Friendship for Integrated Development Association (FIDA) meets the basic needs of children and their families in Addis Ababa and the adjacent Oromia regional state, Sheger City. Under FIDA’s programs, 950 children and their families have benefited through the distribution of quarterly financial support for rent, food, and access to free nursery schools.

FIDA also assists single mothers through income generating activities, such as micro-loans (One Love Fund granted funds for this successful project.) FIDA also operates a special project for disabled children and youth, giving them access to education, medication, psychosocial support, and vocational training to create employment opportunities.

Koloboo provides access to quality pre-primary education, nutrition, and childcare facilities for 120 students from economically deprived families in the Oromia regional state of Sheger City and surrounding villages. In addition to free pre-primary education, which includes educational materials and school uniforms, the Koloboo school feeding program ensures two healthy meals a day for children at risk of severe malnutrition. It also offers employment opportunities for 13 up to 15 local community members in the area, while also educating the student’s parents or guardians about child rights, family planning and the eradication of harmful traditional practices.

Education is now globally recognized as a universal human right, regardless of one's abilities, disabilities, age, gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. Ethiopia has embraced early childhood education as a modern practice, with increasing coverage and participation. The Ethiopian government, with UNICEF's support, has developed strategic plans and policies to expand access to early childhood education. However, some of the rural regions currently still lack schools, health centers, power and access to clean drinking water. Koloboo Kindergarten is in one of these neglected areas. Without Koloboo, hundreds of children would be malnourished and would not have an opportunity to attend pre-primary school, the consequences of which are lasting and severe.

The Koloboo project addresses the following problems:

Children from poor families have faced serious problems in accessing education. Koloboo is free and nearby.

Most families in the area cannot afford to feed their children every day. Koloboo feeds two nutritional meals to every child, every day.

Some parents have no awareness of the correct age to send their children to nursery schools. The more awareness in the community, the better off the community as a whole.

Children in the area are forced to work beyond their physical and mental capacities. Some children manage the household (watching over their cattle, looking after younger siblings) instead of attending school. By providing basic support to these families, these young children can, crucially, attend pre-primary school.

The implementation of this project is also notably effective in the development of the community. FIDA has organized different awareness-raising workshops for the children’s families, local representatives, and teachers about child rights, eradicating harmful traditional practices which affect the rights of children and girls' future success, including children living with mental and physical disabilities.

Koloboo provides access to clean drinking water.

School-age children in Ethiopia are affected by a wide range of health- and nutrition-related problems that constrain their ability to survive. Some of the common nutrition-related problems are inadequate food consumption and associated levels of malnutrition, as well as iodine and vitamin A deficiencies, in most of the Ethiopian regions. Furthermore, there are low awareness levels on the effect of poor health and nutrition on children’s ability to learn.

Ethiopia’s Ministry of Education has conducted impact evaluations of the extensive School Meals Program (SMP). SMP was led by the World Food Program as a part of Ethiopia’s Education Sector Development Program (ESDP). School feeding programs are a social safety net that targets children in chronically food insecure areas, protects them against the worst consequences of household food insecurity, and contributes to better learning and educational outcomes, as well as better nutrition. In recent years, there has been an increased awareness of how poor health and nutrition affect the ability to learn. Despite these facts, the health and nutrition needs of school-age children have been largely ignored, focusing instead on younger children because they are at greater risk of mortality. However, since more children are now attending school than ever before, these concerns are slowly shifting away from mere survival towards improving the quality of life. Interventions aimed at schoolchildren are being increasingly viewed as vital to improving the health and nutrition status of the population as a whole.

The nursery was built, furnished and began providing essential services

through FIDA in October of 2011. Qualified teachers and other supporting staff have been employed every year since, and serve the students with dedication and passion.

In the current academic year (2022/2023) 120 vulnerable children have been the main project beneficiaries, gaining access to free quality nursery education, school uniforms, educational materials and the school feeding program (two meals per day.) The success of this project improves the wellbeing of 120 children and encourages the others who were not in school to come to school for the following academic year, and also helps to minimize the school dropout in the primary school level.

The children’s parents, community representatives and the project staff attend awareness raising workshops based on FIDA’s child protection policies regarding child rights and family planning issues. The local community’s understanding about these policies programs have big implications, eliminating harmful traditional practices and child abuse practices in regular, day-to-day life.

FIDA believes that the project will be sustainable after the phase out of the external support.

FIDA believes in the active participation of beneficiaries, government offices, and local committees to ensure the project's longevity. Ongoing support is planned through collaboration with existing and new partners, including donor agencies that have shown interest in supporting children's projects, particularly in education. The community is invested in the ongoing success of the school, as it impacts all. The beneficiaries have been actively involved in all project cycles (planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation.) Intensive discussions are conducted with concerned government offices to take part in the project, since it is also the responsibility of the government to fulfill basic services for all citizens.

Furthermore the Family Teachers Committee will be strengthened to assume essential responsibilities with the coordination of the city Administration of Sheger City education office. FIDA is in collaboration with existing donor agencies and new partners to fund the project with additional grants. Based on previous years practice there are several donor agencies who would like to support children projects mainly in the education sector. Since the establishment of the project in Koloboo village in 2011, there are two foundations in the Netherlands supporting the project annual budget up to 40 percent, and One Love Fund funding much of the remaining budget.