From 18-24 July 2010, 5 European Parliamentary Assistants gained first hand insight into Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in development aid through a Parliamentary delegation visit to Ethiopia organised by the European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (EPF) in collaboration with the Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia (FGAE).

The aim of the delegation visit was twofold: to ensure that delegates are equipped with first-hand information about the latest developments and initiatives with regard to sexual and reproductive health and rights, funding for health, women’s empowerment and gender equality in Ethiopia, as well as to assess the performance of Ethiopia development partners vis-à-vis their funding commitment to health at national level.

Focussing on Ethiopian Population’s unmet need for sexual and reproductive health and family planning services along with the reproductive health and rights situation of female adolescents and young girls, EPF delegates benefited from briefings with major actors and prominent voices in the health and development field. These included Hon. Mr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Minister for Health of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Mr. Benoit Kalasa, UNFPA Representative to Ethiopia, Mr. Ibrahim Sambuli, UNFPA Deputy Representative, the Head of the EU Delegation to Ethiopia, H.E.M Dino Sinigallia, as well as representatives from other governmental authorities (Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Population Affairs Directorate), various SRHR and Women rights advocacy and research partners(Population Council, Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association, Organisation against Gender Based Violence – TTTM, the University of Adama) and relevant community-based organisations.

Meanwhile, project site visits were organised to FGAE Saris and Adama SRH Clinic, Youth-friendly Sheger SRH center, Adama Urban Gardening project, as well as to the Addis Ababa Hamlin Fistula Hospital and to the UNFPA/ Population Council Biruh Tesfa project on out-of-schools adolescent girls’ life skills education.

The study tour programme allowed delegates to assess the progress that has been made by Ethiopia in the implementation of the Programme of Action of the ICPD (ICPD PoA) for the last 10 years and to identify the remaining gaps and challenges. These include amongst others: the lack of robust, timely, comparable and sex-disaggregated data to evaluate progress, the uneven progress in crucial areas such as women’s health and empowerment, the human rights of women, the health and rights of the girl child as well as the urgent need to mainstream gender equality into other policy fields more coherently.

Despite the strong governmental and UN commitment to Maternal Health and SRHR through MDG 5 and 5b, long-term donor funding for the provision and universal access to comprehensive reproductive health and family planning services in Ethiopia remains inconsistent or inadequate. During the visit, the EPF delegation focused on the importance of resource mobilisation strategies enabling multi-partner long-term political commitment for the sexual and reproductive health needs of women. The EPF delegates in turn relayed these concerns for greater funding commitments and support for women's rights and SRHR directly in European Parliaments. At the end of the visit, study tour participant concluded on the urgent need to hold their the European Commission and EU Member States governments accountable for the commitments made with regard to women’s reproductive health and rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment around the world in the run-up to the MDG@10 Summit to be held in New York next September.

On their last day in Addis Ababa, the EPF delegation and FGAE representatives convened a strategic meeting and concluded on follow-up action points to undertake upon their return, including the benchmarking of Eastern African countries with regard to investing in Family Planning/ Reproductive Health (FP/RP) and the achievement of MDG5 and considered a wide range of actionable Parliamentary initiatives and activities to bolster EU support for SRHR.

The EPF Delegation included:

Ms. Gina Braun-Friderici, European Parliament, Germany
Ms. Ann Ieven, Belgium
Mr. Etienne Maury, European Parliament, France
Mr. Renaud-Raphaël Savignat, European Parliament, France
Ms. Aino-Inken Valtanen, European Parliament, Finland