NEWA held a meeting with its constituent members on December 12, 2003, at the head office to discuss the draft Shadow Report prepared by the Network and the Ethiopian Women Lawyer Association. On this meeting 4 legal consultants involved in the drafting briefed of the draft Shadow Report. As the participants had not seen the document, they inquired about the whether the Shadow Report covered areas such as food security and poverty reduction. The consultants responded that as much as they would like to have covered as many areas as possible, certain areas were not given the attention they deserved.
On the same day the Network's coordinator Ms. Selome Taddesse highlighted the activities and future plan of the Network. She informed the meeting about the establishment of Gender talk and the Taytu: light of Ethiopia Committee. She also announced the effort underway to strengthen and broaden NEWA's membership as well as the effort to upgrade NEWA's website.
On the 26th of January EWLA and NEWA jointly produced a Shadow Report on government compliance to CEDAW. CEDAW is a Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women. The countries that signed the convention are obliged to submit reports concerning the progress made in meeting their obligation.
On Dec 18,2004 Mrs. Saba G/Medhin, a professional lawyer became NEWA's director.
The 2 nd Gender Talk'' Was held on January 30,2004 at Desaleng Hotel. The guest speaker was Mr. Ali Suleiman , vise minister of Justice. Mr. Ali Suleiman gave a presentation on the effort the Ministry of Justice is making to upgrade and improve the status of women in the ministry of justice. More than 51 women attended the forum.
On February 10-11NEWA organized a training session on advocacy at Ghion Hotel for 35 women. Mr. Ahmed Ali of Oxfam GB conducted the training. The goal of the training was to increase the capacity of NEWA and its constituent member organizations to effectively promotion gender-sensitive rights through advocacy work at local, national and international level.
During the second day of the session, Mr. Ali invited Mr. Sam Barate, a media expert to give a talk on media and advocacy. The training was sponsored by Pathfinder.
The government of Ethiopia has submitted its combined forth and fifth reports to the CEDAW. The Shadow Report contains a balanced assessment of the combined report of the federal government of Ethiopia.
This document was widely circulated at large to government offices, UN agencies, embassies, and local and international NGO's.
NEWA¸ is in the process of preparing a review and appraisal progress made in Ethiopia on the implementation of the Beijing platform for the Action in Africa.
The review will focus on several critical areas that directly affects women.
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