Region:Asia Pacific
Current UN Women Plan Period Afghanisthan:2018-2022
World Bank Income Classification:Low Income
The World Bank classifies economies for analytical purposes into four income groups: low, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high income. For this purpose it uses gross national income (GNI) per capita data in U.S. dollars, converted from local currency using the World Bank Atlas method, which is applied to smooth exchange rate fluctuations.
Least Developed Country:Yes
Since 1971, the United Nations has recognized LDCs as a category of States that are deemed highly disadvantaged in their development process, for structural, historical and also geographical reasons. Three criteria are used: per capita income, human assets, and economic vulnerability.
Gender Inequality Index:0.575
GII is a composite metric of gender inequality using three dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment and the labour market. A low GII value indicates low inequality between women and men, and vice-versa.
Gender Development Index:0.723
GDI measures gender inequalities in achievement in three basic dimensions of human development: health, education, and command over economic resources.
Population:209,497,025
Source of population data: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2022). World Population Prospects: The 2022 Revision
Male:19,976,265 (9.5%)
Female:189,520,760 (90.5%)
outcome XM-DAC-41146-ETH_D_1.1
All people in Ethiopia enjoy the rights and capabilities to realize their potential in equality and with dignity.
Overall, 2023 marked notable advancements in a heightened response to violence against women, and a commitment to improving legislative frameworks to support gender equality. These achievements illustrate a concerted effort by various stakeholders, guided by UN Women's leadership, to create a more inclusive and equitable society. This year, UN Women's efforts in promoting gender-sensitive legislation have marked a significant milestone. The Criminal Justice Procedure and Evidence Code is now revised and submitted to legal drafting committee incorporating key inputs, including from the civil society, to ensure it is both gender-sensitive and centered on survivors' needs. Furthermore, despite initial resistance, relentless advocacy by UN Women, alongside the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs (MoWSA) and other stakeholders, led to a breakthrough: the Ministry of Planning and Development's leadership to finalize the review of the first national GBV prevention and response policy as a final step before policy adoption by the Cabinet. This policy will undergo final approval and adoption before submission to the Prime Minister's office in 2024. Furthermore, UN Women continued to bolster VAWG coordination mechanisms. A key moment was the launch of the national five-year strategy on preventing and responding to VAWC, which is now endorsed and adopted by high-level dignitaries, including the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) president of Ethiopia and the Minister of MoWSA. Aligned with SDG 5 targets 5.1 and 5.2, it addresses discrimination and violence against women and girls in all spheres. Additionally, the strategy aligns with CEDAW’s General Recommendation No. 35, advocating for a coordinated approach to monitor and evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of measures at various levels. Furthermore, another pivotal achievement has been reached in 2023 in advancing gender responsive policies in Ethiopia. In 2023, the national policy on gender equality and women's empowerment, set to replace the 1993 National Policy on Ethiopian Women, was completed and submitted to the Ministry of Planning and Development (MoPD) for review before adoption by the Council of Ministers. UN Women, in partnership with the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs, has been advocating for a swift review by the Ministry of Planning and Development for it to be adopted in early 2024. Concurrently, a gender equality roadmap, functioning as an actionable plan for the policy, is now in its advanced stage of development. UN Women's role has been extending to supporting this through key studies and co-chairing the technical committee overseeing the policy and roadmap development, which includes government, civil society, and development partner representatives. As a result of UN Women continued advocacy on inclusivity and strategic technical support to increase the CSOs’ level of influence in key normative and policy processes, the CSOs are now meaningfully participating and influencing the development of two pivotal policies in Ethiopia. CSOs play a key role in the formulation of the Gender Equality Roadmap, contributing to its early draft. Similarly, such CSOs as the Ethiopian Women Lawyer's Association (EWLA) and the Network of Ethiopian Women's Associations (NEWA), as members of the technical committee, are instrumental in the development of the National GBV Prevention and Response Policy, through their substantial inputs and strong advocacy for a standalone GBV policy. The Ministry of Women and Social Affairs recognized their contributions, highlighting the significance of CSO involvement in these policy-making processes. Significant progress has been made in addressing violence against women and girls (VAWG) in public spaces, particularly in Ethiopia's transportation sector. Through UN Women's support in sensitization and capacity building, public transport associations and taxi supervisors are now actively raising awareness about VAW prevention. Additionally, a landmark draft bylaw has been developed by 20 public transport owners' associations, addressing various forms of violence, including harassment. The draft bylaw, the first of its kind in Ethiopia, is applicable for public transport owners, drivers and assistants and it covers types of violence including harassments in public settings, what measures to be taken if incidents happen, roles and responsibilities of the ending sexual harassment committee (which was established by the association), including raising awareness among drivers and assistants, identify incidents, reporting the cases, and different levels of written warnings and measures on perpetrators. The Hawassa city transport office, a member of the Safe Cities Advisory Group, played a crucial role in these developments. This initiative, starting in Hawassa city in Sidama region, is planned to be expanded to other areas, showcasing a scalable model for addressing VAWG in public transportation settings. In 2023, multi-sectoral humanitarian frameworks, strategies and tools are now more gender responsive ensuring equitable, safe, and dignified response and recovery mechanisms to enable women and girls, who are affected by conflict, humanitarian crisis and displacement, to rebuild their lives in sustainable ways. As a result of the UN Women gender-mainstreaming efforts, the 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan now successfully incorporates all the three required metrics, focusing on a comprehensive response to the needs of women and girls. This included strategies to address gender-based violence and provide sexual and reproductive health care services. Unlike in 2022, the 2023 HRP also emphasized women's economic empowerment and livelihoods, incorporating cash programming as a key component. As a result of increased gender integration in the HRP and continued scale up of UN Women humanitarian portfolio, more female survivors of violence were able to access survivor-centred services critical to their health, protection, and recovery in 2023. While nation-wide data continues to be limited, 2023 witnessed a significant escalation in the number of women accessing services after experiencing violence. In a significant outcome of multi-sectoral interventions across the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, 13,256 women and girls, including those affected by gender-based and conflict-related sexual violence, now access comprehensive services across regions including Addis Ababa, Afar, Amhara, Oromia, Sidama, and Somali regions. Compared to 2022, this is nearly a fivefold increase which underscores a substantial enhancement in service accessibility and utilization by women and girls affected by violence, which comes as a result of UN Women programming.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-ETH_D_1.2
All people in Ethiopia live in a cohesive, just, inclusive and democratic society.
In 2023, the advancement towards a cohesive, just, inclusive, and democratic society in Ethiopia has been marked by the development of a gender-sensitive Transitional Justice Policy. This progress, significantly shaped by UN Women, was bolstered by women's substantial participation in the consultations, with 31.1% of attendees being women, including those affected by conflict and survivors of sexual violence. Their contributions have been pivotal in shaping a draft policy now addresses the critical issue of conflict-related sexual violence, disability inclusion and provisions for specialized prosecution offices and courts, reflecting the crucial input from women. In 2023, significant progress was made in the development of Ethiopia's National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security (NAP on WPS). The formation and full operationalization of the National Steering Committee, advocated by the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs and UN Women, mark a pivotal step. This committee has been instrumental in providing political support and enabling the technical committee to effectively conduct consultations for the NAP on WPS. These consultations, structured around a framework designed to capture a wide range of perspectives, are crucial for drafting a comprehensive and context-specific NAP on WPS. The next crucial step is conducting nationwide consultations to incorporate extensive inputs into the plan. UN Women's role has been instrumental in guiding and supporting these processes, ensuring a comprehensive and inclusive approach to the NAP on WPS. UN Women made progress in ensuring that civil society and women’s rights organizations (WROs) are now more able to meaningfully contribute and influence the policy environment and promote the WPS agenda at the national and local levels. The Gamo Zone Women Federation, one of key UN Women partners, now play a crucial role in resolving a violent conflict in the southern part of Ethiopia. Despite initial scepticism from traditional leaders about women's capabilities in conflict resolution, the women of the Federation, capacitated by UN Women in peacebuilding, successfully mediated the conflict. This intervention not only demonstrated their conflict resolution skills but also significantly changed perceptions, leading to their recognition and inclusion in future conflict resolution processes in the town. This marks a pivotal shift in the role of women in peacekeeping efforts in the region. This significant result has been collected via outcome harvesting methodology, where outcomes are verified through discussions with both internal and external stakeholders. While the national data on women’s leadership in the Executive branch at federal and regional levels is linked to the elections cycle in Ethiopia, in 2023, the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs (MoWSA), supported by UN Women, spearheaded an assessment to evaluate women's representation in leadership roles across various regions and federal city administrations in Ethiopia. The study faced challenges, including the lack of a standard definition for leadership levels and missing data on age and disability status. Political instability and government reshuffling in Amhara led to difficulties in accurately tracking changes in women's representation. Despite these challenges, the findings revealed a nominal (1%) increase in women's leadership representation in Amhara, not due to more female appointments but due to a reduction in total cabinet positions. At the federal level, women's representation in leadership roles in 2023 remained consistent with the previous year. Despite the challenges in accurately tracking and boosting women's leadership, especially in regions affected by political and social instability, in 2023 UN Women continued to advance the proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments, local governments and executive positions. As a result of tailored leadership capacity building by UN Women and partners, including the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs and the Network of Ethiopian Women Association (NEWA), a total 156 women leaders and politicians from Sidama, Afar, and Somali regions now actively compete for higher leadership roles and advanced gender equality within their political parties, which is expected to move the need on the number of women at leadership level. UN Women continues to emphasize that quality gender statistics and sex-disaggregated data are integral aspects of achieving gender equality. The GoE now is better able to track the implementation of the SDGs with increased availability of data and statistics, including gender statistics. A separate unit responsible for the production, analysis and dissemination of gender and disability statistics which demonstrates the political will of the government of gender statistics is now established by the Ethiopian Statistical Services (ESS). The unit, complementing existing directorates for gender and social inclusion in various ministries, signifies a significant step towards improved availability and analysis of gender-focused data in Ethiopia. The establishment of the unit comes after years of advocacy and capacity building by UN Women with the Ethiopian Statistical Services through the Making Every Woman and Girl Count programme.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-ETH_D_1.3
All people in Ethiopia benefit from an inclusive, resilient and sustainable economy
In 2023, UN Women's efforts continues to focus on fostering an inclusive, resilient, and sustainable economy in Ethiopia. This is being achieved by supporting advocacy for the adoption of gender-responsive policy and regulatory frameworks that prioritize women's opportunities and contributions to the economy. UN Women’s support has led to the creation of Africa's first gender equality audit manual, a landmark achievement for gender equality. In 2023, UN Women’s support has been instrumental the Federal Audit General's gender audit team to build their capacity to utilize the gender audit manual for a pilot in the Health and Agriculture ministries. The key findings from the pilot with the Ministry of Health uncovered significant gender gaps, including medical errors contributing to maternal deaths, shortfalls in reducing maternal and child mortality rates, and inadequate cervical cancer screening. These ground-breaking findings have prompted the Ministry of Health to develop strategies to decrease maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity, including enhancing healthcare professionals' capabilities and increasing community awareness. Furthermore, the Ministry of Health now implements sex-disaggregated planning to improve women's health, specifically targeting reduced teenage pregnancy rates and increased childbirths with professional healthcare assistance. Furthermore, building on the last year results, the Ethiopian government, influenced by UN Women programming, significantly advanced gender equality integration into its national investment and financing framework. Utilizing the Gender Budget Statement (GBS), which is a forward-looking mechanism to track and make budget allocations to gender equality and women’s empowerment, enabled three ministries (Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Urban Development and Ministry of Industry) , to adopt and pilot the mechanism and guide other sectoral ministries with their experiences. In 2023, for the first time ever, the Ministry of Finance allocated 7 million ETB (around 125,300 USD) for gender equality initiatives, particularly supporting the Ministry of Industry's goal to increase women's participation in the industrial sector to 85%. The Ministry of Urban Development and Infrastructure introduced a sex-disaggregated biannual plan, for the first time ever, focusing on urban development and gender equality. Key aspects include a 2% increase in adequately planned cities and capacity building of 400 women as planning experts. The plan also includes urbanizing 33 cities with 126 women leading these projects, and a SafetyNet program aimed to improve the living standards of 816,000 citizens, with half of the beneficiaries being women. This approach not only enhances women's leadership roles in significant urban projects but also addresses socio-economic disparities, making a substantial impact on the overall development and inclusivity in Ethiopia. These initiatives across various ministries showcase a comprehensive and holistic approach to embedding gender equality in Ethiopia’s investment and financing framework, laying the groundwork for sustained, gender-responsive policies and initiatives . In 2023, UN Women's collaboration with SOS Sahel, the Organization for Women in Self Employment (WISE), and the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs (MoWSA) led to significant outcomes in enhancing women's access to financial and non-financial services and resources in Oromia and the post-conflict areas of Amhara and Tigray. As a result, approximately 6,088 women and girls gained now access business skills and business development services (BDS) such as counselling, networking, and market linkages. This support enabled them to participate more effectively in market-driven businesses and diversify their livelihoods, contributing to their economic empowerment. Additionally, 16 Savings and Credit Cooperatives achieved notable financial milestones in partnership with SoS Sahel, WISE, and MoWSA. The total savings accumulated by members reached 2,084,900 ETB (approximately 36,882 USD) in 2023 compared to 2022 figures amounting to 1,481,170 ETB (approximately 27,946 USD). In addition, the 2023 revolving fund of 7,900,850 ETB (approximately 139,769 USD) was disbursed among members compare to 2022 figures amounting of 4,392,350 (approximately 82,874 USD ). The financial growth was further evidenced by the increase in the initial loan amount from 3,000 ETB in 2022 (approximately 53.07 USD) to 7,000 ETB (approximately 127 USD) in 2023. These achievements underscore UN Women’s commitment to bolstering women’s resilience and economic status in various settings, including those affected by climate and humanitarian challenges. UN Women's efforts in improving women's economic and social status have been marked by enhanced coordination among stakeholders, including government, CSOs, NGOs, and private sector entities. The second national Women's Economic Empowerment (WEE) forum, held in 2023, bolstered collaboration in providing gender-responsive financial services. Notably, the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia committed to supporting unbanked women and girls, who do not have access to get loans and related financial services from banks, due to inability to fulfil the requirement of banks including collateral and procedural requirements, in piloting its new initiative on digital finance through the platform.
outcome XM-DAC-41146-ETH_D_1.4
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 WEEShowing 1 - 4 of 4
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References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).
References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).
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