CBM Country Office Ethiopia

CBM’s interventions in Ethiopia for 2024 span both urban centers and remote regions, with a special focus on supporting people with disabilities and vulnerable groups. The map highlights key activities in Community-Based Inclusive Development (CBID), health initiatives, and humanitarian aid, extending to places like Addis Ababa, Bahir Dar, Gondar, and Dilla, as well as several refugee camps.

Working with local partners, CBM runs projects that improve access to essential health care, rehabilitation, and educational opportunities. Recent efforts include expanding specialized eye care for children and underserved communities and providing tailored support in crisis situations. These ongoing actions underscore CBM's long-term commitment to promoting inclusion, strengthening social participation, and advocating for the rights and well-being of the most marginalized across Ethiopia.

CBID is CBM’s approach to enabling disability-inclusive development and localizing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) as well as the Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals. The CBID initiative is human rights-based, people-centered and community-driven, and is, therefore, cross-sectoral by design. CBM works with local groups and institutions including persons with disabilities to build more inclusive, responsive and accountable communities. We also collaborate with governments, strategic partners, and organizations of persons with disabilities to realize the rights of persons with disabilities through capacity building, research and the development of legislation, policy documents and strategies. CBM has been a non-state actor in official relations with the World Health Organization since 1989.

CBM has been working in Ethiopia since 1967, supporting the efforts of the Ethiopian government in addressing the needs of persons with disabilities and those at risk of disability in the country, focusing on service provision and promotion of an inclusive society. In 57 years of uninterrupted presence, CBM has provided support to the government, as well as to non-governmental organizations, local NGOs, faith-based institutions and DPOs, in various domains, aiming at improving the living conditions of persons with disabilities. Inclusive Eye health and prevention of blindness have been the starting point for CBM, with the establishment of secondary eye units in several locations, the procurement of essential equipment, consumables, and supplies, training of ophthalmologists, ophthalmic nurses and optometrists, supporting surgical outreaches and provision of technical support.

Currently, the CBM Ethiopia is effectively operating in NTD/Trachoma elimination, in Amhara and the SNNP Regional States through partners. The initiatives’ major goal is to contribute to the nationwide elimination of Trachoma and to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities.

Over the years, CBM has expanded its range of activities, identifying new opportunities to positively affect the lives of millions of Ethiopians and encompassing other essential sectors such as Ear and Hearing Care and Physical rehabiliation.