Dire Dawa (which means "empty plain" in Amharic) is Ethiopia's second largest city. The city was founded in 1902 after the Addis Ababa - Djibouti Railway reached the area. The current population of Dire Dawa is estimated at 398,000. In August 2006 devastating floods hit the town of Dire Dawa – read more...

Our partner, JeCCDO, works in the poorest areas of Dire Dawa. In one of these, out of 2,200 households 59% are female headed. This is for a variety of reasons - husbands have died in the war with Eritrea or as a result of HIV/AIDS, children are born out of marriage, or husbands have moved elsewhere to secure employment (read more) But despite the poverty there is hope...

JeCCDO's projects in Dire Dawa are designed to allow local communities to take control of their lives so that they can climb out of poverty and respond to the needs of disadvantaged children.

Our work in Dire Dawa

Our work in Dire Dawa began with the establishment of our Community Development Programme Office in 2001.

JeCCDO’s work in Dire Dawa is concentrated in Kebele 12, known as Addis Alem - the poorest district in the town. The local name for this area is ‘destitute village’. Such has been the extent of the poverty in Addis Alem that even the city administration has not felt safe to work in the area due to intimidation by young unemployed people. JeCCDO has turned this situation around. It has set up youth groups in Kebele 12 and provided training to unemployed men in various economic activities such as stone-cutting. Such has been the impact that the local government in Dire Dawa has invited young people to visit other areas of the town to help them set up similar youth groups