BPDO has arranged soft skill and hard skill training at project implementation sites within collaboration of the stakeholders, especially labor and skill offices and poly technique collages. Soft skill and hard skill training supported project beneficiaries in maximizing their efforts and proper utilization of resources in their communities. Beneficiaries will be operating their own micro/small-scale business through de-risk loan access from banks with a minimum interest rate, interest-free banking, or by their own resources with self-employment and wage employment opportunities. As a cumulative, BPDO has reached 24,343 project beneficiaries in soft skill and hard skill training in all project implementation sites.
The Tilla project aims to improve the lives and livelihoods of targeted people in towns by involving them in micro/small-scale businesses. These businesses play a crucial role in creating self-employment opportunities, improving financial status, and expanding income-generating opportunities. The project is less capital-intensive and more suitable for homeless, IDPs, and unpaid rural women. Beneficiaries are motivated and seek additional loans to expand their businesses. As of now, 22,563 (female 20,631) project targets have started their micro/small-scale businesses, earning monthly income through self-employment and wage employment opportunities.
Supportive supervision is crucial for project performance and sustainability. It involves site and field-based supervision with donors, steering committees, and staff at implementation sites. The focus is on financial management, stakeholder coordination, and beneficiaries’ understanding of loans. Post-survey, stakeholders are monitored to ensure project objectives and success. Kebele leaders play a vital role in providing comprehensive support to beneficiaries and participating in loan repayment processes.
BPDO held an annual stakeholder experience sharing and staff review meeting to discuss the Tila project’s performance, challenges, lessons learned, and job creation steering committee roles. The meeting involved various stakeholders, including labor, skills, women, children, and finance. Staff developed an acceleration plan to improve project performance, and BPDO received recognition for outstanding performance and dedication.
Donor: IOM/EU
Project period: 01 April 2019-April 30 2021
Project budget: ETB 42,000,000.00
Project Beneficiaries: Assisted Voluntarily Returnees (AVRs)
Implementation sites: North Shewa, South Wollo, North wollo zone & Oromia zones of Amhara region and All Zones of Tigray region.
The ultimate objective of the project is to provide holistic and sustainable reintegration for Assisted Voluntary Migrant Returnees (AVRs) in the selected operational areas in Amhara & Tigray region. To achieve the general objectives, we have Provide economic reintegration to enable AVRs self-sufficiency; Provide Psychosocial reintegration services to ensure AVRs psychosocial welfare and ensure social reintegration schemes are strengthen for AVRs.
The project ultimately addresses Assisted Voluntary Returnees (AVRs) who are accompanied by IOM, up to know we have 635 AVRs who direct beneficiaries and indirectly we have also will address the wider community to ensure social reintegration of AVRs.
Donor: Freedom Fund Project period: August 1, 2016- April 31, 2023
Project budget: ETB 30,000,000.00
Project Beneficiaries: women and girls particularly domestic workers, students, sex workers and returnees.
Geographic coverage: Amhara region (Kombolcha & Kemisse towns) and Addis Ababa (Nifas Silk Lafto Sub City)
Scope: To reduce abuse and exploitation of domestic workers in Middle East with associated results of generating improved understanding and practice of safer migration among source communities, developing and improving alternative economic alternatives for increased prevention and recovery and strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations to operate and influence systems to better prevent unsafe migration and empower migrant workers. The primary target groups are women and girls particularly domestic workers, students, sex workers and returnees. Under this project, BPDO is being provided shelter-based rehabilitation services in Addis Ababa and hotline services for the entire community through 7870 free calls. The details of rehabilitation service and hotline service is explicitly mentioned below:
Rehabilitation Center: BPDO’s rehabilitation center was established in 2020 and is located in Kolfe Keraniyo sub-city at woreda 1 around China camp. The rehabilitation center was established with the main purpose of providing comprehensive shelter-based services for migrant returnees. The services that are provided for the target beneficiaries including feeding, counseling, provide vocational and skills training for survivors of trafficking to enable their alternative livelihoods, medical services, provision of seed money, provision of sanitary materials, referring the returnees to psychiatric centers, family tracing, and reintegration. In addition, BPDO works to strengthen the capacities and networks of local government, CSOs, and service providers by establishing partnerships with local government agencies and like-minded NGOs to facilitate referral mechanisms.
Hotline Service: BPDO has established a well-furnished call center in Kombolcha town to provide and access different migration-related services including psychosocial support, free internet services, referral pathway, and hotline services through the call center on safe migration for potential migrants, returnees, any interested person and agencies. Any individuals have got basic information on the current migration issue, migration concept, legal requirements, the difference between legal and illegal migration, consequences of illegal migration, advantages of legal migration and any personal quires. The hotline service greatly helps clients to get balanced migration information ahead of departure. The main purpose of the call center is to provide positive and up-to-date information on safer migration and related issues for the local community and target groups. Now the project staff have increased the services as well as the number of customers also increasing from time to time through the promotion of the free call number (7870) on various platforms.
Donor: Plan International Ethiopia (PIE)
Project period: July 15, 2017- August 15,2018 and October 2019-December 31,2020
Project budget: ETB 5,197,973.00
Geographic coverage: Kalu, Kewot, Argoba and Mille woredas.
Scope: This project was designed to improve system responses towards Harmful Customary Practices (HCPs) focusing on early marriage by strengthening coordination among existing actors and promoting best practices and action learning. The main targets of the project were
children and community. In the life of the project, 595 stakeholders and project beneficiaries are capacitated by different types of trainings. About 20,100 individuals are reached out through community conversation sessions at kebele and school levels. Over 30,450 individuals have got different messages by school mini media and radio programs focusing on early child marriage, unsafe migration and other HCP. About 33,880 participants reached through school and community outreach during international day of girls, days of Africa child, Women days (march 8) and parents and teachers day. In addition, 900 students have got scholastic materials to decrease school dropouts and early child marriage and 8874 students have got tutorial support focusing low scored subjects.
Donor: Plan International Ethiopia
Project Duration: 1 st January 2021– 30 th June 2023
Project Budget: 14,986,931.44 ETB
Project Beneficiaries: girls with age range 3-24 who are directly affected by FGM/C. Hence, 12,088 (8,826 F) children and young girls (and 3262 M) will be directly reached. The aim of the project is contributing the eradication of FGM/C including SGBV from Asayta district of Afar Regional state by the end of 2023.
The specific objectives are:
Donor: Job Creation Commission/Mastercard foundation
Project Duration: April 1,2021- May 31,2024
Project Budget: 175,348,340.24 ETB
Project Beneficiaries: 3000 IDPs,2000 Homeless and 20,000 Unpaid Rural women.
Implementation sites: Amhara, Afar, Addis Ababa, Dire Dawa, Harar & Somali regions.
Scope: To create inclusive jobs for Homeless Youth, IDPs, & Unpaid Rural Women to secure decent work opportunities & enable their sustainable livelihoods. This project is implementing in 6 regional states with strong collaboration and coordination with pertinent stakeholders. BPDO is closely
working with Somali region stakeholders to address refugees within the project framework. So far, needs-based trainings including basic-business skills, kaizen, entrepreneurship, life skills, leadership and management, vocational and technical skills and family planning trainings were provided to IDPs,
homeless and unpaid rural women. In addition, business plan is developed with full engagement of participants and loan is being processed to start self-employment as well as network is established with industry parks to avail wage employment for those interested to engage in this sector.
Donor: International Labor Organization (ILO)
Implementer: Beza Posterity Development Organization
Project Beneficiaries: potential migrants, returnee women youth and IDPs
Implementation Site: Amhara region, south Wollo zone Kallu woreda
The aim of the project Support is supporting the most vulnerable segments of the population affected by the adverse impacts of disasters and climate change, including migrants, potential migrants and returnee women youth and IDPs to have improved access to sustainable livelihood and green job
opportunities that support adaptation to the impacts of climate change and to displacement and forced migration.