Dear ,

Elsa here, the Country Director at Together We Learn. I trust you are well!

I write this message from the capital Addis Ababa where we have been working on preparing our three year report for Together We Learn Ethiopia. As a locally registered organisation we have an evaluation every three years, and present to all concerned stakeholders (Authority for Civil Society Organizations, Women, Children and Youth Affairs Office, and the Education Office) about our three year plan versus achievements and results.

It is difficult to beleive that it is three years since we first registered and started operating as Together We Learn!

So much has happened since then, we have continued our core programmes and added new girls' education projects, we have increased our teacher training a lot and built important partnerships with regional education bureaus.

The circumstances have been more difficult than usual. In the past three years we still had the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, conflict in the north of Ethiopia, and unrest in the Amhara region. Our work to improve access to quality education continues despite all of this, and is more important because of all of this. 

For example, we are so delighted to tell you that we have started Meseret School library building which you can read more about with our other updates below. We are also reviewing and carefully planning our strategy for the next three years and look forward to updating you about this. 

Thank you for all your support!

Best wishes,

Elsa Kebede
Country Director

The six-month state of emergency that had been in place across the Amhara region from August 2023 was renewed this February. Amhara will now remain under a state of emergency at least until June. 

The majority of services continue to run relatively normally, children are attending school, banks are open and public transport within towns continues to run. However, break outs of fighting between the federal forces and militia are frequent and unpredictable. This makes life for residents, delivery of projects, and access to areas difficult to manage. Internet access continues to be restricted to a handful of hotels and mobile data is not available. Road travel across the region and between cities is often unsafe.

Our team in Amhara are, once again, showing remarkable resilience. Our programmes continue and we are even managing to develop new projects and partnerships, despite the incredibly challenging circumstances. We are in contact with sponsored students and their families and will continue to visit schools and homes while it is safe to do so.

We appreciate your support during these unpredictable times, when your donations and a flexible approach is more important than ever.

It has been four years since we have been able to start a new construction project, due to the pandemic and conflict. So we are delighted to share progress on our latest construction project - building a library for students at Meseret School in Gondar!

The library will provide a space for study and books for 1,800 pupils and teachers from kindergarten to Grade 8. It will also serve as a reading centre for the community on Saturdays.

Due to the ongoing situation in Amhara, we are closely monitoring construction and are delighted with how well things are going. We are proud to continue delivering projects to benefit the community in such difficult circumstances. Our thanks to Wonfel Aid / ወንፈል ተራድዖ and others for supporting the project.

We were pleased to work with a new partner, Mela For Her, this February to support our work on girls' education. Mela For Her is a social enterprise based in Addis Ababa that makes affordable and eco-friendly menstrual products.

When we received funding from Q3 Strategy towards reusable period packs for girls in rural areas, we were pleased to be able to deliver the benefit through partnership with Mela for Her. By buying kits made locally we are having the dual benefit of supporting women's employment in Ethiopia as well as fulfilling a need for female students, and helping them stay in education.

"The training covered adolescence, the menstrual cycle and menstrual health. It was delivered in a fun, activity-based way. The students were freely expressing their feelings and participating in group discussions."

Lensa, Project Coordinator

With support we were able to provide reusable period packs, underwear, and training for 50 girls from rural areas this February.

You can help us spread the impact by buying a reusable pack for your sponsored student, or fund our next distribution session by visiting our online shop using the button below.