About

Institutional Identity

TDOU is the regional umbrella union for Organizations of Persons with Disabilities in Tigray. It represents 15 legally recognized member OPDs and more than 150 zonal and district-level branches.

The Union brings together organizations representing persons with physical, sensory, intellectual, psychosocial, and other disabilities. Through this structure, TDOU works to ensure that the collective voice of persons with disabilities is reflected in humanitarian response, public policy, post-conflict recovery, and long-term development.

Our Vision and Mission

Vision

An inclusive and accessible Tigray where all persons with disabilities exercise their full human rights and participate meaningfully in the region’s development.

Mission

To empower member Organizations of Persons with Disabilities through capacity building, evidence-based advocacy, and strategic resource mobilization to improve the lives of persons with disabilities.

Grounded in the UNCRPD

TDOU’s work is guided by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the principle of “Nothing About Us Without Us.”

  • Non-discrimination

    Equal treatment and opportunities for all persons regardless of disability.

  • Participation

    Persons with disabilities lead and shape decisions that affect their lives.

  • Accessibility

    Removing barriers so persons with disabilities can access services, spaces, and information.

  • Equality before the law

    Legal recognition and protection for persons with disabilities on an equal basis.

  • Inclusion in humanitarian response and recovery

    Persons with disabilities are included as equal participants in humanitarian response, peacebuilding, and post-conflict recovery.

Human Rights and Transitional Justice

TDOU serves as the Regional Co-Chair of the National Civil Society Organizations–Ethiopian Human Rights Commission Coordination Platform. Through this role, the Union works to amplify the voices of persons with disabilities within human rights, peacebuilding, and transitional justice processes.

TDOU supports disability-inclusive transitional justice by strengthening the capacity of local CSOs and member OPDs, and by advocating for disability-disaggregated documentation of violations and experiences of persons with disabilities during the conflict.

Role as an Umbrella OPD Union

  • Coordination

    TDOU connects member OPDs, branches, civil society actors, government institutions, and development partners around shared disability inclusion priorities.

  • Advocacy

    TDOU advocates for the rights, dignity, and meaningful participation of persons with disabilities in policy, humanitarian response, recovery, and development.

  • Capacity Building

    TDOU strengthens member OPDs through organizational assessments, training, technical support, and resource mobilization.

Our Leadership

TDOU is led by people who are part of the community they serve — bringing lived experience, professional expertise, and a direct stake in the work.

  • Gebrekidan Hadush, Executive Director of TDOU — a man with brown skin wearing dark sunglasses, a striped shirt, and a grey suit jacket, seated at his desk next to a computer monitor.
    Image description

    A middle-aged man with brown skin and a short-cropped hairstyle, wearing dark square-shaped aviator sunglasses and a thin mustache. He is dressed in a light-grey suit jacket over a white and grey vertically striped button-down dress shirt, seated in a grey fabric office chair behind a dark desk. A black Dell computer monitor is positioned to his left. The background is a plain light-beige wall.

    Gebrekidan Hadush

    Executive Director

  • Shewit Enquebaher, Program Director of TDOU — a young man in a white polo shirt seated at his desk in front of a computer.
    Image description

    A young man with medium-brown skin and short, curly black hair with a light beard and mustache, wearing a white polo shirt and a wristwatch on his left wrist. He is seated at a desk, leaning slightly forward with one arm resting on the desk surface next to a Dell computer monitor and keyboard. Behind him is a bookshelf stacked with black binders, a blue ActionAid banner, and a dark wooden cabinet. A backpack rests on the floor in the lower right corner.

    Shewit Enquebaher

    Program Director

  • Tekeste Desta, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officer at TDOU — a man with a short beard in a beige striped polo, seated at a table in front of a TDOU program banner.
    Image description

    A man with dark brown skin, short black hair, and a short full beard, wearing a light beige striped polo shirt. He is seated at a wooden table with his hands resting in front of him, looking directly at the camera. To his right is a teal TDOU pull-up banner featuring photographs from community programs and text reading “Education Support Project funded by Diaspora community” and “Promoting Disability Inclusion and Women with Disabilities Empowerment.” The background is a plain light-yellow wall.

    Tekeste Desta

    Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

  • Elsa Hagos, Finance Department at TDOU — a woman in a white t-shirt seated at her office desk in front of a Dell computer monitor.
    Image description

    A woman with brown skin and dark hair pulled back, wearing a white short-sleeved t-shirt. She is seated at a wooden desk in an office chair, facing slightly to the left. A large Dell computer monitor sits in the center of the desk with a keyboard in front of it. To the left of the monitor are a water bottle, a printer, loose documents, and various cables. A printed document and a small device are visible to the right. A window with light blue curtains is visible in the upper left corner, and the background wall is pale yellow.

    Elsa Hagos

    Finance Department

Member Organizations

TDOU works with member Organizations of Persons with Disabilities representing different disability groups and community priorities across Tigray.

  • Tigray Women with Disability Association (TWDA)
  • New Horizon for Disability Development (NHDD)
  • Leprosy Association
  • Deaf Association
  • National Association for the Blind, Mekelle Branch (ENAB)
  • Physical Disability Association of Tigray
  • Yes We Can
  • Nabay Autism Center
  • SEN Ethiopia
  • Bright Future
  • Senay Tegbar Mental Illness
  • ROADW
  • AKABE Intellectual Disability
  • Bruh Tesfa for the Disability
  • Egbet Intellectual Disability Association

Board of Directors

TDOU is governed by a Board of Directors drawn directly from its member organizations. Every board member is a leader within the OPD community — bringing lived experience of disability and firsthand knowledge of the challenges TDOU exists to address.

  • Yohanes Arkebe

    Executive Director, New Horizon for Disability Development (NHDD)

  • Letebrhan Kindae

    Committee Member, Women with Disability

  • Giram Shunoon

    Chairman, Parents’ Association for Children with Intellectual Disability

  • Girmay Kahssay

    Executive Director, ROADW

  • Masho Kidanemariam

    Executive Director, SEN Ethiopia

  • Legese Desta

    Chairman, Leprosy Affected People Association

  • Nigisti Amare

    Committee Member, Women with Disability

  • Tadese Gebregezabher

    Chairman, Deaf Association

  • Halefom Liros

    Chairman, Physical Disability Association of Tigray

Partner with TDOU

Work with the regional umbrella union advancing the rights, representation, and inclusion of persons with disabilities across Tigray.

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