ETHIOPIA – Ethiopia and United Nations Women (UN Women) have partnered to conduct an advocacy workshop focused on promoting positive masculinity, engaging husbands, fathers and other men in ongoing efforts to improve women’s status and improve the quality of life for all.
The training exercise focused strengthening the participants’ capacity to advocate for and enhance SRMNCAH (sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health) service utilization among women and girls.
In addition, the workshop aimed to deal with gender barriers and address gender inequality across all levels to access SRMNCAH services in a bid to address harmful gender norms through promoting positive masculinity.
The workshop saw the attendance and participation of both women and men particularly men from different provinces as well as other men representing different organizations such ministries and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), educational background and family status.
To enhance women’s access to services, we need a multi-sectoral approach where different ministries and departments address issues holistically because issues are interlinked
Furthermore, the event highlighted key issues for men such as the subject of gender-based violence and gender equality in humanitarian settings, extensive knowledge of cultural norms along with experience working in the field of sexual and reproductive health.
The ambitious goal of the workshop is to remove structural, sociocultural and individual barriers by initiating policies, by working with communities to minimize stigma and harmful gender norms and by dismantling myth and misconceptions around family planning and gender-based violence.
The advocacy workshop held in Ethiopia is part of UN Women’s programme on adolescent health rights in humanitarian settings in the Horn of Africa Region (POWER) that is supported by the Austrian Development Agency.
According to UN Women, POWER aims to contribute to every woman, every child and every adolescent girl demanding her right to quality health services particularly in humanitarian settings.
UN Women reported that participants at the advocacy workshop expressed unwavering commitment to challenging social norms to make their communities and the country a place where women and girls are safe and exercise their rights.
Regen Mohammed, AYSRHR Officer at the EngenderHealth in Ethiopia said the global organization understands and values the pivotal role men and boys play in promoting gender equality and ensuring positive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) outcomes.
Regen Mohammed further said that the EngenderHealth has ongoing programmes promoting positive masculinity and engaging men and boys in sexual and reproductive health awareness, adding that parents should be educated on issues related to SRHR.
UN Women highlighted that there is dire need to reach local communities including working with elders and traditional leaders to tackle harmful practices such child marriage and gender inequality along with holistic approaches to deal with the gender issues.
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