OUR PARTNER ORGANISATIONS
THE ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH INTER-CHURCH AID COMMISSION (EOC-DICAC)
Water4Ethiopia works with EOC-DICAC to implement our clean water projects in Ethiopia. EOC-DICAC is a Non-Government Organisation (NGO) which was founded as a development arm of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in 1972.
EOC-DICAC has gained recent finances from donors such as Christian Aid, Water Aid, Oxfam, the European Union and Water4Ethiopia. The Water Resource Department of the NGO is headed by Mulugeta Demelash and they are currently helping around 17,000 beneficiaries to gain clean water and to take part in a sanitation and hygiene promotion program each year.
EOC-DICAC works very closely with all stakeholders throughout the project, none more so than the local beneficiary community. The NGO ensures there are numerous provisions in place to help ensure the sustainability and longevity of all its completed projects. The key for EOC-DICAC is getting the local community involved as much as possible in all aspects of the project, including construction, so that they feel a real sense of pride in the work they have helped to achieve.
EOC-DICAC has been hugely successful in Ethiopia, partly through its connection to the church. This is because Ethiopia is an incredibly religious country, with around 40 million of the population being Orthodox Church followers, meaning that the country’s population should be keen to listen, accept and build on EOC-DICAC’s hard work.
However, Water4Ethiopia is committed, as part of its UK registered charity status, to being politically and religiously neutral and we feel this is represented in EOC-DICAC’s first principle: "EOC-DICAC will work to give dignity to all human beings regardless of age, sex, language, religion, race and ethnicity."
The founders of Water4Ethiopia can see the benefits that working with EOC-DICAC bring, none more so than the encouragement of hard work and honesty from all project stakeholders. Project selection involves local woreda water office officials, beneficiary communities, as well as Water4Ethiopia volunteers seeing each project before it is approved.
Water4Ethiopia sends 100% of the money raised in the UK to EOC-DICAC. Each expenditure is pre-approved by three members of the NGO; the head of the water resource department, the head of the finance department and the head of purchasing. All receipts are then kept for Water4Ethiopia to check.
