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Nutrition, Early Childhood development, and women empowerment through an Integrated Children’s center for lower-income families of Addis Ababa

This flagship project brings to life N4ED’s vision of a first-of-its-kind integrated children’s center in Addis Ababa—combining health services, early learning, caregiver support, and women’s empowerment under one roof. Designed for long-term impact and sustainability, the center will serve as a model for transforming how marginalized communities support the development and wellbeing of young children and their families. Uniquely, the project is powered by a diverse coalition of public, private, and nonprofit donors—making it N4ED’s most successful crowd-sourced initiative to date.

Objectives:

  • Pilot a scalable and sustainable, community-based center model that empowers women and creates lifelong opportunities for children.
  • Improve the health, nutrition, and early development of children under five in marginalized urban communities
  • Raise awareness and shift behaviors around nutrition and early childhood development among caregivers, leaders, and the broader public
  • Build the capacity of early childhood professionals

Target Beneficiaries: 

Children under five, mothers in marginalized communities, other household members (husbands, older siblings), local leaders, professionals, and civil society organizations.

Approach:

  • Establish a pioneering, one-stop children’s center within the Nifas Silk Lafto Woreda 12 Health Center compound, integrating child health, early learning, and caregiver training
  • Provide nutritious meals, routine pediatric services, and play-based early childhood education
  • Strengthen the center’s capacity and sustainability through tailored training and a robust management system
  • Empower mothers through life skills sessions, workshops, and income-generating activities led by a women’s committee
  • Conduct widespread awareness campaigns and advocacy on ECD and nutrition, including media engagement and ToT workshops for frontline workers
  • Produce and distribute affordable, nutritious snacks via a network of women entrepreneurs from low-income communities
  • Ensure long-term impact through GO–NGO collaboration and eventual handover of the center to the public health system.

Expected outcome:

  • In the short term:
    • Increased access to ECD and health services
    • More mothers able to work or study outside the home
    • Better access to nutritious, age-appropriate meals
    • Higher quality health services for young children
    • Improved caregiver knowledge of child nutrition
  • In the longer term :
    • Improved cognitive and social development in children
    • Enhanced school readiness and performance
    • Increased household income and women’s decision-making power
    • Improved child growth, health-seeking behavior, and disease prevention

Timeline: 

January 2024 – December 2028 (including inception and handover)

Call to Action:

We welcome collaborators—whether through donating resources, volunteering expertise, or co-design crowdsourcing initiatives. We invite institutions to help scale this breakthrough model across Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and beyond—investing in our children today to build a stronger, more equitable future. 

Donor
This is N4ED’s most successful crowd sourced project to date. Support has come from a diverse group of donors including:

  • Non-profit institutions : Rotary Foundation (notably the Central Mella, Entoto, and Hobart clubs), La Guilde, Fondation Gratitude, Amitié Franco-Ethiopienne, Enfants Corne de l’Afrique
  • Public institutions: Embassies of France and Luxembourg, Austrian Development Agency, Métropole de Lyon.
  • Private sector: Groupe Kardol, Festive Events, Flawless Events, Schlossberg Thun AG, One Planet International School, Lycée Guébré Mariam, Zen Apartments, Blue Hen, Sishu Burger, Caméléon and all the businesses who sponsored our Alive Event in 2024!
  • Individuals: Michel Muller, Sophia Techane, Vladimir Ruzic, Aster Zewdie, Tsigereda Demissie, Pera Demissie and hundreds of others that would be impossible to list all.

Target area: 

Primarily based at Nifas Silk Lafto Sub-City Woreda 12 Health Center in Addis Ababa. Outreach and awareness activities—advocacy, training, and nutrition promotion—will extend across multiple sub-cities and reach a broader audience through mainstream and social media platforms.