New standards for child shelter services in Ethiopia’s capital

Hope for Justice has led the development of a set of quality standards for children’s shelter services in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.

Indrias Metamu, our Programme Manager based in Addis Ababa, said: “This is a huge success for Hope for Justice. We have mobilised more than 40 organisations to engage in this work, and it is fantastic to see it endorsed by the Government. These Standard Operating Procedures will not only set minimum service standards, but also strengthen coordination between Government and civil society. The standards will provide a shared accountability framework, promote child-centred and trauma-informed care, and contribute to the broader national efforts to combat modern slavery, human trafficking, and child exploitation in Ethiopia.” 

The formal document containing these Minimum Service Standards has now been passed through initial endorsement by the Addis Ababa City Administration Bureau of Women, Children and Social Affairs and is in the process of being compiled into a formal directive to be used by the Ethiopian Government in its oversight of shelter services across the capital, Addis Ababa, with the view to these being rolled out nationally in the future.  

The development has taken more than a year of effort, alongside the Addis Ababa Women & Children Bureau to improve Government shelters. We have also partnered and mobilised local and international NGOs, operating shelters, and teams working within child protection to develop the standards. 

Hope for Justice runs Lighthouses – short-term residential centres – in Ethiopia where we provide 24-7 aftercare for child survivors of human trafficking. 

As part of our system-strengthening work to protect children, Hope for Justice trains like-minded NGOs that also work with children in temporary or long-term shelters, to build their capacity, share each other’s practical experiences, and arrange support visits. During these interventions, we noticed significant inconsistencies in the quality and type of services provided to children across organisations. This highlighted the need for a unified set of standards. 

These standards will help ensure all children in shelters, including child survivors of modern slavery and human trafficking, receive consistent, safe, and high-quality care, regardless of the organisation hosting them. The standards will also strengthen accountability, safeguarding and child-centred work and will support the city authorities with its supervision, auditing and monitoring. 

In the past year, our team in Ethiopia has delivered training, experience-sharing events, and workshops to representatives from more than 40 organisations. This included staff from the Addis Ababa City Administration Bureau of Women, Children and Social Affairs.  

We ran a three-day training event in July which covered topics such as effective survivor care, case management, and practical guidance on identifying survivors, street outreach, and the importance of safeguarding and child protection. 

In some cases, staff from other organisations worked with our team, learning firsthand how to identify potential survivors in hotspot locations across the city. 

We also held consultations and gathered evidence as part of a collaborative process to ensure the final standards were practical, context-appropriate, and aligned with national and global child protection principles. The process included:

As a result, the technical team, led by Hope for Justice and composed of the Addis Ababa shelter service provider members and the Addis Ababa City Administration Women and Children Bureau, put forward the recommended structure and content of the standard for validation and endorsement. 

Several sections of the SOP directly address the identification, protection, rehabilitation, and reintegration of children affected by modern slavery and human trafficking. The standards cover topics such as case management procedures, safeguarding protocols, psychosocial support, family tracing and reintegration, and coordination with law enforcement and social services. 

In Amharic, the title of this document is ‘የሕፃናት ክብካቤ አገልግሎት አሰጣጥ ዝቅተኛው መሥፈርት’ 

This translates to ‘Minimum Standards for Child Care Service Provision’. In the UK, these are referred to as Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) – Minimum Standards. 

The standards have been endorsed by Government stakeholders, consortium members and the Addis Ababa Bureau, and is expected to become a binding protocol led by the Government in the coming months.

All organisations that provide residential or temporary shelter services to vulnerable children will be required to adhere to these Minimum Standards. 

Hope for Justice primarily provides short-term residential aftercare for children who have previously been trapped in modern slavery and human trafficking. These standards will also apply to shelters that are serving children affected by other forms of abuse, exploitation, neglect, and harmful labour conditions. 

There are an estimated 54 shelters operating across Ethiopia’s capital. Following the launch of the SOPs, a series of workshops and technical orientation sessions will be held to share the standards. These will introduce the standards to shelter providers and support them in integrating the SOP into their operational policies and daily practice.

Sosina Yirga, Hope for Justice’s Ethiopia Country Director, said: “Hope for Justice is proud to have driven the development of the Minimum Standards framework, an initiative born from our own field evidence. By leading the technical coordination and partner alignment, we have supported the initial foundation of a recognised set of protocols in Addis Ababa that translates grassroots insights into a sustainable, city-wide governance structure for child protection.”