ORDA Ethiopia's board of directors reviewed the organization's performance

ORDA Ethiopia's board of directors reviewed the organization's 2022 work performance and 2023 work plan on 1 –April- 2023 in Debrebirhan city. Also, the external auditor's audit report was presented to the board and discussed.

According to the 2022 fiscal year report, ORDA Ethiopia has implemented 43 development projects in 68 woredas and emergency aid in 98 woredas in the Amhara region with the 5.2 billion birr budget received from 24 donor organizations. In this way, more than 6.24 million citizens in the Amhara region and Afar region who were affected by war, displaced and vulnerable to multifaceted problems have been saved from hunger and death.

The report revealed that the challenges of the 2022 fiscal year include inflation, overgrazing of animals in forestry and watershed development areas, and lack of fuel to carry out activities. Also, among the good experiences of the last fiscal year, private institutions have started providing agricultural inputs to farmers, and ORDA Ethiopia’s best coordination with the government to deliver emergency aid to citizens displaced by war, saving the lives of many citizens.

The Deputy Chairman of ORDA Ethiopia's Board of Directors, Mrs. Frealem Shibabaw said that the organization has done effective work to improve the lives of beneficiaries in the 2022 fiscal year. Executive Director of ORDA Ethiopia Alemayehu Wassie (Ph.D.) said that 2022 fiscal year was a challenging year. He said that during the war, the organization was the target of the attack and they were unable to do charity work. However, he said that by resisting the pressures, when the war slowed down, the organization accessed the liberated areas and did life-saving works (by providing flour to citizens who were under the control of the TPLF for many months, by providing fuel to mills in areas where electricity was cut off for months, and by providing emergency food aid).

After listening to the 2022 report, the members of the board stated that ORDA Ethiopia's performance was successful and aligned to the strategic plan. Based on the report evaluation, they stated the following key points that they would like to include in the future.

• Cultivating the watersheds with productive vegetables and fruits by free from overgrazing

• To expand access to safe water, there should be cost sharing (in terms of labor and materials) with the community

• To benefit many residents, repair the damaged safe water deep wells that were built before

• Repair damaged small irrigation schemes in the region and to put them in to irrigation development

• Prepare ORDA Ethiopia's performance reports according to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) format; the international community can easily understand them;

• Prepare annual workshops /conferences with government institutions to strengthen partnership

• ORDA Ethiopia has a good experience in finding funds, so it was suggested that more resources could be collected if it works in collaboration with universities in the region. After discussing on the report, the 2022 fiscal year report was approved by the board of directors.

Subsequently, the findings of the external auditor's audit report were presented to the board and discussed. The opinion provided by the external auditor shows that the company's accounting is sound and no material misstatement.

In the workshop, the 2023 plan was presented to the board and discussed. According to the plan, 38 projects will be implemented in 71 1oredas and emergency aid will be carried out in 98 woredas. A budget of nearly 6.5 billion birr has been allocated to turn the plan in to action (i.e 4,884,300,512 billion birr for food commodity support and 1,520,192,006 billion birr for development activities).