Following is an interview with Mrs. Tekea Tesfamicheal, president of the Nationwide Union of Eritrean Girls, on the event of March 8, Worldwide Girls’s Day.

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Let’s begin with this yr’s nationwide theme below which Worldwide Girls’s Day was celebrated?

This yr’s theme, “Eritrean ladies — unwavering to undertake and sweating to domesticate,” was chosen to precise the precise image of Eritreans at the moment and yesterday. Within the 30 years of armed wrestle Eritrean ladies fought not just for political emancipation however full transformation of their society. They performed their important function by taking part within the wrestle for independence. And after Eritrea’s independence, they turned key drivers within the nation’s pursuit of inclusive nationwide improvement and socio- financial progress. The “Warsay” (the younger technology), of their flip, preserved the sovereignty of the nation and are taking part within the improvement applications, together with greening campaigns.

Why do Eritrean ladies commemorate March 8 with nice dignity?

We all the time have fun it with nice dignity as a result of it’s a very big day. We attempt to make it as vibrant as doable to point out its goal and worth to the following technology. We use it as an event to mirror on the contributions of our martyrs and to set our future methods. The empowerment of Eritrean ladies is the results of large sacrifice, and that is why March 8 is price celebrating with dignity.

What sort of actions do you manage on March 8?

The NUEW organizes seminars and takes initiatives to empower marginalized segments of the society by giving loans below a micro-credit scheme and to help households of martyrs. Though March 8 is commemorated at a nationwide stage in Asmara, it’s celebrated in any respect ranges, together with areas, sub-zones and villages.

Please, give us highlights of NUEW’s achievements?

Eritrea ratified and signed the Conference on the Elimination of all Types of Discrimination In opposition to Girls in 1995, and it has established nationwide legal guidelines and agency enforcement measures to assist defend ladies from dangerous practices resembling Feminine Genital Mutilation (FGM) and underage marriage. The NUEW implements gender equality applications and initiatives to empower younger women and girls. We labored arduous to assist make fundamental training accessible, and, in consequence, the substantial disparities in enrolment and literacy improved significantly. The nationwide labour and land reform proclamation offers authorized safety for girls in work locations and assure to inherit and use land.

Yearly we study and set our priorities and interact in improvement applications. A great instance of our current actions is the efforts we now have made to deliver collectively exemplary feminine farmers. They’re organized in to teams the place they will help each other and work with our companions to offer them help to be efficient at their farms and to have a marketplace for their merchandise. NUEW additionally offers coaching to ladies in all six areas by bearing in mind their age, functionality and occupation. The coaching helps ladies to concentrate on their potential and to make aware effort to develop.

How in regards to the rehabilitation program?

It’s a essential a part of our technique. We determine needy ladies who’re heads of households and martyrs’ households and assist them financially and materially. This allows them to handle their households’ wants, significantly that of kids. We even have micro credit score and interim poverty discount applications.

What have you ever completed to make sure gender equality?

The federal government’s coverage helps equal participation of ladies in all facets of life. We give attention to training as a result of we consider that ladies should be educated with a purpose to remodel the society. Lots has been achieved in making colleges accessible though colleges aren’t but evenly distributed in all of the areas.

One of many huge challenges that has been stopping ladies from persevering with their training prior to now has been underage marriage. So, we manage campaigns to result in behavioural change within the society. We additionally endeavour to make sure that ladies aren’t discriminated primarily based on their gender and are given equal alternatives as males by way of employment and the financial sector as an entire.

What do you consider FGM?

FGM is against the law and a violation of ladies’s rights. At this time, it’s seen as a taboo by an enormous variety of our individuals, however this does not imply we now have completely eradicated its follow. That is why we nonetheless must make efforts to extend consciousness of the society about its dangerous results.

The NUEW has constructed many coaching centres. What’s their most important goal?

Their most important goal is to equip ladies with expertise and know-how in order that they’ll earn a residing and turn into productive residents.

One of many greatest tasks that we now have invested on is the constructing of coaching centres. The NUEW is an enormous group with membership at residence and amongst Eritrean communities within the diaspora. We have reached an settlement with our members within the diaspora in order that they might assist in constructing coaching centres. Consequently, coaching centres have been in-built Barentu, Adikeih, Tesenay, Massawa, Senafe, keren, Tio, and Haikota.

Inform us in regards to the NUEW initiated greening marketing campaign?

Greening tasks have been carried out in Maekel, Southern, Anseba and Gash Barka areas, and thus far about 30 thousand bushes have been planted in Serejeka and Galanefhi subzones, Maekel area. The primary goal of the greening marketing campaign is for soil conservation and to advertise the manufacturing of honey by creating an acceptable surroundings for bees.

What do you consider the proclamation that protects the rights of ladies?

In Eritrea, ladies’s rights are protected by regulation, which helps them in opposition to discrimination in all facets of life, politically, legally or socially. This proclamation is our most important drive for equality.

Every other remarks you wish to make …

I want all Eritrean ladies a contented Worldwide Girls’s Day. We’re right here as an impartial nation due to our noble tradition that we have developed all through our existence as a society. This tradition is the tradition of sacrifice, resilience and self-reliance, and this noble tradition should be embraced by the younger technology. On Worldwide Girls’s Day let’s renew our pledge as ladies to develop our nation and safeguard ladies’s rights.