Partners in Ethiopia

Partners in Ethiopia (PIE) is a team of Canadian volunteers focusing on increasing access to education for disadvantaged children and youth, supporting community health and health education focused on the well-being of girls, and improving maternal health services. Our Ethiopian partner, Vision for Bright Future (VBF), a registered Ethiopian non-profit, plays an essential role in project design, decision-making, implementation, and monitoring. Acting on community requests, we believe in working with community members who contribute their time, labour and expertise.

Our mostly Enderby, BC-based team includes key people from Partners in the Horn of Africa (PiHA) who are inspired to continue the John Baigent model for development aid that was recognized by the Governor General of Canada, now that PiHA has wound down after John's passing. PiHA funded about $12 million in community-led infrastructure and social support projects in Ethiopia from 2000-2017. Similar to PiHA, VBF and our Ethiopian communities play key roles in selecting and implementing their projects and contribute 10-20% of the cost of infrastructure projects.

Our goal with your help - Building a new Maternal Care Centre in Agarfa

While our work to support education and health initiated in early 2020 will continue, we now feel we have built the capacity to tackle something more ambitious.

Our goal is to to build a well-constructed, sanitary and well-equipped 2850 square foot Maternal Care Centre (MCC) adjacent to the existing Agarfa Health Centre, which will then be funded & operated by the community without our funding. We have raised over half of the $150,000 CAD needed and are seeking financial contributions to make this much needed facility a reality in 2023.

The existing maternal health facility in Agarfa is a two-room cinder block, concrete floor building with no running water, privacy, or space for post-natal care. Ethiopia has an infant death rate 8 times higher and a maternal death rate 40 times higher than Canada's rates (worldbank.org). Partners in Ethiopia, with your help, would work with our partners to help reduce this risk in the Agarfa community service area with about 130,000 people.

We thank you for your interest in this important cause. Choosing which charities to support is always a hard choice. It can be hard to find non-profits that use your money carefully and efficiently to deliver effective assistance to either our local community or to developing communities. We feel we are continuing the PiHA legacy with this focus.

The Partners In Ethiopia team.

For more information about our projects, news, people and partners, see partnersinethiopia.org