DSW and UNFPA Convene a Commemorating Symposium for IWD

Past its centenary milestone, International Women’s Day (IWD) was commemorated for the 114th time this year across the globe. On March 8, 2025, Ethiopia honored the Day for 49th time. IWD is one of the oldest international observances, celebrated by virtually every nation around the world already. Ethiopia has already established a tradition of honoring the month of March, continually celebrating the legacy of March 8 through various memorable activities. This year’s IWD was organised by UNFPA in collaboration with DSW Ethiopia, and the observance took place on March 27, 2025, at the Bole-Lemi Industrial Park (BLIP), a venue that serves as one of the workplace intervention points, where more than 85 percent of the working youth are female.

At the half-day symposium, the message “Female Labor: The Heartbeat of Industrial Park” was prominently displayed on roll-up banners and plaques, both outside and inside the hall, where keynote speeches, study presentations, discussions, and exhibition were held to commemorate IWD.  An overview of the special activities planned for the day was briefly introduced by Metsehate Aynekulu, Program Specialist – Adolescent & Youth Development at UNFPA Ethiopia. To kick off the first session, she welcomed Feyera Assefa, DSW Ethiopia’s Country Director, to present the overall programmatic issues and objectives of the event.

“With Ethiopia’s resolve to transform the lifeline of its economy to an industrial scale, the development of industrial parks flourished. As a result, a large number of youth, most of whom are female, were employed across thirteen industrial parks in the country, including the Bole-Lemi and Hawassa Industrial Parks. The combined workforce of these two parks alone has employed more than fifty-seven thousand youth,” Feyera noted.

“Based on our experience with youth development programs, we sought an intervention on behalf of mainly the female workers, focusing on their sexual and reproductive health information and service needs. The intervention, which also addresses the prevalence of the sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in the workplace, gained traction once technical and financial support from the UNFPA was secured and has been underpinning the project since 2019. We have come a long way and are further strengthening our strategic partnerships through advocacy efforts aimed at advancing, among other things, initiatives such as the Minimum Service Package (MSP) at the workplaces. Today, we have convened at the Bole-Lemi Industrial Park (BLIP) in a collaborative spirit to commemorate the International Women’s Day, recognizing the fact that female workers, who constitute the overwhelming majority of the workforce, are the lifeblood of the industrial park. A special day like this reinforces our commitment to ensuring that the SRH needs of young female workers at the industrial parks are met,” Feyera remarked. He also acknowledged the high stakes taken by the key stakeholders who participated in the symposium, including those from the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH), representatives from UNFPA, International Labor Organization (ILO), GIZ, and other embassy officials from Australia, Canada and Japan.

The Bole-Lemi Industrial Park was represented by its General Manager, Tinsae Yimam, who delivered a welcoming speech with special emphasis on the theme of IWD. “This well-articulated message dedicated to IWD, highlighting the significant contributions of female labor forces, has greatly enhanced the productivity of various companies operating within the industrial park. We also appreciate that, through a tailored intervention initiated by UNFPA and DSW over the past six years, the empowerment gained by the female labor forces has directly impacted the quality and growth of outputs at BLIP,” Mr. Tinsae said.  

When it became operational in 2014, BLIP was the first industrial park in Ethiopia, and to date, it has employed more than 27,000 youth. It is one of the two parks where, with the steadfast support of UNFPA, DSW implements a project focusing on the female workers in the factory sheds. This is the reason why the venue for commemorating the IWD was selected.   

“Given the significant contribution of women to society, every day should be considered women’s day, in recognition of their roles in economic transformation around the world. When we chose to convene this year’s IWD celebration at BLIP, it was well-meant as it symbolizes the voices and merit of more than 85 percent of the 27,000 plus young workers, who are women. By celebrating IWD at the industrial park’s workplace, where an intervention supported by UNFPA and implemented by DSW has brought about desirable improvements in female workers’ SRH wellbeing, we acknowledge these contributions. We have achieved this through advocacy and other tailored approaches, and thus, the key stakeholders from multi-sectoral positions are expected to further support and sustain this work using various resources,” asserted Taiwo Oluyomi, Deputy Country Representative for UNFPA Ethiopia, in his keynote remarks.

The Deputy Representative for UNFPA Ethiopia also appreciated the cooperative spirit that existed between different stakeholders, which created an enabling environment under which the intervention on behalf of the female workers at the industrial park was able to reach many. “This was, for practical reasons, demonstrated by the presence of key stakeholders at the IWD commemoration, including representatives from the ILO,’ he said.

“Amplifying the voices of women working in the industrial parks at such a special moment of commemorating IWD reaffirms the shared commitment of all stakeholders,” noted Claudine Francois, Country Program Manager of ILO, “One of the concerted efforts,” Claudine emphasized, “is the introduction of the Minimum Service Package (MSP), a well-meaning policy instrument developed by and in partnerships with UNFPA, the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) and DSW, which paves the way for delivering essential services such as SRHR, nutritional counseling, and psychosocial support of those at workplaces. Let’s capitalise on the moment of celebrating IWD and call for action and accelerate the implementation of MSP, ensuring that every woman in Ethiopia gains access to the essential services and protection,” Claudine concluded her keynote address.

As the half-day symposium moved into the second part of its session, representatives from the Ministry of Women & Social Affairs (MoWSA) and the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) each delivered presentations aligned with the objectives of IWD, emphasising the importance of the workplace interventions. These interventions have already had a tangible and measurable impact on improving the SRHR needs and wellbeing of female workers at the industrial park. Studies and situational analysis related to adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health services, as well as the information and service provisions at workplaces, sampling the Bole-Lemi Industrial Park, were also presented and discussed in an interactive question-and-answer session. 

With the announcement of the conclusion of the IWD commemoration symposium, a hand-over event took place, where UNFPA, DSW and IPDC presented a large surface sonic screen (LED), which will be framed and mounted at the gate of the Bole-Lemi Industrial Park. The screen is intended to enable the dissemination of both advocacy-based and SRH-related messages in video and audio formats. This material support is part of the project’s planned activities, financed by UNFPA and implemented by DSW Ethiopia through phase-by-phase cycles.