Chinese rural development foundation wins acclaim for far-reaching engagements in Ethiopia

ADDIS ABABA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The China Foundation for Rural Development (CFRD) has won acclaim for its far-reaching engagements in Ethiopia as the organization, formerly China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, celebrated its third anniversary of establishing the Ethiopian Office Monday.

The CFRD, which started implementing various programs in Ethiopia back in 2015 and officially registered as an international charitable organization in the East African country in July 2019, works to deepen the people-to-people ties between Ethiopia and China.

Jima Dilbo, director general of Ethiopia's Authority for Civil Society Organization, during the occasion commended CFRD for its seven years of charitable services in the East African country through various projects such as school feeding, school bag distribution, food item support, water and hygiene program, and women's economic empowerment.

"All its (CFRD) projects align with our government's priorities and our peoples' needs, and the impact is far-reaching," Dilbo said. "We have seen more and more urging requests from less fortunate communities, which need our attention and support in every way. We are blessed to have organizations like CFRD taking proactive action to respond to the calling."

He called on more charitable organizations from China to come to Ethiopia to help and share their experience in the fight against poverty as well as on ways of overall modernization.

The official further called on CFRD to take the lead in empowering Ethiopian local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to link to development platforms such as the Global Development Initiative, Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund, as well as the Belt and Road Initiative.

Yang Yihang, minister counselor for Economic and Commercial Affairs at the Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia, said CFRD's engagements in Ethiopia have brought fruitful results, and have contributed a lot to the economic and social development of Ethiopia.

"Looking into the future, I sincerely hope that CFRD Ethiopia Office will conduct more development projects," Yang said.

He further emphasized that with firm support from all sides, China-Ethiopia cooperation in the field of poverty alleviation will have greater achievements in the near future.

Since 2015, the CFRD has been undertaking various programs in Ethiopia, including the Panda Pack, Smiling Children, water cellar, water purification, and women employment training.

Data from CFRD show that by September 2022, the CFRD Ethiopia Office has benefited more than 250,000 Ethiopian people across all walks of life, with a particular emphasis on the most vulnerable people.

Zheng Wenkai, president of CFRD, addressing the gathering via video link, said the organization focuses on six Sustainable Development Goals, mainly poverty eradication, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, clean water and sanitation, as well as decent work and economic growth.

"China and Ethiopia have a long-standing and well-established relationship. People-to-people exchanges are extensive," Zheng said, reiterating the CFRD's keen intent to further deepen partnership so as to support more Ethiopian lives.

CFRD's Ethiopia Office is one of the organization's three overseas offices together with Myanmar and Nepal.

Wu Peng, director of the International Development Department of CFRD, said that the CFRD's philosophy in its engagements overseas is "love without borders and people-to-people connectivity." Wu added that the CFRD, in its engagements in Ethiopia over the past seven years, has received "enormous recognition and appreciation from local governments, communities and beneficiaries."

"All this encourages us to continue our efforts and help more people in need," Wu said.

During the occasion, one of the donor partners, China's Shenzhen Solar Run Energy Co. Limited, said it has distributed some 3,000 solar lamps to local families across Ethiopia.

The company's representative further assured that the company will strengthen its partnership with CFRD in order to help improve the living conditions of beneficiary communities across Ethiopia.