Engage CSOs and Human Rights Institution’s

Sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) are fundamental rights to ensure individuals have autonomy to make informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive lives. Along with other countries in the glob Ethiopia is pledged to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action. Pursuant to these programs and platforms Ethiopia have taken great strides to improve sexual and reproductive health of its population by integrating key services in their universal health coverage (UHC) reforms.  

Since 2005, Ethiopia introduced various health sector reforms with an objective of achieving universal health coverage. Currently, not less number of citizens in a country had health insurance coverage through enrolment in Community Based Health Insurance and rural households access to health services are improved now better than before. However the health sector reform to insure SRHRs lacks inter-sectorial collaboration and did not involve all stakeholders. The observation in Ethiopia shows the country lags behind its peers in Africa with regard to these rights.

While the country move great strides to achieve MDGs, the track record of the country’s progress to meet the expectations of SDGs in general and sexual and reproductive health rights in particular which is determinant for, development and women’s empowerment is minimal. Despite the substantive gains in reducing sexual and reproductive health-associated morbidities and mortality among women and Ethiopia is lagging behind in terms of sexual and reproductive rights. There are significant challenges and gaps in the realization of SRHR in Ethiopia. This can be partly associated with the non-involvement of human rights institutions and CSOs working on human rights for advocating SRHR agendas. Addressing these gap in sexual and reproductive health and rights in Ethiopia, is crucial for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on good health and well-being (SDG 3) and gender equality (SDG 5).

Targeted initiatives and cross-sectoral collaboration are needed to close the SRHR gaps. Partnerships and collaborations between governments, civil society organizations, and communities are vital to facilitate the development, implementation, and monitoring of SRHR programs and policies. There has been a great improvement in Ethiopia for the last five years in the involvement of CSOs for the promotion of human rights; however, there is the gap CSOs involvement for the advocacy and monitoring of SRHR. Reproductive and sexual rights are still out of reach for CSOs and other stakeholders working for the promotion of human rights. Closing these gaps is crucial. 

If human rights CSOs and human right institutions are sensitized and equipped to participate for the advocacy of the sexual and reproductive health rights, then enhance the national commitment to achieving universal access to sexual and reproductive health services and reproductive rights as stated in the SDGs.

It includes the following activities 

• Baseline assessment of the condition of SRHR in Ethiopia: As much evidence shall be available to support the argument that the proposed package of essential interventions to. A more comprehensive review of the evidence for the proposed interventions can be found through baseline assessment and essential for evidence based advocacy.
• Sensitization Workshop: Reaching, and fully realizing SRHR requires sensitizing the government human rights institutions, CSOs and media. The participation of Civil society, human rights institutions and media is strong, with a great focus on monitoring the implementation of laws and policies.
• Training for CSOs on SRHR advocacy:
• Define national action plan for Ethiopia: define the specific steps for SRHR. Based the progress of other countries and action plans defined by multilateral institutions the project will define a set of broader steps to guide and monitor the steps in Ethiopia.

Over the last five years, the number of internally displaced people has increased dramatically. According to the reports of different organizations Ethiopia is one of the leading countries `in terms of number of IDPs. It is challenging to provide essential sexual and reproductive health services in humanitarian and IDP settings or in regions affected by conflict. Moreover, gender norms and patriarchal structures entrenched for centuries in Ethiopia have unfavorably affected women. Though SRHR are important for all age groups, sexes, ethnic and religious groups, however, Some SRHR interventions are particularly important for specific population groups such as women. The projects interventions must therefore be structured taking account these reality and used as a means to empower women and advocate their rights.

Therefore, this project will give emphasis for CSOs working for women and IDP settings. Since the need for sexual and reproductive health services is high among women and young people (particularly adolescents), people with disabilities, and the rural and urban poor.  Therefore, special focus will be given for CSOs lead by women, youth and persons with disabilities and work for the interest of women, youth and persons with disabilities. 

LIDE Africa’s has an Executive Director who has been a university president, Ambassador Dr. Yeshsimebrat, who widely recognized as the first women university president nationwide. This is a plus point for LIDE Africa’s to effectively implement the project in close collaborations with relevant stakeholders. Our Executive Director is in a position to mobilize effectively all relevant stakeholders. 

500,000 women on IDP setting