About
Engaging Diaspora in Research and Education Advancement through Partnership(ED-REAP) is a 501(c)(3) organization formed by a dedicated group of professors working in various US universities with the vision of linking the vast scholarly resources of the Diaspora and with appropriate African learning and research institutions.
Furthermore, ED-REAP will engage in humanitarian activities for the betterment of society with a primary focus on the people and institutions of the Tigray region of Ethiopia. While the overall vision of ED-REAP will focus on engagements with long-term impacts, the immediate short-term focus will be on Tigray as it has suffered an enormous humanitarian crisis due to the civil war in 2020-2021.
Mission
The mission of this organization is to boost the research and educational development culture by supporting the research capacity-building efforts and bringing together a multi-disciplinary group of academicians to work with appropriate and interested African universities and research institutions. This organization also strives to participate in humanitarian activities that benefit members of the Diaspora abroad and African society, with a primary focus on the Tigray region of Ethiopia.
ED-REAP strives to create a network of Ethiopian diaspora scholars that would serve as a think-tank group to create, co-ordinate and foster partnerships between the diaspora, their host institutions and Ethiopian higher learning & research institutions in order to bring about a productive research culture to produce well-trained class of Ethiopian intellectuals.
The Ethiopian Diaspora possesses a huge reservoir of world-class scholarly skills in a wide array of multi-disciplinary fields of study; and has amassed a vast amount of teaching, research, leadership, management, and policy-making experience from all over the world.
Because of its cultural, emotional and historical attachment to Ethiopia, the Diaspora can play a significant role in accelerating the ambitious developmental activities currently underway in Ethiopia.
Core Values
The core values of ED-REAP lie in the belief that the organization can become a catalyst of change in providing and complementing the research and educational development efforts geared to help the needs of society.
Moreover, ED-REAP believes that a network of Diaspora scholars can create partnerships to serve as a think-tank group to develop, coordinate, and foster partnerships. Active participation in any humanitarian activities for the benefit of society, with a primary focus on Tigray, is also part of its core mission and values.
Objectives
- Support the Education sector through participation in short-term graduate and undergraduate teaching, providing continuing education/training, and serving as a conduit between African universities and partner institutions
- Support University students affected by the war in Tigray through resource identification and connection, mentorship, and arranging counseling services for coping with the physical and mental trauma of war and separation from family members.
- Support the education sector at KG-12 through training of teachers, administrators, and donation of teaching materials.
- Support and promote the culture of research among African faculty and students of higher learning and research institutes by providing advice on effective ways of creating and maintaining research infrastructure, effective ways of using statistical data for informing policy, undertaking research, and providing training and mentoring on research methods.
- Provide support on the leadership and management system development by introducing modern university management systems such as introducing an IT-based student administration, and personnel and financial management systems and through participation in local university leadership capacity development activities including but not limited to coaching leaders, delivering short term leadership capacity development programs.
- Create partnerships and collaborations with other organizations that have missions and objectives that are compatible with those of ED-REAP
- Create a framework for fundraising, receipt of in-kind and monetary donations from philanthropic sources, seeking grant funding from appropriate funding agencies, and providing donations to other non-profit organizations that are aligned with the core vision of ED-REAP.
- Play a constructive role in addressing any humanitarian needs of the broader African society with a special focus on Tigray – in complete alignment with ED-REAP’s core mission.