African Union (AU) Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat hosted U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa. Both sides reaffirmed their strong commitment to the shared goal of a stable and prosperous Africa.
Their conversation builds upon their previous meeting in November on the margins of the annual US- AU High Level Dialogue in Washington D.C. The United States was the first country to establish a mission uniquely dedicated to the AU in 2006. During their meeting, Chairperson Faki and Secretary Tillerson reinforced their commitment to common priorities. She said that the AU has made significant progress on institutional reform and regional integration, including the planned signing of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, and the launch of the Single African Air Transport Market. The United States applauded the work of the AU’s Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), which has tracked and responded to disease outbreaks on the continent.
The two also discussed a few country specific issues, including the Democratic Republic of Congo (DCR), where the United States continues to urge the AU to press all parties- including the DRC government and the political opposition- to work towards December 2018 DRC elections. Tillerson and Faki agreed that the AU and Intergovernmental Authority on Development should continue to apply pressure on the warring parties in South Sudan for a negotiated solution, to protect the lives and welfare of innocent South Sudanese.
The AU has named 2018 as the year of “Winning the Fight against Corruption,” and the United States supports the AU’s fight against all forms of corruption to improve the conditions for free and fair trade and enabling the environment for business and good governance.
Meeting against the backdrop of International Women’s Day, the AU and the United States joined their efforts to help those who decry gender-based corruption, inequality of opportunity, harassment, and gender-based violence.
Economic engagement between the United States and the AU is extensive and builds on existing US programs such as Trade Africa, Power Africa, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, and Feed the Future. Opportunities for greater collaboration include joint trade facilitation workshops, and supporting greater agricultural trade between the United States and Africa, including by harmonizing agricultural standards and building on ongoing food safety standards efforts through the AU-led Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa.
The AU’s ongoing efforts to enhance its legal framework through the early entry into force of its Convention on Cyber security and Personal Data Protection will establish a sound basis for collaboration on efforts to develop cyber security capacities to protect Africa’s citizens.
Peace and security remain a mutual priority. The February launch of a US supported unarmed, unmanned aerial surveillance platform to support the AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) underscores commitment to the fight against terrorism in Somalia. The United States recognizes the perseverance and sacrifice of African Union soldiers participating in AMISOM and acknowledges the need to ensure predictable and sustainable funding for AMISOM to enable it to achieve its mandate.
AU Chief confers with US Secretary of State
Clean cooking project launched
The Netherlands Development organization (SNV) on Tuesday launched the Strengthening Enabling Environment in Clean Cooking Sectors (SEECCS) project to assist the government with its plan to distribute over 11 million improved cooking stoves during the current Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP II).
According to Kebede Yimam, State Minister of Forest, Environment and Climate Change, getting people better stoves has vastly improved people’s lives primarily by improving the health of mothers and reducing deforestation in rural areas.
The use of renewable energy and creating green jobs are two ways the government is trying to tackle climate change. During GTP I over eight million improved stoves were distributed, Kebede told Capital.
During the event at the Intercontinental Hotel it was announced that the SEECCS project would last two years and SNV would partner with government and private organizations as well as financial institutions. There are a lot of programs working on improving cooking stoves but this is a first for the exclusive clean cooking initiative, Project Manager Hiwote Teshome, said.
“Fuel saving has been the priority with the cooking stove projects in the past, but the current project is targeted to include health issue like household pollution and environmental concerns,” she added.
The private sector will play an important role in this project by supplying improved stoves.
The World Bank has injected capital via the Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE) for renewable energy and although the private sector has not engaged in this endeavor but it has hoped that they will soon, according to the project manager.
“We have expectations that those financial organizations including the micro financial ones will get involved in this project,” she added
The project is financed by the government of the Netherlands in collaboration with the Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Change.
UN Women focuses on Women and girls living in rural areas
A panel discussion with the theme “Time is now: Rural and Urban Activists Transforming Women’s Lives” was held by UN Women to commemorate International Women’s Day. The event had panelists from organizations like UN agencies, representatives of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture and others, to discuss and contribute to the work on transforming the lives of rural and urban women in Ethiopia.
“We are here to celebrate and to hear from the empowered women that are working themselves to transform other women’s lives. We have urban activists who struggle to emancipate other women and who are doing their best to change the next generation of women,” said Letty Chiwara, UN Women Representative to Ethiopia, AU and UNECA.
“This year’s theme captures the women activists’ vibrant life whose passion and commitment have won women’s rights over the generations, and successfully brought change. We celebrate an unprecedented global movement for women’s rights, equality, safety and justice, recognizing the tireless work of activists who have been central to this global push for gender equality,” she also added.
UN Women which is the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment facilitates engagement with regional inter-governmental bodies and the UN system. The UN Women’s program in Ethiopia empowers women to secure their human rights while supporting institutions that provide services.
The two hour long panel discussion that was held on Thursday had selected urban and rural advocates as panelists and present their achievements, approaches, challenges and opportunities in transforming women’s lives.
“The feminist movement must continue to increase the diversity and the number of people working on gender equality, bringing in individuals and groups-such as men and boys, young people and faith-based organizations-to support and shape the agenda, so young men and boys learn to value and respect women and girls and so men can change the way they behave,” Chiwara also said.
Chiwara highlighted the need to change the narrative from ‘Rural Women and Girls’ as it is not the women who are rural, but that it is the context and environment within which the women and girls derive their livelihoods and experience which is rural. In this context she advised the focus to be on interventions that change those contexts and environments for the benefit of the women and girls.
A representative of Australian Embassy Rebecca Yohannes stated that this year’s International Women’s Day celebration theme requires everyone to continue to work and close the gap between opportunities for urban and rural women. Everyone must be able to celebrate women by ensuring that activism is inclusive for all.
“Achievements of women are meant to be celebrated on this day. Do not get me wrong, women should be celebrated 365 days a year and not just one; but this gives us a special opportunity to empower women in all settings, rural and urban. International Women’s Day is a day that marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. It is a day to celebrate activists who are working hard to claim women’s rights and realize their full potential,” she said.
Much work needed to help Ethiopia’s environment
A new 127 page environmental analysis conducted by the World Bank and Environment and Climate Research Center showed that inadequate land management processes, lack of coordination between urban and transport planners are key institutional challenges for Ethiopian’s growing urban centers.
The study which took three years to complete also indicates that the current rigid land tenure system which does not allow land holders to sell or mortgage lands causes them to stay on the land instead of moving to the cities even when they might benefit economically.
These issues also cause municipalities to have inadequate revenue to cover all investment needs for water supply, sanitation service and transport systems.
According to the study despite improvements, supply of power and connectivity of transportation are insufficient to attract or promote industrial investments and enhance productivity and as well lack of capability of micro and small enterprise to invest in environmental friendly initiatives
The analysis showed very little is known about the potential areas of ground water resources. Costs and benefits of various uses of resources are incomplete which include inputs and outputs of agriculture, forestry, and biofuel production. Information about environmental effects (land degradation, deforestation, and loss of eco system services are also incomplete. Upstream farmers do not have sufficient incentives to undertake tree planting, landscape rehabilitation, and soil and water conservation to reduce run-off and siltation of dams downstream.
According to the research more than half of all croplands still need conservation measures and billons of Ethiopian birr are needed to invest in soil and water conservation structures to conserve sloping croplands and to bring degraded land back into production for a growing population.
The paper study which looked at the policy and intuitional framework of environmental management finds that some laws lack implementing regulations and standards, which presents an opportunity for updating and up grading to address key issues. Beyond the laws and the rules, environmental management faces challenges of coordination and communication across sector and ministers both at federal and regional state levels.
It further elaborated that although local communities can play a pivotal role in environmental management, they are not regularly and actively engaged in decision- making process due to lack of priority, mandate or funds at the decentralized government level. The enforcement of existing environmental policies is not well- coordinated among responsible ministries and regional local bodies.
The study depicted that energy market distortions undermine sustainable energy production. Analysis of willingness to pay is needed to understand the constraints for consumers, and the benefit of both grid and off- grid technology options.
