History of Establishment

Community Initiatives Support Organization (CISO) is a national civil society organization established in Ethiopia in 2003 G.C. with the aim of addressing the needs and priorities of vulnerable and underserved communities across Ethiopia. CISO promotes inclusive, community-driven, and sustainable development by strengthening local capacities, fostering meaningful community engagement, advancing locally driven solutions and community ownership to achieve socioeconomic change.

Why CISO Supports Community Initiatives

Community development cannot be achieved through external support alone; it requires the active participation, commitment, and ownership of local communities. Recognizing this, the founders of Community Initiatives Support Organization (CISO) established the organization with a core philosophy of supporting community initiatives as a foundation for sustainable development. CISO believes that lasting change begins when communities are empowered to define their development priorities, mobilize locally available resources, and build on indigenous knowledge and skills, and work collectively to address their shared challenges.

Accordingly, CISO’s distinctive value lies in bridging community priorities with inclusive, locally driven, and sustainable development solutions.

Strengthening local capacities, facilitating meaningful community engagement, promoting collective action, and supporting community-led initiatives are central to CISO’s development approach. The organization also promotes the effective use of indigenous knowledge, skills, and locally available resources to advance sustainable development, strengthen community participation in decision-making, promote social inclusion, reinforce local ownership, and ensure that development interventions respond to the actual needs and priorities of vulnerable and underserved populations. In line with this community-centered approach, CISO supports communities in addressing interconnected socioeconomic and development challenges by improving livelihoods, expanding access to essential services and economic opportunities, protecting the environment, strengthening disaster preparedness and resilience, and promoting peaceful coexistence.

Furthermore, CISO recognizes that sustainable community development requires an integrated approach that connects immediate humanitarian needs with long-term development and peace building efforts. Through this approach, the organization seeks to address urgent humanitarian needs while strengthening resilience, reducing vulnerability, tackling the underlying causes of poverty and instability, and fostering peaceful, inclusive, and resilient communities.

Through inclusive participation, local resource mobilization, community ownership, and context-responsive solutions, CISO works to translate community potential into lasting impact. Ultimately, the organization strives to foster empowered, resilient, peaceful, and self-reliant communities capable of leading and sustaining their own socioeconomic development.

Priority groups of CISO

CISO prioritizes vulnerable and disadvantaged children and families, youth, women, persons with disabilities, impoverished households, disaster-affected communities, and other marginalized populations. Particular attention is given to communities facing poverty, social and economic exclusion, limited access to essential social services and livelihood opportunities, and the consequences of natural and human-induced disasters. CISO also prioritizes communities affected by conflict, displacement, and social instability, recognizing their heightened needs for protection, recovery, resilience, and sustainable development.