Our ambition
An Ethiopia where every young person is safe, skilled and shaping the decisions that shape their lives.
We start from a strong base in the Somali Region: 13,000+ young people in our Fursadaha Dhalinyarada network, 400+ active volunteers in Jigjiga, and partners including Agence Française de Développement, the Civil Society Resource Center, the International Solidarity Foundation, Ethio Telecom and U-Report Ethiopia.
Over the next five years we aim to turn that base into a national platform, one region and one local youth-led partner at a time. Reach, service and presence start from the record we have today. Livelihood and localization baselines will be set in 2027.
Our goals, and where we stand today.
Each goal shows where we stand today. Where we have no baseline yet, we say so.
Today’s figures: CAYO, 2026.
Shifts in how we work.
Growth alone is not the goal. Young people will hold more of the decisions, the money and the leadership, and the results will outlast each grant.
From delivering to enabling
We will increasingly fund, coach and amplify youth-led groups, instead of running every project ourselves.
From projects to systems
Every programme will carry a policy or market-change goal, so that results outlast the grant.
From participants to leaders
Young people who join as participants will have a route to become volunteers, facilitators, partners, staff and Board members.
From analogue to digital-first
Learning, feedback and opportunity sharing will move onto mobile channels that work offline and in local languages.
From a home base to a national platform
As we grow beyond Jigjiga, the zonal and regional teams we set up will have their own plans and budgets.
What we will build.
Five investments that let a youth movement operate as a national institution.
A youth leadership and skills academy
Based in Jigjiga, training our staff, our volunteers and the staff of our partners every year.
One data platform
A single system across every programme, with offline mobile data collection for places with weak connections.
Operating reserves
Reserves that keep core work and core staff in place through a gap in funding.
A rapid-response mechanism
Funds that can be released quickly when drought or floods hit the communities we work with.
An annual safeguarding review
With a published summary that protects the identity of everyone involved.
Results: the record we start from.
Our counts today are of members, volunteers, partners and projects. We report them with their source and year.
young people in the Fursadaha Dhalinyarada network
CAYO, 2026
active volunteers in Jigjiga
CAYO, 2026
funding and delivery partners
CAYO, 2026
projects delivered or under way, 2025/26
CAYO, 2026
How we will measure: lasting change, not headcounts.
We will judge our work by whether young people are still better off a year after support ends, and report results by region, sex, age, disability and displacement status.
Youth data collectors
Our Monitoring and Evaluation staff and field assistants will train young people to run surveys and focus groups in their own communities and languages.
One participant record
With each person’s consent, a privacy-protected ID will follow them across programmes and years, so that we can report what lasts.
Seasonal tracking
In pastoralist areas we will check livelihood results in each season: the gu (main rains), the deyr (short rains) and the jilaal (long dry season), so drought effects show instead of hiding in annual averages.
Independent evaluation
Larger projects will be evaluated externally, with findings shared with communities and partners.
Reporting to government
Results will be reported to the relevant regional bureaus and woreda offices.
Learning in the open
We will publish our progress, including where we fall short and what we change as a result.
Build the next five years with us.
We seek multi-year partners for the goals in this strategy, starting from the work under way in the Somali Region.