UN Women organizes the annual National Women's Economic Empowerment Forum with the theme “Innovation and Technology to Enhance Women’s Economic Empowerment”.2023

The forum was organized with the theme “Innovation and Technology to Enhance Women’s Economic Empowerment”. The forum took place in Addis Ababa, Hilton Hotel from 30-31 May 2023, for the second time after its launching on 29 April 2022. The forum brought together 190 (133 female and 57 male) participants including high-level government delegates from government Ministries and other sector offices, development partners, UN Agencies, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), financial institutions and other stakeholders working on women’s economic empowerment. This year’s national WEE forum focused on increasing women’s access to innovative financial and non-financial services and resources as well as technologies in promoting their social and economic endeavors.

Delivering a keynote speech, Ms. Cecile Mukarubuga, UN Women Representative to Ethiopia said, “We need coordinated efforts to address the economic challenges facing women and young girls in Ethiopia. That's why we established the Women Economic Empowerment Forum to share information and seek solutions.”

The Representative highlighted that WEE Forum 2022 organized by the UN Women, Ministry of Women and Social Affairs and partners served as a platform for demonstrating commitment to promoting gender responsive policies and programs that enhance women's representation and decision-making in cooperatives.

In his keynote address, H.E Mr. Nigussu Tilahun, State Minister of Jobs and Employment Affairs at the Ministry of Labor and Skills emphasized the need to ensure financial inclusion by providing women with access to finance and space to establish their businesses.

“The patriarchal social norms have prevented women from thriving in the economy. It's time to provide women with the finance and space they need to flourish,” the State Minister said.

He further noted that even if unemployment for women is high, the women are not coming out to get registered well in the labor force data due to Unpaid Care and Domestic Work (UCDW) and related challenges. “Reducing the unpaid care burden on women requires innovative technologies and transformative research. Let's invest in sustainable solutions that bring real change to women's economic problems,” said the State Minister.

In her message to the forum, H.E. Ms. Alemitu Omot, State Minister of Women and Social Affairs, highlighted that a large number of women are involved in micro and small businesses, and they need to be supported to effectively engage in more profitable and sustainable business activities as key developmental actors.

She said that it is essential to identify and address key challenges related to loan, interest, grace period and guarantee as well as training, employment, marketing and technology that prevent women’s potential to succeed in business and ensure that they are economically empowered.

In her opening remarks, H.E Dr. Ergogie Tesfaye, Minister of Ministry of Women and Social Affairs pointed out that women in Ethiopia still struggle to access credit and are overrepresented in the informal economy, despite their reputation for timely loan repayment. The minister stressed the need to prioritize women's economic empowerment and ensure that they have equal access to opportunities.

“At the Women's Economic Empowerment Forum, we will work with UN Women and other partners to identify barriers to women's participation and advancement in the economy. If we empower women economically, we empower the society,” Dr. Ergogie stated. She also called upon the active and committed action of all stakeholders to achieve tangible outcomes for the forum. 

The forum also saw a market exhibition for products made by women as a side event during the two-day National Women Economic Empowerment Forum. The exhibition was organized with a view to creating opportunities for women in business to sell their products and network among themselves and the participants.

Research papers were also presented on the second day of the forum. Mr. Abdurahman Ibrahim from Ethiopian Economics Association presented a paper on ‘Gender Finance Gap and Women’s Economic Empowerment in Ethiopia’ while Gemechu Shale (PhD) from Ambo University shared insights on ‘Policies and Practices Relating to Gender Responsive Information and Communication Technologies’. Mr. Tages Mulugeta, from Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration, also provided update on the progress and challenges of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) from the WEE perspective.

Similarly, Ms. Suzan Okoh, Principal Officer from African Development Bank, East Africa, shared with the forum’s participants the bank’s initiatives on increasing women’s access to finance and non-finance services through the Bank’s program known as Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA). Additionally, World Bank Ethiopia shared the Lab initiative which piloted innovative interventions that are deemed to promote the economic empowerment of women.

Representatives of government organizations, banks, micro-finance institutions, NGOs and UN Agencies also engaged in panel discussions that focus on policy and legal frameworks on women’s access to finance, digital financial technologies and non-financial services.

Key proposed actions from the forum include conducting national consultation by key members of the NWEEF to review and make further inputs to the draft protocol on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Initiative ‘Women and Youth Protocol’, cascading the forum at the regional level and organizing a working group that engages financial institutions and development partners to support women to access financial services. Additionally, a plan to engage the National Bank of Ethiopia to develop directives that support financial institutions to provide gender-responsive services was outlined.