Eshet Children and Youth Development Organization (ECYDO)

ECYDO is a registered Ethiopian civil society organization dedicated to empowering children, adolescents, youth, and women to lead healthy, safe, productive, and dignified lives. Founded in 2001 and rooted in a youth-led grassroots movement that began in 1994 through theatre and music initiatives addressing HIV/AIDS awareness, ECYDO has evolved into a recognized national organization implementing integrated development programs across Ethiopia. The organization is legally registered with Ethiopia's Authority for Civil Society Organizations (ACSO) and currently operates in Addis Ababa, Oromia, Afar, and other regions through partnerships with communities, government institutions, schools, health facilities, civil society organizations, and international development partners.

ECYDO's vision is to see a safe, healthy, inclusive, and prosperous environment where every child, young person, and woman has access to education, health services, protection, and equal opportunities. Its mission is to empower vulnerable children, adolescents, youth, and women through innovative, inclusive, and community-driven interventions that promote education, health, gender equality, economic empowerment, peacebuilding, environmental sustainability, and meaningful participation. The organization is guided by the values of transparency, accountability, gender equity, volunteerism, inclusiveness, integrity, quality service, and community ownership.

ECYDO was established in response to the growing social, health, and economic challenges affecting Ethiopian youth. Beginning as a volunteer-driven initiative focused on HIV/AIDS prevention and reproductive health awareness, the organization expanded its scope as community needs evolved. Over time, ECYDO broadened its interventions to address education, gender equality, youth employment, community resilience, peacebuilding, and women's empowerment. Today, the organization combines community engagement, advocacy, capacity building, service delivery, and systems strengthening to address both immediate needs and underlying causes of vulnerability.

Over the past two decades, ECYDO has designed and implemented more than 30 development projects, directly reaching approximately 243,800 beneficiaries across four regions, seven zones, and twenty districts. The organization has successfully managed more than USD 2.4 million in donor funding (for the last 10 years, 2015-2025, and able to directly benefited 243,800+ community members) and developed strong partnerships with organizations including UN Women, Good People International (GPI), KOICA, Crossroads International, Children's Rights and Violence Prevention Fund (CRVPF), Sonke Gender Justice, Trust Africa, Share-Net International, and local government institutions. These accomplishments demonstrate ECYDO's ability to manage complex, multi-stakeholder programs while maintaining accountability, quality, and measurable results.

ECYDO's core program areas include adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), HIV prevention, maternal and child health, youth-friendly health services, girls' education and empowerment, prevention of gender-based violence, youth employment and entrepreneurship, peacebuilding and social cohesion, environmental protection, climate resilience, and civil society strengthening. Through safe spaces, mentorship, leadership development, livelihoods support, digital literacy, advocacy, and community mobilization, ECYDO works to address the root causes of poverty, inequality, exclusion, and vulnerability facing children and young people.

A major area of ECYDO's expertise is adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health and rights. The organization promotes access to accurate health information, youth-friendly services, community awareness, referral systems, and behavior change interventions that improve health outcomes and informed decision-making among young people. ECYDO also engages boys and men as partners in HIV prevention, gender equality promotion, and the prevention of gender-based violence. Through peer education, community dialogue, and awareness campaigns, the organization promotes positive social norms and healthy relationships.

Girls' and women's empowerment remains central to ECYDO's programming. The organization works to prevent gender-based violence, child marriage, female genital mutilation, school dropout, and teenage pregnancy while strengthening educational attainment, leadership, self-confidence, and economic opportunities for girls and young women. Through safe spaces, mentoring, psychosocial support, life-skills education, financial literacy training, and referrals to essential services, ECYDO helps girls build resilience and achieve their full potential.

ECYDO has also established a strong track record in youth leadership development and civic engagement. The organization creates opportunities for young people to participate meaningfully in community decision-making, volunteerism, advocacy, peacebuilding, and social development initiatives. By strengthening youth voices and leadership capacities, ECYDO contributes to more inclusive and responsive communities while enabling young people to become agents of positive social change.

Current projects include MESSAGE II, which establishes safe spaces and comprehensive support services for adolescent girls; BEST Girls, which promotes girls' protection, leadership, education, and economic empowerment; Youth Engagement and Synergy in Peacebuilding Efforts (YES-PEACE), which equips young people with skills for conflict prevention and peaceful coexistence; Empower HER, which supports women's economic resilience and food security; SMART MAMA, which strengthens access to reproductive health services for rural women; and SRHR4All, which expands access to sexual and reproductive health information and services for young people. Together, these initiatives contribute to improved health outcomes, stronger protection systems, enhanced livelihood opportunities, and increased community resilience.

In addition to direct service delivery, ECYDO supports institutional strengthening and systems development. The organization collaborates with schools, health facilities, local government offices, community groups, and civil society actors to improve service quality, strengthen referral systems, promote social accountability, and ensure the sustainability of development interventions. Capacity-building activities include training, mentoring, technical assistance, knowledge sharing, and organizational development support aimed at strengthening local ownership and long-term impact.

Institutionally, ECYDO maintains robust governance and management systems, including policies on safeguarding, child protection, gender equality, disability inclusion, financial management, procurement, monitoring and evaluation, risk management, whistleblower protection, volunteer management, communications, and internal controls. The organization is governed by an Executive Board and supported by qualified technical and management staff, with active participation from Youth Councils, Children's Councils, and Community Advisory Bodies that ensure community ownership and accountability.

Financial accountability is a key organizational strength. ECYDO applies strong internal controls, transparent financial procedures, segregation of duties, regular reporting mechanisms, and independent external audits. The organization follows recognized financial management principles and continuously strengthens its systems to meet donor and regulatory requirements. These mechanisms enable ECYDO to manage resources effectively while maintaining the trust of communities, partners, and funding agencies.

Cross-cutting themes are integrated throughout ECYDO's programs and operations. Gender equality, safeguarding, disability inclusion, volunteerism, community participation, accountability, and human rights-based approaches guide all interventions. By mainstreaming these principles into project design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation, ECYDO promotes equitable access to opportunities and services while ensuring that vulnerable populations are protected and included.

Environmental sustainability and climate resilience are increasingly important aspects of ECYDO's work. The organization supports environmental awareness, community-based climate adaptation initiatives, environmental protection activities, and sustainable development practices that strengthen resilience among vulnerable communities. ECYDO recognizes that climate change disproportionately affects children, youth, and women and therefore seeks to integrate resilience-building measures across its development portfolio.

Looking ahead, ECYDO aims to expand its impact by scaling evidence-based programs that strengthen girls' and women's empowerment, improve access to quality education and digital skills, increase youth employment and entrepreneurship opportunities, advance maternal and adolescent health, promote environmental sustainability and climate resilience, strengthen peacebuilding initiatives, and leverage technology to improve learning, service delivery, monitoring, and organizational effectiveness. The organization is investing in digital monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning systems to enhance data quality, improve decision-making, and increase transparency and impact. Through sustainable partnerships and locally led solutions, ECYDO remains committed to building resilient communities and creating lasting opportunities for vulnerable children, adolescents, youth, and women across Ethiopia.

Through collaboration, innovation, accountability, and community ownership, ECYDO believes that investing in children and young people creates stronger families, more resilient communities, and a more equitable and prosperous future for Ethiopia.