When we launched the Kebele 20 Kindergarten Classrooms campaign in December 2023, our goal was to build three bright, sturdy, and inspiring classrooms for 120 local children in Azezo. Thanks to your generosity – and match funding from our pledgers and Ethiopiaid – we reached our full target of £14,000.
The development of a new partnership with the Amhara Development Association (ADA), gave us the opportunity to upgrade the planned mud and wood three room construction to a four room concrete construction, by co-funding half of the total project cost. Thanks to a further grant from the Chamber of Us, we were able to increase our funding to £26,000 which the ADA matched in full, so we could build more classrooms with greater longevity.
The project is a wonderful example of what can be achieved when many people come together, helping us move from vision to reality, creating a safe and engaging environment where children aged 3 to 7 can begin their learning journey with confidence and joy.
The opening of the new classrooms has been transformational for the school and children. Because of your generosity, children who once learned in dark, crumbling rooms have stepped into safe, colourful classrooms built for curiosity and play.
What’s been achieved
Construction
The new Kindergarten classroom block is complete and children are learning inside their bright, spacious new rooms. Built in durable concrete, the classrooms offer a safe, long-lasting environment that the whole community is proud of.
Alongside the new block, we’ve also added a bright and exciting outdoor playground, which wasn’t in the original plan but we were really pleased to be able to provide for the children. It’s already become a favourite spot for play, creativity, and social learning.
Furniture has been provided across the new classrooms; desks, chairs, books and learning resources are now in place to support high-quality early education. The project led to a doubling of enrolment this year, with 240 children in the kindergarten – a 100% increase. We therefore secured additional desks and chairs so that every child has a comfortable place to learn.
Community Engagement
The community has played an active role in improving the school environment, using leftover corrugated iron to build a fence securing the compound; a great local initiative to protect the new classrooms.
Teacher Training
To make sure the new classrooms have the greatest impact, our team has created and delivered specialised Kindergarten teacher training tailored to this project. We know that supporting early years education means more than construction; it requires giving teachers the skills to help young children learn and thrive. With Kindergarten now a national priority in Ethiopia, this training is an important step in shaping our broader approach to early years support.
Last month, all teachers completed our Continuous Professional Development (CPD) training, focused on child development and how children learn best at this age: through active learning and play. They also visited a nearby high-performing preschool to observe strong practice and exchange ideas they are already bringing back into their own classrooms.
Monitoring and Evaluation
The students have been consulted and fully involved in shaping their classroom, from choosing the toys they wanted, the books they’d prefer to read and even the paint colour on the classroom walls. We partnered with Children’s Voices in Action, a registered charity who helped us to design play-based child friendly ways to amplify young children’s voices. We also listened to teachers and parents on issues such as light levels in the classroom and the kind of classroom they would want for their children. Baseline data on enrolment and attendance have been collected and will be compared with new data once the classrooms are in regular use.
Early consultations with teachers and students also highlighted a significant gap: the children had no toilet facilities and were using a nearby field. Although not in the plan, it was an urgent need we couldn’t ignore. We are now raising funds to build a dedicated Kindergarten toilet block so that children’s safety, dignity and wellbeing match the quality of their new classrooms.
What’s next
Because of your generosity, children who once learned in dark, crumbling rooms have stepped into safe, colourful classrooms built for curiosity and play. You’ve helped create not just a building, but a foundation for lifelong learning.
The transformation of Kebele 20 Kindergarten is nearly complete, but the final step is building the dedicated toilet block to ensure every child can learn in safety and dignity. You can help us finish this project and make a lasting difference—please consider supporting the Kindergarten toilet today.