Health & Hope for Ethiopia's Displaced Mothers

Project Progress Report: Health & Hope for Ethiopia’s Displaced Mothers (#71969)

Face Up Generation Aid Organization (FUGAO)
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Reporting Period: April – June 2026

Dear GlobalGiving Community,

Warm greetings from Face Up Generation Aid Organization (FUGAO).

We are pleased to share our latest progress report for the project “Health & Hope for Ethiopia’s Displaced Mothers (#71969)”. This initiative is dedicated to improving the health, dignity, protection, and well-being of displaced mothers and vulnerable women in Ethiopia.

Displacement continues to place enormous pressure on women and families. Displaced mothers often face limited access to healthcare, inadequate nutrition, unsafe living conditions, psychosocial distress, and difficulties meeting the basic needs of their children. Through this project, FUGAO is working with vulnerable mothers and their communities to provide practical support, health awareness, psychosocial assistance, referrals, and opportunities to rebuild hope and resilience.

Our goal is clear:

to ensure that displaced mothers are not left behind, but receive the health, protection, dignity, and support they need to rebuild their lives and secure a better future for their families.

Project Overview

During the reporting period, FUGAO continued working with vulnerable and displaced mothers and their families through an integrated approach that combines:

• Health and hygiene awareness
• Maternal and family health information
• Psychosocial support
• Nutrition awareness
• Child and family protection awareness
• Referral and linkage to available services
• Distribution of essential assistance where resources permitted
• Community engagement and awareness
• Women’s empowerment and resilience-building

The project places women at the center of the response and recognizes that supporting mothers contributes directly to the health, safety, education, and well-being of entire families.

Progress So Far

April – June 2026

During this reporting period, FUGAO continued its activities in Addis Ababa and surrounding communities, focusing particularly on displaced and economically vulnerable mothers and families.

The project prioritized:

• Displaced mothers and women-headed households
• Pregnant and lactating women
• Mothers with young children
• Women experiencing economic hardship
• Vulnerable families affected by displacement and crisis
• Mothers requiring psychosocial and social support

Through community-based interventions, FUGAO worked to strengthen access to information, support, referrals, and essential services.

Major Achievements

1. Health Awareness and Education

FUGAO conducted community-based health awareness activities focusing on issues affecting displaced mothers and their families.

Key areas included:

• Maternal health awareness
• Importance of antenatal and postnatal care
• Personal and household hygiene
• Prevention of common diseases
• Safe water and sanitation practices
• Child health and nutrition
• Importance of seeking timely medical care
• Awareness of available health services

These activities helped mothers increase their knowledge and confidence in making informed health decisions for themselves and their children.

2. Maternal and Child Health Support

The project continued to promote access to maternal and child health services by providing information, guidance, and referrals to vulnerable mothers.

FUGAO encouraged mothers to:

• Seek antenatal care during pregnancy
• Access skilled health services during childbirth
• Obtain postnatal care
• Ensure children receive appropriate healthcare
• Seek medical attention when children show signs of illness
• Access available public and community health services

Where direct services were not available through the project, vulnerable women were connected with relevant health facilities and service providers.

3. Psychosocial Support and Emotional Well-being

Displacement can create significant emotional and psychological stress for mothers and children.

During the reporting period, FUGAO continued to provide supportive conversations, psychosocial awareness, and community-based emotional support to vulnerable women.

The intervention focused on:

• Stress management
• Emotional resilience
• Family support
• Coping with displacement-related challenges
• Building self-confidence
• Encouraging women to seek support when experiencing distress

Mothers were encouraged to support one another and to strengthen informal community networks that can provide emotional and social assistance during difficult periods.

4. Nutrition Awareness and Family Well-being

Nutrition remains a critical concern for displaced and economically vulnerable families.

FUGAO promoted awareness around:

• Balanced household nutrition
• Maternal nutrition
• Nutrition for young children
• The importance of nutritious locally available foods
• Infant and young child feeding practices
• Safe food preparation and storage
• Early identification of nutritional concerns

The project also emphasized the importance of prioritizing the nutritional needs of pregnant women, lactating mothers, and young children.

5. Protection, Dignity, and Women's Rights

FUGAO integrated protection and women's rights awareness into project activities.

Women were provided with information concerning:

• Their basic rights and dignity
• Protection from violence and exploitation
• Child protection
• Prevention of harmful practices
• Safe reporting and referral mechanisms
• The importance of seeking assistance when facing protection concerns

FUGAO continued to emphasize that displaced women should be treated with dignity and should have meaningful participation in decisions affecting their lives and families.

6. Community Engagement

Community participation remains an important component of the project.

FUGAO engaged mothers, caregivers, community members, and local stakeholders to better understand the challenges facing displaced families.

Community engagement helped to:

• Identify priority needs
• Improve awareness of available services
• Encourage mutual support among families
• Strengthen community ownership
• Promote referrals to appropriate service providers
• Identify emerging needs among vulnerable mothers

This approach has helped FUGAO ensure that project interventions remain responsive to the realities experienced by displaced families.

Stories of Change

From Displacement to Hope

One of the important outcomes of the project has been seeing vulnerable mothers regain confidence and hope after experiencing displacement and hardship.

Through health information, psychosocial support, community engagement, and referrals, mothers have been encouraged to take greater responsibility for their health and the well-being of their children.

One mother shared a message that reflects the importance of this support:

"When we were displaced, we felt that nobody cared about our situation. The support and information helped us understand where to seek help and gave us hope that we can move forward."

Stronger Mothers, Healthier Families

The project has also demonstrated that supporting mothers creates positive effects beyond individual beneficiaries.

When mothers have better access to health information and support, they are better positioned to:

• Protect their children's health
• Make informed household decisions
• Seek healthcare when needed
• Support children's nutrition
• Protect children from risks
• Encourage education and positive development

Challenges Encountered

Implementation during the reporting period was affected by several challenges, including:

• Increasing numbers of displaced and vulnerable families requiring assistance
• Limited resources compared with the scale of community needs
• Economic hardship among beneficiary households
• Limited access to healthcare and other essential services for some families
• Transportation and logistical challenges
• Psychosocial stress among displaced mothers and children
• Increasing demand for emergency and protection-related support

The needs of displaced families continue to exceed available resources.

Despite these challenges, FUGAO has remained committed to supporting vulnerable mothers through community engagement, partnerships, referrals, awareness activities, and available humanitarian assistance.

What’s Next?

July – September 2026

During the next reporting period, FUGAO plans to strengthen and expand the project through the following activities:

• Expand health awareness activities among displaced mothers
• Increase maternal and child health education
• Strengthen nutrition awareness and family health promotion
• Expand psychosocial support and community-based referrals
• Increase awareness of women's rights and protection
• Strengthen child protection awareness
• Improve linkages with health facilities and other service providers
• Engage additional community volunteers
• Identify additional vulnerable mothers requiring support
• Mobilize resources for essential assistance
• Strengthen monitoring, documentation, and beneficiary feedback mechanisms

FUGAO will continue seeking partnerships and resources to reach more displaced mothers and vulnerable families.

Sustainability and Long-Term Vision

FUGAO believes that sustainable humanitarian support should go beyond short-term assistance.

The project therefore promotes long-term resilience by:

• Increasing women's knowledge and confidence
• Strengthening community support networks
• Improving awareness of available services
• Promoting preventive health practices
• Encouraging timely healthcare utilization
• Strengthening women's participation in household and community decisions
• Linking vulnerable families with longer-term support opportunities
• Building community capacity to respond to emerging needs

FUGAO's long-term vision is to contribute to communities where displaced mothers are able to live with dignity, access essential services, protect their children, and rebuild sustainable livelihoods.

Why This Project Matters

For a displaced mother, access to healthcare can mean the difference between illness and recovery.

For a pregnant woman, access to maternal health information and services can protect both mother and child.

For a vulnerable family, psychosocial support can restore hope.

For a child, a healthy and supported mother can provide protection, care, and a pathway toward a better future.

Supporting displaced mothers means supporting entire families and communities.

Every contribution helps FUGAO provide life-changing support to women and children facing crisis and displacement.

Your support can help provide:

• Health and hygiene information
• Maternal and child health awareness
• Nutrition education
• Psychosocial support
• Protection and women's rights awareness
• Referrals to essential services
• Emergency and essential assistance
• Community resilience-building activities

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning

FUGAO continues to monitor project implementation to ensure that activities are relevant, effective, accountable, and responsive to community needs.

Our monitoring mechanisms include:

• Beneficiary registration and tracking
• Attendance and participation records
• Activity reports
• Community feedback
• Beneficiary interviews and discussions
• Health and awareness session monitoring
• Referral tracking
• Field monitoring visits
• Staff and volunteer observations
• Periodic project reviews

Feedback from beneficiaries and community members is used to identify gaps, improve project activities, and strengthen future interventions.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

During the reporting period, FUGAO monitored the following key areas:

• Number of displaced mothers reached through project activities
• Number of women receiving health and hygiene information
• Number of mothers receiving maternal and child health awareness
• Number of women receiving psychosocial support
• Number of beneficiaries receiving nutrition awareness
• Number of women reached through protection and rights awareness
• Number of vulnerable families referred to relevant services
• Increased awareness of available health and protection services
• Improved confidence among participating mothers
• Increased community engagement and mutual support

FUGAO will continue strengthening its data collection and reporting systems to provide increasingly accurate evidence of project outcomes and impact.

Our Gratitude to the GlobalGiving Community

We extend our heartfelt appreciation to the GlobalGiving community, generous donors, partners, volunteers, community leaders, and supporters who continue to believe in the dignity and potential of displaced mothers and their children.

Your support enables FUGAO to reach women and families who are experiencing some of the most difficult circumstances of their lives.

Because of your partnership, vulnerable mothers are receiving information, encouragement, referrals, psychosocial support, and opportunities to rebuild hope and resilience.

Together, we are turning crisis into hope, vulnerability into resilience, and displacement into a pathway toward recovery.

We invite the GlobalGiving community to continue standing with displaced mothers in Ethiopia.

Together, we can ensure that no mother is left behind.

With deep appreciation,

Face Up Generation Aid Organization (FUGAO)

“When we support a mother, we strengthen an entire family and build hope for a stronger community.”