The General Assembly of APAP, its Board of Directors and staffs met separately—the General Assembly on November 03. 2009, the Board on October 10, 2009, and the staffs sometime in October—and discussed at length the implications that Proclamation No. 621/2009, the Proclamation that provides for the registration and regulation of charities and societies, would have for APAP and its activities. Their discussions were based on the contents of the following three research papers prepared for the purpose:

• Registration Options of APAP under the New Ethiopian Charities and Societies Law from the Perspective of  APAP’s Past Interventions;
• Local Fund-Raising Options for APAP: An Analysis of its Strengths, Limitations, Opportunities and Threats in Relation to APAP’s Strategic Options as an Ethiopian Charitable Society; and
• The Strategic Options for APAP as an Ethiopian Resident Charitable Society.

Having done that, they arrived at the conclusion that APAP has to design a strategy that would help it conform to the Proclamation. The strategy they thus opted for is what is known as the Organizational Development (OD) of community-based organizations (CBOs), in partnership with the concerned government bodies, academic institutions and professional associations. In short, APAP would still be engaged in pursuing its original mission but with a new approach that focuses more on the capacity building of CBOs and associations that work toward the reduction of poverty by ensuring their (the CBOs’) empowerment and active participation in its endeavor.

Based on the findings of the research papers, new strategic and operational plans were, therefore, designed and submitted to APAP’s Board of Directors for further refinement thereof. The Board, for its part, did that and forwarded the plans to the General Assembly, which approved the documents at its meeting held on November 03, 2009.

More specifically, since the new Charities and Civil Societies Proclamation prohibits foreign-funded organizations, such as APAP, to be engaged in human-rights advocacy, APAP will be re-registered as a resident charitable organization that can benefit from the funds that come to it from foreign partners and donors. As such, APAP will continue to contribute its part to the national development effort with a new approach and methodology until such time as it is organizationally able to raise the required fund from local sources.