UN Women launches Ethiopia Civil Society Advisory Group
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On 30 October, UN Women’s Ethiopia office officially launched its Civil Society Advisory Group (CSAG), which will use its expertise to advise UN Women on its work in the country.
The 12-member team — a group of four men and eight women — is comprised of members from civil society organizations, academia, private sector organizations, research experts and youth who will share their experiences and support UN Women in developing strategies to improve advocacy for gender equality and women’s empowerment in Ethiopia.
UN Women’s Ethiopia office put out a call to recruit members for the Advisory Group at the beginning of September, after more than 35 gender equality stakeholders met at a workshop to discuss the issue and agreed on the need for the group.
Members of the Advisory Group will participate in two face-to-face meetings per year with UN Women, over a two-year period.
Letty Chiwara, UN Women Ethiopia Country Representative, said Ethiopia’s CSAG will play a critical role in ensuring UN Women has the capacity to advance gender equality in national and regional agendas. She also encouraged male members of the group to champion UN Women’s global HeForShe campaign.
In 2012, UN Women established a Global Civil Society Advisory Group (GSCAG) to facilitate open discussions with civil society groups on strategies for improving advocacy for gender equality and women’s empowerment. The group is convened as necessary by UN Women’s Executive Director.
National Advisory Groups, such as in Ethiopia, serve as consultative bodies for regular dialogue on policy, programming, intergovernmental and operational activities.
Two new regional Civil Society Advisory Groups were recently set up in Africa, for Eastern and Southern Africa as well as for Western and Central Africa, respectively. To date, UN Women has established one global, five regional, three multi-country and 30 national Civil Society Advisory Groups around the world.