Outcome ETH_D_1.1

All people in Ethiopia enjoy the rights and capabilities to realize their potential in equality and with dignity.

During the reporting period, UN Women Ethiopia strengthened its coordination mandate, contributing to the development of a gender-responsive United Nations Sustainable Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for 2025-2030. This involved ensuring a dedicated focus on gender equality, women's empowerment, and youth development within the framework. The organization also facilitated a comprehensive review of the UNCT SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard with involvement from 20 agencies. The final assessment results were presented to the UN Country Team on November 28, 2024. Moreover, UN Women enhanced coordination among donors and civil society by co-chairing the Donor Group on Gender Equality (DGGE). A retreat organized in April 2022 allowed discussions around contributions to key policies such as national dialogues and transitional justice. Additionally, through its Civil Society Advisory Group (CSO-AG), UN Women updated a Civil Society Mapping Report that assists in identifying and collaborating with civil society organizations across Ethiopia. UN Women also aided the Government of Ethiopia in meeting its commitments regarding gender equality through technical support for a Comprehensive National Review related to Beijing+30. This participatory review process involved consultations across various sectors led by relevant ministers and included inputs from civil society organizations. Furthermore, initiatives were taken to establish accountability mechanisms for gender equality commitments within federal ministries. An event held on August 29 recognized high-performing ministries like Health and Education while signing an MoU with the Office of Auditor General aimed at integrating gender into performance audits. In legislative efforts, UN Women supported developing a Gender Mainstreaming Strategy and Toolkit for Ethiopia's House of Peoples' Representatives (HOPR), enhancing institutional capacity for promoting gender-sensitive practices in legislative functions. Plans are underway to translate this toolkit into Amharic for broader dissemination among regional councils. Significant progress was made under UN Women's Global Flagship Initiative “Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces.” In Shashemene, local institutions executed projects focused on safety improvements such as repairing streetlights and engaging communities against violence towards women. In Addis Ababa, educational programs integrated violence against women prevention strategies reaching over 2,000 individuals while legal awareness services benefitted hundreds more. The SASA! community mobilization strategy implemented in Oromia showed substantial shifts in community attitudes toward violence against women; rejection rates increased significantly along with greater awareness linking violence to women's vulnerability regarding HIV/AIDS. These efforts resulted in considerable improvement toward achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 (Gender Equality). UN Women's intervention has provided extensive support to survivors of violence against women and girls across various regions including Addis Ababa and Tigray—benefiting nearly 999 survivors alongside their children through holistic service packages comprising counselling, legal assistance, vocational training opportunities which have led many towards rehabilitation enabling them re-engage economically or pursue education successfully reinstating their dignity while contributing positively towards SDG goals related both to equality as well as economic growth.

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.

All people in Ethiopia enjoy the rights and capabilities to realize their potential in equality and with dignity.

The first outcome the Strategic Note 2021-2025, which is fully aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Cooperation Framework 2020-2025, aims at ensuring women and girls in Ethiopia realize their potential in equality and with dignity. To realize the goal of the outcome, UN Women continued to focus on addressing structural and normative barriers to women’s equality, protection and dignity and women’s and girls’ right to live free of violence, including in those related to violence and displacement, while operating in the enduring conflicts and humanitarian disasters in Ethiopia in 2022. There has been significant progress in developing policies, strategies, programs and systems to reduce gender inequality and combat VAWG in all its forms including conflict related sexual violence and other violence in crisis and conflict affected settings in Ethiopia, supported by UN Women. Therefore, following a year of intense drafting process and a series of consultations, the draft national policy on gender equality and women’s empowerment, which is aligned with the international, regional, and national commitments on GEWE that Ethiopia has entered its final stage and will be submitted for endorsement to the Council of Ministers in 2023. UN Women significantly contributed to the development of the policy as co-chair of the technical committee established to support the policy development process. UN Women support ensured that an inclusivity lens and participatory methodology was followed with government, civil society, women’s rights organizations (WROs), bilateral and multi-lateral partners throughout the process. UN Women facilitated the inclusion of the perspectives of the CSOs, WROs and self-help groups in the policy through organizing policy dialogues and preparation of policy briefs which served as critical inputs for the policy and regional consultations on the draft policy. In addition, multi-sectoral inputs from key sector ministries, UN agencies and development partners have been critical in the policy development process. In addition, UN Women significantly contributed towards advancing gender sensitive legislation. A key milestone in the development of a draft national policy on prevention and response to GBV has been achieved. This breakthrough policy in Ethiopia is the first step in addressing gaps in the normative and legal frameworks on prevention and response to violence against women and girls. It also responds to the global norms and international commitments that the country made. Furthermore, the policy is a result of UN Women’s and civil society years of advocacy, multi-partner coordination and technical support at different levels. UN Women played a key role in the development of the position paper on the need to adopt a comprehensive policy, based on a rapid assessment of GBV related national legislation, initiatives as well as their implementation status. UN Women under the leadership of the Ministry of Women and Social Welfare (MoWSA) has been coordinating the overall development of the policy on prevention and response to GBV and being an integral member of the technical working group (TWG), comprised of key government and non-government actors. UN Women in partnership with civil society advocated for the policy development process to be driven by the inclusivity lense in consultations with government, the House of People’s Representatives (HoPR), women rights organizations, intersectional and diverse CSOs, including women with disability association, pastoralist association, community members and private sectors. Moreover, UN Women contributed to the achievement of this outcome through supporting and promoting the establishment and strengthening of national and regional coordination mechanisms to address violence against women and children (VAWC). UN Women rendered the necessary financial and technical support to strengthen the national coordinating body (NCB) on prevention and response to VAWC . While formation of the NCB at federal level is remarkable, the establishment of parallel coordination bodies in Oromia and Somali regions has been a milestone. These coordination mechanisms are vital to ensure effective coordination among relevant stakeholders on the prevention and response of VAWC. In addition, through UN Women’s support, the Oromia Region ten-year strategic plan on VAWC which aim to accelerate evidence-based multi-sectoral actions to address VAWC and the five-year national strategy aims to address all forms of VAWC have been finalized. The five-year national strategy also is one of key components of the national policy on prevention and response to GBV. UN Women was also officially recognized by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) for its support to the Ministry’s 2021-2022 plan specially for the support to strengthening the NCB and Crime Registration Management System (CRIMS). Further to this, UN Women continued its collaboration with UNICEF to strengthen the NCB and finalization of the national five years strategy, promoting the ‘One UN’ approach to complement interventions and deliver as one. The endorsement of both strategies will generate a new momentum around a multisectoral, multistakeholder coordination and action to ending VAWC. In 2022, multi-sectoral humanitarian frameworks , strategies and tools become 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, particularly focusing on those that are marginalized and vulnerable. Therefore, UN Women contributed to mainstreaming gender in the humanitarian response in Ethiopia. As a result, the published 2022 humanitarian response plan (HRP) for Ethiopia demonstrated increased integration of gender equality, specifically on women’s and girls’ needs in relation to gender-based violence and sexual and reproductive health care services, although fell short on including women’s economic empowerment and livelihood support. As a results of increased gender integration in the humanitarian response plan, more female survivors of violence were able to access survivor-centred services critical to their health, protection, and recovery in 2022. UN Women contributed significantly towards the enhanced gender mainstreaming in the HRP, as a result of its leadership role and technical expertise in strongly positioning gender in humanitarian action in the humanitarian programme cycle (HPC) analysis working group through enhancing gender analysis, use of sex-and age disaggregated data and gender-targeted indicators. In 2022, UN Women continued to adhere to the theory of change for this outcome ensuring the cross thematic collaboration across among teams and enhanced coordination role of UN Women across the UN system in the country.