What We Do
Focus On Ethiopia
Education
Building Libraries
“Education is not the filling of a pot but the lighting of a fire. “ –W.B. Yeats
H2 Empower constructed a community library in the town of Hosanna in Ethiopia. The entire community actively uses this library for personal learning, computer access, group studying, and local meetings. For the first time in their lives, many children, teachers and community members alike have books to read that are in their own language, both Amharic and Hadiyyisa. We have developed a vast assortment of 10,000 books, stories relevant to all age groups and across a wide variety of subjects, instead of the more standard collection of textbooks and reference books.
Through our relationships in Ethiopia and the funds we raised for this library, this town is benefiting every day from the generosity of many.
This community library serves a community of 69,000 youth as of 2023.
The library consists of the main reading room for 75 visitors, a children's room with seating for 45, a work room for staff, and a computer center with 24 networked computers and a printer.
We see over 25,000 visits to the library each year, from grade schoolers all the way up to university students and teachers.
Monthly visits average 2,531 students.
Parents and the local community have pitched in and contributed a significant share of funding the library. They have contributed 180,000 Birr so far- over 20% of the cost.
The Town of Hosanna, the Hadiya Zone and local institutions are also contributing - Hosanna Education Bureau pays the salary of four employees.
The new library has a computer room for teaching computer literacy, with internet access for students, teachers and the community.
The library was awarded the US Ambassador's Self Grant to help with construction costs. The International Foundation for Self Help provided dozens of tables and chairs for the main room. Be Free Global awarded us a grant for children's furniture in the library.
We recently built a second school library - stocked fully with books and furniture - in a remote part of the Hadiyya Zone serving 1,000 children, approximately 40 kilometers from Hosanna proper. Further development of this library for community access and benefits to schoolchildren is actively underway. More to come!
The Power of Reading
“To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.“ —Victor Hugo
How can a young person learn about the world around them and expand their mind, while understanding more about themselves in the process? A fantastic way, and one of our favorites, is through the power of reading! Picture a college without a single book in the library! Imagine a school for 4,500 children with just 10 books! Imagine not having textbooks to study for critical national exams!
That is a reality for far too many students today. H2 Empower is dedicated to doing our part to end this drought of literature.
Since starting in 2003, h² Empower has sent 95,000 books to schools throughout Ethiopia:
Professional, academic, and reference books have been sent to four Teacher Training Colleges, one Vocational College, one Health Science College, and three universities in Ethiopia.
A diverse mix of books donated to 45 primary schools serving a total of 60,000 students. Seven private schools have received books for all grades.
H2 Empower provided the first-ever training for school librarians for primary, and secondary, colleges and the university in the history of Ethiopia. School directors and education bureau staff were also trained.
We have a particular emphasis on furnishing books in local languages, so that children can read in their mother tongue. Too many book drives focus solely on books in English. Local language books will expand the horizons of all the students, serve their interests and help improve the quality of education in the area.
Medical reference books to a hospital library so that doctors and staff would have access to the latest professional guidance. These are now regularly used as resources for staff training.
25 secondary schools, including those in remote areas of the county, were given collections of books to start or supplement their own library programs.
3 public libraries were also given books to expand their offerings.
10,000 books to fill the community library in Hosanna at Alemu Woldehanna
Principals, school directors and librarians received training to create or further implement their school libraries.
Pen & Paper Project
“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” - Benjamin Franklin
Children value the opportunity to attend school and are oftentimes willing to walk extremely far distances every day just to get an education. Across the nation, a good education is understood and highly celebrated for its central role as the road from poverty. However, there are many hurdles in their way. One that we, and you, can easily help with: the mandatory pen and notebook for each subject. This may sound rather trite for us in the United States and elsewhere. In Ethiopia though, too many families struggle to furnish the money for pens and paper, for the basic essential of their children’s education.
There are 80% of Ethiopians who live in rural areas, and 85% of Ethiopians work in the agriculture sector. An uncertain majority of that population lives as subsistence farmers, producing just enough to survive. Pens and notebooks are not only costly but also often inaccessible from a lack of supply or cash.
You can change the world, help children stay in school, prosper, and develop their communities by supplying them with a pen and paper. They are not allowed in school without these essential learning materials. We can easily solve this challenge. A $20 donation translates to a child with the 11 notebooks they need for all subjects for the year.
You can help by asking your children's schools to raise funds, have children donate part of their birthday or holiday money, or have a container to hold spare cash until you have $20. There are lots of ways to help these children. The need exists all year round.
Only $20 for a year’s worth of progress in a young person’s life is quite the deal! Please donate to our Pen & Paper Project.
Student-centered learning
Reading and writing strategies
Continuous assessment
Female empowerment
First aid
Environmental education
Behavior management
Technology and sports
Sustainability strategies
Professional Training
“Teaching affects eternity: no one can tell where their influence stops.” - Henry Brooks Adams
H2 Empower strives to improve the quality of education in Ethiopia through continual support and training of teachers, librarians, and administrators. Following the Ministry of Education’s policies and professional development objectives, teachers are trained in the following…
As is true everywhere, teachers have an exceptional influence on the academic success of the children in their class. Future generations succeed with the continual support of their teachers. We specialize in supporting teachers. School administrators, and teachers are eager to increase their skills and broaden their pedagogical tool set at our popular training workshops.
H2 Empower volunteers visit regularly to provide training workshops for educators in addition to working with the local Bureau of Education. By coordinating together, we ensure our workshops are utilized in a fair, accessible, useful way. We strive to update our training curricula in line with established best practices and proven methodologies. h² Empower delivers the latest teaching methods adapted to meet the needs of Ethiopian schools, implementing the government curriculum, and fostering the educational growth of all.
Discover what teacher training in Ethiopia is all about at ground level. Please click on this link to read Rhoda Koenig's article describing her powerful and poignant experience training teachers in Ethiopia.
Sustainable Development
Constructing Classroom
“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” – Malcolm x
Ethiopia is the second most populated country in sub saharan Africa. In terms of education, one can see the impact of this in the class size. It is common in the rural areas to find classes with over one hundred students...including kindergarten. This situation challenges both teachers and children. For a quality education, students require individual attention, an opportunity to ask questions, enough space to move around and complete classwork and activities.
When H2 Empower first came to Hosanna, Ethiopia in 2003 the largest school in the town had 4,500 children with a first grade class of 135 children. Now most primary schools in the area have between 1,000 and 2,500 children. These are still a very large numbers, but slow improvements are being made. In Ethiopia, if a public school has a classroom, the town is required to provide a teacher. H2 Empower has provided 24 classrooms complete with custom furniture, subsequently cutting class size in half in many cases. Creating a positive learning environment motivates children to work hard which inevitably leads to confidence and academic success.
Water is Life
“Once you have carried your own water, you will learn the value of every drop.” - - Unknown
H2 Empower has installed water in coordination with the Town of Hosanna Water Department in 5 primary schools serving approximately 7,000 children, one community spring distribution center, and 1 rural school and 3 villages in Burundi.. An integral add-on effect of these projects is that when the water pipes are brought to the schools, the town adds on water-access points along the way to each nexus for the neighboring community. Therefore, thousands of families also have permanent supply of clean water for the first time! This leads to significantly improved health and sanitation. Girls don't have to miss school walking miles just to fetch unclean water from streams or other unreliable sources.
Once the town bureaucracy has reassessed the community, other services follow: roads, latrines, electricity, housing deeds, and water infrastructure on adjacent streets. Thus, the whole community is uplifted and the overall impact is far beyond just putting in some pipes. As Mayor Woldemichael so accurately said during a recent Appreciation Ceremony, "Water is life." This is utterly true and critical to further development. In fact, studies show water access infrastructure is one of the three most cost-efficient methods of development. Another vital source of further development is female education and empowerment.
Sustainable Development
“Teaching affects eternity: no one can tell where their influence stops.“ - Henry Brooks Adams
h² Empower works alongside the people of Ethiopia and Burundi to empower them to improve their environment and their standard of living. True development that lasts longer than a season takes trust, it takes steadfast commitment. Across all our efforts and projects, we strive to develop relationships with stakeholders to hear their story and perspective in order to understand exactly what can and should be done to move forward.
A sample of some of our activities include:
Partnering with the Hosanna Town Water Authority and the NGO WaterAid. In 2018, we brought water to a school of 2,600 children in the outskirts of Hosanna and the people living around the school. The result was water for the entire student body and community, for sanitary bathrooms, the science laboratory, and a sustainable garden on the school compound.
In conjunction with a Peace Corps Volunteer, we worked with the Doregena community to rehabilitate a spring to get clean potable water for all!
H2 Empower built a small well for agricultural use and, partnering with the local vocational college here, built a solar oven for cooking accessible to all.
Conducted community trainings on permaculture gardening, urban gardening, sustainable cooking techniques such as bio-char briquettes and even soccer skills clinics for fun.
h² Empower is continually working to coordinate efforts and link members of the Hadiya Development Corporation, providing increased services and programs for the 3 million people in the Hadiya zone. Looking forward, we have great hopes to furnish new sectors of employment, job and skills training, adult literacy, and increase the use of solar technology throughout the zone.
Empowerment
Female Empowerment
“If you educate a man, you educate an individual. But if you educate a woman, you educate a nation.” - James Kwegyir-Aggrey
h² Empower understands the integral link between education and national development. Worldwide, UNICEF studies show 129 million school-age girls are out of school, most being removed by their parents around age 13-14. h² Empower is supporting girls’ education and training teachers, both male and female, to encourage and keep girls in school. We are instituting female education programs using technologies for income generation to improve academic success. Following the Ministry of Education’s approved curricula, these efforts prepare girls for academic success, including leadership, school attendance, health education, and goal setting.
We are also working with women in the Hosanna area to improve self-confidence and life skills, such as permaculture gardening and basic accounting. We link women's groups with other agencies to help women develop independently, achieve an education, and promote entrepreneurial capacity.
We also helped develop a Power in Pads Program, created by Marisa Comple, where we supported instruction to teachers who taught girls how to sew washable pads to keep girls in school, provide instruction in sexual health and enable economic self-sufficiency.
h² Empower supported a women's literacy project in Bujumbura, Burundi, for 100 women. As part of a microloan project, they received a focused education so that they can improve their reading, writing, and math as part of financial literacy program for their small businesses. This is integral to the project’s broader goals of improving their lives and helping their families. We have also facilitated the expansion of this microloan project. Overall, microloan programs are a proven measure of individual self-sufficiency and community prosperity.
Civic Engagement
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Mead
h2 Empower developed Civic Engagement After school Clubs across 25 primary and secondary schools in Hosanna, Ethiopia. These clubs center on empowering students of all ages to learn about their global connections around the world, shaping positive character and civic education, and providing a straightforward vehicle for students to take personal action for a tangible difference in the world.
We have connected all the 25 schools in Hosanna with each other and visits have included gift-giving, drama and poetry performances, and other creative experiences. It has been eye-opening for the students to visit each other's school, make new friends, and share their school’s activities. Even at the local level, differences between urban and rural, differing languages, public and private, help open our eyes to the diversity all around us. This network includes a school for the deaf, a school in a prison, and Catholic, Protestant and Muslim private schools. Each school does a service learning project to help their community as well. We are very proud of what the students and their advisors have accomplished. These students are on their way to be leaders of tomorrow.
Teachers have been trained in student-centered learning activities and how to develop leadership skills. Students came together from all the schools for a day of interconnected activities, leadership development, and an increased understanding of our global and interconnectedness.
Sample of service learning activities included:
The Hosanna School for the Deaf has created and developed a community garden.
At Adams Thermal Primary School, students cleaned up all the classrooms and campus grounds.
At Excellence Academy in Hosanna, 2nd to 4th-grade students participated in discussions, reading books, learning new songs, and volunteer efforts in their community.
In the Innis Ford School in Addis Ababa, 6th-grade students have written books for kindergarten children and read to them while going through their normal lessons.
All schools collaborated to meet at the center of town to help clean up city streets.