United Nations Association (UNA) is non-governmental bodies that exist in various countries to enhance the relationship between the people of member states and the United Nations. To raise public awareness of the United Nations, its work and the general goals of the United Nations which includes but not limited to the implementation of sustainable development goals, peace, security, disarmament, human rights, humanitarian affairs, and eradicating poverty and hunger. 

There are currently over 100 United Nations Associations (UNAs) around the world that provide the link between the citizens of the world and the United Nations by seeking to ensure that the United Nations is relevant to the lives of the people it exists to serve.

Similarly, the United Nations Association Ethiopia (UNA-ET) endeavors to inform, inspire and engage all Ethiopian regarding the work, goals, and values of the United Nations to create a safer, fairer and more sustainable world. UNA-ET strives to inform the Ethiopian public in an impartial and critical manner, objectives, institutions and activities of the United Nations. It intends to increase interest in and raise awareness for current events in foreign and development policy, cultural and world economic policy as well as international relations and developments in general. 

Accordingly, the UNA-ET National Council has been officially launched, a team composed of government officials, UN agencies staff, project managers, economists, university students working together to launch the United Nations Association of Ethiopia (UNA-ET). Ethiopia, as one of the United Nations founding members and host to the world’s largest UN systems, Ethiopia should have established UNA a long time ago.

The UNA-ET National Council is a voluntary dedicated group to establish UNA-Ethiopia at the national level and work to make Ethiopia join the global network of UNAs. The UNA-ET national council has three committees: National committee, Diaspora committee, and Chapters committee. UNA-ET is now able to obtain the legal certificate from the Ethiopian government confirming that UNA-ET is officially established legally.

Samuel Fekade
UNA-ET Director