COEEF

Mission

The Children of Ethiopia Education fund exists to improve the lives and futures of girls in Ethiopia by supporting and partnering with existing private schools to provide quality educational assistance to these students from grades KG-12.

Individual sponsors in America and other developed countries who have been materially blessed and have the opportunity to give of themselves are the basis for the program.

Sponsorship Process

The process for the Children of Ethiopia Education Fund is simple and straightforward:

1) Find individuals who are willing to sponsor a student’s education for a year

2) Match a sponsor and student to form a sponsorship

3) Enroll the sponsored student in a nearby private school

When you donate money to sponsor a student, this is the process COEEF takes to get the support to your student, and to get updates about your student.

Why Concentrate on Girls?

Following their first visit to Ethiopia, Norm and Ruthann recognized that the Ethiopian society was weighted to favor boys over girls. Women will generally not speak in the presence of men, and are expected to perform most of the menial labor associated with Ethiopia's largely agrarian lifestyle.

In most families, if there is a choice of who to send to school, the son will go before the daughter. According to a 2003 statistic from UNESCO, only 43% of enrolled students in primary schools were female (57% male).

This trend only grows worse as many girls who do attend primary school are often forced to drop out around age 12.  UNESCO statistics show that the percent of females attending secondary school drops to 36%, while the male enrollment percentage raises to 64%. Some of the reason girls drop out of school around this age are to tend to herds, care for younger siblings or obtain jobs to make money for their families. Some of these jobs can put these girls in danger of being offered money for unhealthy things like sex. Girls are also given in marriage by their families at times, or become sexually active and contract AIDS/HIV. In rural areas, young girls are often kidnapped for wives by men from other villages and never seen by their families again.

Studies have shown that in sub-Saharan Africa, girls who stay in school are less likely to get HIV/AIDS, will marry at an older age (and thus be better prepared for the responsibilities of being a mother, rather than passing poverty on to a child with a teenage mother), and are more likely to improve the lives of their children than comparably educated men. In fact, at the 1994 Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, one speaker declared, "Educate a woman and you will educate a nation."

What to Expect as You Sponsor a Student

When you join COEEF, you will receive a notice with a student’s name and some biographical information (where she lives, her parent’s names, her likes and dislikes, etc…) and a photo as soon as it is available.

We encourage correspondence between sponsors and students. We require our partner schools to make sure that each student writes her sponsor at least once a year. COEEF sponsors during our regular trips to Ethiopia.

An updated photograph will be sent to you each year along with any letters or drawings from your student. Building these bonds of friendship and affection are an essential part of the COEEF program. This personal touch is just one way in which the COEEF program differs from more widely known charities.

Most girls enter the program around age 6-10. We encourage our sponsors to continue their student support until she completes the 12th grade.

Those that do not feel they can make a long-term commitment can contribute instead to any of our other projects, including our tutoring or school building funds. Whatever you choose, rest assured that your involvement will be a source of joy and hope to these girls who will have the opportunity to receive a gift from you that cannot be taken away – an education.

How You Can Help