By Flaminia Battistelli
Tigrai Online - June 26, 2013
Handing Over Ceremony
PRESS RELEASE
Mekelle, Ethiopia – In the presence of Ato Hadis Zenebe, Head of Security and Administration, representing His Excellency the Tigray Regional President, the ILO Director of Regional Office, Mr. George Okutho and the Director of Italian Development Cooperation (IDC) Office of Addis Ababa, Mr. Fabio Melloni, the handing over ceremony of the Project ‘EMPOWERMENT OF PEOPLE IN PRISON THROUGH SKILL AND INCLUSIVE FINANCE SUPPORT WITH SPECIAL FOCUS ON WOMEN PRISONERS’ will be held on Thursday, 27 June 2013, in the Mekelle Prison Compound.
Started in 2012, the project has been implemented by ILO in the past year, through a 650,000 Euro grant made available by the Italian Development Cooperation to foster women economic empowerment at Mekelle Prison and WISE (Organisation for Women in Self-Employment). The Italian intervention in support of Mekelle’s inmates came after previous similar experiences undertaken by IDC in other countries such as Lebanon and Afghanistan.
The underlying vision of the initiative is to create a prison which is aimed at the rehabilitation of inmates through an empowering and learning environment and where prisoners are conceived as citizen who will be helped to reintegrate themselves into the society and to be able to contribute to social and community wellbeing and development.
The project has focused on empowering all of the female inmates as well as a number of male prisoners through education, skills training, financial literacy and cooperative management, as well as opportunities to access finance to engage in economically useful activities, with the collaboration of implementing partners, among which Dedebit Microfinance Institution (DECSI) played a key role by partnering in financial training as well as provision of financial services for savings, credit and insurance through its brank within the prison premises. Where prison inmates were relying on support from family and friends, now inmates are making money transfers to family members to support them with school fees, living expenses and other support. Hundereds also save significant sums from their earnings in a saving account with the DECSI branch within the prison. The initiative has enabled the development of 26 active cooperatives that have established successful businesses and empowering opportunities for prison inmates and released prisoners.
All the efforts made by the prison administration, with the support of the regional authorities, and the encouraging results achieved in changing inmates’ living conditions, place Makalle on the right track to become a successful model for Ethiopia and Africa.
MEDIA ADVISORY
HANDING OVER CEREMONY OF
The empowerment of people in prison through skill and inclusive finance support with special focus on women prisoners project
Date: Thursday 27st June
Time: 09:45 - 14.30
Location: Mekelle Prison Compund, Mekelle
Media Arrangements:
For further details and information on the ceremony, contact:
Italian Development Cooperation (IDC) Flaminia Battistelli Mobile: +251(0)922824296Sponsored Links
Better Late than Never:The Imperatives of Immortalizing our Martyrs
Ordinary Ethiopians started to speak out against the Egyptian agents
Enough is enough with the old colonial treaty cassettes
Shifting To See Meles in a New Light
Ethiopian Wins Sky Trax World Airline Award for Best Airline Staff Service in Africa
Ethiopian and Egyptian foreign ministers issued a joint statement
Too much ado about nothing: A minor demonstration gets disproportionate speculation
Somaliland to support Ethiopia in the Nile conflict with Egypt
The anti-Corruption Crackdown: Just an episode in the long-term battle
Ethiopia gets $300 million loan from Exim bank of India
Engaging the Diaspora: how, when and where Shaping out workable Methodology
President Yoweri Museveni blasts Egypt in support of Ethiopia
President Mursi and Co., Be Careful What You Wish for Ethiopia and the Renaissance Dam
Ethiopian parliament ratifies the new Nile River Cooperative Framework Agreement
Egypt Has No Choice but to Cooperate with Ethiopia On The Issue of the Nile
Eritrean sponsored terrorists annihilated by Ethiopian security forces
Sudan reaffirms support for the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam
The Benishangul Peoples Liberation Movement (BPLM) quits armed struggle and returns home
Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn to pay official visit to China
Ethiopian Extremists wagging their tails and begging Egypt to invade Ethiopia
The Egyptian political rhetoric over the Nile and the reality
Ethiopia summons Egypts ambassador over Nile dam attack comments
Egyptian politicians caught plotting how to attack Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam
Dealing With a Pariah State in the Horn of Africa
Kaizen Initiatives at the Ethiopian Wonji Sugar Manufacturing Company
Beware of wishful thinking: one swallow doesnt make a summer
Thousands of opposition supporters demonstrated Sunday in Addis Ababa
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea
Tigrainophobia is a bane of unity, peace and democracy
Eritrean diplomat expelled from Canada for extortion money from citizens
Ethiopia diverts the Blue Nile for construction of the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam
The Rise of the Sun People: A New Morning Breaks in Africa
The Ignored State in the horn of Africa
Ethiopian completes all Preparations to Start Services to Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro
Africa will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the African Union this weekend in Addis Ababa
Star Alliance launches Navigator ipad App First Airline Alliance to Introduce Customized iPad App
Another flawed, recycled Human Right report on Ethiopia from the State Department (Part II)
The role of Qatar in mediating Ethiopia and Eritrea
Another flawed, recycled Human Right report on Ethiopia from the State Department
Major Mamo Lema: the Achilles heel of the Riotous 15 (R15)
Behind the Façade of Corruption in Ethiopia and what the Government ought to do
U.S. Department of State issued new travel warning for Eritrea
High Ethiopian government officials arrested for corruption
Fishes That Never Get Wet (The Diaspora based opposition politicians)
Ethiopia to start construction of a high voltage power transmission lines in September
Why Self-proclaimed Kaizen Management is becoming very fashionable in Ethiopia? An Observation
The Radicalization of Ethiopian Muslims: A Solution Worthy of the Serious Threat Posed
Shabiya sponsored Muslim Extremists trying to stop the Grand Renaissance Dam in support of Egypt
Ethiopian Foreign Minister Dr. Tedros Adhanom meets Ethiopian Diasporas in D.C.