1

THE AWARENESS ACTIVATE CHANGE (AAC) FINAL PROJECT

REPORT ( 15TH OCTOBER-24TH NOVEMBER, 2006 [2013]
FOR
AWARENESS PHASE IMPLEMENTATION WITH REGARDS
TO
WATER, SANITATION & HEALTH

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
In Implementing the Awareness Activate Change (AAC) Project in Mekelle University,
Ethiopia between Oct 15th-24th Nov, 2006 [2013], we as AIESEC Exchange Volunteer
Participant Interns enjoyed great support from Mekelle University in particular from
Mr.Berhane Achame, Advisor to the University President and Mr.Woldegiorgis
Ghebrehiwot, Director, Corporate Communication and Marketing.
AAC Project also benefited from Help for a Drop of Water who in partnership with AIESEC in
Ethiopia, facilitated the opportunity for us to be part of this exclusively amazing volunteer
experience in Mekelle.
Consequently, the project delivery had very close and fruitful collaboration with the World
Health Organization Head Office, Public Health & Healthy Environment office, particularly
Waltaji Terfa who facilitated our training and expectation setting, Yaynshet Yohannes the
Regional Manager of Tigray IntraHealth International Office for all the contacts of Health
Personnel in Tigray that came out as a great asset to us, Dr. Aby Ahagos the Regional
Coordinator of Health at UNICEF Tigray office for all the follow up networks as well as
advice and lastly, Ibrahim Hassen (Ebro Initiative) the Tigray Regional Health Buruea Reginal
Manager for consultancy services and content on Water ,Sanitation and Health in Tigray
Region.

GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS
AIESEC- Association Internationale Etudant Science, Economic et Commerce
(in French)
[Association of International Students in Science, Economics & Commerce]
HfDW- Help for a Drop of Water
AAC -Awareness Activate Change
WHO - World Health Organization
GCDP- Global Community Development Programme
WASH- Water Sanitation Health
SWOT- Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats
EVH - Environmental Health
TR

- Tigray Region

FDG - Focus Discussion Group

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY..5
INTRODUCTION
I.
II.
III.
IV.

AIESEC.6
HfDW6
AAC7
AIESEC ETHIOPIA & HfDW PARTNERSHIP..8

PROJECT OBJECTIVES, STRATEGIES, IMPLEMENTATION

I.
II.
III.

COUNTRY CONTEXT..9
PROJECT OBJECTIVES9
IMPLEMENTATION & MANAGEMENT THROUGH WEEKLY REPORTS.10

PROJECT ACTIVITIES PICTORIAL EXHIBIT..16

LESSONS LEARNED & RECOMMENDATIONS.22
CONCLUSION22
APPENDIX
I.
II.
III.

DELEGATES PLEDGES AND LEARNINGS EXHIBIT23

FACILITATORS PROFILE25
SWOT ANALYSIS OF HfDW AS A STUDENT CLUB..28

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Implementing of Awareness Activate Change (AAC) Project at Mekelle University in
Ethiopia provided strategic Developmental Assistance (DA) through AIESEC Global
Community Development Programme (GCDP), where students and recent graduates travel
abroad to volunteer to Help for a Drop of Water (HfDW); strengthened the capacity of the
club leaders management skills, reached out to the greater student population through
designed soft skills, out of class training of recruited approximately 152 members on
Leadership, Community Mobilization, Project Management and WASH, that would be handy
in the subsequent project phases ( Activate & Change) in the Tigray Community.
Throughout the project, as AIESEC Volunteer interns, AAC offered technical management,
training and coordination assistance to HfDW, which resulted in empowering of its club
leaders on effective meetings managements, strategic planning and recruitment of a new
breed of enthusiastic members.
The project delivery sort support from experienced leaders in the Health Sector in TR, to get
a clear sense of the state of EVH as well as their opinion and advice on university students
engagement in Environmental Sustainability. There insights and support facilitated our
building the right content for training in context to the challenges TR/Ethiopia is facing
today.
AAC has then paved way for us to support the University in training Leadrs from strategic
clubs/Associations from all the 5 Campuses on Leadership & Project Management. We
believe, these breed of leaders had a timely exposure and stand the best chance to
implement all the learning we shared let alone network with each other through experience
sharing.
In addition to that, MIT Campus student Leaders requested us to deliver yet another
motivational and Leadership talk to their fellow students. This is commendable and shows a
great platform to impact the society.
The Important lessons learned during this Awareness Phase, was the great potential that lies
within the Ethiopian youth that needs awakening! Over and above that, the need for the
University to foster students engagement in extra-curriculum activities that boost
confidence as well as a sense of responsibility, International exposure among other valuable
traits that make a student all rounded who has a entrepreneurial mind-set in this 21st
Century for them the be competitive in the global arena.

Present in over 118 countries and territories and with

over 86,000 members, AIESEC is the world's largest
youth-run organization. Focused on providing a
platform for youth leadership development, AIESEC
offers young people the opportunity to participate in
international internships, experience leadership and
participate in a global learning environment. What makes AIESEC unique is the youth driven
impactful experience that it offers to its members. AIESEC is run by young people for young
people, enabling a strong experience to all its stakeholders.
Our members are part of an exciting, driven global network. They are able to contribute to
societal change while exploring their own vision for a positive impact on society.
We are supported by thousands of partner organisations around the globe who look to
AIESEC to support the development of youth and to access top talent through our global
internship program.
Our alumni are leaders within their organizations and communities. They use the
experience, skills and inspiration AIESEC has provided them to be agents of positive change
within todays society

Over the past 4 years, HFDW worked relentlessly to address issue related to potable water
service .As a result of its continuing effort HFDW was able to inaugurate 5 water wells
benefiting thousands of communities near Mekelle town. Also HFDW hosted various events
around University to create awareness regarding sanitation, clean water service and
community service.
Our relentless effort in awareness creation enabled us to build thousands of online and
physical members that are advocating our cause.
However we remain not complacent with our achievements and we still belief much has to
be done in addressing the issue surrounding clean water service.

Background to the AAC (Aware-Activate-Change)

AAC was set up in 2013 by HfDW aiming at broadening its reach to various communities
basing University as a launching pad to its awareness creation and activation. During the
past four years we were focused on providing clean water service and awareness creation
around Mekelle University. After encouraging results we are aiming to capitalize on the
potential of University Communities across the nation.
AAC focuses on three important themes

Aware-Aware focuses on creating awareness among the university community on

areas related to sanitation, health and clean water service.

Activate-Activate aim at activating the aware community to engage in our activity

Change-the impact of Aware-Activate ultimately derives a change in terms of quality

and quantity in our causes.

AIESEC Ethiopia and HfDW partnership on AAC

AIESEC is an international youth led organization that is presented in 118 countries and
since its inception AIESEC strived towards world peace and human kind potential
fulfilment. Over the past four years AIESEC Ethiopia have worked in youth leadership,
education, entrepreneurship through its global student exchange programme.
AIESEC Ethiopia and HfDW both are student driven organizations and both organizations
also have interest area in the field of Hygiene, Sanitation and Water. Both organization
aims at expanding their wings to other Ethiopian Institutions as a result of all the above
commonalities both organization reached a consensus to collaborate in AAC project.
Their engagement is drawn in the below table that clearly demonstrates the
engagement areas of both organizations.

In Ethiopia
Train members
Bringing international volunteer
students as intern to assist HFDW
Member recruit and management
Initiating (GCDP)
Global Community Development
Project

Secures Budget and resource to

run AAC
Share its experience with AIESEC
Finalize the bureaucracy regarding
expansion to other universities

PROJECT OBJECTIVES, STRATEGIES, IMPLEMENTATION

Country context
Ethiopia has the 2nd largest population in Africa with approximately 80 Million people.
It is estimated that with regards to water, an individual survives on 15Liters of water in a
day. On the other hand only 1/3 of the population uses toilets/Latrines as such, looking
at WASH in the larger context, coverage Vs quality is relatively poor reducing population
productivity whilst diseases increase.
For instance, during drought, scabies and eye infections are prevalent as well as no
practise of washing hands after defecation. Yearly child mortality are all linked to
unclean water. By 2015, Ethiopia needs to provide clean water for approximately 3.6M
people and toilets for around 4.5M of the countrys population every year to achieve the
Millennium Development Goals overall.

AAC Objectives (Aware Phase)

Recruit and Orient 100 active volunteer students in each University who will lead the
project as HfDWs University members;
Train 100 already recruited volunteer students on Water, Hygiene and Sanitation,
Project Management and Leadership
Establish partnership with local governmental and community based organizations
and identify potential trainees
Student volunteers (12 members the core team) will work together with the
international volunteer interns to provide trainings to the students at the university
To bring about a hygiene and sanitation sensitive University students and
communities around them
Monitor, evaluate and report performance on each of the phases; Aware

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Implementation and Management through Weekly Reports

Name of
Volunteer/Employee
Location

AMO,IRENE,MAGGY

Reporting Period

WEEK ONE

Main tasks for this

week

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)

Meetings/Trips

1) Core team
2) HfDW representatives-Elfas
3) Intrahealth for more contacts on WASH, leadership, project management and
community mobilization (AMO)

Achievement(s):

Problems
encountered

MEKELLE UNIVERSITY

Meet HfDW and AIESEC team on the ground

Consolidate the steering team
Introduce HfDW and AAC overall outlook to the team
Get contacts of the steering/core team
Allocate two leaders(from either side) as communication channels to the interns
Do more research for content on WASH, leadership, project management and
community mobilization

1) Met HfDW and AIESEC team on the ground

2) Consolidated the steering team
3) Introduced HfDW and AAC overall outlook to the team
4) Got contacts of the steering/core team
5) Allocated two leaders(from either side)
6) Research on training topics ongoing
1) It took some time to get the core team

Follow-up needed

1) Research on training modules

2) Reach out to contacts given by Intrahealth

Specific needs related

to follow-up

1) N/A

Tasks, travel for next

week

Notes

N/A

Meet university officials(administration)

Meet student leaders(of their student association)
Meet concerned government officials(regional and Woreda level WASH team
Communication on university officials to join WASH/AAC team

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Name of
Volunteer/Employee
Location

AMO,IRENE,MAGGY

Reporting Period

WEEK TWO

Main tasks for this

week

7) Meet university officials

8) Meet concerned government officials
9) Meet university student leaders

Meetings/Trips

N/A

MEKELLE UNIVERSITY

1. Project team meeting

Achievement(s):
Problems
encountered

1) Absence of university officials from school

2) No proactivity of the team members
3) Absence of government officials in their respective offices

Follow-up needed

1) Minutes to be handed in by Rebecca (HfDW)

2) University officials meeting

Specific needs related to

follow-up

1) N/A

Documents
anticipated or
produced (specify)
Tasks, travel for next
week

Notes

NONE

N/A

Meet university officials(administration)

Meet student leaders(of their student association)
Meet concerned government officials(regional and Woreda level WASH team
Communication on university officials to join WASH/AAC team

12

Name of
Volunteer/Employee
Location

AMO,IRENE,MAGGY

Reporting Period

WEEK THREE

Main tasks for this

week

10) Meet university officials

11) Meet concerned government officials
12) Meet university student leaders
13) Recruitment of new HfDW members
14) Info desk preparation

Meetings/Trips

4) AYDER hospital visit

5) Meeting with HfDW members after the info desk
6) Meeting with Tigray health beaureu

Achievement(s):

MEKELLE UNIVERSITY

1)
2)
3)
4)

Successful info desk

Registration of 152 new HfDW members
Achievement of awareness on HfDW
Sold 152 membership cards

Problems
encountered

1) Language barrier

Follow-up needed

3) Research on training modules

4) Giving info sessions for the new members

Specific needs related to

follow-up

1) N/A

Documents
anticipated or
produced (specify)
Tasks, travel for next
week

NONE

Meet student leaders(of their student association)

Meet concerned government officials(regional and Woreda level WASH team
Communication on university officials to join WASH/AAC team

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Name of
Volunteer/Employee
Location

AMO,IRENE,MAGGY

Reporting Period

WEEK FOUR

MEKELLE UNIVERSITY

Main tasks for this

week

1. Weekly Tuesday meeting

2. Give feedback for recruitment to the team and discuss how to improve
next time
3. Discuss the orientation and delegate duties for team
4. Team allocation on tasks for the orientation;
1.Advertising 2. Content 3. Logistics
5. Discuss how to structure HfDW and how to take responsibility in each
team
6. SWOT analysis of HfDW based on the three weeks we worked together

Meetings/Trips

1. The weekly Tuesday meeting

2. Different team meetings during the week(advertising team-marketing
the orientation, content team-preparation of the presentations ,logistics
team-getting the venue, projectors etc

Achievement(s):

1. We got the teams preparations ready for the orientation session.

2. Training of the HfDW team on how to run the club.

Problems
encountered

1. Slow delivery of tasks by team members especially marketing and

content
2. Procrastination of tasks and inconsistency in communication

Follow-up needed

Specific needs related to

follow-up

Research on training modules

Purchasing of training package(flip-charts, marker pens etc)

1) N/A

Documents
anticipated or
produced (specify)
Tasks, travel for next
week

Minutes of weekly meetings

Orientation session on Monday

Leadership training
Project management training
Weekly team meeting

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Name of
Volunteer/Employee
Location

AMO,IRENE,MAGGY

Reporting Period

WEEK FIVE

MEKELLE UNIVERSITY

Main tasks for this

week

7.
8.
9.
10.
11.

Meetings/Trips

3. The weekly Tuesday meeting

4. Different team meetings during the week(advertising team-marketing
the trainings, content team-preparation of the presentations ,logistics
team-getting the venue, projectors etc

Achievement(s):

Weekly Tuesday meeting

Info-session on Monday
Leadership training on Thursday
Community mobilization training on Friday
Getting feedback from the students on how relevant the training was to
them
12. Delegating duties for the team prior to the trainings

3. We got the teams preparations ready for the orientation session.

4. Getting everything ready before the trainings

Problems
encountered

3. Slow delivery of tasks by team members although there was an

improvement from last time
4. Procrastination of tasks

Follow-up needed

Specific needs related to

follow-up

Research on training modules

Purchasing of training package(flip-charts, marker pens etc)

1) N/A

Documents
anticipated or
produced (specify)
Tasks, travel for next
week

Minutes of weekly meetings

Orientation session on Monday

Leadership training
Project management training
Weekly team meeting

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Name of
Volunteer/Employee
Location

AMO,IRENE,MAGGY

Reporting Period

WEEK SIX

Main tasks for this

week

13.
14.
15.
16.
17.

Meetings/Trips

5. The weekly Tuesday meeting

6. Different team meetings during the week(advertising team-marketing
the trainings, content team-preparation of the presentations ,logistics
team-getting the venue, projectors etc

Achievement(s):

MEKELLE UNIVERSITY

Weekly Tuesday meeting

Info-session on Monday
Leadership training on Thursday
Community mobilization training on Friday
Getting feedback from the students on how relevant the training was to
them
18. Delegating duties for the team prior to the trainings

5. We got the teams preparations ready for the orientation session.

6. Getting everything ready before the trainings

Problems
encountered

5. Slow delivery of tasks by team members although there was an

improvement from last time
6. Procrastination of tasks

Follow-up needed

Specific needs related to

follow-up

Research on training modules

Purchasing of training package(flip-charts, marker pens etc)

1) N/A

Documents
anticipated or
produced (specify)

Minutes of weekly meetings

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PROJECT ACTIVITIES PICTORIAL EXHIBIT

17

THE AIESEC INTERNS POSING WITH THE STUDENTS WHO ATTENDED THE LEADERSHIP, PROJECT
MANAGEMENT, COMMUNITY MOBILISATION AND WASH TRAININGS

FUN TEAM BUILDING ACTIVITIES TO KEEP THE STUDENTS INTERESTED

18

STUDENTS DISCUSSING IDEAS ON THEIR

FOCUS DISCUSSION GROUPS ( FDG)

STUDENTS SHARING GROUPS IDEAS

THEY CAME UP WITH TO THE REST OF
THE DELEGATES PRESENT

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AMO IN HER LEADERSHIP TRAINING SESSION

MAGGY DURING HER COMMUNITY MOBILISATION TRAINING

20

NJERI DURING HER PROJECT MANAGEMENT TRAINING

AMOS TEAM BUILDING ACTIVITY

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MIT CAMPUS LEADERSHIP & PROJECT MANAGEMENT SESSIONS

MIT STUDENTS IN-ATTENDANCE

ARTHUR, AN INVITED GUEST SHARES HIS LIFE EXPERIENCES AND LEARNINGS WITH MIT STUDENTS

22

LESSONS LEARNED & RECOMMENDATIONS

RECOMMENDATIONS
More trainings for the students to give them a platform to be inspired and also to speak out
their ideas in public hence improving their confidence
Start career fairs in the university to enable students to network with their future employers
Create business incubation and innovation centres in the campuses to create a culture of
entrepreneurship in the students
Encourage students to start their own projects
English public speaking competitions with lucrative prizes to introduce a culture of speaking
fluently in English
Debates
Entrepreneurship forums where the best business ideas created by students are funded

LEARNINGS

Most students lack self-confidence (self-expression)

Most students have poor communication skills
Low engagement of students in extracurricular activities
We learnt to appreciate culture differences
We got a platform to improve facilitation skills
How to engage young people in a training

CONCLUSION
The project was successful as the interns met the objectives of the Awareness phase of the AAC
project which was to engage the students in Water Health and Sanitation issues. Student
engagement and interests on WASH, Community development, Project management and Leadership
as such follow up activities in different platforms shall foster the of the theory of the trainings
delivered to practical learning

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APPENDIX
I.

DELEGATES PLEDGES AND LEARNINGS EXHIBIT

24

25

II.

FACILITATORS PROFILES

Name
Rebecca Amo

Level
Bsc. Environmental Health Science-School of Public
Health Graduate

Hobbies
Mountain Hiking
(Mt. Kilimanjaro is my highest achievement-July
2011)
Traveling
[Rwanda,Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe,
Botswana, South Africa, Ethiopia, Egypt, Dubai, Abu
Dhabi, Sharjaa (UAE),New York..India
I am a Kenyatta University 2011 graduate with
immense experience and international exposure
with regards to people management
&development.
After my graduation, I took up a one year Volunteer
role at AIESEC Kenya National Office as the Vice
President Corporate Relations & Global Internships
Coordinator.
In 2012, I got a job offer at Unilever ESA as the
Employer Brand Executive/Leadership Development
Assistant upto May 2013.
Thereafter, I decided to take up a volunteer opportunity here in Ethiopia through AIESEC to
work on a Help for a Drop of Water (HfDW) Water, Sanitation and Health project for 6
weeks.

Skills
I have excellent facilitation, Marketing, Business Development, Management, Training &
Facilitation, Mentorship & Coaching, Skills that I acquired out of my School of Health
Sciences extracurricular engagements overall.

26

Name :Margaret Kalondu

Level : Bsc. Fashion design and marketing student ( Currently in 3rd Year)

Hobbies
Music (I have composed some songs for myself)
Cooking (Go to my mums kitchen and cook new foods always)
Traveling
I have been to Ethiopia out of KENYA, in my home country have gone to maasai mara,
malindi, Mombasa ..
I am currently a student in Kenyatta University, I study Fashion Design and Marketing. Am on my
third year, graduating in a years time.I am an active member of the AEISEC club in my school. I play
a role of manager in the outgoing exchange. So far I have travelled to ETHIOPIA for my first
exchange. My experience has been wonderful. In my exchange, I have worked with a students NGO
(HfDW) Helf for a Drop of Water together with WHO (WORLD HEALTH ORG.). I received training at
the UN head quarters in Addis Ababa, and I managed to train students in MEKELLE University on
COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION.
SKILLS
I have good communication skills both written and verbally, facilitation and training, I am good in
doing research and well informed on internet (technical literate).

27

NAME: Irene Njeri

SCHOOL: Kenyatta University
DEGREE: Bsc. Fashion Design & Marketing (I am currently on my third year)
AIESEC ROLE: I 'work' at AIESEC Kenyatta University, Corporate Relations Portfolio. I am the
team manager of the department. What we do essentially is get partners for AIESEC
Kenyatta University, go for marketing calls in different companies, and train our members
on leadership, marketing and networking skills as well as other out of class skills.
PAST EXCHANGE EXPERIECES: AIESEC has been an amazing platform for me to develop my
leadership skills, networking skills, marketing skills and project management skills. I have
also learnt to organize events by being part of an organizing committee. My first project was
in Tanzania and i was hosted by AIESEC IFM (Institute of Finance Management) in Dar-esAlaam. I was working with AMREF Tanzania, AAR, and WHO on a research project of the
most prevalent diseases in the area. We came up with a project 'YOUR HEALTH, YOUR
CHOICES' which has been done by over 40 young AIESESC interns from all over the world.
I came to Ethiopia on a Global Community development program facilitated by AIESEC
ETHIOPIA to work as an intern for HfDW on water, health and sanitation issues.
HOBBIES: Traveling (Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia) I am looking forward to going to other
countries in the world, reading novels, table tennis

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III.

SWOT ANALYSIS OF HfDW

Strength
University Support
Student based Club
Availability of office premise
Potential Partners within the region

Weaknesses
Lack of structures within the club
Lack of adequate Leadership skills
Poor Time management skills
Lack of creativity/Innovation
Lack of Filling/ Reporting system
Poor Accountability & Responsibility
Lack of Professionalism

Opportunities
Threats
Potential Partnerships with other clubs
Other Professional organizations
in campuses
Lack of sustainability of HfDW future
Expansion to other Mekelle University
existence
Campuses
HfDW getting Irrelevant with time
Use of HfDW to train students on out
of class skills in partnership with clubs
International Exposure of students
through AIESEC