A new study has concluded that it is not currently possible to track national funding for women’s economic empowerment in Ethiopia, and calls on the government to require public bodies to collect and report gender-disaggregated data for the projects they implement. Released this week, Feasibility Study – Assessing National Funding for Women’s Economic Empowerment in Ethiopia” was conducted by Three B Consult and commissioned by Publish What You Fund.

It finds that while the Ethiopian government is cognisant of gender issues and has incorporated them in its policy documents and legislation, there are no established systems to enable the reporting of allocations on gender equality or women’s economic empowerment. The lack of sex-disaggregated data and gender-responsive budgeting means there is no basis to determine whether the considerations at the time of budget preparation are followed through.

Asrat Bekele of Three B Consult, author of the report, said:

“Women’s economic empowerment is vital for realising women’s rights and gender equality. In order to understand and make progress on women’s economic empowerment we need to know more about what is being funded and with what results. To do this we need better information and we need to know who is accountable.”