CPAR and Global Affairs Canada are joining forces on a new four-year, $4.1 million CAD project to improve the sexual reproductive health (SRH) of women and adolescents in Ethiopia. The project will support the delivery of the national Ethiopian curriculum for SRH and the development of SRH service capacity. The Amhara and Oromia regions of Ethiopia, where the project will be centred, lack youth-friendly SRH services. Gender discriminatory norms related to early and forced child marriage, female genital mutilation, and early pregnancy are common in the project communities. Obstetric fistula, a preventable birth complication that can result from a prolonged or obstructed labour and create urinary and rectal incontinence, is a devastating condition that can lead to women being ostracized and shut out of community life.
Through this project, CPAR and Global Affairs Canada will work with the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Women and Children, the Ministry of Education, and with regional and zonal health authorities, local universities, community healthcare teams and local grassroots organizations to address these and other issues related to SRH education and services.