Ethiopian Women Conference: National Women’s Movement Building, Agenda Setting and Strategizing For Collective Action
A WVL Ethiopia partner, Passionate Forever Ethiopia has collaborated with a national task force established to host the Ethiopian Women’s Movement comprised of representatives from NEWA, UN Women, Ethiopian Women with Disabilities National Association, Plan International Ethiopia, Progynist, Ethiopian Women Human Rights Defender Center and Bisrat Media Promotion.
The Ethiopian Women’s Conference was held on February 28-29, 2024, at the Ellily Hotel in Addis with the theme; Ethiopian Women UNITE for Change!
The conference was aimed at building a national women’s movement, setting an agenda, and strategizing for collective action.
The conference was opened by H.E Dr. Ergoge Tesfaye (PhD) Minister of the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs. Her Excellency addressed key points on the relevance of having a unified effort and collective actions to amplify the voice of women and girls and intensify the struggle to the realizing of women’s rights and equal participation in socioeconomic and political endeavors.
A keynote speech was delivered by UN Women, Plan International, and NEWA. The conference then proceeded with a series of panel discussions on the six key themes of the agenda: women’s education, employability, and economic empowerment; women’s health; violence against women; women in power and decision-making; women and the media and women and climate justice and environment. Day one was concluded with a call to action for all women to join together and work to create a more just and equitable society for all.
On the 2nd day, a thorough group discussion was carried out where “Peace” became the primary agenda of the National Women’s Movement. Ideas for the strategy to success were gathered that will further be enriched and refined by the task force.
