Ethiopian Church working to uplift women

ADDIS ABABA: The Ethiopian Catholic Church through different religious congregations and diocesan desks is supporting women discover their potential through various skills training available in Church-run promotion centres.

In most parts of Ethiopia, the lack of financial independence and lack of awareness, lack of educational opportunities leave women victims vulnerable to Gender Based Violence. Having realised this, the Church is making efforts to eradicate such problems through women’s promotion centres now found in various parts of the country. The promotion centres have been lauded as a successful strategy of raising awareness and potential among women. As centres, they become hubs that build capacity among women thus enabling them engage confidently in various entrepreneurial activities.

Progress about the success of the promotion centres was disclosed this week on 24 and 25 November when the Ethiopian Catholic Church’ Social and Development Commission (ECC SDCO) marked the international day for the elimination of violence against women. The commission marked the event by bringing together women from the promotion centres in the country thus giving them an opportunity to share experiences. The day was held in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.

Speaking about the event, Programme and Fund Mobilisation Manager for the promotion centres, Shiferaw Mamo, said that over the years tens of thousands of women have passed through various programmes at the centres and have gone on to become very successful entrepreneurs.

“We have witnessed many stories of women who were subjected to stay at home depending only on the kindness of their husbands for a living. The worst part of such cases was that when the men passed away or (went away) the women were left caring for their families without any means of income. Our programmes helped such women discover their potential to do more and supported them to engage in small scale businesses based on their desired field. The women from the centres have become successful in supporting even their husbands financially and changed the lifestyle of their families, some even becoming famous business women,” Mamo recalled.

There are more than 50 women promotion centres run by the Catholic Church in Ethiopia. Apart from training in skills, the centres serve to ensure holistic development of vulnerable women and support women to engage in savings.

Some of the women promotion centres have evolved into fully-fledged vocational training institutes.--Vatican Radio