Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus Development and Social Services Commission (Eecmy-Dassc)

The Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY) is a national church officially established on January 21, 1959 (GC), although beginning of development and social services at grassroots level goes back to the 1860s. Since her establishment, the church has strengthened her contribution in improving life and livelihoods of the people of Ethiopia. In the year 1972, the EECMY took an ultimate step in defining her mission by coining of her motto “serving the whole person”, which is also known as Holistic Ministry. This innovative policy was established based on the broad understanding of the all-encompassing human needs (spiritual, psychological, social and physical) and this, obviously, has been a momentous episode in defining the purpose and role of the church in development and social services for Ethiopian society and beyond.Since then, the Church has been engaged in the well diversified development and social services in the country in a progressive manner and this vital service of the church was separately structured and registered as a development agency of the church by the Ministry of Justice in the year 2000 and obtained license for development and social services of the church. Moreover, it was re-registered in 2009 by the Charities and Societies Agency as per the Proclamation No. 621/ as Ethiopian Resident Charity Organization under the license (No. 0397). The EECMY-DASSC has a widespread and decentralized structure that promotes involvement of the wider community and concerned stakeholders, and an inherent progressive organizational culture that nurtures good governance, transparency and accountability in the overall operation of the organization. Moreover, the Commission has detailed functional structure that extends from the national office to program/project at the grassroots level and effective systems that ensures efficiency and effectiveness in its entire work.