UNFPA co-organized a one-day workshop held on May 12th to validate the Country Report on Ethiopia’s progress on the implementation of the East and Southern Africa (ESA) Ministerial Commitment on the provision of Comprehensive Sexuality Education. The participants of the workshop provided their inputs to enrich the Country Report.

Making a remark on the occasion, Mr. Victor Rakoto, Deputy Country Representative of UNFPA, said “comprehensive sexuality education enables young people to make informed decisions about their sexuality and health” adding that it helps build life skills and increases responsible behaviors, and is essential in advancing human rights, gender equality and the empowerment of young people.

The ESA Ministerial Commitment was signed by the Ministers of Education and Health of 20 countries in December 2013 committing themselves to deliver targets pertaining to the creation of an enabling environment through multi-sectoral plans and resource allocation; the scaling-up of comprehensive sexuality education; improvements in access to youth-friendly SRH services; and reduction of unintended pregnancies, gender-based violence and child marriage.

Participants drawn from pertinent sectoral government offices and CSO partners took part in the workshop which was jointly organized by UNFPA and UNESCO.