Earlier this month, Nadia Kist, our technical director, visited Ethiopia ACT. ACT is our local partner in Suki, an informal settlement on the southwestern edge of Addis Ababa. She went to begin the Institutional Development Framework assessment process, which will help strengthen the organization and ensure its healthy operation.

While there, Nadia had the opportunity to check out the new community center, which is fully funded by Blood:Water!

ACT moved into the new space last year, and it has quickly become a spacious hub for all of their community activities in Suki. The space where they had been operating previously was very limited for the range of activities and social services being provided. The new center is located adjacent to the church where ACT has been cultivating spiritual services, allowing seamless, yet distinctly separate, support.

The new center allows ACT to provide the community with a broad range of social and health services, including:

• A nurse station with a private examination room and bed.
• A counseling office designed and furnished to meet professional therapeutic standards.
• A social work office that provides rooms where social workers and beneficiaries can have confidential discussions.
• A meeting hall where support groups can meet or children in the program can receive tutoring, study, and complete their homework in a quiet, well-lit environment.
• A training workshop where beneficiaries can be trained in crafts such as weaving, carpentry, or repair work.
• A demonstration kitchen garden where beneficiaries can learn to grow vegetables on very small pieces of land, and whose crops are given to staff in appreciation for their hard work on the project.

It is so exciting to see our partners, and the comprehensive services they provide, grow over time. And we are always encouraged by the commitment our partners, like Ethiopia ACT, have to serving their communities with excellence and love.

LEARN MORE: ETHIOPIA ACT, CAPACITY BUILDING