The Church is an ancient, national and apostolic religious institution. The Ethiopian Eunuch introduced Christianity in the 34th A.D. In the 4th century, Christianity became a state religion and many Churches were built out of which Axum Zion,Tedbabe Mariam in North Wollo, Mertule Mariam in East Gojjam and Tana Kirkos located on the island of Lake Tana were some of the renowned houses of worship established during the reign of the two brother kings known as Ezana and Suzanna  or otherwise Abraham and Atsbeha.

Since its introduction to the country, the Church has made magnificent contributions to the development of culture, education, arithmetic, architecture, artifacts and literature. The Church is recognized as the first asylum to arrive at disaster scenes to reduce human sufferings resulted from human made and natural calamities.

The Church is a truly broad-based religious institution. It has over 40 million followers, half a million clergies in 70,000 Parish Churches and monasteries, and about 6.5 million registered Sunday school youth. One can find a church in every district including remote and inaccessible locations throughout the country. The clergies are highly integrated within the communities and their moral integrity and acceptability over the laity has a strong foothold in the Ethiopian society.

This broad-based presence in the country is cited as the greatest potential for the Church to play significant role in the country’s development endeavor. Throughout its history, the Church has remained part and parcel of the Ethiopian society and has prominent stake in its social and economic development.

Ethiopian Orthodox Church Development and Inter Church Aid Commission (EOC-DICAC)

EOC-DICAC was established as a development wing of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church with the objective of enhancing the development efforts of the country by a legal notice in 1972. Since its establishment, the Commission has been engaged in various development programs and brought about a significant impact on the lives of the people of Ethiopia. Rural water supply, access road construction, small scale irrigation development, education,  rural development, food security, prevention of HIV/AIDS, care and support, monastic institutions development and building the capacities of community, clergies and Sunday school youths are some of the major areas of intervention. Furthermore, the Commission has been embarked with development continuum upon emergency relief, rehabilitation and refugees & returnees programs.

 Vision, Mission Values and Principles
Based on the situation analysis, vision for the EOC-DICAC is formulated. Moreover, objectives, strategic options to permit them realize their vision in the next five years are equally identified. The purpose is generating a vision for the Organization is to enable the church’s community, the DICAC staff, and stakeholders’ to articulate where it exists  future.

Vision of EOC-DICAC: is to end hunger in the country and all people live in dignified circumstances in a just and sustainable environment.
Mission
To assist the vulnerable communities in Ethiopia to attain self-reliance by tackling the root causes of poverty, migration, climate change, public health illiteracy problems by promoting sustainable development programmes.

Values and Principles
Initially as a Faith-Based Organisation, EOC-DICAC’s values are fundamentally rooted in the values of the Church. Therefore, DICAC bears concrete witness to the truth of the gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ which is enshrined in the following teachings of the Holy Bible.

“I want you to share your food with the hungry and bring right to your homes those who are helpless, poor and destitute." (Is. 58:7)

“He who does not work shall not eat” (2 Thes.  3:10)

Hence, EOC-DICAC principles are fundamentally based on humanitarian principles and good governance consistent with current government policies.

The EOC-DICAC Organizational Structure

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church Development and Inter-church Aid Commission (DICAC) has a wide network over parish churches, monasteries and clergies nation wide.

The supreme power of the Church, the Holy Synod, chaired by the Patriarch, issues rules and regulations of the Commission, appoints board members and approves the policies and regulations proposed by the board. The board approves annual programs & budgets, initiates & reviews policies, and appoints a commissioner to manage the day-to-day managerial activities of the Commission. The board is from the Church Officials, scholars and the laity on the basis of professional qualification and religious devotions.

Program focus
DICAC is committed to the goal of poverty reduction with a primary focus on vulnerable groups of the community and prevention & control of HIV/AIDS through building the overall capacity of the church to carry out development and social services. In consultation with its partners, DICAC has adopted a holistic approach concentrating on empowering of the communities for sustainable development. The operational area is inn all parts of the country.