Project profile — Civil Society Support Program

• Ethiopia (100.00%)

• Legal and judicial development:
Legal and judicial development (15130) (10.00%)
Democratic participation and civil society (15150) (50.00%)
Elections (15151) (5.00%)
Media and free flow of information (15153) (10.00%)
Human rights (15160) (10.00%)
• Other Multisector: Multisector aid (43010) (15.00%)

• Participatory development and good governance (significant objective)
• Gender equality (significant objective)

The goal of the project is to increase the engagement of Ethiopian civil society with all levels of government to improve the delivery of services to the poor and hard-to-reach. The project facilitates dialogue between the government and civil society to jointly address development problems. Project activities include: (1) ensuring that public services are available to hard-to-reach citizens and poor communities; (2) providing women and girls with a voice on governance issues; and (3) increasing the legitimacy and accountability of civil society organizations through capacity building. Irish Aid is the lead partner in this multi-donor initiative while the British Council provides project management services. Other donors include the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and the United Kingdom.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) increased number of civil society organizations in Ethiopia who operate in line with principles of accountability and legitimacy, and are able to respond to development priorities identified by the poor, especially the hard-to-reach; and (2) increased number of civil society organizations with diverse mandates have the capacity to dialogue and relate to a broad range of stakeholders.

Results achieved with the support of Canada and other international donors as of the end of the project (October 2016) include: (1) provided 772 grants to 514 civil society organizations across all regions of Ethiopia; (2) reached successfully more than 3.1 million people, including vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities, the mentally ill, prisoners, juvenile offenders, innocent children incarcerated with their parents, and marginalized women and girls; and (3) built the capacity and capabilities of hundreds of civil society organizations in financial management, project management, leadership, fundraising, ability to dialogue, network and establish partnerships with varying organizations, including women and youth associations. The project made a significant contribution to promoting the interests of marginalized people and overlooked issues. These results have contributed to increasing the number of civil society organizations in Ethiopia delivering more inclusive services to the poor and hardest-to-reach women, men, girls and boys in remote regions of the country.

• Proactive disclosure