Who We Are
About Us
About The Foundation
Stichting Bichiok Foundation is a registered non-profit, non-governmental, multi-sectoral relief and development organization based in Hoorn.
Formed on August 24, 2021, during the Coronavirus pandemic by a family of Ethiopian descent, it is dedicated to reduce human suffering, poverty and injustices and to enhance the livelihoods of communities.
What we aim to accomplish
We aim to improve livelihoods and improve the living conditions of communities through better health, education, improved food security, provision of water and improved hygiene, sanitation conditions. Targeted will be of all the inhabitants of Gier, a village in the western Gambella region of Ethiopia, southwest of Nyinenyang (Nuer Zone). This will be mostly through initiatives aimed at the provision of lifesaving assistance and holistic social services focusing especially on women, children and youth.
For sustainability, the program will involve the beneficiaries in the project and make use of locally available materials. The people will be equipped with knowledge and skill to build resilience in their situations. This is inspired by what the Lord Jesus Christ spoke when he said that he came that they may have life, and have it more abundantly (John10:10).
The meaning of Bichiok and his life history
Bichiok is an ancestral name. According to the Nuer people of Ethiopia and South Sudan, Bichiok literally means twins. It is the name given to the last of the twins. The ancestor was born in the village of Gier along with his twin sister Nyakueth. He married Nyayul Deng Biliew as a life partner and was survived with two boys and three girls. He grew up and died in the village of Gier.
Justification for the Foundation
The village of Gier has a population of more than five thousand people living in the areas. Residents have limited access to and availability of social services such as health care, education, water, and sanitation. The people are always facing various infectious diseases such as malaria, typhoid, intestinal worms, cholera etc. immunization exercises are not available apart from national immunization days which have always been provided by WHO and Ministry of health under the polio eradication program. They have neither school or clinic is being built in the area. The people derive their water from the Makuey River.
Perspectives
Vision
Our vision is based on the following principles. We want to see a healthy and poverty-free-Gier community and we do that by improving community safety and diversity through a welcoming and inclusive neighborhood and citizens taking control of their own lives.
Mission
Working to strengthen and build on local capacities and harness local resources and turn them into tangible development initiatives.
Objectives
Improving lives through participatory development of a sustainable community-based education, health, water, and sanitation program to improve access to social services and basic needs in the areas. The Foundation will contribute to the overall objective of ensuring the provision of critical protection related and specialized services through an integrated approach to address the priorities of women, girls and boys in hard-to-reach and priority geographical areas.
Vision
Our vision is based on the following principles. We want to see a healthy and poverty-free-Gier community and we do that by improving community safety and diversity through a welcoming and inclusive neighborhood and citizens taking control of their own lives.
Mission
Working to strengthen and build on local capacities and harness local resources and turn them into tangible development initiatives.
Objectives
Improving lives through participatory development of a sustainable community-based education, health, water, and sanitation program to improve access to social services and basic needs in the areas. The Foundation will contribute to the overall objective of ensuring the provision of critical protection related and specialized services through an integrated approach to address the priorities of women, girls and boys in hard-to-reach and priority geographical areas.
Core Values
Transparency and accountability
The people living in the district will nominate members of the targeting of committee. The administrator or delegate will call for the district general assembly and facilitate the selection process. Upon finalizing targeting, the committee will announce the list of participants to general assembly for approval.
The targeting committee will be given a chance to nominate four representatives composed of a man, woman, female youth, and male youth leaders who will provide written bi-weekly feedback on their perception of the programme.
They will be supplied with prescribed questionnaires in addition to oral feedbacks. The members will attend community monthly review meetings organized by the Foundation. It will hold it members accountable for the work they do, and the resources entrusted to them.
Quality service and learning
All projects will be committed to always provide quality services with increasing gender equality, including across age groups
Respect for human rights
The Foundation will ensure inclusivity of people across all gender, the disabled among hosts, IDPs and returnees. Protective environment include prevention against human rights violations and abuses such as physical violence witnessed during inter clan fighting, revenge killings, cattle raiding rape, loss of property.
These factors will be addressed with the aim of long term solutions. We are committed to respecting and protecting the rights of all individuals and groups and are bound by international human rights treaties and protocols.
Partnership and collaborations
Working with the local community and partnering with partner organizations and government agencies to pursue its goal. Capacity building of all humanitarian workers and embed feedback mechanisms in projects for flexibility. Nearby primary schools will be identified as partners with whom to mainstream Child Protection and psycho-social support in schools through capacity building events while observing the: “do no harm”
Democratic decision making
Adults and children with disabilities will be considered, both in decision-making and participation to ensure a feeling of belonging in project activities. Women and men will be equitably represented. Committees will be formed at district level, which will be the body to facilitate and make a decision. All categories of people will play an active role in the decision-making processes that affect them.
It will be achieved through the establishment of clear guidelines to ensure that the most marginalized and worst affected are represented and have influence. The village administrator shall explain the objectives of the project and the roles and responsibilities of the targeting committee; introduce the members of targeting committee to the general assembly for final endorsement and provide guidance for conducting actual targeting.
Respect the involvement and full participation of all members in decision-making.
Operational efficiency
Stichting Bichiok Foundation will promote efficient use of resources mobilized from and other sources to effect positive change in the community. The Foundation will incorporate the policy of Accountability to the affected Populations (AAP) into all relevant statements, policies and operations guidelines including incorporating them in in staff inductions. The Foundation will ensure facilitation of feedback from affected people on the services. Information will be made available to local communities through local translations.