Panel Discussion held on Women Empowerment
In his opening speech, President of ECSU, Dr. Hailemichael Aberra said, the university was awarded for its commitment to empower women civil servants by providing various supports. He said the award encourages the university to do more in the future. He also called upon other local institutions to present their exemplary works for the competition and build a positive image of the country.
During the panel discussion, the first panelist, Dr. Misrak Mekonnen, State Minister of Civil Service, said
"women in Ethiopia serve their family members at home and when they became civil servants they become committed servants of the public."
She underlined the need to give education opportunities for women civil servants for they can give better service when they hold leadership positions. She indicated that currently not more than 38 per cent of the country’s civil servants are women. “Unfortunately,” she said, “sixty eight per cent of female civil servants in Ethiopia do secretarial and accounting jobs. Most are paid less salaries as compared to men civil servants. So we need to empower women and make them decision makers.”
Dr. Misrak said, most female leaders are less likely to involve in corrupt, rent-seeking and unethical activities as compared to their male counterparts. She appreciated ECSU’s effort to empower women by providing conducive environment for them.
The second panelist was State Minster of Women, Children and Youth Affairs, Frenesh Mekuria. She said
" ECSU could get the UN Public Service Award owing particularly to the gender responsive and gender sensitive leadership of the university and generally to the whole university community. "
She said, “Education is a master key that opens the doors of lots of opportunities.” Frenesh noted that the Ethiopian government has taken various measures, designed a lot of policies and enacted several laws that would ensure the benefit of women. Much has been done, but still a lot remains to be done, Frenesh concluded.
Hirut Delebo, Director of Women, Children and Youth Directorate with the Ministry of Civil Service, on her part said women from the four emerging regions need special support for their burdens and problems are more complex than women in other parts of the country because of lack of infrastructure and access to education among others. She said in addition to the 52 students that were enrolled last year to pursue their education at ECSU and who completed their first year education, 77 other women drawn from the four emerging regions will join ECSU in the next academic year. According to the Growth and Transformation Plan, 500 women from these regions will be admitted as part of the alternative admission program.
The last panelist, Head of the ECSU Center for Gender Development, whose center played the key role for the university to win the award, Abay Akemachew, explained the participants how the university was chosen for the UN Public Service award after three rounds of selection processes.Abay said
“We have learnt a lesson on the need to document our activities with video and photo.”
Abay attributed the success achieved by ECSU to its committed leaders.
Participants of the panel discussion including the university community, guests from the Ethiopian defense force and other civil service organizations congratulated ECSU for its achievement.