SHIMELES ABERA FOUNDATION
Community Impact & Humanitarian Programs
Honoring a Legacy. Empowering People. Transforming Communities.
About Us
The Shimeles Abera Foundation is a charitable organization committed to strengthening families and communities in Ethiopia by addressing urgent needs while creating pathways toward dignity, opportunity, resilience, and self-sufficiency.
Our work is rooted in a simple belief: people should not be left behind because they are poor, vulnerable, isolated, ill, elderly, or unable to access opportunity.
We develop community-based programs that respond to real needs and prioritize people facing the greatest barriers to health, education, economic opportunity, and social inclusion.
Our approach combines direct assistance with empowerment, community participation, partnerships, accountability, and sustainable solutions.
Our Areas of Impact
Healthcare & Medical Support
Our Medical Expense Support Program is designed to help families facing chronic illness, disability, emergency medical situations, and catastrophic healthcare costs. Support can include medications, surgeries, hospital care, diagnostic services, medical equipment, rehabilitation, and other critical healthcare expenses. The program also emphasizes medical verification, case management, direct payments to healthcare providers, and monitoring to promote responsible use of resources.
Mental Health & Psychosocial Support
We seek to make mental health support more accessible, culturally responsive, and community-based. Our MHPSS initiative combines awareness and stigma reduction, peer-facilitator and frontline-worker training, counseling, psychosocial support, peer networks, social inclusion, and referral pathways.
The proposed program aims to reach 1,200 direct beneficiaries—including youth, older people, individuals experiencing mental health challenges, and caregivers—and reach more than 5,000 community members through awareness activities.
Youth Education, Skills & Empowerment
We believe education and practical skills can create a pathway out of poverty.
Our Youth Empowerment initiative proposes educational sponsorship and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) opportunities for 300 disadvantaged young people, with equal participation of young women and men.
The program combines education, vocational skills, mentorship, life-skills development, career guidance, practical training, internships, entrepreneurship support, and employment linkages—helping young people move toward productive and self-sufficient lives.
Elderly Dignity & Care
Growing older should never mean being forgotten.
Our Elderly Dignity and Care Program is designed to support vulnerable older people through a holistic Mobile Care + Community Hub model. The proposed program combines home-based healthcare, essential medications, nutritional assistance, assistive devices, psychosocial support, companionship, social engagement, family support, and community awareness.
The first-year pilot is designed to serve 250 vulnerable elderly people, helping them maintain dignity, health, connection, and a sense of belonging.
Community-Based Targeting
We believe assistance must reach the people who need it most.
Our beneficiary-selection framework is designed around fairness, transparency, community ownership, accountability, and data integrity. It combines community knowledge with objective assessment to identify vulnerable households and reduce the influence of political or personal connections in beneficiary selection.
The framework initially focuses on Kirkos, Arabesa, Merkato, and Arada in Addis Ababa, with locally adapted approaches that recognize the different social and economic realities of each community.
How We Work
We aim to build programs that are:
Community-Based — working with local structures, leaders, institutions, and communities.
Inclusive — prioritizing vulnerable people regardless of age, gender, disability, or socioeconomic circumstances.
Accountable — using documented criteria, monitoring, evaluation, reporting, grievance mechanisms, and independent verification.
Partnership-Driven — collaborating with government institutions, healthcare providers, NGOs, community organizations, donors, and other stakeholders.
Sustainable — strengthening local capacity, community ownership, partnerships, and pathways toward self-reliance.
Our Vision
A stronger Ethiopia where vulnerable people and families can live with dignity, access essential services, develop their potential, and participate meaningfully in their communities.
Our Mission
To honor the legacy of Shimeles Abera by alleviating suffering, empowering people, strengthening families, expanding opportunity, and creating sustainable community-based solutions for those most in need.
Our Commitment
We are committed to turning compassion into action.
Whether through medical assistance, mental health support, elderly care, education, vocational training, youth empowerment, or community development, our goal is to create practical solutions that improve lives today while building stronger communities for tomorrow.
Partner With Us
We welcome collaboration with:
International and local donors
Foundations and philanthropic organizations
Government institutions
Healthcare providers
Educational and TVET institutions
NGOs and civil society organizations
Corporate partners
Community organizations
Volunteers and individual supporters
Together, we can transform compassion into opportunity and create lasting impact.
SHIMELES ABERA FOUNDATION
Kirkos Subcity, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Website: shimelesaberafoundation.org
Email: [email protected] / [email protected]
Phone: +251 911 685723 / +251 980 021091
Honoring a Legacy. Empowering People. Transforming Communities.Write the post…
