30, 2017.

While updating members on current CSOs/NGOs operating scene, CCRDA Executive Director, Dr Meshesha Shewarega, told the participants the decision by the government to review the charities and societies proclamation by assessing the key challenges related to its implementation and contents. He said a taskforce has been established which is led by the State Minister of the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Pastoralist Development. Based on the request of the Ministry, CCRDA and other consortiums have given their comments on the proclamation. CCRDA on its part has given ten pages of comments on the proclamations and various guidelines that its members want to be revisited, Dr Meshesha said. He further noted that the final report has been submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office and CCRDA and other consortiums are waiting for the final outcome.

Dr Meshesha Shewarega presenting the 2016 CCRDA Annual Report

While presenting the 2016 CCRDA Annual Report, Dr Meshesha said CCRDA managed to raise more than birr 101,346,269 in 2016; its total asset in the past year was 111,188,466. It channeled more than 80%, 81,077,015 birr, to members. He told the participants of the meeting that the Secretariat managed to implement nearly 85% of what it had planned.

While listing the major achievements of the Consortium in 2016, he said, “A Code of conduct was signed by many member organizations and the CCRDA Ethics Panel was established. Regional Chapters became operational resulting in more ownership members. A five years Leadership Development Program was launched. The Post Graduate Diploma was upgraded to MA program in collaboration with Ambo University. More than 90 organizations received institutional strengthening support, a weekly Begonet Radio program was launched to promote the good practices of members of CCRDA; and UKAID/RIF was launched.”

HaddisTadesse, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) Deputy Director for Africa and Country Representative for Ethiopia and the African Union, was invited at the Membership General Assembly to talk about the foundation. During his presentation Haddis told the participants that the BMGF was founded in 2000, but the family had started supporting Ethiopia since 1998, even before the establishment of their foundation. Since then the BMGF has invested 500 million US dollars in Ethiopia. Haddis noted that the foundation mainly worked in the areas of agriculture, private sector, health, nutrition and livestock. He said four of the elven pillars of GTP II have clear alignment with the foundation’s work. He said in Ethiopia BMGF mainly works with government institutions. It is figuring out with CCRDA to see how to work with local NGOs, he added.

HaddisTadesse, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Deputy Director for
Africa and Country Representative for Ethiopia and the African Union

A participant asked what the criteria of BMGF are for selecting an organization to work with. Haddis Tadesse answered, “We start looking into a problem and its scope and we look for organizations that can address the problem. We consult a lot of people before we do what we do. We tend to gravitate to bigger organizations. But we know there are some things that we miss working only with bigger organizations.” He said the foundation looks into capabilities of an organization before it decides to fund them.

During the meeting, the participants elected the next CCRDA Board members. They elected Rahel Gebremariam, Dr Mulugeta Debebe, Ephrem Tesgay, Melaku Sibhat and Mekdes Alemu as the next CCRDA Board members.

Partial View of the participants of the General Assembly

In his closing remark, Chairperson of Membership Assembly of CCRDA, Ato Feyera Abdi, congratulated CCRDA for its tremendous achievement in 2016. He underscored that the Consortium’s performance is consistently moving well and the resource generated is impressive given the current difficult financial terrain. He also appreciated the CCRDA Executive Director for his leadership and brining the organization out of its financial crisis and repositioning along such positive course.

Call for Proposal

to

Member Organization Implementing the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) Standard

The Consortium of Christian Relief and Development Associations (CCRDA) has been rolling out the HAP standard for more than 35 member organizations since 2011. The accountability standard is believed to have benefited member organizations in identifying accountability gaps and introducing self-regulation mechanisms at different levels.

The HAP standard has now been replaced by the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) incorporating HAP, Sphere Project and People in Aid Initiatives. And yet the self-assessment mechanism and the accountability tools of HAP are still valid and can be used pending the accomplishment of the transition to CHS. Thus, In order to ensure proper transition to CHS and build upon the HAP experiences, CCRDA is planning to offer a limited amount of financial support (10,000 birr to 15000 birr) for 10 member organizations. Selection for this award would be on competitive basis and with evidence based needs.

Accordingly, CCRDA is pleased to invite members implementing the HAP standard to submit a proposal using the format that will be sent you through email.

Proposal should be delivered to CCRDA office number 304 from January 30, 2017 to February 10, 2017 (Monday to Friday- 8:30 am -12:00 noon and 1:30pm-5:00pm)

For further information please call at 011 4390322 extension: 202.

Members of CCRDA Sign a Code of Conduct

Members of CCRDA Signing the Code of Conduct

Members of CCRDA have signed a Code of Conduct on a historic event that took place at the CCRDA Conference Hall on December 29, 2016. The Code of Conduct (CoC) is intended to further step up the commitment of CCRDA members to internalize self-regulation and become accountable to the people they serve.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Meshesha Shewarega, Executive Director of CCRDA, said, “The sector cannot exist without ensuring good governance and ethical practices. The Code of Conduct is thus very important to ensure the development effectiveness of CSOs/NGOs by making them accountable to their beneficiaries.” Dr Meshesha further said that the sector has had distorted image among the public, the government and other development partners. Signing and implementing the CoC is thus a way to build the positive image of the sector. Dr Meshesha concluded his speech by saying that the CoC is a way to correct one another and improve the image of CSOs.

CCRDA established a Panel of Ethics at its General Assembly held in March 2016. The Panel that serves as custodian of the Code has nine members who are Executive Directors of nine CCRDA member organizations. President of the Panel, Tsigie Haile, who is also Executive Director of Organization for Women in Self Employment (WISE), said the Panel has been familiarized with its responsibilities, and have had a deeper knowledge of the CoC and have prepared well to accomplish its tasks and responsibilities.

From left to right: Debebe Hailegebriel, Tsigie Haile, and Dr Meshesha Shewarega

Debebe Hailegebriel, a legal expert, had a presentation that helped familiarize the participants of the meeting with the CoC.

Sixty two member organizations of CCRDA who attended the CoC launching and signing meeting signed the CoC.  Members that have not signed the Code today are expected to sign in due course.

CCRDA is a Consortium of more than 400 Ethiopian resident and foreign charity organizations. One of the criteria to join the Consortium is to sign the Code of Conduct. The Consortium and its partners have been exerting a serious effort since the late 1990s to promote self-regulation within the CCRDA membership and beyond.