Ethiopian Catholic Service Partners’ Coordination Meeting

From March 27th to 31th, the OIEC was invited to take in the annual meeting of coordination of the partners of the ECS (Ethiopian Catholic Service) in Addis Ababa. The ECS celebrated its golden wedding anniversary (50 years). It is a great honour for the OIEC to be regarded as a partner of the ECS, as well as Caritas International. During this meeting, the commitment of the Church for various programmes development has been evaluated. In the perspective of an integral development of the human person, the ECS coordinates various programmes, both nationally and on the diocesan level: education, health, social rehabilitation, agriculture and livelihood, women empowerment, water and health programmes and migrations. All these programmes are equidistant, and interpenetrate in a transverse way. Thus, the catholic schools form relays of the integral development, connected to the other programmes.&n bsp; Thus, in every diocese there is a Diocesan Director, who is the Coordinator of all these services. This approach, which is rooted in the social doctrine of the Church, is truly innovative. We want to model it for the benefit of the other members of the OIEC.