Addis Guzo is a non-profit association recognized in Switzerland and currently has 49 members. We have been running a center for people with disabilities in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, since 2012. People with disabilities have access to our services regardless of their gender, age, social affiliation, political views or religious beliefs.
The supreme body of the association is the General Assembly. The management and board of the association are jointly responsible for the strategic and technical management of the projects in Ethiopia and for raising the necessary funds.
In August 2024, we established a management position (50%) in Switzerland. This is our response to the imminent expansion of activities and secures the project for the future. Nevertheless, we continue to rely on the power of volunteer work. In 2024, over 2,500 hours of volunteer work were carried out in Addis Ababa and over 1,500 hours in Switzerland.
Executive Director since 2024
Since August 2024, Christine has been managing the operations of Addis Guzo. Together with Bernhard Wissler, she co-founded the project and has shaped it from the very beginning. Today, she coordinates the association’s activities in Switzerland and Ethiopia, ensuring smooth collaboration between administration, project implementation, and strategic development. Her experience in managing social projects, her commitment to inclusive cooperation, and her strong connection with the local team all define her work.
President since July 2024
Fabienne Stinus is a teacher, adult educator, and didactics expert with many years of experience as a lecturer at a teacher training college – now working in her so-called “unretirement.” She has known Addis Guzo since its early days and has remained closely connected to the project. Since August 2023, she has served as a board member with a special focus on the French-speaking part of Switzerland. She supports fundraising efforts in the region and is responsible for all French translations.
Founding Board Member
Bernhard Wissler is an occupational therapist, wheelchair expert, and one of the key figures behind Addis Guzo. As a co-founder, he played a major role in establishing the project in Addis Ababa and has significantly shaped its development over the years. Professionally, he ran the wheelchair company hock’n roll ag for over two decades and played a key role in developing the Swiss training program for rehabilitation technicians. Since 2018, he has led the partner organization rollaid, which collaborates closely and successfully with Addis Guzo.
New Board Member since July 2025
Laura Marti joins the board with a strong background in business administration and brings valuable expertise to the team. For several years, she has supported the association’s bookkeeping and contributed to its public relations efforts.
Laura has a long-standing personal connection to Addis Guzo: In 2017, she traveled to Ethiopia with Bernhard and Christine, participated in the project, and explored the country. The experiences from that trip deeply shaped her connection to Ethiopia and strengthened her motivation to stay involved long term.
New Board Member since July 2025
With a background in European Global Studies and a strong interest in international cooperation, Kai Wissler brings a global perspective to the board. As the son of founding member Bernhard Wissler, he has been connected to Addis Guzo from the very beginning.
During two visits to Addis Ababa, he not only got to know the project but also contributed hands-on – including work in the workshop. These on-site experiences sharpened his awareness of social justice. More recently, he has been supporting the further development of the website, contributing both his technical skills and conceptual thinking.
We are committed to helping people with disabilities in Ethiopia. With our actions we want to improve the living conditions of our clients and thus promote their active and self-determined participation in social life in the sense of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We protect people's dignity and support their ability to help themselves and others.
We act according to the principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence. We are committed to helping people of all ages, without discrimination and regardless of their ethnic origin, religious or political beliefs. Our attitude and actions are determined by the values of respect, solidarity, freedom, equality, tolerance and justice.
The target groups of our activities include not only the people directly affected by a disability, but also their relatives, as well as other people from their environment. Our core activities include: providing our clients with mobility aids, organizing training sessions and accompanying them into independent employment, offers in the areas of physiotherapy and psychosocial therapy, accompanying them in activities of daily living and promoting sports activities.
Our employees have the necessary skills for their field of work and act on their own responsibility. We support professional and personal development through participation in further training, but also through experiential learning. The exchange of knowledge enables continuous change and improvement of competencies and promotes team spirit. Each employee knows the tasks of his or her colleagues beyond his or her own work assignment.
Communication, cooperation and transparency are important to us. We see ourselves as a learning organization. We achieve an improvement in the quality of life of all those involved by maintaining proven structures on the one hand and through change, renewal and a willingness to shape things on the other. In the fulfillment of humanitarian tasks, we are an active and independent partner of the authorities at all levels. We maintain an open and reliable cooperation with other humanitarian organizations.
With our work we contribute to the awareness of society. We promote coexistence and respect between people with and without disabilities in Ethiopia. We are committed to doing this with the utmost care.
We are pleased to welcome Lilyana Ahmed as our new Program Coordinator. With her solid background in NGO program management in Ethiopia, Lilyana will oversee and strengthen our three key program areas. We look forward to this new phase – with a wealth of experience, a breath of fresh air, and a strong team spirit!
Thanks to the close cooperation between the management in Addis Ababa, the executive management, and the Swiss board, we are able to respond quickly to changes and make optimal use of our financial and human resources.
Since the start of the project, we have been promoting the theoretical and practical skills of the workshop team. The aim of the training is to adapt the available wheelchairs and other aids so that they meet the needs, requirements, and living conditions of the clients as well as possible.
Our standard of wheelchair provision is unmatched in Ethiopia. In the current project phase, we are developing a practical training concept that will equip our employees with the skills they need to pass on their knowledge as trainers in the field of individual wheelchair provision to specialists from other institutions. This will increase the urgently needed capacity of experts in this specialized field of work.
We have been successfully implementing our early intervention program since 2022 and are continuously developing it further. It is based on the local education system and international best practices. Our physical therapists in the rehabilitation sector undergo a training program that is specifically tailored to Ethiopian conditions, based on international best practices, and successfully implemented in collaboration with international experts. Work on the practice-oriented training manual has been completed. Our most experienced employees are now being trained to train specialists and conduct further training courses.
Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary cooperation is crucial in early intervention and pediatric physiotherapy. In addition to the range of therapies on offer, our teams from the workshop and rehabilitation departments work closely together to provide assistive devices. This benefits not only the children, but also our teams of experts, who expand and deepen their professional knowledge and skills through this exchange.
The skills development team consists of a marketing expert and an assistant. Our three dance and sports trainers have disabilities themselves and are therefore inspiring role models for all participants.
In our Skills Development Department, we offer the following activities: Handicraft courses for women with disabilities, basic entrepreneurial skills to start a microenterprise, life skills coaching that can contribute to general prevention, health promotion and personal development, and training in recreational activities such as wheelchair basketball and contemporary dance.
The early intervention program is developed and the training of our physiotherapists is successfully completed.
The babies have arrived!
40 children aged 0 to 2 years are now also taking part in the program.
Training in Switzerland!
In addition to the intensive training on site, further training is being organized in Switzerland for the first time. Our physiotherapist Addisalem is in Bern for 4 weeks and takes away many impressions which she incorporates into the development of the early intervention program.
The third project phase begins - our focus: education and training!
We celebrate: 10 years of Addis Guzo! With us: Dr Ergoge Tesfay, Minister for Women and Social Affairs.
Face-lifting
After almost 10 years in the red and grey design, it was time for a new logo!
Corona! With appropriate protective measures, we can continue our work almost without interruption.
The move and inauguration of the new project site takes place. In the same year, we partner with Kukuk-Kultur Association to build the first inclusive playground in Ethiopia.
Addis Guzo is moving to Geja Sefer, one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city. Preparations for the new site are in full swing.
The Addis Guzo Contemporary Dance Group is founded.
Salome Inclusion Day!
Celebrating the diversity of our community! Employees, a football club from the neighborhood and our basketball team enjoy an exciting afternoon full of fun, team spirit and fair play.
A daycare for families with disabled children is established and physiotherapy for adults follows.
Skills development
After the first micro-entrepreneurial training group (candle making), others follow: tailoring and doll making
The sports field for wheelchair basketball is built.
The first basketball groups start weekly training.
Opening!
We are recognised as a foreign charity and open our doors.
The groundbreaking ceremony takes place on the site of a center for war-disabled people. Only a few months later, the wheelchair workshop, built from four old containers, a lot of corrugated iron and countless hours of welding, is ready.
Christine and Bene, together with Marianne Locher, found the Addis Guzo association in Bern and plan to build a wheelchair workshop in Addis Abeba.
Bernhard Wissler and Christine Oberli work as volunteers in Addis Ababa for an aid project that delivered discarded wheelchairs from Switzerland to Ethiopia at that time.
Our partner association rollaid, CH, collects used wheelchairs, other aids and countless spare parts in Switzerland. Up to 700 refurbished, ready-to-use wheelchairs are delivered to Ethiopia every year.
Center of Excellence for mobility aid provision, pediatric physiotherapy & early childhood intervention.
Copyright ©2023. Addis Guzo
