At the event held in the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), UN Assistant Secretary-General and Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Ethiopia, Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov, delivered message of the UN Secretary-General.  In today’s troubled world, hope is not enough. Hope requires determined action and multilateral solutions for peace, shared prosperity and a thriving planet. Hope requires all countries working as one. Hope requires the United Nations. On United Nations Day, I call on all countries to keep this beacon for the world, and its ideals, shining." Two youth representatives, Kiburan Kibret Demisse and Amen Frew Messele, who represented Ethiopia at the Summit of the Future held in September 2024 in New York, also delivered their messages to participants of the commemoration.Kiburan in his statement called for more efforts to ensure youth engagement in decision-making at all levels. “Despite our energy, creativity, and potential, youth often find themselves underrepresented in decision making processes that affect their future, our future. This is a missed opportunity—not only for us the youth only but for all of us.”“Youth engagement is not a matter of opportunity but is a necessity. If we are to build a world that is just, inclusive, and peaceful, the voices of young people must be heard at the table of global discussions,” said Kiburan.Speaking at the event, Amen noted the challenges facing Ethiopian youth due to conflicts and called on Ethiopian government, the UN, CSOs and stakeholders to include youth in peace-building processes“We need to go beyond symbolic gestures. For peace to be sustainable, young people must be genuinely empowered to shape the decisions that directly impact our lives. We must have the tools, support, and platforms to rebuild our communities, advocate for justice, and participate in shaping a peaceful and inclusive future. And yet, for many, these opportunities still feel out of reach,” she said.

With support from the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Industry and Ministry of Labour and Skills, UNIDO overhauled the national hide and skin regulatory framework. UNIDO also developed a curriculum to guide the development of training manuals to serve TVET colleges and centers to train professionals on occupational standards, skills and practices of improving the quality production and marketing of raw hides and skins. As a pilot intervention, flaying machines have been introduced to six abattoirs to reduce the damage on raw hides and skins during flaying operation. Additionally, the machines and high-quality tools have successfully enhanced the quality of raw hides and skins and meat. UNIDO’s support came through the “Leather Initiative for Sustainable Employment Creation (LISEC)” project funded by the European Union (EU).UNIDO-LISEC project is being implemented in and around Modjo City having been commissioned in 2018 to create greater economic and decent employment opportunities, especially for women and youth through the development of the Ethiopian leather industry and the Modjo leather industrial park that aims to cluster the leather industry for the sustainable operation of the leather production and environmental management.The initiative of the Modjo Leather City (MLC), part of Ethiopia’s broader strategy of inclusive and sustainable industrial development, aims to boost the country’s exports and create jobs as well as the formation of a leather processing cluster that will address environmental issues as well as leverage on economies of scale for the development of backward and forward linkages in leather tanning and products manufacturing. In a recently held steering committee meeting of the project, it was emphasized that once the challenges faced by the leather value chain practitioners are addressed, the industry would regain its stature as a key player sector in job creation, income generation and economic growth.In his remarks to the meeting, H.E. Tarekegn Bululta, State Minister of Industry highlighted the importance of the project in addressing the quality of hides and skins, leather value chain development and job creation initiative through micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The State Minister underlined the government’s commitment to upgrading the leather sector performance for its significant contribution to economic growth, employment creation, import substitution, and product diversification. “European Union is keen to continue supporting the leather value chain due to its potential to grow and create quality jobs,” said Roberto Schiliro, the European Union’s Head of Green Deal Team. “However, the sector needs a strong government commitment to address the quality of hides and skins and create a conducive working environment for long-term investments.” Mr. Roberto also underlined the need for the industry to address occupational safety issues, access to finance, and forex shortage for importing inputs by tanneries as well as other issues related to strategies and legislations. 

Midwife Barnabas works at the Metie Health Centre which has a newly renovated maternity ward where mothers in this community near Kombolcha, Amhara region, can safely deliver babies.“I am so happy with this new ward as the old one was very run down, and the majority of pregnant mothers were delivering their babies at home which is unsafe,” he said. “Marifa is about to give birth, and she is getting the care she needs. Since the ward opened, I have helped give birth to 10 healthy babies in the last 2 months. It makes me so proud.”Fatuma gave birth to Ferusa earlier this month, and she said: “I am so full of joy. Ferusa is beautiful, healthy and so strong. The doctors and midwives really looked after me and I felt safe in this ward. Every mother should be able to deliver their babies in a hospital with all the right support.”The community is also receiving comprehensive health services as part of the UK-funded Ethiopia Crises to Resilience Programme (EC2R), which focuses on vulnerable populations throughout the country and provides essential humanitarian assistance, including strengthening health systems, improved health services and the delivery of medical supplies. EC2R is a joint programme with the Ethiopian Red Cross Society, REACH, UNICEF and the World Food Programme.Health Extension Workers like Teba also provide outreach services to mothers through this initiative. Her dedication contributes to reaching zero-dose children and protecting them from preventable diseases. “I visit many households in the area to give vaccinations and explain the importance of immunization. It gives me such pleasure to know that I am safeguarding our children in the community from diseases” she said.Baby Ilham is getting his first round of vaccinations. His mother Zadha said: “Teba made me feel not scared for Ilham, and I know this treatment will keep him well and protect him from getting sick.”Partners in this initiative are grateful to the UK for providing this invaluable support with flexible funding so they can reach the people who need it the most, no matter where they are, to improve services, build resilience, and mitigate shock when disaster hits. 

Inadequate WASH infrastructure causes significant health threats to the people and negatively impacts economic growth, so the proper assessment of associated risks can create resilient systems that can withstand environmental challenges.In response to that, UNOPS project team developed WASH Risk Assessment Tool, which can evaluate potential vulnerabilities within existing or planned infrastructure and help WASH planners and designers to identify risks related to technical, environmental and socio-economic factors.To this effect, a workshop on risk assessment analysis in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector was organised in Mekelle, within the Government of Ethiopia's Response-Recovery-Resilience for Conflict Affected Communities in Ethiopia (3R4CACE) Project, which is financed by the World Bank and implemented by UNOPS.The workshop that focused on the risk analysis as an essential element when planning WASH interventions contributed to enhancing the systematic and coherent knowledge and skills of 50 experts, officers and stakeholders working in planning, designing, building and running WASH infrastructures in Tigray.A safe, continuous and sustainable access to clean water, adequate sanitation facilities, and proper hygiene are essential for preventing diseases, promoting health and ensuring well-being and the socio-economic development of communities. “Enhancing resilience is the starting point to ensure sustainability in a post-conflict environment like in Tigray. In a delicate phase like this, in which social expectations for development are high, UNOPS does not want to build sandcastles. We believe that mitigating risks and strengthening the sustainable planning of strategic infrastructures is essential for social and economic growth. Among these, we have focused on the hydraulic sector, which is key for guaranteeing water and energy, but also for reducing the risk of catastrophic events, like floods or dam breaks, which lead to unacceptable losses of human lives and unsustainable costs for the public budget. Risk assessment is a complex process which requires multi-sectoral coordination, technical-probabilistic analysis and social-economic evaluation. We believe that sparking this discussion at academic level can contribute to establishing resilience models in planning, designing and managing hydraulic infrastructures for the well-being of the population,” the UNOPS Project Executive for 3R4CACE Project, Eng. Rossella Monti (Ph.D.) said.The workshop was an opportunity to galvanize commitments on risk mitigation and accelerate actions in multiple sectors related to WASH, which is also a key catalyst for a green, inclusive and resilient economic transition for the conflict-affected people of Tigray.“The proper risk assessment can contribute to the sustainable WASH infrastructure in Tigray Region because all the involved players must be aware of what are the specific risks that can threaten the operational effectiveness of each single intervention, not just now as built but also in the future. So, proper measures can be implemented to control and reduce these risks. The actual effectiveness of these measures must be monitored, evaluated and maybe even adjusted during the operational lifetime of the interventions,” the UNOPS Lead Water Engineer Umberto Sanfilippo said.The workshop was also used to officially mark the beginning of the implementation of the Resilience WASH Programme within the 3R4CACE Project. The Resilience programme complements the previous infrastructure rehabilitation, and it is composed of a series of actions tailored to ensure continuous, climate resilient and sustainable services for the population. The conducted risk analysis served as a driver in understanding the fragilities of the system, including aspects for planning, governance, social and infrastructure. The Response-Recovery-Resilience for Conflict Affected Communities in Ethiopia (3R4CACE) Project of the Government of Ethiopia financed by the World Bank with USD 300 million, aims to (i)rebuild and improve access to basic services and climate-resilient community infrastructure and (ii) improve access to multi-sectoral response services for Gender-Based Violence (GBV) survivors in selected conflict-affected communities in Ethiopia.