ACCOMPLISHMENTS
“KDN aims to support schools by providing educational resources that help improving the quality of education in Kambata. The immediate goal is to donate educational materials.”
Scholarship Programs: The KDN scholarship program, though small, has been very successful and effective in terms of achieving goals of both equity and efficiency. First, it has helped poor children to stay in school by covering most, if not all, of their basic educational costs, including stationery, clothing, food and, for those staying far away from their homes, house rent. Helping the children also means easing the financial burden on poor families who had no means of sending their children to school. Local elders, community leaders and school administrators and teachers helped KDN identifying the most-needy students. Second, the launching of financial aid program has fostered competition and inspired hard work among the local student population. Third, the program has encouraged female students to compete for the scholarship. The number of female students who qualified for the scholarship has increased from one in the first-round (2003-04) to eleven in the fourth-round (2007-08). At last, not least, nine of the first–round beneficiaries of KDN financial aid have graduated from universities located in Addis Ababa, Arba Minch, Awassa, Jimma, Gondar and Mekele universities. They now serve as medical doctors, dentists, lecturers, IT specialists, and engineers. They commended the program for the hope it gave and changes it brought to their lives by propelling them from the prospect of being a school dropout to a professional contributing to his/her country.
Book Donations to School Libraries: Both, teachers and students attending eight high schools (9-12), are now using the donated books and teaching materials on a daily basis. The donation has helped filling the knowledge gap and raising academic performance of students. The books donated to local Schools were need-based, identified by the Principals and the teachers, and fit within the local curriculum.
KDN TIMELINE
“KDN donated US$5,000 to Kambata-Tembaro (KT) zonal administration based in Durame town in response to an international effort to assist over 40,000 Kambatas displaced by ethnic-based conflict in 2018. The displacement took place in Kaffa Zone, Decha Woreda, where the victims were placed in resettlement sites a decade ago due to shortage of farmland in KT.”
“KDN contributed over 50,000 Birr to establish Wasera School Library in memory of the late KDN's executive member and founder, Mary Mengesha. The fund was used to buy books and book shelves now serving teachers and students at the school. KDN is still soliciting more funds to meet its goals of donating 10,000 books and 30 shelves to serve over 6,000 students by the end of 2019.”
“KDN donated a second round of new books worth Birr 8,000 to Adillo, Mudulla, and Shinshicho high school libraries. A KDN representative also conducted in person meetings with the school principals to assess additional local needs.”
“KDN donated a second round of new books worth Birr 81,000 to Angacha, Doyogena and Durame high school libraries. A KDN representative also conducted in person meetings with the school principals to assess additional local needs.”
“A KDN member living in Florida raised Birr 35,000 and donated to a Kindergarten in Durame area.”
“KDN Donated new books worth Birr 44,000 to Adilo and Mudulla High School Libraries.”
“KDN Donated new books worth Birr 42,000 to Tunto and Damboya High School Libraries.”
“March 3 - KDN conducted SWOT analysis of its operations.”
“KDN received donations from VMWare Foundation, which continued to come each year until 2016. KDN Donated new books worth Birr 40,000 to Shinshicho and Doyogena High School Libraries.”
“KDN celebrated its Tenth Anniversary on May 7, 2011 in Silver Spring MD where it was established.”
“KDN secured a $5,000 donation from Fisher Family Foundation. This was the largest one time donation received by the organization.”
“KDN donated new books worth of Birr 32,000 to Angacha and Durame high school libraries.”
“KDN provided scholarship to eights students (2 high schools and 5 universities). The universities where KDN scholarship attended included Arba Minch, Jimma, Addis Ababa, Mekele, and Gondar). A total of 100 students have benefited from the scholarship program.”
“KDN Bulletin 2 was published and distributed to members, donors, and supporters in the mailing list. The Bulletin highlighted the major accomplishments and milestone KDN has reached since its establishment.”
“KDN provided the fourth round scholarship to students attending ten high schools namely Adillo, Angacha, Damboya, Donga-Tunto, Doyogena, Durame, Mudulla, Shinshicho, Wachamo and Yekatit 25.”
“KDN celebrated its Tenth Anniversary on May 7, 2011 in Silver Spring MD where it was established.”
“January 2005 - KDN donated 800 new books to Amacho Wato High School Library Project.”
“July 2005 - KDN selected the third round scholarship recipients consisting of a total of 21 new students attending seven local high schools (Grades 9-12).”
“KDN selected the second round of scholarship recipients consisting of a total of 18 students.”
“January 2003 - KDN launched Scholarship.”
“May 2003 - The first Scholarship recipients were selected.”
“June 2003 - KDN Bulletin No.1 was printed and distributed.”
“January 2002 – February 2002 - KDN identified two projects (scholarship for needy students and book donations to school libraries) and established an advisory committee for each program.”
“March 2002 - The first KDN Web Site was launched.”
“June 21, 2002 - KDN was granted a federal tax exemption status by IRS.”
“March 24, 2001 - The founding conference held in the State of Maryland (USA) established KDN, and ratified KDN's Bylaws and Article of incorporation.”
“May 6, 2001 - The first meeting of KDN members elected the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee.”
“June 2001 – August 2001 Membership drive was launched and KDN objectives & bylaws were made available to members.”
“November 2001 - The first PR campaign was launched to raise KDN membership and funds.”