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Imfundo research programme in Ethiopia

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Imfundo: Partnership for IT in EducationImfundo is working in Ethiopia with an Ethiopian civil society organisation called ‘Forum for Street Children (FSCE)’ and a wide range of partners to design and implement a project called IFORUM. IFORUM looks at how Information Communication Technologies (ICT) can best be used to enhance the learning experiences of ‘street children’ in Ethiopia. In particular, children who are at risk of both living and working on the streets, and giving them skills which will enable them to gain beneficial employment.

FSCE is a well established and respected organisation with a network of non-formal education delivery, drop in centres, health provision, and support for female education, working with some 6,000 children across Ethiopia. The IFORUM project is designed to use ICT to support FSCE’s ongoing work in the city of Nazareth, which is the capital city of the Oromiya Regional State. It has a population of about 170,000 and 7000 street children.

The main purpose of the project is to develop replicable ICT based materials and methods for supporting out of school children’s learning and then to disseminate them in Ethiopia. It is envisaged that FSCE will be helped by partners to develop curriculum materials to be used on computers, 
and provide training opportunities for FSCE staff, peer educators, health workers and children at risk of working and living on the streets in Nazareth. 

ICT can enable these people to gain new life skills to enhance their earning capacities. They will also gain wider educational benefits through the use of learning materials on CD and though the use of the Internet. This activity is also designed to incorporate a continual process of self-evaluation, with formal reporting every six months. In this way lessons learnt will be disseminated as rapidly as possible through civil society organisations within Ethiopia, and also through Imfundo’s partners more widely across Africa.

The project IFORUM is situated within three centres in Nazareth:

  • The Kindergarten Compound (KB) - The municipal council has allotted the KG compound, for the use of the community people and FSCE's Nazareth project office. Half of the compound is owned and administered by FSCE while the parents' committee, drawn from the community, administers the remaining part. Within the KG building, there are rooms used by kindergarten children. 
  • The Girls club – Girls clubs were formed by FSCE as part of the Formal School Intervention Sub Programme. Vulnerable girls in selected schools are encouraged to become members of these clubs and to use them as forums where they can share their experiences and thereby raise awareness of sexual abuse and exploitation. They are also given health education with an emphasis on HIV/AIDS and adolescent reproductive health. 
  • The Drop-in Centre – established by FSCE to rehabilitate sexually abused and exploited children. The children are provided with non-formal and formal education, medical support, health and sex education, individual and group guidance, family reconciliation, training and career planning, sanitation and shower services. Approx 100 children in the age range of 13-18 are receiving support at this centre.

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