Our Strategic Programs

Empowering communities, advancing media environments, defending digital rights, and fostering robust democratic governance frameworks across Ethiopia.

1.

Civic Engagement (CE)

Cultivating a diverse, vibrant, and powerful civil society across Ethiopia. Recognizing that formal human rights movements are heavily concentrated in the capital and lack diversity, this program focuses on capacity-building to help informal and formal institutions thrive across all regions. It supports the formalization of movements and actively enhances the participation of youth and women.

Objectives

  • Empowerment: Enhance the diversity, influence, and cooperation of civil society organizations.
  • Tradition: Create and promote opportunities for traditional civic institutions to act as advocacy agents.
  • Dialogue: Promote a culture of dialogue, negotiation, peace, and tolerance through interdisciplinary forums.
  • Foundation: Lay a social foundation for human rights and democratic culture by empowering youth and women.
  • Justice: Advocate for justice and accountability by monitoring, documenting, and reporting violations.
  • Monitoring: Track conditions in police detention, prisons, and judicial proceedings involving detained politicians, activists, and journalists.
  • Equity: Advocate for research-based gender equity and protect the rights of marginalized populations.
  • Democracy: Observe elections and provide comprehensive civics and voter education.
Key Targets: Youth (15–29), young female leaders, human rights activists/organizations, traditional institutions, civil society authorities, law enforcement/courts, political parties, and academic institutions.
Advocacy Focus: The rights to organize, assemble, and demonstrate peacefully • The rule of law • Diversity • Inclusiveness • Equality • Conflict resolution • Peacebuilding

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2.

Media Space Advancement (MSA)

Fostering a thriving, ethical, and safe media landscape crucial for a democratic Ethiopia. Legal protections, journalist safety, and ethical standards are essential for an enabling media space. Through collaboration with journalists, media institutions, and associations, this program empowers public engagement, expands media diversity, and cultivates a professional workforce.

Objectives

  • Protection: Evidence-based advocacy to enhance legal, institutional, and practical protection for freedom of expression.
  • Standards: Develop research and facilitate training that assesses the professional and ethical standards of journalists.
  • Counter-Disinformation: Prevent and counter the spread of hate speech and disinformation.
  • Monitoring: Track trends on misinformation, hate speech, incitement, and conspiracy theories on social media to plan intervention activities.
  • Independence: Advocate for state-run media outlets to embrace independence and entertain a diversity of opinions.
Key Targets: Journalists and online content creators, media institutions, journalists and media associations, social media platforms, Ethiopian Media Authority, and the Ethiopian Ombudsman Institute.
Advocacy Focus: Freedom of information and expression • Media freedom and safety of journalists • Media ethics and self-regulation • Transparency and accountability

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3.

Digital Rights (DR)

Working to tackle limited and interrupted internet accessibility alongside poor frameworks of safety and protection. Despite low internet penetration, there are no fair and comprehensive legal frameworks to protect digital users. This program focuses on evidence-based advocacy and capacity building to counter these exact challenges.

Objectives

  • Access: Advocating for the expansion of equitable access to the Internet across various sections of societies to reduce the digital divide.
  • Anti-Shutdown: Advocating against unlawful internet shutdowns.
  • Free Use: Advocate for citizen's free use of digital technology to express themselves freely, access information, organize, and mobilize communities.
  • Safety: Advocate for the protection of personal data as well as safety and protection of online users.
  • Frameworks: Advocating for legal frameworks to protect the rights, freedoms, and security of users of digital technologies.
  • Platform Standards: Advocating digital companies to ensure that their platforms protect user privacy while mitigating disinformation and hate speech.
Key Targets: Online content creators, Ethiopian Communications Authority, internet service providers, digital companies, Information Network Security Agency (INSA), Ethiopian Artificial Intelligence Institute, and relevant government institutions.
Advocacy Focus: Digital rights • Internet access • Safety and security of digital users

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4.

Governance and Democratization (GD)

Championing stronger regional and federal democratization efforts in Ethiopia. Through meticulous monitoring, documentation, and reporting of autonomous administrative units' legal, institutional, and practical performance towards democratization, this program advocates for a transparent and accountable governance across the Ethiopian Federation.

Objectives

  • Democratization Assessment: Assess democratization efforts by regional and federal governments annually using democratic principles to rate and rank performance.
  • Public Awareness: Create evidence-based public awareness of gaps in governance and advocate for continuous improvements.
  • Reforms: Advocating for legal, institutional, and practical reforms that improve democratization and good governance.
  • Pluralism: Advocating for political pluralism and a fair electoral system and process.
Key Targets: Regional and federal city councils, House of Peoples' Representatives, executive bodies of governments, security institutions, the judiciary, public democratic institutions, House of Federation, and local/international civil society organizations.
Advocacy Focus: Good governance • Checks and balances • Anti-corruption • Transparency and accountability • Minority protection and inclusiveness • Political pluralism and fair elections

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