Memorandum of Understanding
ACT Ethiopia Forum (AEF) signed MoU adopted from the revised ACT alliance policy for national forums. The policy guides each ACT forum to develop its own contextually appropriate Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), in close consultation with ACT secretariat as a basis to define the scope, objectives, activities and structure of the existing partnership. ACT Ethiopia Forum has undergone a participatory process to collect essential inputs from its members before reaching into the consensus to sign the MoU by all members earlier than any other national forum under the revised policy.
Structure and leadership
ACT Ethiopia forum ensures local members’ active involvement in the forum leadership. The revised ACT alliance policy for national forums encourages local members to participate in the governance structures of the alliance to build their capacity and ensure sustainability of local initiatives. Furthermore, ACT alliance has set a goal by May 2018, to reform the ACT Alliance humanitarian response mechanisms in line with World Humanitarian Summit Commitments particularly the Agenda to strengthen local capacities.
Members of ACT Ethiopia forum signed MoU that laid out the terms whereby either AEF convener or co-convener role to be taken by a local member at any given term to encourage sustained leadership by local members. This structure contributed to a strengthening partnership between international and local members. For instance, a joint food security project implemented in partnership between EECMY-DASSC, a local member and Bread for the World had won a national-best performing project of the year award for 2017 in Ethiopia.
Monitoring, evaluation and learning
Through using Geographical Information System (GIS) ACT Ethiopia forum was able to map out its collective footprint in various sectors throughout Ethiopia. It has been very hard to clearly identify the magnitude of ACT alliance‘s reach in Ethiopia and level of convergence and synergy that exist in certain locations or thematic areas. However, following a relentless effort, AEF made use of GIS in order to shift from individual operational mark towards demonstrating the diversity and spread of the forum at a national level. The analysis drawn from a joint GIS map will not only identify potential areas of cooperation but also give huge leverage for the alliance to emerge as a key partner in humanitarian and development fields in the country. After all, ACT alliance global strategy for robust alliance emphasizes the need for collective ability to communicate and demonstrate what ACT alliance delivered in a particular context.
ACT Ethiopia forum demonstrated ACT Alliance’s commitment to CHS through innovative model by adopting the standards against Christian values. The fact that ecumenical institutions inherently embedded higher level of service quality standards motivated AEF members to lay out the link between CHS and Christian values. For this reason, AEF worked at linking biblical references to the nine CHS commitments that always inspired, motivated and guided our work. The view to understanding CHS from faith perspective enhanced our collective Christian identity while sharing our experience on applying CHS.
