Magister Artium - MA / Ethiopia is a country well endowed with a number of development related NGOs who have been involved in socio-economic development at national, regional and grassroots level. In a country like Ethiopia, where natural and man-made hazards persist, NGOs play a crucial role in terms of reducing poverty and other human sufferings. As one of the non-governmental organizations, the Ethiopian Kale Heywot Church Development Program (EKHCDP) has played an important role in supporting and encouraging the development aspirations of local communities in the areas of environmental rehabilitation, water and sanitation, agriculture, health, education, credit and saving schemes.The study focused on the Ethiopian Kale Heywot Church community development program in five selected project areas, namely Lambuda, Durame, Shashamane, Debraziet and Nazret. The analysis subsequently examined the nature and extent of community participation in the project planning, implementation and decision-making phases. Thereafter, the study brought into focus general observations gleaned from the investigation and provides recommendation to the EKHC and other stakeholders that have been involved in development activities. Quantitative and qualitative methods of research have been applied throughout the investigation. Accordingly, observation, in depth interviews, focus group discussions and structured and semi-structured questionnaires were used to gather information. The qualitative mode was employed to gather socially dynamic information on issues relating to beneficiaries’ perceptions of processes in order to gain a deeper understanding of the dynamics at play. On the other hand, the quantitative mode was used to test variables related to the research problem. The findings indicate that the Ethiopian Kale Heywot Church development program has played a significant role in terms of community development. Moreover, its development approach is responsive to local needs and able to mobilize local and external resources to support the poor, so that through empowerment and participation they will be released from the deprivation trap that they find themselves in. The study also indicates that the EKHCDP has good linkages and networks with other communities and partners. However, the study indicated that the intensity of community participation in decision-making is still low in certain cases. Meanwhile, the beneficiaries did not show a clear understanding of aspects such as project ownership. Finally, this study recommends that genuine community participation should be maintained because it is the core activity contributing to beneficiary empowerment and grassroots institutional capacity building and an essential ingredient for self-reliance and project sustainability. / South Africa

Available literature showed that the Egyptian diaspora (e.g., emigrants who share a common situations and work for the same cause) has been developing and engaging politically in the United States during the 2011 Egyptian revolution. The diasporas’ role was of interest to researchers and policymakers; however, the literature concerning diasporas has underexamined the Egyptian diaspora regarding its proliferation and active political engagement. Using the conflict and climate theories of Truman, and Cigler and Loomis in conjunction with the political engagement factors theory of Jang as the theoretical foundation of the study, the purpose was to explore how members of the diaspora explain and perceive their political engagement in Washington, DC. In this qualitative study, the key characteristics of diaspora and political and social factors of home and host countries that enable and inhibit that engagement regarding particular issues were addressed through 16 in-depth, face-to-face interviews with Egyptian-Americans. Maxwell and Miller’s doubled-strategy and Yin’s case study steps approach were used for analysis. The findings indicated that the engagement of the diaspora except Coptic and some Islamic groups are passive most of the time because of the political home culture; despite that fact, the diaspora became active for a short time because of the Egyptian revolution. Future research should exam those aspects to better understand the mechanism of building an Egyptian lobby to work continuously and effectively on Egyptian interests in the United States. The diaspora and policymakers may use the study results to help improve the role of this diaspora to impose positive social changes in Egypt and the future political engagement of Egyptian younger generations.

The purpose of this study is to delve into the role of identity, an identity that is constantly in change in an every-changing national context.  In this text I have studied the Armenian community of Ethiopia.  A community that was once very strong and influential, a community that has made a considerable impact on the Ethiopian society over the years. This is a community that takes great pride in themselves, yet, at the same time has integrated into whichever society that they have settled into.  The Ethio-Armenian community has maintained their core identity and at the same time absorbed the host society's customs and cultures.  They are a unique community where most refer to themselves as 100% Armenian and at the same time 100% Ethiopian. This study explores a community that not too many people are aware of in a third world country.

- Morphostructural analysis of Ethiopian Highland based on remote sensing The morphometric analysis of lineaments, valleys and signs of erosion taken from a digital elevation model (DEM) made it possible to not only confirm most of the conclusions of the morphotectonic development of the area from the previously published results of structural, petrological, tectonic and geochronological analyses from the Ethiopian Highlands, but to also to expand our knowledge by applying several new hypotheses. Faults, lineaments and valleys are predominantly oriented in a direction compatible to the published concepts of the tectonic development of the area. Overall, the most abundant NE-SW and NNE-SSW lines reflect a change of extension from a NW-SE to WNW-ESE direction during the Pliocene (~40ř rotation), in relation to the creation and development of the Main Ethiopian Rift. The most pronounced morphological manifestations of the extension of the MER and western Afar during the Quaternary are confined to the borders of the MER, and the maximum SOLR values indicate a very short-lived effect of the stress field on the development of the landscape. The directions of the Pre-Neogene rift structures to the NW-SE and WNW-ESE are compatible with the oldest elements of the current landscape, i.e. the most developed...

Thesis advisor: Hans deWit / Ethiopia has long been affected by the out flow of its educated citizens. In major host countries, like the United States, the Ethiopian diaspora constitutes a considerable number of highly educated professionals, including those who work in academic and research institutions. Meanwhile, the fast-growing Ethiopian higher education severely suffers from lack of highly qualified faculty. In recent years members of the Ethiopian academic diaspora have been engaged in various initiatives towards supporting the emerging Ethiopian higher education. Yet, these initiatives have been fragmented, individually carried out, and challenged by the lack of a systemic approach, among other things. Further, there are only few studies examining diaspora engagement in the Ethiopian context, much less specific to higher education. The purpose of this research is, therefore, to offer deeper insight into the formation and implementation of transnational engagement initiatives by the Ethiopian academic diaspora. The research explores the motivation for and the modalities of engagement, as well as the enabling and challenging factors. This study employs phenomenological approach and Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice as a lens to analyze data from in-depth interviews with 16 Ethiopian diaspora academics in the US. The research departs from previous works by examining the issues from the perspectives of those who have first-hand experience of the phenomenon. Its findings reveal that transnational engagement among academic diaspora is shaped by complex and multi-layer personal, institutional and broader environmental factors, which transcend common considerations in addressing brain drain. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

The dominant habitat-type of Omo National Park (ONP), Ethiopia, is grassland. 111 This grassland supports a variety of wild herbivores and indigenous people; the latter hunt large herbivores for subsistence or graze their domestic livestock in the Park. Therefore, an understanding of grassland dynamics is a high priority for ONP management. Grazing and fire are major factors influencing species composition and vegetation change in East African grasslands . Rainfall regime, in tum, can influence both grassland response to grazing and fire. The ONP grasslands occur along a rainfall gradient ranging from subhumid to semiarid. Research objectives were to: (1) test the Milchunas, Sala, and Lauenroth grazing response model at three sites along the rainfall gradient; (2) determine how basal cover for dominant perennial grasses along the rainfall gradient was influenced by an extended period of intensive defoliation; and (3) determine if current distribution of grassland species associations was related to fire frequency. Species composition changes associated with defoliation were consistent with predictions of the Milchunas, Sala, and Lauenroth model; large changes occurred in subhumid grasslands while minimal changes occurred in semiarid sites . Furthermore, an intermediate response was found at the site that received an intermediate level of rainfall. Basal cover of dominant grasses was not adversely affected by intensive defoliation, and this tolerance was expressed under all three moisture regimes. Significant reductions in basal cover were found, however, in >50% of dominant grasses as a result of protection from grazing and fire . Estimated fire frequency pattern was unrelated to the distribution of species associations within grasslands. Conceptual models of vegetation change were developed for the three grasslands using research results. At the current level of management these models provide information that can be used to improve relations between Park staff and local pastoralists . Given the tolerance of most perennial grasses to intensive defoliation, ONP managers could modify the current policy of no grazing within the Park to one of limited grazing . If management capabilities were to improve, conceptual models could guide an active approach to grassland management.

Worldwide expenditures on international development in the form of assistance or “aid” have continued to increase as developed countries look to both help and influence developing countries. In 2011, more than $140 billion in development aid was distributed globally, more than double the amount expended for international development aid in 2003. Many of the countries that are in need of aid have governments that do not have the resources, the experience, political stability, or well-functioning institutions to effect long-term structural change to bring their people out of poverty. Ethiopia is a country receiving large amounts of development aid, and one of the poorest regions in Ethiopia is the Borana Plateau in the Oromia state. The people are semi-nomadic pastoralists who live off the livestock they raise. Climate change, as well as overgrazing and population growth, has reduced the amount of land available for pasture. Additionally, drought conditions can cause huge livestock losses due to death and the pressure to sell animals during droughts to generate money to buy food. The pastoral system is in constant danger of overstocking and suffering a system crash when drought events occur. Linear programing was used in this study to test various “scenarios” that shed light on how drastically drought and overpopulation impacts livestock numbers and overall livelihoods of the Boran pastoralists. How well livestock survive through droughts determines, in large measure, the need for food aid in the Borana Plateau and, with climate change increasing the frequency of drought events, the system struggles to rebound following droughts. These scenarios examined in this study tested the economic incentive the Boran have to clear land, and what impact clearing land has on livestock numbers, especially during drought years. The analysis also tested how keeping livestock in the system, as a result of drought mitigation strategies such as brush clearing, reduces the need for food aid during droughts and also reduces the rebound time for livestock numbers following a drought. The results determined that brush clearing provided the forage needed to keep cattle alive through a drought at various stocking levels up to and including estimated full capacity. This suggested that brush-clearing activities created an environment where people could return to pre-drought production levels without any rebound time following a drought if enough brush clearing and/or kalo development is undertaken. Kalo(s) serve as forage reserves, created from land cleared of brush and produce much more grass than from brush clearing alone and do it at a lower household cost.

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