Italy contributes €500,000 for HTPs reduction in Ethiopia

Addis Ababa, December 2, 2016 (FBC) – The Italian Development Cooperation and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) have signed a financing agreement of 500,000 Euros for the reduction of Harmful Traditional Practices in Ethiopia.
The fund will be utilized for the initiative “Economic & Social Women Empowerment and Protection of Women and Girls on HTPs (ESWEP), which will be implemented in 4 districts in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Regional State.

The agreement has been signed by the Italian Ambassador in Ethiopia, Giuseppe Mistretta, UNFPA Representative to Ethiopia, Faustin Yao, and Director of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation Addis Ababa Office Ginevra Letizia.

The project aims, on the one hand, to improve the living conditions of women in rural areas who belong to the most vulnerable and most exposed to the phenomena of poverty, discrimination and migration flows, and, secondly, contribute to the elimination of female genital mutilation and early marriages by 2025.

The initiative aims to strengthen the self-determination of particularly vulnerable women, such as female heads of households in rural areas and girls in especially difficult economic situations and/or at risk of child marriage, increasing their social and economic power.

The Italian Development Cooperation has been supporting the campaign against Female Genital Mutilation and Cutting (FGM/C) since 2008, working together with UNFPA and UNICEF in 17 African Countries.

Ethiopia banned this harmful practice in 2004 as it is considered to be a very dangerous tradition that harms the right and health of women and girls.