Outcome ETH_D_1.4

All people in Ethiopia live in a society resilient to environmental risks and adapted to climate change.

Resilience and Institutional Support to Empower Women - RISE project implementation has started in Somali Region by UN Women in collaboration with implementing partner at local level, Provision of technical and financial support is underway in supporting for regional government and grassroots functionaries. Accordingly, during this inception period of the project, a baseline survey for RISE project was conducted to establish benchmarks for the project's outcomes. The findings were shared with UN Women, and the report was reviewed to ensure alignment with project objectives and stakeholder expectations, and development of comprehensive strategies and guidelines to mainstream gender into climate action planning, budgeting, programming, monitoring, and evaluation for Somali Region has been conducted. Also, the project facilitated the establishment and legal registration of Barwaako SACCO, in Jedane Kebele which is now operational. A total of 470 women members, including women from both the resettled and host communities, have joined the cooperative. Collectively, these members have saved ETB 60,900 to date, showcasing strong community engagement and financial commitment. In addition, tools and strategies for gender mainstreaming in climate action, facilitation of women and girls' participation in climate action, and a Gender Responsive Agricultural Extension Advisory Service (GRAES) are being developed and 70 different video files to facilitate Gender Responsive Agriculture Extension Services (GRAES) in Somali Region has been compiled and shared for translation and use. The video-based training tools are mostly on Climate Smart Agriculture practices including those produced by UN Women and its old partner (SOSSE) and shared to a current implementing partner in Somali Region-Community in Action Against Poverty (CAAP) for translation and contextualization and use throughout implementing Resilience and Institutional Support to Empower Women in Somali Region (RISE) project in the region and Jedene Kebele and beyond. The videos were developed in other languages and context and a technical working group has been established to review and contextualize the videos. In addition, specific tools to be employed at the field level by CAAP and its counterparts to enable them better engage target women/households and host community in gender responsive CSA practices in Jedene Kebele and the rest of Shinele Woreda by the IP and woreda agriculture bureau/office. The draft documents include Community Guide for Managing Soil Fertility, Community Guidance Note on Bee Honey Production and Cereal Crop Production.

All people in Ethiopia live in a society resilient to environmental risks and adapted to climate change.

In 2025, Ethiopia made measurable progress toward a more resilient, inclusive, and gender-responsive approach to climate change adaptation and environmental risk management. UN Women Ethiopia’s interventions contributed to the operationalization of multi-sectoral systems, strengthened institutional capacity, and promoted gender-transformative practices that enhanced women’s access to resources, participation in decision-making, and leadership in climate, agriculture, and disaster risk contexts. These advances collectively strengthened the country’s capacity to prevent, mitigate, and respond to environmental and climate-related risks while ensuring equitable benefits for women and girls. At the systems and policy level, the operationalization of the Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) Forum provided a functional multi-sectoral mechanism linking government, civil society, women’s organizations, and the private sector. Through its Steering Committee and Technical Working Groups, the Forum facilitated joint policy reviews, cross-sector alignment, and follow-up on institutional commitments. Notably, a gender review of the draft amendment to the Cooperative Societies Proclamation consolidated recommendations and advanced them to the Ministry of Justice, strengthening the legal framework for women’s equitable access to cooperative services, productive resources, and economic opportunities. Systematic tracking of institutional progress against agreed action points further enhanced accountability, coordination, and responsiveness of state and non-state actors to women’s differentiated service needs. At the institutional and operational level, UN Women strengthened the technical capacities of national and subnational actors to implement gender-responsive climate mitigation, adaptation, and disaster risk management interventions. Five government institutions and partner organizations applied gender-transformative approaches in climate-smart agriculture, water access, and livelihood resilience, reaching vulnerable groups, particularly women-headed households and women smallholders. Pilots under the RISE Project in the Somali Region engaged 200 women in backyard gardening and climate-adaptive livelihoods, combined with training on drought-resistant crops, climate-smart livestock management, and sustainable income generation. Similarly, the Dire Dawa Town Water Department expanded piped water access to 81 households, enabling both household consumption and small-scale irrigation, linking gender-responsive service delivery directly to resilience and food security outcomes. Institutional systems for gender-equitable resource management were strengthened through capacity-building, normative guidance, and applied learning. Training of Trainers on Gender-Responsive Climate-Smart Urban Agriculture equipped 25 technical experts with tools to integrate women’s leadership and equitable benefit-sharing into planning, coordination, and service delivery. Applied learning at the Holeta Agricultural Research Center and at the Lenegewa Women’s Rehabilitation and Skills Development Center reinforced operational capacities, linking research, policy, and community-level service delivery. The development and integration of three gender-responsive training manuals on climate-smart poultry, poultry health, and urban horticulture institutionalized these approaches, ensuring sustainability and scalability. Collectively, these measures strengthened institutional norms, tools, and coordination mechanisms for gender-equitable participation and benefit-sharing in environmental governance. At the community level, gender-transformative approaches facilitated observable shifts in social norms and practices. Through targeted WEE interventions, male engagement, and grassroots mobilization in the Somali Region, women experienced increased household and community support for participation in climate-resilient livelihoods. Demonstrated changes included greater acceptance of women’s roles in agriculture and agri-business, improved decision-making power within households, and enhanced capacity to manage climate risks. These outcomes illustrate the translation of institutional capacity into practical, community-level resilience. Evidence generation and knowledge systems further underpinned outcome-level impact. UN Women Ethiopia led five major initiatives, including analysis of the 2024/25 EDHS, the Ethiopia Gender Snapshot, and femicide data pilots, generating gender-disaggregated evidence critical for policy, programming, and accountability. These outputs strengthened understanding of women’s vulnerabilities, access to resources, and engagement in climate-sensitive sectors, contributing to informed decision-making and adaptive programming. Collectively, these results demonstrate that Ethiopia has progressed from fragmented climate and disaster interventions toward operational, multi-sectoral systems that integrate gender equality, community resilience, and institutional capacity. By linking policy reform, institutional strengthening, evidence generation, and normative change, these efforts have advanced inclusive, equitable, and climate-resilient outcomes, ensuring that women and girls are able to access resources, participate meaningfully in decision-making, and contribute to Ethiopia’s overall environmental and climate resilience.

All people in Ethiopia live in a society resilient to environmental risks and adapted to climate change.

The fourth outcome the Strategic Note 2021-2025, which is fully aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Cooperation Framework 2020-2025, responds to the risks and threats that are posed by environmental degradation and climate change which exacerbate humanitarian crisis. In 2022, a total of 5,563 conflict-affected women accessed essential services, goods, and resources and became more resilient to humanitarian shocks, including violence against women and girls (VAWG) in disaster settings. Through the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) global grant which is based on UN Women’s signature Leadership, Empowerment, Access and Protection (LEAP) framework, UN Women championed women’s active participation and leadership in humanitarian action, through support to networks and civil society organizations. UN Women provided technical, financial, and coordination support to six partners including Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), the Association for Women’s Sanctuary and Development (AWSAD), the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association (EWLA), and the Network for Ethiopian Women’s Association (NEWA), CARE Ethiopia and Marie Stopes International Ethiopia (MSIE), enabling them to support 5,563 conflict-affected women and girls, including survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) and conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) in the Northern Ethiopia conflict, with comprehensive rehabilitation and reintegration services, including livelihood support to rebuild destroyed business and free legal aid. UN Women made progress towards promoting gender transformative approaches and practices among actors working on climate action, agriculture, agri-business and disaster risk management –government, private sectors, academic and research institutions. With enhanced capacity, access to tools, such as agriculture training manuals and audio visual training material and evidence generation, key stakeholders from the agricultural sector are now empowered and equipped with capacities to spearhead gender transformative approaches including developing gender responsive policies, legal frameworks, manuals/guidelines, and tools as well as supporting rural women's access to services and resources. The gender transformative approaches implemented by Climate Smart Agriculture and Agribusiness (CSAAB) project, are contributing to the improved attitudes against discriminatory practices against women to enhance their equal participation in income generated opportunities and decision makings as well as benefits from natural resources. Partnering with SOS Sahel Ethiopia and local formal and informal institutions, the Social Analysis and Action (SAA), Para legal groups and the gender model family impacted to transform community attitudes and discriminatory practices against women and girls. Such gender transformative approaches are addressing gender inequality and social issues including decision making and division of labour at household level, household asset management, female genital mutilation and other matters that are undermining gender equality and women's empowerment in their localities. Free legal aid mechanisms now link and support 56 women and women’s organizations with the formal legal institutions on land rights and related issues, as a result of UN Women support. UN Women recognizes the importance of ensuring the gender responsiveness of measures, including policies, regulatory and programmatic ones, targeting environmental degradation and climate change and land right issues in relation to gender equality and women empowerment. In relation to this, the Rural Land Administration and Use Proclamation and the Community Watershed Management and Use Regulation drafted by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) have incorporated key provisions that protect the rights of women to access and benefit from land resources and ensure their representation in community decision making process, as a result of UN Women’s technical and financial support facilitated in collaboration with the Women Affairs and Land administration and Use Directorates of the MoA as well the Women Land Right Taskforce. The drafts documents will be presented to the council of ministers for endorsement in 2023. Furthermore, the Rural Land Administration and Use Directorate (RLAUD) of the Ministry of Agriculture make conscious deliberation on gender issues in land related tasks. Women’s land right issues are being used to promote evidence-based dialogues and policy and program formulation by government and the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) in particular. The key role that UN Women played with the RLAUD directorate enabled the team to give more attention to women’s land rights issues and contribute to women's rights protection in land registration, certification, transaction, and rural land legal frameworks. In 2022, UN Women continued to adhere to the theory of change for this outcome ensuring the gender responsiveness of measures, including policy, regulatory and programmatic ones are in place targeting environmental degradation and climate change, exacerbated, and worsened by protracted humanitarian shocks.

All people in Ethiopia live in a society resilient to environmental risks and adapted to climate change.

UN Women's strategic collaboration with the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture has led to significant advancements in gender mainstreaming within the sector. This partnership has been instrumental in developing a gender equality audit manual, laying the groundwork for enhanced gender-responsive practices in agriculture, particularly in the context of climate change. Through the concerted efforts of the ministry's Women and Social Affairs and Rural Land Administration and Use departments, and with robust support from UN Women, there has been a notable shift towards integrating gender equality and social inclusion in policy analysis, guidance, monitoring, and evaluation, with a special emphasis on climate change. This initiative marks a pivotal step towards ensuring equitable participation and benefits for women in Ethiopia's agricultural domain. UN Women’s support on institutionalization of gender mainstreaming at the Ministry of Agriculture in Ethiopia improves gender responsive delivery | UN Women – Africa. Moreover, the establishment and strengthening of Social Analysis and Action (SAA) groups in various locales across the Oromia Region have been pivotal in challenging social norms that impede women's involvement in climate-smart agriculture and resilience building. This effort, supported by technical and financial assistance from UN Women and in collaboration with SOS Sahel Ethiopia, has fostered monthly discussions and decision-making on critical social issues, including Female Genital Mutilation, household gender division of labor, asset management, and participation in farming and business activities. These initiatives have not only improved women's household-level asset management and decision-making capabilities but have also significantly bolstered their engagement in building climate resilience. This transformation in gender relations is a cornerstone for rural women's economic empowerment and equality. Changing Gender Relation for Rural WEE