Author name: NEWA

NEWA in collaboration with OXFAM Ethiopia has conducted a half day consultation dialogue NEWA in collaboration with OXFAM Ethiopia has conducted a half day consultation dialogue on “Unpaid Care and Domestic Work” on August 23, 2022. Representatives of women rights organizations, relevant government offices and international partners participated in the discussion.

NEWA provided a two days capacity Building Training at Adama Town NEWA provided a two days capacity Building Training on ‘Political Leadership and Decision-Making Skills for Female Members of the House of People’s representative in partnership with DemoFinland at Adama.

NEWA in partnership with UN Women Ethiopia & Project Expedite Justice conducted four days capacity building training for women lead organizations, women rights organizations, and different government & CSOs representatives Network of Ethiopian Women’s Associations in partnership with UN Women Ethiopia & Project Expedite Justice conducted four days capacity building training for women lead organizations, women rights organizations, and different government & CSOs representatives who are operating in Amhara Regional States, South Wollo Zone. The first two days of training were focused on identifying sexual & gender-based violence (SGBV) risks and engaging in SGBV mitigation strategies, referral pathways, and community-level protection mechanisms. The last two days of the training covered how to develop locally relevant tools to monitor SGBV prevention and mitigation strategies and engage in participatory safety audits at the community level. The trainings are part of the CERF project implementation funded by the UN Women Ethiopia. The training was conducted in Dessie town from July 26-29 2022.

NEWA in collaboration with UN Women Ethiopia, Conducted a two days familiarization workshop The Network of Ethiopian Women’s Associations (NEWA) in collaboration with UN Women Ethiopia, Conducted a two days familiarization workshop on the five-year strategic plan and national costed road map to end child marriage and FGM with different Oromia Regional States Bureau representatives in Adama town. Ms. Fikir Zelalem Deputy Attorney General, Oromia Regional State Attorney General officially opened the two days workshop with an expectation to work closely with all sectors including the CSO. Following that, Ms. Mieraf Tesfayesus Acting Director of Women, Children and Crosscutting Directorate, Ministry of Justice is presenting the five-year strategic plan and national costed road map to end child marriage and the participants are discussing on the application of the strategy (document adaptation, translation responsible organ for monitoring, means of monitoring, and evaluation. The familiarization workshop will continue tomorrow.

NEWA in partnership with Oxfam in Ethiopia conducted a two days sensitization training on Unpaid Care & Domestic Work for F.D.R.E House of People Representatives elected women’s coccus members in Adama. Network of Ethiopian Women’s Associations in partnership with Oxfam in Ethiopia  conducted a two days sensitization training on Unpaid Care & Domestic Work for F.D.R.E House of People Representatives elected women’s coccus members in Adama town. Honorable Mrs Kimiya Jundi the women coccus chairwoman, in her opening remarks says “women are expected to do the care work as household chores in resulting little opportunities to participate in political and decision-making process. But women must have the same opportunities as men and promised to work hard for enabling policy frameworks on care economy”

NEWA Conducted the two days of Capacity Building Training on ‘Political Leadership and Decision-Making Skills’ NEWA Conducted the two days of Capacity Building Training on ‘Political Leadership and Decision-Making Skills’ for 110 Female Members of the CaffeeOromia at Adama, Ethiopia in partnership with #DemoFinland. The training was given parallelly.

NEWA in cooperation with The Ethiopia Office of the KOICA conducted a Consultative Meeting on Ethiopian Women’s Peacebuilding Initiatives. The Network of Ethiopian Women Associations (NEWA) in cooperation with The Ethiopia Office of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) conducted a Consultative Meeting on Ethiopian Women’s Peacebuilding Initiatives. The objective of the consultative meeting was to understand and learn the gaps in the current peace-building.In the meeting, the Amhara Women’s Association (AWA) and Mujejegua Loca Women Development Association (MLWDA) shared experiences and Reverend Mulunesh Jinebo shared grass-root experiences from the self-initiative on peacebuilding.

NEWA is represented at The United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) NEWA is represented at The United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) by its Executive Directress Saba Gebremedhin at the UN HQ in New York. At the HLPF2022 side events Saba raised “ how it is critical to have a systemic response to tackle sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and harmful traditional practices during the crisis, including providing girls in crisis with necessary psycho-social support.” The HLPF2022 will convene from 5-15 July under the auspices of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), with a thematic focus on building back better from the COVID-19 pandemic “while advancing the full implementation of the #Agenda2030 for Sustainable Development.”

NEWA has organized the validation workshop of the study on the feedback and response of women towards COVID-19 and non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), on June 29, 2022. NEWA has organized the validation workshop of the study on the feedback and response of women towards COVID-19 and non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), on June 29, 2022. NEWA has done the study with the financial support of JSI Ethiopia. It is aimed to explore the status of the current responses and practices of women in taking the COVID -19 vaccines and in applying NPIs, and also the major reasons for the low response observed in this regard. Hence, the validation workshop has aimed to collect additional inputs and information from the participants so that to further enrich the study report. The study is done based on the data collected from women living in four regions, Addis Ababa, Oromia, Amhara, and Sidama.

The Women’s Digital Financial Inclusion (WDFI) Advocacy Hub, Ethiopia Coalition Launched. Ethiopian Women PeacBiulders Launching Ceremony የኢትዮጵያ ሴቶች ለሰላም ግንባታ የመክፈቻ ስነ-ስርዓት Ethiopian Women PeacBiulders Launching Ceremony The inauguration ceremony of Ethiopian Women PeaceBuilders was attended, at ECA-UN venue, in the presence of the President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Her Excellency Sahlework Zewde and the Minister of Women and Social Affairs, Dr. Ergoge Tesfaye. The forum was organized by the Network of Ethiopian Women’s Associations (NEWA) and is aimed at empowering women, promoting peace and coordinating peace activities, and facilitating national and regional implementation of the National Action Plan for Peace and Security in Ethiopia. The President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Her Excellency Sahlework Zewde, who officially launched the Peacebuilding Forum, said that the ongoing conflicts in our country have not only claimed the lives of innocent people but also seriously injured women and children. She said “We have lost a lot of innocent people due to the lack of peace and the recent massacre of innocent people has shown us the extent of cruelty and barbarism”. She also reminded that this Ethiopian Women PeaceBuilders lays the foundation not only for the current situation in the country but also for future circumstances. Addressing the gathering, the Minister of Women and Social Affairs of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Dr. Ergoge Tesfaye, said that women are vulnerable to many problems due to natural and man-made challenges. She added that peace is the root of all things and a part of human rights, especially in times of conflict. According to information from the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs, the government is working to strengthen the role of women in conflict resolution and peace building, and will soon implement a revised women’s policy. For three days, June 21-23,2022, workshop was designed to give the participant an opportunity to review, revise and integrate their action plans. The participants endorsed the foundation document and elected the National Technical Committee, a strategic leadership to oversee the technical aspect of the Movement and is composed of regional representative and expert group. Finally, the founding members announced the establishment of Ethiopian Women for Peace Building on June 16, 2014 in the presence of the first female Ethiopian President, Her Excellency Sahlework Zewde, Her Excellency the Minister of Women and Social Affairs, Ergoge Tesfaye (Dr.) and other high-level women leaders and the program is complete. Foundation Document Membership Oath የኢትዮጵያ ሴቶች ለሰላም ግንባታ የመክፈቻ ስነ-ስርዓት ሴቶች በሀገራችን ሰላምና ደህንነት እንዲጠበቅ ወሳኝ ሚናቸውን የሚወጡበት የኢትዮጵያ ሴቶች ለሰላም ግንባታ ምስረታ ማብሰሪያ በተባበሩት መንግስታት የአፍሪካ ኢኮኖሚክ ኮሚሽን አዳራሽ የኢትዮጵያ ፈደራላዊ ዲሞክራሲያዊ ሪፐብሊክ መንግስት ፕሬዚዳንት ክብርት ሳህለወርቅ ዘውዴና የሴቶችና ማህበራዊ ጉዳይ ሚኒስቴር ሚኒስትር ዶ/ር ኤርጎጌ ተስፋዬ በተገኙበት ተካሄዷል፡፡ መድረኩን ያዘጋጀው የኢትዮጵያ ሴቶች ማኅበራት ቅንጅት (ኢሴማቅ) ሲሆን በዋናነት የሴቶችን አቅም ለማጎልበት፣ሴቶች ለሰላም እንዲቆሙና የሰላም እንቅስቃሴዎችን እንዲያስተባብሩ እንዲሁም ሴቶች ለሰላም እና ደህንነት የብሄራዊ ድርጊት መርሐ ግብር በኢትዮጵያ ተግባራዊ ለማድረግ የሚያስችሉ ሀገራዊና ክልላዊ ትግበራትን ማመቻቸት መሆኑን በመድረኩ ተገልጸዋል፡፡ የሰላም ግንባታ ማበስሪያ መድረኩን በይፋ ያስጀመሩት የተከበሩ የኢትዮጵያ ፈደራላዊ ዲሞክራሲያዊ ሪፐብሊክ መንግስት ፕሬዚዳንት ክብርት ሳህለወርቅ ዘውዴ ባስተላለፉት መልእክት በሀገራችን የተፈጠሩ ግጭቶች ንጹሀንን ህይወታቸውን አንዲያጡ ከማድረጉም በተጨማሪ ሴቶችንና ህጻናትን ለከፍተኛ ጉዳት ዳረጓል፡፡ ፕሬዚዳንቷ አክለውም በሰላም እጦት የተነሳ በርካታ ንጹሀንን አጥተናል እንዲሁም በቅርቡ በንጹሀን ላይ የተፈጸመው ዘግናኝ ጭፍጨፋ የጭካኔና የአረመኔ ጥግንም አሳይቶናል ለዚህም ዋነኛ ሰለባ የሆኑት ሴት የህብረተሰብ ክፍሎች እንደመሆናቸው መጠን ለሰላምና ግጭት አፈታት ላይ ወሳኝ ሚና ማኖር ይገባል ብለው ይህ ዛሬ የተመሰረተው የኢትዮጵያ ሴቶች ለሰላም ግንባታ በሀገራችን  ላለው ሁኔታ ብቻ ሳይሆን  በዘላቂነት የቀጠለ ሆኖ መሰረት መጣሉን አሳስበዋል፡፡ በመድረኩ መልእክት ያስተላለፉት የኢፌዴሪ የሴቶችና ማህበራዊ ጉዳይ ሚኒስቴር ሚኒስትር ክብርት ዶ/ር ኤርጎጌ ተስፋዬ እንደገለጹት በየጊዜው በሚከሰት ተፈጥሮአዊም ሆነ ሰው ሰራሽ ተግዳሮቶች ሴቶችን ለበርካታ ችግሮች ተጋላጭ እንዲሆኑ አድርጓቸዋል፡፡  ክብርት ሚኒስትሯ አክለው ሰላም የሁሉም ነገር መነሻና የሰብአዊ መብቶች አካል መሆኑንና በተለይም በግጭት ወቅት ሴቶች ከማንም በላይ ተጠቂ መሆናቸውን ገልጸው በቅርቡም በሰው ልጆች ላይ ሊደርስ የማይገባው ዘግናኝና የጭካኔ ጥግ የታየበት ጥቃት ንጹሀንን በዋናነት ሴቶችና ህጻናት ህይወታቸውን እንዲያጡ አድርጓል ብለዋል፡፡ የሰላም ዋጋ የላቀ በመሆኑ በመንግስት በኩል ሴቶች በግጭት አፈታትና ሰላምን በማስፈን እንቅስቃሴዎች ላይ ጉልህ ሚናቸውን እንዲያጠናክሩ ለማስቻል የተለያዩ ስራዎች እንደሚከናወኑና በቅርቡም የተሸሻለ የሴቶች ፖሊሲ ተግባራዊ እንደሚደረግ መግለፃቻን ከሴቶች እና ማህበራዊ ጉዳይ ሚኒስቴር ያገኘነው መረጃ ያመለክታል፡፡ ለሶስት ቀናት ከሰኔ 14-16, 2014ዓ. ም. የአውደ ጥናቱ ተሳታፊዎች እና መስራች አባላት  የድርጊት መርሃ ግብራቸውን እንዲገመግም፣ እንዲከልሱ እና ከአካባቢያቸው ሁኔታ ጋር እንዲያዋህዱ እድል ሰጥቷል። ተሳታፊዎቹ የመመስረቻ ሰነድ በማፅደቅ የሰላም ግንባታው ቴክኒካዊ ሃላፊነት የሚከታተል  እና የክልል ተወካይ እና የባለሙያ ቡድን የተውጣጣ ብሔራዊ የቴክኒክ ኮሚቴን መርጠዋል። በመጨረሻም መስራች አባላት፣ የኢትዮጵያ ሴቶች ለሰላም ግንባታ መመሥረትን በሰኔ 16,2014 ጀምሮ የመጀመሪያዋ ሴት የኢትዮጵያ ፕሬዚዳንት ክብርት ሳህለወርቅ ዘውዴ፣ ክብርት የሴቶችና ማህበራዊ ጉዳይ ሚኒስቴር ሚኒስትር ኤርጎጌ ተስፋዬ (ዶ/ር) እና ሌሎች ከፍተኛ የሴቶች አመራሮች ባሉበት አብስረው ፤ መርሃግብሩ ተጠናቋል። የመመስረቻ ሰነድ የዓባልነት ቃለ መሃላ