International Friendship Association (IFA) gGmbH, is an immigrant background organization based in Frankfurt am Main dedicated to promoting intercultural integration, providing crucial support to refugees, and offering cultural education initiatives for immigrant children in Frankfurt am Main. Simultaneously, we are deeply committed to extending a helping hand to underprivileged children and women in Ethiopia.
Vision
IFA envision every community members have ensured sustainable livelihood and get access to basic social services.
Mission
To create affirmative change in the lives of Community in need.
Objectives
To promote community centred development activities at grassroots level towards its socio-economic improvement in Ethiopia;
To provide support for needy children and women in Ethiopia through sponsorship program and community development aid;
To promote immigrants intercultural integration in German through participation;
To promote human rights awareness and create understanding among immigrants and the hosting community;
To support politically and /or religiously persecuted and displaced refugees as well as people affected by discrimination;
To promote intercultural events through training, seminars, conferences and forums;
To promote intercultural dialogue between Germany and Ethiopia.
Women Empowerment Programme
Situation of destitute Women
Women in Sub-Saharan Africa particularly in Ethiopia have been exposed to socio-economic vulnerability due to extreme poverty and inherited socio-cultural marginalization.
Rural women remain a disadvantaged segment of Ethiopia society. The project area is characterized by a typical rural setting with the women and girls of the area mostly involved in household chores, having no say in the family affairs. Excluded from receiving basic education and entirely dependent on their male counterparts, exposed to domestic violence, and are not allowed to step out of their houses.
The intervention of this project is highly expected to change the marginalized women’s mood of life. So, it must get due attention from all stakeholders and development partners. Further neglect would maximize the poverty of this vulnerable group of women and their dependency at unmanageable magnitude.
The empowerment of women is one of the solutions to the problems of inequality, subordination, and marginalization that women face in society. To strengthening and empowering the livelihood of marginalized women through participation IFA will create women Self Help Groups to change their status of socio-economic conditions, maximizing their productivity, creating access to the functional adult literacy program, skill training, and various income-generating schemes through sustainable means to support themselves and to be economically self-reliant.
Orientation and Skill Training For Women Self-help Group (SHG)
The AIDS curse has created major problems and left number of the Ethiopia orphans behind. Children are the most vulnerable and many of them are orphaned or even infected by the HIV infection. This has tended to have lifelong effects on their development leading to a generation of no hope for tomorrow.
“Child Sponsorship Real help, Real Change!”
Today's children are tomorrow's parents and leaders. Child sponsoring is the beginning of a unique relationship between a sponsor and a child. Sponsorship provides a sense of security and belonging to a child, and in return, a sponsor will get the satisfaction of investing for betterment of a child. The best way to change a child's life is to change the world in which she or he live. Your support can give a needy child, life’s essentials like food, education, basic health care and immunization.
Help one Doller a day and change a child's life!
For food, clothes, school attendance and basic health care € 30 per month and total amount € 30 x 12 months = € 360 per year. This small amount of money goes a long way through a country in helping to support children in difficult circumstances to change their life in Ethiopia where need is greatest.
Imagine the satisfaction you will feel when you make a donation that will contribute to the betterment of lives of needy children in Ethiopia. Your kindly donations, grants, legacies, gifts, and project funding allows IFA to address the needs of marginalized children thereby realizing its desired goal. Any kind of support is something special for IFA’s program whatever it is, small or big. Contribution can be made in-kind or in cash, whether in group or individually. Yes one dollar can make a difference.
300 orphan and marginalized children supported educational materials in Ethiopia, Oromia National Regional State of West Arsi Zone in the Dodola town and District at the beginning of school years 2012 EC/2019
Provision of Educational materials in 2020
175 orphan and marginalized children supported educational materials in Ethiopia, Oromia National Regional State of West Arsi Zone in the Dodola District at the beginning of school years 2013 EC/2020
Intercultural integration
Intercultural integration is an equal participation in all areas of social life: economic, legal, political and cultural aspects. It is a two-sided process that transforms both immigrants and the hosting society. Intercultural integration is an important task that affects all areas of our society. First and foremost, integration takes place in community life, in the neighbourhood, in churches, in associations and organizations at all levels. It requires efforts from all, from the state and society, which consists of people with and without migration background.
Joint project for intercultural integration with children in Frankfurt am Main. The project promotes neighbourhood, social integration, art and cultural diversity and create opportunities for children through participation.
Enhancing girl’s education
IFA’s mission is to create and to promote community centered development activities at the grassroot level towards socio-economic improvement. IFA’s primarily supports children and poor women living in the rural areas of Ethiopia.
The girls project is carried out in Oromia National Regional of South Arsi Zone of Dodola District. Many orphan and marginalized girls who live in the District remote areas could not attend their secondary education because of different reasons mostly due to economic problems. Their parents forced to make their daughters quit their secondary education because they cannot cover all costs of living of their daughters throughout their academic years. Especially orphan girls have no chances to access to education due to their dual problems economic and being orphan.
Beside, since most of these girls are obliged to be dependent of either some relative (if they are lucky) or should rent a small room in group in the slum areas of the towns in order to peruse their education. This contributes to their venerability to unwanted sexual relationship and as a result they might have contracted HIV. The fact that these teenage girls have very minimal knowledge to protect themselves from such kind of danger aggravates problems. Generally, to overcome all these problems including closing the gender gap in access to education requires concerted interventions at various levels and need the active involvement of all stakeholders.
With this in view, IFA envisaged launching a project in the aforementioned locations which focuses on enhancing orphan and ,marginalized girl students participation in secondary schools through provision of educational support, HIV/AIDS awareness raising programs and mentoring activities for purposefully selected disadvantaged and needy girls.
Grace Impact gGmbH has provides a second donation to International Friendship Association (IFA) to support orphan and marginalized girl students and empowerment project in Oromia National Regional State of West Arsi Zone in the Dodola District.
As a result, 30 orphan and marginalized girl students but performed well in their primary education were selected and provided educational materials, uniform, and school bags.
