International Women’s Day Celebration in Rural Ethiopia
Applauds women, recognizes improved livelihoods, and honors male role modelsDate:
UN Women Ethiopia under the Joint Programme Rural Women Economic Empowerment (JP RWEE) commemorated the IWD 2019 with women and men from rural area in Ziway town, Oromia region on 14th March. As one of the IWD celebrations by the country office, the event was organized in partnership with the Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affairs, UN Agencies, development partners, Civil Service Organizations, local government, and women. The first of its kind to be celebrated in the rural area, the event brought together around 200 women and men including from the Afar region, over 600km away from the town of Ziway.
Visit of time and labour-saving cattle fattening centre owned by women’s cooperative, exhibition of agricultural products from improved seeds and technology, as well as acknowledgement of best practices by women and men who are making a difference in their communities and inspiring others were among the activities of the day.
On behalf of the United Nations, and particularly UN Women, WFP, FAO and IFAD; partners in JP RWEE, Ms. Letty Chiwara, UN Women’s Representative to Ethiopia, AU and UNECA in her remarks acknowledged how the women from the rural area exemplify that through innovative approaches and improved technology, they can change things for better. When these women are given the opportunities, they take the lead in finding long-term solution for many of their challenges, “From our visit today, we witnessed the IWD’s theme, ‘Think equal, build smart and innovate for change’ being applied by the women and we are proud. We need to sustainably use technology and innovative strategies to address the socio- economic challenges that women face today. Because, this is one of the ways to ensure equality between women and men.” Ms. Letty also emphasized on the need to daily celebrate the hard work and dedication of the women and advised participants to honor men who have been instrumental in the empowerment of the women in their communities.
The women enthusiastically march to the venue of the celebration. UN Women Ethiopia/ Fikerte Abebe
Joint Programme Rural Women Economic Empowerment (JP RWEE)
Launched in the regions of Afar and Oromia in 2014, the five-year JP RWEE works with 10 cooperatives, with 48 to 516 members each. Beyond the more than 2,000 direct beneficiaries, 14,000 family members and 32,000 community members are benefiting indirectly. The Joint Programme also known as “Accelerating Progress towards the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women” is being implemented by the Government of Ethiopia in partnership with UN Women, the World Food Programme (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The programme is supported by the government of Spain through the Sustainable Development Goals Fund (SDG-F), as well as the governments of Sweden and Norway.