The issue of peace-building: in an environment characterized by increasing militarization, terrorism,

civil wars and genocides acts, it is urgent for citizenship education to advance pedagogical strategies
to promote cooperation, dialogue, and a sustainable peace that is based on justice. It is obvious that
civics and ethics alone cannot bring peace to our planet, yet it can make a valuable contribution to
create the subjective conditions for more peaceful situations. This includes the development of
competencies for peace-making, conflict resolution, healing, reconciliation and reconstruction. It also
includes an understanding of nonviolent civil disobedience philosophies, strategies and skills. A
peace-oriented citizenship education can foster the development of values, attitudes and skills to
nurture peace within ourselves and in our personal relationships, and to create the conditions for peace
in our own communities and in the global community.

The aim of moral/ethical and civic education is to provide people to make decisions by their free
wills. You can teach norms easily, but you cannot teach easily to obey these rules unless you teach
ethics. Therefore, teaching ethics has an important and necessary place in education. Students who
graduated from universities may be well educated persons in their professions but it is not enough.
Aristotle also says, “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” Moral and
Civics Education is based on and seeks to promote in students core moral, ethical, democratic, and
educational values, such as:

o Respect for life

o Respect for reasoning
o Fairness
o Concern for the welfare of others
o Respect for diversity
o Peaceful resolution of conflict

How the UN is supporting The Sustainable Development Goals in Ethiopia

Following the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) in September 2015, Ethiopia has proactively mainstreamed,
aligned the SDGs with the Second Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP II) which spans
from 2015/16 to 2019/20 and implementing. Ethiopia has also volunteered and participated in
the 2017 Voluntary National Review (VNR) on SDGs in which undertook the review of how
the SDGs are mainstreamed into national and sub-national development plans and being
implemented. The draft report has been presented and discussed in the various workshops
both at regional states and federal levels with key stakeholders including government
institutions, parliamentarians, political parties, private sector representatives, CSOs and
development partners. The review report was then presented to the High-Level Political
Forum in New York in July 2017 together with reports of the 43 voluntary countries.
Furthermore, the Government of Ethiopia is currently formulating a 10-year perspective
development plan for the period 2019/20 to 2029/30 which is fully aligned to the 2030
agenda and SDGs. A national taskforce was also instituted to guide and facilitate the effective
and smooth implementation of SDGs in Ethiopia. The SDGs taskforce has both a steering
committee at policy level and technical committee at technical level. The Steering Committee
(SC) provides strategic guidance and policy support and oversees the overall progress of the
SDGs. The SC is co-chaired by the Commissioner of Planning and Development
Commission (PDC) and the UN Resident Coordinator. The SC is composed of relevant sector
ministers and state ministers from Government, heads of UN agencies, private sector and
CSOs representatives at appropriate levels. The Technical Committee (TC) focuses on
providing coordinated, strategic and coherent inter-agency support to the GoE in translating
the SDGs into national realities and contributing to their achievement. Building on the on-
going work between the Planning and Development Commission (PDC) and the UN Country
Team, the TC supports planning, implementation, monitoring and financing the SDGs.

Senior UN officials in Ethiopia visited IDP sites in Amhara region and held discussions with
the leadership of Amhara Region.

Senior UN officials in Ethiopia, including the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator,

Dr. Catherine Sozi, the World Food Programme Country Director, Dr. Steven Were Omamo,
and the OCHA Head of Office, Sarah Hilding, visited IDP sites in Amhara region and held
discussions with the leadership of Amhara Region on 7 November 2021.

In Bahir Dar, capital of Amhara Region, the UN officials held constructive discussions with
the Amhara Regional President to identify means of improving humanitarian access and flow
of aid to people in need in Amhara region, including those newly affected by the conflict.

During the discussion, President of Amhara Region, Dr. Yilikal Kefale, called for scaling up
humanitarian assistance to Internally Displaced Persons in Amhara region.

Noting the growing humanitarian needs in the Northern Ethiopia including Amhara Region,
UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Dr. Catherine Sozi, mentioned the challenges
facing humanitarian agencies in getting aid to communities most in need.

“While humanitarian needs increase and grow more severe in the country, the humanitarian
community faces significant difficulty in getting aid to communities most in need,” Dr. Sozi
said.

In a site for internally displaced persons in Amhara, the UN delegation met many women,
one of whom shared her fear of the future, having been displaced three times with her
children due to fighting in the past month.

In Amhara, over 700,000 people have been displaced by the conflict so far and a million
people are in urgent need of food assistance, according to the National Disaster Risk
Management Commission.

WFP is working with Federal and Amhara Regional authorities to continue delivering
emergency food assistance – and has reached 213,000 food insecure people displaced by
conflict so far across seven districts. In the next round it aims to reach 440,000 people.

“The needs are increasing exponentially across the three northern regions but we know there
has been a very sharp increase of people displaced in Amhara – all authorities must facilitate
access to the most affected populations so we can reach them with lifesaving food and
nutrition assistance,” said Dr. Steven Were Omamo, WFP Ethiopia Country Director.

The funding gap for the humanitarian response in Ethiopia for 2021 stands at more than
US$1.3 billion. An estimated $606 million has been mobilized for response towards the
Northern Ethiopia Response Plan, and $474 million for response towards the draft
Humanitarian Response Plan, which covers areas outside Tigray. However, this is far from
sufficient to cover the mounting humanitarian needs across the country.

Ethiopia kicked off 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign.The UN

in Ethiopia in partnership with the Government of Ethiopia and other stakeholders launched
16 days of activism campaign against Gender Based Violence (GBV) under the theme
“Orange the world- End Violence against women and girls now!”.

Speaking at the event, President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, H.E. Sahle-
Work Zewde, called for relentless efforts of all stakeholders to address GBV in Ethiopia.

“As we launch the 16 days GBV activism this year, our situation and particularly the context
we are in requires a 24/7 approach to address GBV. These days women and girls become the
victims of warrying parties,” President Sahle-Work said.

“We need to openly speak up loudly, make efforts and systems sustainable in addressing
GBV,” added the President.

Ms. Letty Chiwara, UN Women Representative to Ethiopia, UN Economic Commission for

Africa and African Union, noted that women are more susceptible to sexual and gender-based
violence when social structures are eroded by conflict, and they are especially vulnerable
during migration and displacement.

“Generally, humanitarian emergencies deepen pre-existing gender inequalities, leading to

increased discrimination, greater exclusion, and disproportionate risks for women and girls,”
Ms. Chiwara said.

Despite the multiple roles’ women play everywhere they haven’t received the recognition, the
protection, and the services they deserve particularly they are suffering from the threat of
GBV every time.

“Let peace prevail now end violence against women and girls now,” said H.E. Ergogie
Tesfaye, (PhD) Minister of Women and Social Affairs, who also repeated the national theme
for this year’s 16 days of activism campaign against GBV.

“In the current context of the country, we have been hearing the worst forms of GBV being
committed against women and girls with a deep and life-long consequences on their physical,
sexual and pyscho-social wellbeing requiring a concerted multisectoral rehabilitation effort,”
the Minister said.

In her remarks to the official launch, Ms. Sarah Masale, UNFPA Office In Charge, called for
addressing digital violence which is devastatingly rampant.

“Digital violence takes many forms. Perpetrators may threaten and stalk women online,” she
said. “They may, without permission, attach pictures of women’s and girls’ faces to
sexualized bodies and share them widely over social media, for years. Vicious online
campaigns of hate speech and abuse target women with public roles, such as politicians and
journalists as well as women’s rights activists.”
Ms Masale also called on all stakeholders to take concrete action to stop digital violence by
making relentless efforts to define and measure it as well as understanding its forms, impact
and ways to respond to and prevent it.  

Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) is one of the most systematic and widespread
violations of human rights globally. It may occur against any woman or girl regardless of
nationality, age, or socio-economic status.

About 1 in 3 (30 percent) of women worldwide have been subjected to either physical and/or
sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime.
Nevertheless, stigma and sensitivity around disclosure throughout the world means that
VAWG is almost universally under-reported.

According to Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (2016), nearly a quarter (23 percent)
of women aged 15-49 reported having survived physical violence at some point in their lives,
and 10 per cent reported experiencing sexual violence.

This year marks 30 years of the annual 16 Days of Activism on Gender-Based Violence.
Since the Campaign’s launch in 1991 by the Center for Global Women’s Leadership, there
has been significant attention to raising the visibility of the various forms of violence faced
by women and girls in their diverse identities and throughout the course of their lives.

The national event attended by the high-level ministers and H.E. the president also saw the
launch of the National Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) for shelter services to women and
girls’ survivors of violence in Ethiopia. The SoP was supported by UN Women and UNFPA
under the leadership of MoWSA.

A high-level policy dialogue held under the theme “Experiences and lessons in provision of
essential services for women and girls’ survivors of violence” was also part of the opening
event. Panellists for the dialogue include H.E Meaza Ashenafi, President of the Federal
Supreme Court, H.E Liya Kebede, Minister of Health, H.E Dr. Ergoge Tesfaye, Minister of
Women and Social Affairs, H.E Meskerem Gesit, Commissioner for Women and Children’s
Rights at the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, H.E Fekadu Tsega, State Minister of
Justice and H.E Mr. Jima Dilbo, Director General of the Ethiopia Agency for Civil Society
Organisations.