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ETHIOPIA ANNUAL REVIEW 2025
Norwegian Church Aid Ethiopia Annual Review 2025 Editor: Hilina Abebe Photos: Kedija Sefa, Håvard Bjelland Published in: July 2026, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Cover Photo: Håvard Bjelland/NCA
Contents Message from the Country Director A Look at 2025 Timeline 2025 Our 2025 Geographic Presence Our Programme Results: Climate Resilient-Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Economic Development & Food Security; Climate & Environmental Stewardship Gender-Based Violence/ Sexual and Reproductive Health Peacebuilding Humanitarian Response What We Learned Donors Partners Financials 3 5 7 6 10 11 19 26 36 43 58 61 62 63
Photo: Håvard Bjelland, Norwegian Church Aid 1 | Annual Review 2025
Our Mission Who We Are Our Work in Ethiopia InEthiopia, we seekto empower communities through development work, humanitarian response, and advocacy, where rights-holders claim their rights and access services. NCA has beenpresent in Ethiopia since1974- over five decades of responding to emergencies, supporting recovery, and working alongside communities toward long-term change. We implement our programmes through local partners, both faith-based and values-driven organisations, and in close cooperation with government structures at every level. These are not transactional relationships. They are built at the grassroots, maintained over time, and designed for lasting impact. As a member of the ACT Alliance - a coalition of faith-based organisations working in over 100 countries - we bring both global reach and deep local roots to everything we do in Ethiopia. Norwegian ChurchAid (NCA) has been standing alongside communities in crisis since 1947. Founded in Norway and now working with partners across the globe, NCA believes in a world where every person lives with dignity, justice, and equal opportunity. As a member of the ACT Alliance, NCA works through long- term development, humanitarian response, and advocacy - meeting immediate needs, and addressing the deeper inequalities that drive them. Annual Review 2025 | 2
Message from the Country Director Photo: Håvard Bjelland, Norwegian Church Aid 3 | Annual Review 2025
Margrethe Volden, Country Director 2025 marked the beginning of a new strategic period (2025–2029), anchored in a vision for just, empowered, and resilient communities living in dignity and vision.Ethiopia continuedtoface onepeace. It was also a year that we tested that Guided by three priorities in our global strategy: saving lives, building resilience, and seeking justice, we continued working together with our partners to respond to urgent needs while adapting our programmes to better connect humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding nexus. We also invested in stronger partnerships by supporting partners’ skills, systems, and leadership. We provided integrated support to people displaced by conflict and drought, including internally displaced people, refugees, and host communities. This included assistance in water and sanitation, protection, health, nutrition, gender- based violence response, and peacebuilding. We strengthened survivor-centred services through One-Stop Centres, improved referral pathways for survivors of gender-based violence and strengthened coordination among justice actors. To support longer-term recovery, we invested in climate-resilient water systems and livelihoods, and supported community peacebuilding initiatives. On the environment, we supported local capacity in forest monitoring, deforestation alerts, and wider forest governance. We also helped partner organisations take a more active role in local and regional climate platforms, strengthening the leadership and visibility of local and faith-based partners in national and regional advocacy spaces, including the Africa Climate Summit. We also supported communities and local organisations to engage more effectively in policy dialogue and advocacy. With many displaced people still living in prolonged displacement, integrating humanitarian response with longer-term development and peace efforts is not only relevant, but also necessary. Our implementing partners, many of them rooted in faith communities, bring a trust, presence, and understanding of context that no external organisation can replicate. Strengthening their capacity, visibility, and voice in national and regional spaces remained a deliberate priority in 2025 and will continue to be. We are deeply grateful to our institutional and private donors and stakeholders for their continued trust and support. This annual review is an account of what we achieved, what we learned, and where the gaps remain. I hope it also reflects something of the people who make this work meaningful and the communities it exists to serve. ofthe region›s mostcomplexhumanitariancrises, marked bychronic,protracted, and cyclically recurrent needs stemming from persistent conflict and climate-related shocks across various regions. Annual Review 2025 | 4
We... A Look at 2025 Our Programmes 73 8 12 15 10 23 1 566,470 wereoperational in collaborated with receivedfunding from 405,418 161, 0 5 2people served through humanitarian response people served through development programmes. Climate-resilient Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Gender-Based Violence Climate Resilience/ Faith-Based Climate Action Districts Regions Institutional Donors Implementing Partners Peacebuilding Private Donors Humanitarian Response We served 566,470 people directly in 2025 through long-term development and humanitarian responses. Zones City Administration 5 | Annual Review 2025
Legend Programs Integrated Development programs Multi Sectoral Humanitarian programs Peace Building , Humanitarian and Development programs Peace Building and Development programs Peace Building program Regional boundary Zonal boundary NORWEGIAN CHURCH AID OPERATIONAL PRESENCE ETHIOPIA Regions *FBCA: Faith-Based Climate Action | CRWASH: Climate Resilient Water, Sanitation, Hygiene | PB: Peacebuilding | GBV: Gender-Based Violence | HR: Humanitarian Response | Programmes Implementation Per Region Our 2025 Geographic Presence 8 23Zones 73Woredas Cluster 3 Cluster 4 Cluster 1 Cluster 2 Cluster 5 Cluster 6 Multi-Sectoral Humanitarian HDPNEXUS INTEGRATED DEV HDP NEXUS HDP NEXUS Peace Building & Development South Ethiopia Tigray Amhara Oromia Sidama Afar Somali Central Fafan Shabelle South Omo Ari East Shewa Bench Sheko Kefa Jimma Wolayta West Arsi South West Ethiopia Gambela Itang Special Nuwer Agnewak North Shewa (AM) Daawa Hari Kilbati South Eastern Eastern Southern Annual Review 2025 | 6
Timeline of Events 2025 February: NCA Ethiopia launches Phase Four of the Climate Resilient WASH Project in the Ari Zone, South Ethiopia, covering South Ari, North Ari, and Woba districts. Implemented with local partner Action for Development (AFD) and funded by Knorr-Bremse, the project directly benefits 29,774 people and indirectly reaches 30,186 people. It focuses on constructing water supply systems, promoting integrated water resource management (IWRM), and introducing market-based sanitation products and hygiene promotion. February: NCA Ethiopia signs a partnership agreement with UNHCR for a livelihoods and economic inclusion project focused on agriculture, small business development, and replication of an innovative soap production initiative. The project is implemented in Nguenyyiel, Tierkedi, Jewi, Kule, Phugnido refugee camps and host communities in the Gambella Region and runs through December 2025 as part of the five-year strategic partnership between NCA and UNHCR. March: Norwegian Church Aid Ethiopia, in collaboration with the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Addis Ababa, launches a photography exhibition celebrating five decades of community-led Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) initiatives. The event is hosted by H.E. Stian Christensen, Ambassador of Norway to Ethiopia and Permanent Representative to the African Union, at his residence in Addis Ababa. January: New strategic period launches (2025–2029), anchored in a vision for just, empowered, and resilient communities living in dignity and peace, with four long- term programmatic focuses: Climate Resilient Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (CR-WASH), Economic Development and Food Security (EDFS), Gender-Based Violence/Sexual Reproductive Health, and Peacebuilding, as well as humanitarian response. January: The Yubutu Youth Peacebuilding Alliance Ethiopia, supported by NCA Ethiopia’s Abronet Consortium, presents youth agendas from seven regional towns to the Ethiopian National Dialogue Commission. Representing 52 youth organizations, the Alliance calls for the inclusion of a 10-point youth agenda in national dialogue processes to ensure youth priorities are reflected in national discussions. The agendas are officially received by Commissioner Ambaye Ugato from the Chairman of the Yubutu Youth Alliance and the Director of Tamra for Social Development (TSD). Feb Jan March 7 | Annual Review 2025