Maternal mortality is extremely high in Ethiopia at 673 per 100,000 live births. For every maternal death there are an estimated 30 more women who suffer a chronic disability such as fistula as a result of giving birth. Low coverage of services is a major cause of the high maternal and neo-natal mortality rates, especially in rural areas. Many Government health centres have unfilled midwifery posts or lack basic sanitation and equipment. Labour and delivery wards are set up with very little attention to women’s dignity and needs. The Ethiopian Ministry of Health is addressing the shortfall in maternal healthcare provision by training village based Health Extension Workers (HEWs) in safe and clean delivery and newborn care. A key component of this training is for the HEW to have a two week practical attachment at a health facility to gain hands-on practice in the skills she has been taught. There is a real bottleneck here, as there is a lack of high quality facilities demonstrating best practice where these attachments can be hosted. SafeHands would like to set up, with its partner the Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia, two safe delivery training centres to be used for hosting training attachments by Government HEWs. The facilities will provide women-friendly services, in a hygienic and welcoming environment, to foster best practice among HEWs. The facilities would also serve as a training centre for HEWs in community health education, using training films already developed by SafeHands with the support of Band Aid. These films tackle some of the barriers to accessing care within the family and community, and seek to educate communities about nutrition, hygiene, sanitation, family planning and ante natal care. The location of this project will be Awassa in the region of Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples (SNNP) and Debrezeit, 70kms east of Addis Ababa. Beneficiaries of this project will include: • 150 HEWs whose skills will be upgraded in safe and clean delivery • 125,000 women of reproductive age in 150 kebeles served by the trained HEWs • 50,000 women of reproductive age in 150 kebeles (villages) who will see health education films and attend interactive sessions. Budget The budget for this two year project is £ 109,879