The Ethiopian Center for Development (ECD) is a women-led non-governmental organization established in 2004 with a commitment to creating life-transforming opportunities for children, youth, and women across Ethiopia. Originally founded as the Ethiopian Arbitration and Conciliation Center (EACC), the organization initially focused on mediation, arbitration, and conflict resolution services. Over time, recognizing the evolving development needs of communities, the organization expanded its vision and transformed into the Ethiopian Center for Development, broadening its mandate toward sustainable social and economic development.
ECD's mission is to contribute to Ethiopia's development through community-focused, results-driven, and value-adding interventions. Beginning with quality education and job creation as its core thematic priorities, ECD gradually expanded its work to include gender equality and women empowerment, peacebuilding and conflict resolution, humanitarian action, and community resilience programming.
Over two decades, ECD has grown into a nationally recognized development organization with operational presence in Amhara, Oromia, and Southern Ethiopia Regions, alongside its headquarters in Addis Ababa. Its Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) centers in Addis Ababa, Adama, and Bahir Dar have become important platforms for youth skills development, employment creation, and entrepreneurship support.
Education has remained central to ECD's identity. Since its formative years, the organization has constructed over 17 schools across Ethiopia and currently leads large-scale initiatives promoting equitable, inclusive, and quality education. Through long-term partnerships and evidence-based programming, ECD supports teacher capacity development, early childhood education, child safeguarding, school infrastructure improvement, digital learning access, and school readiness interventions that collectively reach tens of thousands of children and educators.
ECD has also built a strong reputation in youth empowerment and women's economic inclusion, supporting vocational training, livelihood creation, entrepreneurship development, and business incubation models that have created sustainable opportunities for vulnerable youth and women. Complementing this work, ECD has become a trusted actor in gender equality programming, women's leadership, social norm transformation, and community-based protection initiatives.
Today, ECD continues building on more than twenty years of experience - working alongside communities, government institutions, development partners, and civil society actors to create resilient communities and contribute toward a more equitable, inclusive, and prosperous Ethiopia.
