Dire Dawa is one of two chartered cities in Ethiopia (the other being the capital, Addis Ababa). It is divided administratively into two Woredas, the city proper and the non-urban woreda of Gurgura. There are 24 urban kebeles and 28 rural peasants associations under the chartered city. Currently, more than half a million people resides in Dire Dawa. 

FSCE established Dire Dawa Area Program Office in 1996 to realize the protection and wellbeing of disadvantaged children in Dire Dawa city and since then, it has been implementing various child protection interventions. 

Currently, the APO is working in ‘kebele’ 02, 03, 04, 06 & 08 of the city of Dire Dawa. The number of APO\'s staff currently stands at 30 of which 53% of them are females and 67% of them are program staff. 

In the year 2014 the APO obtained over five million birr from Kinder Not Hilfe (KNH) and utilized successfully.