As Ethiopia strives to improve the quality of the nation’s higher education system, 25 public university presidents and vice presidents visited three U.S. public universities October 14-25 to observe how U.S. universities were tackling similar challenges on their own campuses.  Their study tour followed an August 2023 workshop on educational leadership in Addis Ababa as part of the U.S. Embassy-sponsored Leadership, Management, and Government (LMG) program.  The two-year program, designed to advance the shared U.S.-Ethiopian goal of improving the quality of higher education in Ethiopia, is implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Education.   

United States Ambassador Ervin Massinga and Minister of Education Birhanu Nega met with the university leaders Oct. 27 at Addis Ababa University’s Kennedy Library to hear their observations and lessons learned from their U.S. government-funded study tour of Texas Tech University, Oklahoma State University, and The Ohio State University.  Kidist Yohannes, Vice President of Kotebe University of Education, echoing other participants, noted that the university visits provided many valuable lessons she will take back to her own campus to create better learning environments for the faculty, students, and community. 

As Ethiopia strives to improve the quality of the nation’s higher education system, 25 public university presidents and vice presidents visited three U.S. public universities October 14-25 to observe how U.S. universities were tackling similar challenges on their own campuses.  Their study tour followed an August 2023 workshop on educational leadership in Addis Ababa as part of the U.S. Embassy-sponsored Leadership, Management, and Government (LMG) program.  The two-year program, designed to advance the shared U.S.-Ethiopian goal of improving the quality of higher education in Ethiopia, is implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Education.   

United States Ambassador Ervin Massinga and Minister of Education Birhanu Nega met with the university leaders Oct. 27 at Addis Ababa University’s Kennedy Library to hear their observations and lessons learned from their U.S. government-funded study tour of Texas Tech University, Oklahoma State University, and The Ohio State University.  Kidist Yohannes, Vice President of Kotebe University of Education, echoing other participants, noted that the university visits provided many valuable lessons she will take back to her own campus to create better learning environments for the faculty, students, and community. 

The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has won the 2023 International Standards of Accounting and Reporting Honors (ISAR Honors) in recognition of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reporting through its Integrated Planning and Reporting Toolkit (IPRT).

The IPRT is a web application sponsored by the ECA. It was developed in response to the needs of African countries to simultaneously adopt and integrate both the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Agenda 2063 into their national development. This enabled member countries to report their progress on the SDGs and Agenda 2063 in a harmonized way.

ISAR Honors, an initiative of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), raises awareness and facilitates the dissemination of national and international best practices on sustainability and SDG reporting as an integral part of annual reporting by companies.

Gender equality is central to achieving sustainable development as is the full participation of girls and women in the technology revolution through closing the current digital gap, says the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Acting Executive Secretary, Antonio Pedro.

In a video address at the start of a week long coding camp for girls and women which opened in Chimoio, Mozambique, Mr. Pedro, stressed the importance of gender equality as a fundamental human right with a significant impact on socio-economic development.

Mr. Pedro highlighted to the girls that:

“Your participation is an opportunity to acquire essential skills in the field of ICT and find inspiration in the stories of remarkable women STEM leaders in Mozambique and throughout Africa.”

Furthermore, he noted the gender gap in internet access in Mozambique, where men are 40% more likely to have internet access due to low overall penetration at 17.4%. Addressing these divides necessitates efforts to close connectivity gaps, tackle affordability issues, bridge gender and urban-rural digital divides, and ensure internet access for all students and schools. Girls and women many times have no or – access to information communication technology (ICTs) from mobile phones and the internet as a result of a combination of factors from poor literacy, discrimination to cultural norms.