CSIF Projects
Project 1: Promoting Inclusiveness in Society through Rights-based Research, Dialogue, and Advocacy
The specific goal of this project is to create robust, inclusive, and diverse civic and media space as well as to enhance the partnerships between civic organizations through research, capacity building of formal and informal civic associations and grassroots movements, and by creating human rights-based dialogue platforms to protect the civic space in addition to mitigating conflicts and peacebuilding.
This project is led by the Center for Advancement of Rights and Democracy (CARD), in consortium with the Association for Human Rights in Ethiopia (AHRE), Ethiopian Human Rights Defenders Center (EHRDC), Ethiopian Initiative for Human Rights (EIHR), East African Initiative for Change (I4C), Initiative for Peace and Development (IPD), and Setaweet movement.
Project 2: Advancing Human Rights Through Legal Aid Services
This project has the specific objective of providing legal aid services in police stations located in Addis Ababa, Adama and Hawassa with both stationed and mobile legal aid centers. The activities are targeted to make legal aid services accessible to detainees in the early stages of criminal proceedings in police stations. By providing legal aid services in police stations, the poor protection of access to justice in early stages of criminal proceedings will improve, thereby contributing to protection of the rights of detainees in police stations. Legal representation in police stations will also have impacts on the ways police handle detainees in custody. If the rights of detainees are protected at this stage of criminal proceedings, it will in its turn also reduce wrongful detention and convictions.
This project is led by Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) in a consortium with Advocate Ethiopia (AE) and Mizan Young Lawyers Center (MYLC).
Project 3: Ethiopian Civil Society Engagement Programme (ECSEP)
This project comprises of five overlapping programmes run in parallel. The program package includes an emerging civil society leaders fellowship, civil society monthly engagement series, an emerging CSO online network, digital activism training program, and annual civil society awareness and activism campaigns. The core objective of the program is the creation of a vibrant civic space in Ethiopia achieved by targeting four core gaps in leadership, institutional capacity, access to information, and networking. The program also incorporates digital activism as a new and relevant concept, recognising the importance of digital actors to achieving program goals.
