Afarhelp partner

DADAL Afar Rural Development Association

1. What is DADAL-ARDA?
DADAL Afar Rural Development Association (DADAL-ARDA) is a local non-governmental organization that aims to reduce poverty in Afar National Regional State, Ethiopia.
We work in partnership with pastoral and agro-pastoral people of Afar, helping them
to manage their natural resources more effectively and build sustainable livelihoods on their land.

2. The operational area
The operation area of DADAL - ARDA is the whole rural Weredas of the Afar region.
However for the first few years it targets Zone three Weredas of Awash Fantale, Amibara Dulacha, and Gawane to pilot and test its development interventions. The next five years the development plan includes zone one and zone five of the Afar regional state.

3. Our history
DADAL Afar Rural Development Association is a local non-governmental organization established with a legally entity on July 8, 2004 aiming to reduce poverty in Afar pastoral community, Ethiopia. In the long run the operation area of DADAL- ARDA covers the whole Afar werdas mainly focusing on the most marginalized and remote localities in the Wereda. However, in the short run, its operation area is limited to four weredas in Zone three of the region. These are Amibera, Gewane, Awash fentale and Dulecha weredas. The organization has opened its office in Awash 7- killo town of the Afar National Regional State.

It has the necessary legal documents such as Memorandum of Association and registration certificate. The organization has also been developing the necessary policy documents. The organization works in partnership with pastoral and agro-pastoral people of Afar, helping them to manage their natural resources and their own socio economic development more effectively and efficiently so as to achieve sustainable improvement in their livelihoods.

DADAL- ARDA has got good relationship with the target community and the government. The organization started its development intervention as of January 2006 in Gawane, Amibara and Dulacha Weredas of ANRS in Zone -3. The organization has signed three year project agreement on HIV/AIDS and organizational capacity building project as of January 2006, with VERDANDI( Swedish Organization). It has also signed two years agreement with French Embassy on bee keeping project in July 2006.

In the past one year the major development interventions carried out by the organization in the target Weredas is HIV/AIDS awareness creation project funded by VERDANDI( Swedish Organization) and construction of one primary school using local materials funded by Open Hand & Afar Help ( Swedish NGOs). Furthermore, the organization has signed agreement with French Embassy and implementing bee keeping and bridge maintenance project in Amibara wereda (Hali Debe Kebele).

4. Our vision and mission
DADAL has a vision of prosperous and empowered Afar people free from poverty and injustices. We aim to make this a reality by:

Focusing on the most marginalized pastoral community in remote and inaccessible areas of the region
Working closely and in partnership with communities and their institutions, research organizations, governments, others non-government organizations and the private sector
Being catalyst, innovative and practical – by developing and using locally acceptable technology, mobilizing, organizing and capacitating the community rather than merely focusing on service delivery
Using indigenous knowledge and locally available resources as a primary inputs of community development
Empowering and building the capacity of the community and their local institutions, rather than building parallel structures, so rural communities can lead and manage their own development
By demonstrating results, sharing knowledge and influencing others – we share our practical experiences widely, using the results to advocate for change in policy and practices
Applying integrative planning system to reduce duplication of efforts.

5. Our objective
Improve food security and livelihood of the community through:

Support small scale irrigation for crop and livestock forage (Mixed farming,
bee keeping)
Support for livestock production (introducing modern animal farming, fattening, improving veterinary services)
Support livestock and livestock products marketing
Promoting cooperative in various Income generating activities (Gaddeyta, handcraft, broom corn production, small scale farming, etc…)
Introduce and promote community based Disaster Management system to reduce communities’ vulnerability to the effect of disasters.

6. Our beliefs and principles
We believe in working with those most in need: marginalized rural population and agro-pastoral communities’ vulnerable to natural and environmental degradation and poor access to social and economic services (such as education, health and market). We are confident that with little support provided the communities can dramatically improve their livelihood and food security.

Investing in pastoralism and agro-pastoralism, which is the main livelihood option for the rural Afar people is the best way to tackle grassroots rural poverty. We believe that by working in partnership with communities and their institutions, research organizations, governments, others non-government organizations and the private sector, we can find solutions to rural poverty together, sharing skills and increasing opportunities for advocacy.

We know that local people has indigenous knowledge and resources to help it self, thus we aim to develop the skill of communities – particularly men and women of the target community, government and private sector.

We believe in community – led solutions to development problems and encourage communities to participate in identifying their development needs and solution of their problems.

7. Our approach and strategy
Achieving the organizations’ vision and mission statements will require the initiation and execution of wereda level Holistic and Integrated long term Development Program in different sectors within the overall development framework of the Ethiopian government.

The design of Wereda Holistic and Integrated Development Program ( WHIDP) is based on the assumption that pastoral livelihoods can be improved by strengthening the self-management capacities of indigenous institutions found within communities, giving them control of resources and decisions making power during all stages of the local subproject cycle. For this, two separate but complimentary approaches will be used.

A community-driven development (CDD) approach will be used to empower communities to articulate local priorities and to allocate and manage development resources. Empowerment is the expansion of assets and capabilities of poor people to participate in, negotiate with, influence, control and hold accountable institutions that affect their lives. CDD will help ensure local ownership and sustainability of Project interventions. Successful introduction of CDD principles will require a substantive change in attitude and way of operating services at a community level.

Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) is one term for a growing group of approaches, methods, attitudes and behaviours that empowers people to share, analyze and communicate the realities of their lives and conditions, to plan themselves what action to take and to monitor, evaluate and reflect on the results. PLA includes Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and Participation-Reflection-Analysis. PLA seeks to be holistic, integrating all the key elements of the project management cycle using participatory tools and techniques for situation analysis, opportunity analysis, project planning and empowerment for negotiation with other development actors, to obtain investment, form appropriate institutions, effect implementation and monitor and evaluate results.

Successful PLA/PRA depends on skilled facilitators acting as conveners and catalysts, without dominating the process. Facilitators must take time, listen, show respect and be open and self-critical and must also have confidence that local people – whatever their gender, education or wealth – are capable of carrying out their own analysis. While facilitators act as a catalyst, it is local people who decide what to do with the information and analysis they generate.

Whatever the outcome, there must be a commitment on the part of the facilitating institution to do its best to support the actions that local people have chosen. This often requires change in the culture and processes of the institution facilitating PLA/PRA, necessitating an institutional willingness to share power, to be receptive to new ideas, to listen to instead of dictating to people and to take risks by opening up the development process rather than trying to control it.

8. Our structure and capacity

8.1 General Assembly
DADAL-ARDA has its own General Assembly, which is a supreme governing body of the organization. The General Assembly is responsible for;

Review and endorsement of the organization’s long term key strategic plan as well as its annual work plan, comprehensive review and approval of the organization’s annual/ mid term physical performances and financial utilizations reports,
Provide overall programmatic and operational guidance and directions regarding the organization’s short- and medium-term focus areas in line with the organization’s vision and mission statements
The regular meeting schedule of the General Assembly is once in every year, but emergency meeting can be called by the chairperson, as deemed necessary.

8.2 Board of Directors
The organization has a Board of Directors composed of socially prominent highly respected persons. The Board of directors is accountable to the General assembly and responsible to provide strategic guidance and control. The Board of the directors has Chair person, Deputy Chair person and secretary.

The major responsibilities of the Board of Directors is to follow up the implementation of the approved plans and other decisions passed by the general assembly, check and review annual budget & work plan, annual financial & activity performance reports of the organization before the approval of the general assembly, comment and appraise policies, employ the coordinator of the organization, design ways through which partnership can be built and asses the presence of healthy work relationship with stakeholders. regular support, follow up, monitoring and supervision of the organization’s overall program planning and implementation procedures and performances review and approval of fund raising project documents before the due date of submission to the potential donor organizations.

The regular meeting schedule of the Board of Directors is once in every quarter, but emergency meeting can be called by the chairperson, as deemed necessary.

8.3 Executive organ
The executive organ has its office in Awash and responsible to carry out the day –to- day operations of the project. The executive organ is led by a coordinator appointed by the Board of directors, which at the same time serves as a secretary of the Board of directors.

As the executive organ of the organization is established at the end of the year 2006, it has limited organizational capacity. Currently the organization has employed executive Director, one secretary and guards. The organization is running its development activity through either hiring part-time technical support or support from volunteers. The organization lacks transportation facilities and office equipment.

For meeting its organizational vision and development objectives, parallel to under-taking minor development activities at grass root level, DADAL- ARDA needs primarily building its organizational capacity. The urgent need would be staffing (core technical staff), transportation facilities, office equipment, developing policy documents, reviewing its organizational structure and preparing strategic plan of the organization.

9. Our partners
DADAL-ARDA works closely with all stakeholders in target wereda. Our partners are the pastoral and agro pastoral target community and the various organizations/
individuals that have been involved in any activity that might have positive impact in the livelihood of local communities in project wereda. The following are the core stakeholders of DADAL-ARDA;

Wereda government offices: Wereda Administrator, Pastoralist Development Office, Education Office, Health Office, Water Desk, Disaster Prevention & Preparedness Desk and Wereda Finance & Economic Development Office
Community Representatives: clan leaders, religious leader, elders , women and youth representatives
Various Civil Society Organizations operating in target Weredas
VERDANDI (Swedish Organization), Open Hand & Afar Help (Swedish NGOs); Norwegian Development Fund, European Union, GTZ and French Embassy
Other Donors, International NGOS and Embassies.

Our address
DADAL-ARDA Head Office
P. O. Box 123
Awash 7 kilo
Afar National Regional State
Ethiopia

Phone: 00 251-222 240 781, 0
Mobile: 00 241-911 711 277

E-mail: dadal_2000@hotmail.com