Support for Community Education in Addis Ababa

Derba MIDROC Cement (DMC) plc has provided 40m Ethiopian Birr (approx. $1.1m) to help build a modern school building at Mekane-Hiwot Kindergarten and Elementary School in Addis Ababa. The work has now been completed and handed over to the community through the City’s Department for Education. The donation was part of a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme at Derba MIDROC Cement focused on education.

Prior to the investment, the school had only two classrooms for its kindergarten, of very poor quality and made only of metal sheets. In the morning it was too cold for the youngest children to attend class and in the afternoon it was too hot. Thanks to Derba MIDROC, the school now has a modern building with 60 classrooms, a library, an ICT Centre and a laboratory. The new building has improved the classroom-student ratio to the national standard of 40 students per classroom from the previous 70 to 80 students per classroom. The school has now been awarded ‘level 3’ standard by Department of Education inspectors.

The building is dedicated to W/ro Rukiya Mohammed Yasin, the mother of Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Ali Al Amoudi, Chairman and Owner of MIDROC Ethiopia. Thanks to the philanthropic investment of Derba MIDROC Cement and Mohammed, the school has been able to enrol 1500 students (500 kindergarten and 1000 elementary), an increase from 774 previously, so that more children can be educated in less crowded conditions that include a spacious playground.

As part of its wider CSR strategy, DMC has been making similar efforts in environmental protection, in ensuring social development, in expanding healthcare and in improving livelihoods, especially around its cement factory in the Derba area. The company ensures full compliance with the environmental and social standards set by the Ethiopian Environmental Protection Authority (EPA).