VZCZCXRO1602
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHDS #0402/01 0401610
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 091610Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9026
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 3626
RUEHAE/AMEMBASSY ASMARA 0842
RUEHDJ/AMEMBASSY DJIBOUTI 8255
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 1954

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ADDIS ABABA 000402 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KWMN KCRM PHUM ASEC ELAB SMIG USAID
SUBJECT: ETHIOPIA:  FY2006 FUNDING REQUESTS FOR ESF 
ANTI-TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS PROJECTS 
 
REF: 05 STATE 226696 
 
¶1.  Embassy Addis Ababa submits two proposals for FY2006 ESF 
anti-trafficking in persons projects.  As requested, the 
proposal information has been formatted per reftel guidelines 
and listed in priority order.  Due to space constraints, the 
entire text of the project proposals could not be included in 
this cable.  Proposal summaries as submitted by the 
prospective grantee have been provided below, but proposals 
in their entirety have been emailed to AF/E: Michael 
Gonzales, AF/RSA: Marinda Harpole, and G/TIP: Edward Flood. 
 
PROPOSAL ONE (OF TWO):  PROJECT CONCERN INTERNATIONAL 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶A.  TITLE OF PROJECT 
 
Path of Hope - "Finote Tesfa":  Strengthening Safety-Nets to 
Reduce Children's Vulnerability to Trafficking, Exploitive 
Labor, Sexual Abuse and Life on the Streets in Ethiopia 
 
¶B.  NAME OF RECIPIENT 
 
Project Concern International (PCI) 
 
¶C.  PROJECT DURATION 
 
August 31, 2006 - July 31, 2009 (Project is new.) 
 
¶D.  DESCRIPTION 
 
Executive Summary 
 
Trafficking of children for exploitative labor is an 
increasing challenge in Ethiopia.  The International 
Organization for Migration (IOM) reports that, "up to 20,000 
children, some 10 years old, are sold each year by their 
parents and trafficked by unscrupulous brokers to work in 
cities across Ethiopia".  While international trafficking is 
of concern in this context, the IOM,s counter-trafficking 
unit reports that internal trafficking in Ethiopia is among 
the highest in the world.  Ethiopian children are sold for as 
little as $1.20 to work as domestic workers or prostitutes. 
The downward spiral into a life of sexual and physical abuse 
and exploitation often begins when poor, rural children in 
Ethiopia become victims of child traffickers, who promise 
them a better life and then sell them to face even greater 
poverty and suffering.  According to Alem Brook, legal expert 
at the IOM in Addis Ababa, "parents are often deceived with 
promises of money or that the child will be educated." 
Roughly two-thirds of the children are trafficked by brokers 
who take a percentage of the child,s earnings, and one-third 
are trafficked by friends and family.  Most boys and girls 
end up as domestic laborers, commercial sex workers, weavers 
or professional beggars (IOM, 2005).  Increasing numbers of 
women are trafficked abroad.   The normalization of domestic 
trafficking can lead to increased international trafficking, 
which highlights the need for a special project to address 
the challenges of domestic trafficking at villages of origin 
and transit towns before they become even more acute. 
 
Factors leading to child migration or trafficking for 
purposes of labor in Ethiopia are multiple, complex and 
interrelated, as described in greater detail in the 
"Justification" section of this proposal.  To summarize, 
sending children to work in cities is a commonly accepted 
practice, as is child labor in general.  These factors 
contribute to the ease with which children can fall victim to 
trafficking, migration and situations of exploitative labor. 
Children who have left their villages of origin, whether on 
their own or after having been trafficked or manipulated into 
leaving, arrive at transit and destination cities to face 
additional pressures, dangers and risk factors.  Despite 
their dream of a better future, they face extreme difficulty 
finding well-paying jobs because of their low educational 
status and extreme competition for work in poverty-ridden 
cities.  They are often recruited by "brokers" that search 
for vulnerable children arriving at the bus stations and 
offer them support in finding employment and a place to 
sleep.  They may then be further recruited into commercial 
sex.  Some girls may enter domestic labor, which at best, is 
very low paying, and at worst can be abusive, wages can be 
withheld without cause, and children may be raped by the 
homeowner or other family members.  Sometimes traffickers 
demonstrate their "good will" by finding domestic labor jobs 
for the rural girls, and after winning their trust, lure them 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00000402  002 OF 003 
 
 
into the sex trade. 
 
As a result of such abusive circumstances, many children 
resort to desperate measures to survive, including begging on 
the streets, sex commerce and other forms of economic 
exploitation.  Along this path, there are "tiered" levels of 
vulnerability which become worse and worse.  Ultimately, 
children become most vulnerable on the streets.  This path 
from rural poverty, to urban poverty, and on to the worst 
forms of labor and homelessness, results in children on the 
streets who lack access to even the most basic services and 
concrete options for improving their lives. 
 
The "Path of Hope" project, or "Finote Tesfa", in the 
Ethiopian language of Amharic, will prevent and mitigate 
trafficking and child exploitative labor at three key points: 
 villages of origin, transit towns and destination cities. 
The strategic objective (SO) of this project is stated as 
follows:  Reduced vulnerability of children in Ethiopia to 
trafficking for exploitative labor, sexual abuse and life on 
the streets.  This SO will be supported by two intermediate 
results (IRs): 
 
- IR1:  Increased community and family resiliency at villages 
of origin to prevent child trafficking/migration. 
 
- IR2:  Increased awareness, monitoring, interception and 
redirection of children in transit towns along migration 
routes. 
 
These IRs have been developed to address the problem of child 
migration and trafficking at three levels - IR1, to be 
implemented in villages of origin, focuses on primary 
prevention.  IR2, to be implemented in transit towns, focuses 
on secondary prevention, and on protecting children from 
potential traffickers and migration by using "honest brokers" 
to intercept children and mitigate against factors that 
manipulate them towards migration or trafficking.  These IRs 
are described in greater detail in the "Project Description" 
section of this proposal, and are reflected in the Results 
Framework for the project, found in Appendix A. 
Additionally, a "Conceptual Diagram of the Path of Hope 
Project" is found in Appendix B. 
 
The project could be expanded to include a third module, 
which would be implemented in destination cities, as 
resources allow. (NOTE:  Post supports the funding of the 
third module. END NOTE.)  If the Office to Monitor and Combat 
Trafficking in Persons were interested, Project Concern 
International (PCI) could submit this third module for 
funding upon request.  The module is already developed and 
budgeted for, so submission would be expedited. This 
complementary module would improve children,s access to 
services, referrals and reunification, and would strengthen 
the social safety-net that must be in place to reduce the 
number of children on the streets and the potential for 
international trafficking.  All three of these targeted 
strategies lead to the enhanced resiliency of Ethiopian 
society to protect its children. 
 
The Path of Hope project design has been developed by 
incorporating the recommendations and lessons learned of 
various organizations conducting similar work.  Specifically, 
the project interventions include: public awareness raising 
activities, including education through community-based 
groups and schools; family income generation activities and 
women,s savings and loan groups in order to reduce the need 
to send children away from home to help support the family; 
education and engagement of bus drivers, shop keepers and 
police in transit towns in order to better identify and 
rescue children at-risk; and the recruitment and engagement 
of youth and adult Advocates for Child,s Rights to reach out 
to vulnerable children. These recommendations and insights 
were gathered by means of a number of mechanisms, including: 
1) key informant interviews with local government agencies, 
NGOs and other Private Voluntary Organizations implementing 
similar work; 2) focus group discussions (FGDs) with children 
formerly living on the streets subjected to exploitative 
labor; and 3) discussion groups held with Ethiopian NGOs 
implementing similar work.  A list of agencies consulted 
during development of this proposal is included in Appendix 
¶C. 
 
The project will be implemented by Project Concern 
International (PCI), together with two partner NGOs, Children 
Aid-Ethiopia (CHAD-ET), and the Multi-purpose Community 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00000402  003 OF 003 
 
 
Development Project (MCDP).  Letters of Support for this 
project have been provided by these NGOs to PCI and are 
presented in Appendix D. 
 
CHAD-ET will reach 250,989 beneficiaries in the geographic 
region of South Gonder, while MCDP will reach 123,762 
beneficiaries in the Chencha Woreda of the Gamo Gofa Zone in 
the Southern Nations, Nationalities People,s Region (SNNPR), 
resulting in a total of 374,751 beneficiaries to be reached 
over a three year project.  Of these beneficiaries, 54,699 
are children in South Gonder (to be reached by CHAD-ET) and 
2,100 are children in SNNPR (to be reached by MCDP). 
 
The total amount of this request submitted to the Office to 
Combat Trafficking in Persons of the US Department of State 
is $1,564,233 for three years, and a counterpart contribution 
will be provided in the amount of $271,781 (or 15% of the 
requested amount). This project could be enhanced through the 
incorporation of a third module to be implemented in 
destination cities, such as targeted areas of Addis Ababa, in 
the amount of $289,644 as resources allow.  This third 
component is also described below and is meant to complement 
the Path of Hope proposal concept described in this proposal. 
 
 
E.- I.:  Due to cable express space constraints, the 
remainder of the project proposal has been emailed to AF/E: 
Michael Gonzales, AF/RSA: Marinda Harpole, and G/TIP:  Edward 
Flood. 
 
J:  FUNDING MECHANISM:  ESF Funds 
 
K:  EMBASSY POINT OF CONTACT: Nicholas Namba, 
namban@state.gov. 
 
PROPOSAL TWO (OF TWO):  IOM 
--------------------------- 
 
¶A.  TITLE OF PROJECT 
 
Let's Make a Difference Through 3P's:  Prevention of 
Trafficking, Protection of Victims of Trafficking, and 
Prosecution of Traffickers. 
 
¶B.  NAME OF RECIPIENT 
 
International Organization for Migration (IOM) 
 
¶C.  PROJECT DURATION 
 
Twelve Months 
 
¶D.  DESCRIPTION 
 
The overall objective of the project is to contribute to the 
efforts of the Ethiopian government to combat trafficking in 
human beings. The immediate objectives of the program are to 
raise the awareness of the youth on trafficking and sexual 
and reproductive health issues and bring about behavioral 
change; provide direct assistance to victims of trafficking 
and capacity enhancement of government bodies and NGOs. This 
project will complement existing counter trafficking 
activities towards the prevention of trafficking, protection 
of victims of trafficking and prosecution of traffickers. The 
major components of this Project include sensitization of in 
and out-of-school youth to raise awareness and behavioral 
change; return and reintegration assistance to victims of 
trafficking with emphasis on their mental, physical social 
well-being with direct assistance provided by a local NGO and 
strengthening the institutional capacities of relevant 
government bodies notably the Judicial Training Center (JTC) 
in order to criminalize and prosecute traffickers. The 
project would be implemented over 12 months with a total 
estimated budget of USD 284,618. 
 
E.- I. Due to cable express space constraints, the remainder 
of the project proposal has been emailed to AF/E: Michael 
Gonzales, AF/RSA: Marinda Harpole, and G/TIP:  Edward Flood. 
 
J:  FUNDING MECHANISM:  ESF Funds 
 
K:  EMBASSY POINT OF CONTACT: Nicholas Namba, 
namban@state.gov. 
HUDDLESTON