Representatives from various civil society organizations are deliberating on the proactive participation of the sector for effective national dialogue. Today's discussion is part of a series of awareness-creation workshops on the issue of National Dialogue.

This comes following the signing of an agreement recently between the Ethiopian Civil Society Organizations Council, the Ethiopian Political Parties Joint Council, and the Ministry of Peace in a bid to support the national dialogue process.

In his opening remark, Executive Director of the Ethiopian Civil Society Organizations Council (ECSOC), Henok Melesse said, "In a bid to support the National Dialogue Process, with particular attention of enhancing CSOs’ understanding around the issue by organizing various awareness creation platforms. We believe that a basic understanding has been created on the importance, timeliness, opportunities and challenges, as well as other basic issues of national dialogue.”

In his remarks, Deputy Chairperson of the Ethiopian Political Parties Joint Council Dr. Abdelkedir Adem underscored “supporting the National Dialogue process is in the best interest of the nation particularly now more than ever where peacebuilding is essential. I call upon all political parties to work in synergy for the common interest.”

ECSOC, together with its members and partners, is implementing an awareness creation campaign to ensure awareness about the national dialogue process in the civil society sector and other public sectors.

Representing the Ministry of Peace, Asma Redi stated: “the collaboration between the three institutes to support the National Dialogue is commendable and should pave the way for similar collaborations in all parts of the society to support the process and to overcome challenges to achieve sustainable peace in the country.”

Officials and representatives of various civil society organizations, government bodies, representatives of partner organizations and invited guests were present at the establishment of the joint conference.

"It is believed that the most important thing our country wants is the establishment of sustainable peace. It is believed that the operation of development and democracy requires the cooperation of all citizens and development partners," said the Director General of the Council of Ethiopian Civil Society Organizations, Ato Henok.

The main objective of the joint conference is to strengthen the relationship and cooperation between the government bodies and civil society organizations and to identify the strong and weak points of the civil society sector and facilitate the conditions for working closely together.

"Civil society organizations, development partners and the government have been working hard for several years to make our country a place of lasting peace, inclusive development, good governance, and human rights without being violated, and it is true that encouraging results have been achieved without any effort," he said.

Jima Dilbo, Director General of the Civil Society Organizations Authority, on his part, said, "Recognizing the national benefits that the joint conference can bring, I respectfully request all the officials of federal government institutions and leaders of civil society organizations to contribute to the effectiveness of the forum."

Representatives of Civil Society Organizations that made a working visit to Mekelle, Tigray at the beginning of this week have pledged to do their level best in ensuring that urgent Humanitarian needs are addressed. The working visit was organized by the Ethiopian Civil Society Organizations Council (ECSOC) in collaboration with the Alliance of Civil Society Organizations of Tigray (ACSOT).

In a follow-up meeting to the visit to Mekelle, on Friday January 27, 2023, CSOs deliberated on their observation on the ground as well as the way forward in relation to providing humanitarian, psychological, and socio-economic support in the region.

The civil society organizations have expressed their readiness to make a similar visit to conflict-affected areas of the country and to coordinate the necessary support in the effort to rebuild and rehabilitate.

The CSOs have reached an agreement to set up a joint committee to be led by the Civil Society Organizations - Humanitarian Support and Recovery Team (CSOs-HEART) to coordinate support for Internally Displaced Persons affected by the armed conflict.

Civil Society Organizations in Tigray Region have called for all CSOs to work together to ensure that the recent peace agreement is sustainable and successfully implemented, as well as for urgent humanitarian aid to be delivered to the people who have been affected by the war in the region. This was said at the consultation forum held in Mekelle city, Tigray. This came as ECSOC organized the working visit of about 60 civil society organizations from Addis Abeba to the region to meet and deliberate with their counterparts in Mekelle.

Executive Director of the Council, Henok Melesse, who delivered his message at the consultative meeting, said, "True social transition and relative peace can be ensured by listening to the people and devising problem-solving procedures that take into account the resources and values of the people." The Executive Director added, " The council has been stating on several occasions that if we cannot resolve conflicts and disagreements through civilized discussion, apart from giving the problems a chance to fester, it will also bequeath problems to future generations."

Executive Director of the Alliance of Tigray Civil Society Organizations (ACSOT), Yared Berhe, said, "Even though the civil society sector has not been able to save the people who have suffered greatly due to the result of war, now more than ever, we need to create a comprehensive collaboration of CSOs in all directions to ensure the provision of immediate support to the citizens who have been caught in the crossfire.”

Board Chairman of ACSOT, Tesfaye Gebregziaber said, "There will not be much we can change by talking more about the brokenness of our society. We need to give due attention to reaching and supporting our people in need." The delegation that headed from Addis Ababa to Mekelle also visited the IDP camp where IDPs in the shelter urged for immediate support as they are still faced with dire situations.

The Ethiopian Civil Society Organizations Council (ECSOC) and the Authority for Civil Society Organizations (ACSO) have announced that they have started work to organize the annual National Civil Society Organization Week (CSOs Week - 2023) for the third time.

The theme for this year's CSOs Week is "Active participation of civil society organizations for sustainable peace, human rights protection and building good governance".

Briefing journalists earlier today, the heads of the two institutions said that this year's theme was selected in line with realizing the peace processes that have been started following the existing situation in Ethiopia. The theme also reflects on strengthening the work on human rights protection at various levels as well as strengthening good governance in the sector.

Executive Director of ECSOC, Henok Melesse said, "Among the responsibilities of ECSOC, is ensuring the promotion of the irreplaceable role of Civil Society Organizations in the country, in addition to serving as a voice for the civil society sector,” He added, “One of the objectives of celebrating CSOs Week is to create a platform where the contribution of the sector can be widely known, and to ensure that awareness creation is sufficiently applied."

Director General of the Authority for Civil Society Organizations, Jima Dilbo Denbel for his part underscored, that “Various efforts are being made in order to strengthen the civil society sector. One of these efforts is the annual CSOs Week. This platform is meant to create the opportunity to establish linkage within the sector as well as to ensure networking and introduction among CSOs.”

The third National Civil Society Organizations Week (CSOs Week) is set to be held in May and more than 200 civil society organizations are expected to participate.

Those interested in partaking in the event are can express their interest starting today.