Retrak was recently granted a new NGO Registration licence from the Ethiopian government allowing Retrak to continue working with street children in Addis Ababa. The Ethiopian government has redesigned the way in which NGO (non – governmental organisations) can operate in the country and this required Retrak to go through the process afresh. Retrak’s Country Director, Maggie Crewes said that the team were absolutely delighted to get the registration certificate from the new government department – the Charities and Societies Agency. 

The registration process is important as it means we are allowed to operate, employ staff, occupy building space, work with the children on the street and refer children from our own programmes to other government and NGO programmes such as vocational training centres. 

Retrak has already been operational in Ethiopia for over three years and now that we have completed this step we are in the process of getting official approval for the next three years of Retrak Ethiopia’s development. Part of the development includes piloting our successful Foster Care programme for street children that has been operational in Uganda for some time.