SEEDS - Sustainable East African Education & Development Society
Meheret Worku and Scott Smillie and the Board of SEEDS, hopes this past year have been kind to you all. This past year has been a busy year for SEEDS. Two trips were made to Ethiopia. The first trip was in December/January where we visited the project and made some assessments of our operations in both Addis Ababa and in the northern Wolo Province. As a result of our findings during the first trip, Meheret returned in July to implement some changes to our programs. Changes in Addis Ababa included adding two program staff to work with the mothers and provide further guidance to the project.
In Sekota, the zone capital in Wolo, Meheret through contacts that were made during the earlier trip, established a Board of Directors and received a non-profit license under the name, Weg-Hemra SEEDS of Education Society. She also established an advisory committee in the village of Chila where were we have been supporting 40 students and families. In partnership with this new organization of volunteers, we have been able to work more closely with local authorities. We have also been able to more effectively assess the needs of the children and their community that the project has been serving. This strategy is about working with, and strengthening local community capacities.
Moving forward this year, the board in Sekota is proposing the establishment of a very needed preschool to assist 50 local vulnerable and orphaned children, out of an identified 8000 children in the area.
