Meseret Kristos Church Development Commission(MKC-DC) Profile
1. Introduction
Meseret
Kristos Church Development Commission is the development wing of Meserete
Kristos Church, which is affiliated with Mennonite Mission. Currently, Meseret Kristos church has 352
local churches, 769 church planting centres and a total of about 269 thousand
members all over the country. All these
evangelism centres are administered by 19 regional offices and a central office
located in Addis Ababa. The church
performs its service under the overall guiding principle of “serving the whole
person”. Since its establishment in 1951 as a church, it has been reaching the
poor in fulfilling their spiritual, physical, social, intellectual and
psychological needs.
After
long years of interruption during the Derg regime, in 1990 the church was given
legal status and openly started its ministry where the Relief and Development
Program (RDP) became an integral part. RDP from 1991 to June 1998 focused on church-based
development programs where the emphasis was to empower the churches to
practically integrate the physical and spiritual services. Since July 1998, RDA was recognized under the
name of the Relief and Development Association (RDA) having its own legal
entity while maintaining its ministerial objective of the church which is
serving the whole person. On time RDA runs 13 projects assisting thousands of
beneficiaries in different localities. One of the 13 projects is the Child
Development program which is scattered all over the country and operates in 36
congregations having more than 9000 children and youth as direct beneficiaries.
In
conformity with the main church objectives, RDA’s Mission is “to promote peace
and justice in Ethiopia through addressing the economic, social, cultural and
spiritual needs of the poor rural and urban communities in a wholistic manner
so that ultimately individuals and communities glorify God Almighty for the
positive and sustainable transformation in their lives.”
RDA
works towards the fulfilment of human rights (as an overarching, integrating
concept) by addressing the physical, spiritual and social needs of people (the
right approach). The core activity is to bring about respect for human rights
through meeting those other needs. RDA believes that fulfilling the spiritual
and physical needs of the community in a holistic (integrated) approach including
peace, justice human rights, and development is the right of the people.
MKC-RDA is committed to planning and implementing participatory
transformational development projects jointly with donor agencies, local
churches and partner communities.
Although
about seven years have elapsed since RDA emerged as an independent organization
and planned and executed dozens of projects, it did not have a clearly
articulated forward-looking and clear direction of development and strategic
thinking for improving organizational services to the beneficiaries. Cognizant
of this problem and its effect on the overall development of the organization
and its programs, the Board of RDA suggested the need for preparing a strategic
plan for the organization which would enable it to improve performance, clarify
future direction, solve major organizational problems, improve resource
allocation, and meet stakeholders' requirements. During the process of the
Strategic Plan preparation (January 2022) it was clearly identified that RDA
has an inadequacy of capacity to effectively and efficiently execute, manage
and monitor its program, mission and strategies;
The
previous Meserete Kristos Church Relief and Development Association (MKC-RDA) recently
changed to Meserete Kristos Church Development Commission (MKC-DC) as of
October 21, 2022, is a local Non-Governmental Organization reorganized itself
in 1991 and registered by the Ministry of Justice in 1998 as a local NGO. The
organization envisioned a transformed and poverty-free Ethiopian society where
economic, social and spiritual needs are met and sustained for successive
generations. MKC-DC is commissioned to address the basic and spiritual needs of
people in rural and urban areas in a sustainable manner by tackling the root
cause of poverty. MKC-DC was undertaking 93 projects and benefiting more than
100,000 beneficiaries (2022) in different parts of the country. MKC-DC has been
implementing development projects in regional administrative states: Oromia,
Amhara, Tigray, Gambel, Sidama, SNNP, Afar, Somali as well as in Addis Ababa
and Dire Dawa City Councils. The major areas of project interventions include
Food Security, Education, Health and HIV/AIDS, Child and Youth Development,
Community Mobilization for development programs, and Disaster Risk Reduction.
MKC-DC has been committed to working with and empowering local communities to
feed the hungry and destitute through famine relief and food or cash for work
programs; to improve food security by soil enrichment and conservation through
composting, terrace building and tree planting; to improve community health
through basic education, protecting water sources, teaching sanitation and the
use of latrine and improving nutrition; to reduce the prevalence and spread of
HIV/AIDS through education and providing medications and assistance to people
living with HIV and AIDS; to provide educational opportunities through the
creation or improvement of schools for the children and providing functional
adult literacy programs; to enable the poorest children to get primary and
secondary education through sponsorship projects. Moreover, the organization also
promotes the development of self-help groups among the most vulnerable
population groups, especially women and people with disabilities and encourages
harmonious living situations within the community through peace-building and
conflict resolution training and promoting restorative justice practices.
MKC-DC has been partnered with Compassion International Ethiopia (CIE), Vision
Care Ethiopia, Bethesda Ministry: One Child Ethiopia, Children Hope Chest,
Mennonite Central Committee Ethiopia (MCCE), Tear Fund Ethiopia (UK), and Tear
Fund Irelands for the last ten years. MKC-DC is governed by a Board of Trustees
in which seven persons are members; selected by the MKC-DC’s General Assembly.
The Board members are leaders or experts from public organizations, civil
society organizations and private sectors. Moreover, MKC-DC has been
implementing emergency relief projects in some parts of the country
specifically in the Westen Zone of Oromiya Regional State, North Shoawa’s of
Amhara Regional State and Tigray Regional State. The experience and lessons gained from a long
time of project implementation enabled the organization to be effective and
efficient.
MKC-DC is the
development wing of Meserete Kristos Church that works in conformity with the
overall guiding principle of serving "the
whole person" through community development programs. It envisions a transformed
and poverty-free Ethiopian society where economic, social and moral needs are
met and continued for successive generations. To realize its vision, the
commission makes its utmost effort to address the economic, physical and moral
needs of urban and rural poor communities by empowering the community to halt
the root causes of poverty and deprivations.
As a partial fulfilment
of the overall goal and development principles, MKC-DC has developed this
annual operational plan for the year 2023. This plan was prepared in a participatory
manner at different levels where target communities, projects and head office staff
have been engaged actively. The operational plan document contains background/brief
history of MKC-DC, major projects/programs of the 2023 FY described in the summary
table with their operational locations, methods of planning the
projects/programs, goals and objectives, outputs and organizational management.
The physical
and financial plans summary is attached and will be presented at the end of this
session.
Accordingly,
for the fiscal year under focus, MKC-DC has planned programs in the following thematic
areas:
v
Children and Youths Development Program,
v
Livelihood Projects: Hawassa Tabor, Meta Wolkite &
Bora,
v
Self Help Groups Graduation Project,
v
Maternal and Child Health Improvement: Batu
v
Humanitarian Crisis Response and Rehabilitation
Project: Tigray,
v
Community Dialogue for Peaceful Coexistence Among
Ethnic Groups
2.
MKC-DC Organizational
Vision, Mission and Core Values:
2.1.
Vision:
MKC-DC’s
vision is to see poor and vulnerable women, economically grown and empowered to
reach their God-given potentials and enjoy improved wellbeing in thriving and
resilient communities in Ethiopia by 2030.
2.2. Mission:
2.3. Core Values:
MKC-DC upholds
the following six Core Values in its organizational life and work.
v We are
Christian,
v We value our
employees,
v We respect
the poor,
v We are
committed to equity and inclusiveness,
v We are
accountable,
v We grow
effective in partnership,
3. Core Strategies:
The core
strategies of MKC-DC include the following:
v
Providing holistic services to the needy community in
collaboration with full-time church servants and volunteers under the overall
guiding principle of ‘serving the whole person’.
v
Promoting integrated actions & working with local
churches to empower the poor through creating access to the resources at hand
& participating in development activities & decision-making processes.
v
Train and strengthen the SHGs, CLAs and FLAs as a
development tool by promoting gender equality and women empowerment.
v
Mainstreaming
Gender, HIV and AIDS, disability & environmental care.
v
Diversifying donor base by building strong partnerships
with all stakeholders and partners through proactive networking, information
exchange, and cooperation for development.
v
Mobilize local community for development activities, work
with stakeholders, and local churches, involve volunteers from the community
and collaborate with government and private sectors in the areas where the
projects are implemented.
4.
Program
Units:
MKC-DC implements its development activities in the following thematic areas: -
v Child and
Youth Development programs
v
Maternal and Child Health Improvement
v Self Help
Group formation, graduation and Livelihood Projects,
v Emergency
& Humanitarian Crisis Response,
v Community
Dialogue in Peacebuilding,
v Cash Transfer
Project
4.1.
Cross-Cutting
Issues:
v
Gender Equity and Equality
v
Environment and Climate Change
v
Disability Mainstreaming,
4.2.
Program Targets:
v The
poor community,
v The
Marginalized people,
v The highly
exposed hazards,
5.
Overall
Program Goal
The overall
program goal of MKC – DC as per our five-year strategic plan (2022 to 2026) is
to contribute to the improved well-being of poor and vulnerable mothers, youth,
adults and children in target communities from 2022 to 2026, through working
closely with all levels of government, donors, target communities, private
businesses and likeminded organizations.
MKC-Dc has
identified and selected the following five thematic areas that give scope
to and guide the development and implementation of programs and projects over
the strategic plan period:
v Sustainable Economic
Growth and schemes for better Livelihoods and Disaster Risk Reduction and
Recovery (DRRR),
v Education and
Child Development,
v Health and WASH,
v Human Rights
Advocacy and Peace Building, and
v Organizational
Effectiveness and Sustainability.
5.1.
Strategic Objectives and Thematic Areas
MKC-DC set
the following four Strategic Objectives (SOs) for programs and projects, and
organizational effectiveness and sustainability:
v Poor and
vulnerable women, adults and the youth built resilience and capacities for
sustainable livelihoods and fast recovery from crises from the large communities,
v Poor and vulnerable
children get access to quality education and life skills,
v Households
and communities get access to affordable and quality health care and WASH
services,
v Enhanced
participation of poor and vulnerable communities to influence unjust systems,
structures, harmful practices and attitudes to promote peace,
v Improved
organizational capacities for effective resource mobilization and execution of
decisions, policies and strategies.
MKC-DC has been implementing
development projects & programs in regional administrative states: Oromia,
Amhara, Tigray, Gambel, Sidama, SNNP, Afar, Somali, South West, Gambela &
Benishangule Gumuz as well as in Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa City
Administrations.
Monitoring & Evaluation:
Ø Monitoring
v The
implementations of the project will be regularly monitored. The project
manager, project coordinator, at head office, and programmes manager of MKC-DC
including programs and finance departments will strongly monitor and support
the implementation of the program.
v Monitoring
will be conducted with clear performance indicators using the monitoring format
developed by the organization (which segregate beneficiaries' data by their
gender and disability types) to collect field-level data through interview of
target beneficiaries, survey questionnaires, case studies and stories of
changes
v Vital,
reliable and valid data of SHGs,
utilization of energy efficient cook stoves, beekeeping; AI, SOA and CA will be collected to measure the program
progress and learning.
v These data will be
gathered during field visit monitoring,
reflection during review meetings, baseline and end-line surveys which will
influence learning and the ongoing implementation of the program,
v Monitoring
and review meetings will be conducted every quarter by both signatory bodies and MKC-DC staff while baseline and end line will be conducted at the
beginning and end of the program
respectively.
Ø Evaluation:
Project
Evaluation will be prearranged, managed and implemented by project partners
themselves with or/ without external experts. Signatory parties will be
involved on the project evaluation. In the process of the project evaluation,
the relevance and level of achievement of the project’s objectives, the
development effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability of the project
will be considered. Before the evaluation implementation is done, we need to
design the evaluation questions that must be formulated in accordance with the
evaluation criteria of Relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and
sustainability.
Ø Reporting
v MKC-DC will submit the
Meta Welkite and Bora Livelihood project biannual and yearly implementation
reports both physical and financial to the concerned signatory bodies.
v Deviations, problems and
issues that should be brought in to Mgt. attention will be reported to the
concerned bodies clearly and comprehensively.
v The project reports will
be reviewed during monitoring and evaluation time and appropriate corrective
actions will be taken.
Ø Implementation Areas:
v Regions and
Projects:
1)
Oromiya-------------------------------- 50 Projects
2) Amhara-------------------------------- 14 Projects
3)
Tigray -------------------------------- 2 Projects
4)
SNNPRS-------------------------------- 10 Projects
5)
Afar -------------------------------- 1 Project
6)
Gambela-------------------------------- 1 Project
7)
Beneshangul Gumuz-----------------2 projects
8)
Sidama----------------------------------2 Projects
9)
Ethiopian Somali---------------------1 Project
10)
South West
NNPRS-----------------1 Project
v City
Governments and Projects:
1.
Dire Dawa City -------------------------------- 3
Projects
- Addis Ababa City-------------------------------- 8
Projects
Total = 95 Projects
Ø Annual Budget:
v The total planned budget for the fiscal year 2023 is Birr 454,038,442.00 out of which Birr 410,885,079.00 (90.5%) earmarked for the program implementation and 43,153,363(9.5) is for administration cost to benefit a total of 110,472 vulnerable people directly, and 275,423 people indirectly.
Ø Staff:
v A total of 393 staff members (212 Male and 181 Female) will participate in the implementation of the annual plan during the fiscal year.
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