REST wins especial good practice national award

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G/haweria Berhane The Relief Society of Tigray (REST) won the especial good practice award for its best project implementation and performance on November 26, 2015. Mr. Teklewoini Assefa, the Executive Director of the honorably awarded organization, REST, received the gold medal award from H.E Doctor Mulatu Teshome, President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE). The award ceremony was attended by higher executive government officials(ministries, commissioners, directors etc.), board members and directors of different NGOs/CSOs. The award was given to REST for its flexible designing, innovative, scalable, sustainable, cost effective, community networking and gender sensitive commencement and implementation of the crop insurance project also known as R4 (Rural Resilience Initiative) that helps the farmers to cope up with recurrent drought shocks in times which rainfall dearth. The good practice award process has been started on July 2014 and took sixteen months to identify who is the best project performer NGO/CSO in Ethiopia in the fiscal year of 2015. 40 development and charity organizations from all corners of the country have been submitted their good practice proposals to be award. Out of this total, 36 NGOs/CSOs met the criteria to show their best practice in project implementation. In the screening process slideshow presentations, field visit observations and good practice documentations (documentary film production and booklet publication) were performed by CCRDA, the Consortium Christian Relief and Development Association. Eventually, 10 NGOs/CSOs succeeded all the award procedures to receive the special award from H.E Doctor Mulatu Teshome. Accordingly, six NGOs/CSOs (those which stood one to six) have been recalled to award gold medal and trophy with certificate. The other seven to ten competent took certificate of appreciation. REST was one of the six gold medal awarded NGOs/CSOs from the hands of the FDRE’s President Doctor Mulatu Teshome. After handed over the gold medal and trophy to the top six winner organizations, Doctor Mulatu Teshome remarked all NGOs/CSOs that “We have to ensure that no one should be left behind in our effort to eradicate poverty and deal with an inclusive and sustainable feature of the society. In this universally shared value of government-NGOs collaboration, joint action is necessary for our development activities. It takes active support and involvement of various development partners including NGOs/CSOs in an organized and coordinated manner working in all alignment in the frameworkof government policies and plans.” About the significance and overall contribution of NGOs and CSOs to the national development drive, H.E President Dr. Mulatu congratulated and appreciated competition winners like REST for the works of life changing