Five-Year Strategic Plan (2026–2030) - Ethiopian Women with Disabilities National Association (EWDNA)

Partner: Ethiopian Women with Disabilities National Association (EWDNA) | Deliverable: Full institutional strategic plan, 2026-2030 |

Background

EWDNA is the national DPO of Ethiopia, run by and for women with disabilities – established in 2002 by seven women with disabilities and an ally, and developed over twenty years into a national movement, now comprising more than 12,590 members within eleven branches. Following its first strategic period, during which time it was able to implement as many as nine projects per year, influence the development of national legislation around accessibility, banking, elections, and broadcasting, and increase its budget almost four-fold, EWDNA required a new five-year strategic plan in order to take its next steps towards securing durable, rights-based entitlements for its members.

The Challenge

In order to create a strategic plan for an organization of the scale and legitimacy as EWDNA, it was necessary to develop a strategy that was truly evidence-based and participatory – taking account of the true capacity and priorities of its Board, staff, branches and membership, and not a ready-made plan. This meant reconciling an extensive amount of pre-existing organizational documentation (annual reports, accounts, bylaws, evaluations, policy frameworks) with new and representative stakeholder feedback, and turning all of this into an evidence-based, five-year plan that the Board could validate.

Our Approach

The team at Le'Hager Consulting managed the entire process of developing EWDNA's strategic plan in May-July 2026:

• A desk review of EWDNA's annual reports, audited accounts, bylaws, project evaluations, and policy frameworks for 2021-2025

• Primary data collection through 14 Key Informant Interviews with members of the EWDNA Board, EWDNA management and staff, branch coordinators, government officials, civil society organizations, and development partners, as well as Focus Group Discussions with women and girls with disabilities, their caregivers, and branch representatives in Addis Ababa, Adama, and other locations

• Structured data analysis through 37-item organizational capacity self-assessment, along with PESTLE and TOWS analyses to identify EWDNA's key strategic issues and priorities

• Participatory validation of the plan through planning workshops in-person and virtually, and review cycles with the EWDNA management, Board, regional representatives, and technical teams on financial information, strategic priorities, and pillars

• A four-stage approach: inception/desk review, data gathering, analysis and validation leading to a strategy that will be based on five programmatic pillars (Sexual Reproductive Health & Gender-Based Violence prevention and response; Women’s Economic Empowerment and Rights; Child Protection and Inclusive Education; Climate Change Resilience and Emergency Response; and Peace Building, Governance, and Participation) and two institutional enabler pillars on organizational capacity/systems and resource mobilization/sustainability

Impact

This leads to the development of a Board-ready five-year strategic plan that captures EWDNA’s institutional experience and grassroots knowledge into a framework – enabling EWDNA to transition from being an organization focused on building awareness into one that delivers sustainable outcomes through a rights-based approach for women and girls with disabilities throughout Ethiopia.