Our Programs:

WeSMCO’s On Going Development Initiatives
To achieve its mission and vision, WeSMCO has over the last nine years initiated a number of programmatic activities that have brought a significant change in the lives of targeted communities in Addis Ababa Arada Sub-City, Kobo Woreda of Amhara Region and in marginalized and neglected woredas of Benishangul Gumuz, Debate and Bulen. Building on this experience, WeSMCO has designed its key strategic directions for the next five years to expand its initiatives to the needy community. Currently, some of its envisaged activities include:

Family and Community based Child care and support Program
The one to one sponsorship, which have been started back in 2003 has created educational opportunity for about 74 children from which 59 are currently being sponsored by individuals and organizations from local and abroad. So many people are showing thier interst in this program and by the next year this number will be expected to be increased.The disable children and their family support is being going on with the donation granted from Lilian Fond. 15 preople are benefited so far from the program. Most of them have been engaged in income generating activities after provided with the seed money and training as well as weelchairs.
With the donation granted from World Food Program (WFP), yearly provision of educational materials and back-bags for the orphans and vulnerable children in all Kebeles of Arada is being going on. This year only about 450 students are provided with the school materials and back-bags.
The construction of primary schools have been carried out in marginalized and underserved woredas of Benishangul Gumuz Debate and Bulen woreds with assistance of British and Japan embassies.

The Health Program
HIV/AIDS
One of the health program component of WeSMCO is HIV/AIDS prevention and control. The devastating act of this pervasive pandemic on the socio-economic is vital under the present situation of the country. Thousands have lost their life and millions are hosing its horrifying problems; especially, women and children as recent studies have revealed. To contribute to the national effort made to mitigate this problem, WeSMCO is implementing various activities in an integrated manner. Currently, care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs) and for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), counseling, referral to voluntary blood testing and ART service centers and awareness creation campain are going on.

FP/RH and HTP
Provision of Family Planning services and Reproductive health education projects integrated with Harmful Traditional Practice (HTP) are being carried out with the participation of the local communities in the targeted area. Sanitation, Hygiene  and nutritionThis health program component aims at alleviating the problems of sanitation, hygiene and nutrition both in urban and rural areas. In most interior parts of Addis Ababa, people live in a suffocated and congested condition posing tremendous health problems. This situation is so vivid in Arada Sub-City– one of the project sites of WeSMCO. To mitigate such problems, the provision of potable water, construction of communal rest and bath rooms, public close washing basins and sanitation education are being implemented.
Similarly, potable water supply (borehole and stream development scheme) and sanitation projects are also implemented in rural project areas of WeSMCO. In Benishangul Gumuz regional sate, Debate and Bulen woredas and Asosa area six projects that benefited 18,500 people have been implemented. In Kobo woreda of north Wollo zone sanitation project that benefit 2,000 people is going on.

Women Empowerment, Gender Equity and Good Governance Program
In Ethiopia women are still the most under served and are not fully exercising their political, social and economic rights for various reasons. To contribute to the effort made to avert this situation and as its top priority issue, WeSMCO has implemented a number of projects focusing on women empowerment.Currently, with the fund granted for the CIDA Swedish through Network of Ethiopian Women Association (NEWA), WeSMCO is implementing a project entitled "Promotion and protection of the Human Rights of Women and Girls" in Benishangul Gumuz Debate and Bulen woreds.

Agriculture and Environmental Protection Program
Urban Agriculture
Vegetable production project, which is committed to introduce nutritional garden among HIV/AIDS affected women, orphans and vulnerable children in urban areas to realize food self sufficiency and increase house-hold vegetable consumption and income is being under implementation wiht the donation of fund by USAID through ECI/Africa. The modern beekeeping project is also one the urban agriculture projects being carried out in Kobo Woreda. This project is funded by the Dan Church Aid with the objective of enhancing the financial source and realizing food self-sufficiency among destitute mothers of Kobo. Gabion Production
Welfare for the Street Mothers and Children Organization (WeSMCO) has started production of gabion in collaboration with German Ethiopian Association.
The production of these heavy-duty welded wire gabions contributes to the project beneficiaries directly by creating job opportunity and generating income. The produced gabion has got multi-purposes like the stabilization of earth movement and erosion, river diversion, reservoirs, flood control, terracing & retaining walls. Gabions can be manufactured as welded mesh Gabion like the one produced by WeSMCO or Woven Mesh Gabion.
Welded Mesh Gabion has many advantages over the Woven Mesh Gabion. Weld Mesh Gabions are more aesthetically pleasing and quicker to install than Woven Mesh Gabions. The advantages using Welded Mesh Gabions are multiple:
• Blended easily and harmoniously with the natural surroundings;
• Low cost alternative to concrete or masonry structures;
• Very high resistance to natural forces due to better tensile strength;
• Can withstand any unpredictable movement or settlement without loss of stability;
• Simple and speedy installation, making it cost effective;
• Quality finish and appearance is more uniform finish when built;
• Easy to vegetate and
• More rigid than woven mesh resulting in a more uniform finish when built.

In general the gabion system provides cost effective environmentally sensitive solutions for numerous civil construction applications:
• Mass gravity retaining structures;
• Vegetated slope reinforcement;
• Slope stabilization;
• Channel lining & relocation;
• Slope and Bank protection;
• Bridge abutments;
• Rock fall confinement and (rock fall netting)
• Erosion control. From experience the Weld mesh gabions are faster to erect and do not need tensioning. This allows to keep their shape, to be free from bulges and depressions and fit easily against the wall. It is possible to cut holes in them if needed for example for drainage or passage of culvert or any other structure. Beyond the production of heavy-duty quality Weld Mesh Gabion WeSMCO is manufacturing different household and office materials in the workshop.

WeSMCO's Weld Mesh Gabions are manufactured from cold drown steel wire of diameter 6mm and then welded together with fusion welding with bar spacing of average 50 mm by 50mm. The thickness of the wire can be adjusted to 3, 4 & 5 mm of wire thickness if the need arises from the customer side.
Two size of Weld Mesh Gabion is produced in the workshop of WeSMCO 1 M³ and 2 M³.
Assembly work for our Welded Mesh Gabions is performed upon request.
Beside the organization is able to develop products and services that customers will buy since listening to the customer is a key part of the product development process. The customer provides a lot, if not most, of the product specification.

Skill Training program
We SMCO has been providing various skills training scheme for young street girls and boys, orphans and destitute family children. The training includes: wood work, Metal work, hotel catering and recipe. At its own organized work-shop established in 2003, more than 325 girls and boys have been trained in metal and wood work. Similarly, about 128 girls have been trained so far in hotel catering and recipe. The construction of embroidery, tailoring, computer and other skills training center for youth is under going.

Youth Center Development
Youth center development is also one of the development initiatives of WeSMCO being under construction in Addis Ababa, Arada Sub-City and North Wollo, Kobo Woreda that will be expected to provide various services for all youth communities residing in the area.