No abstract / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)

In this doctoral thesis I advance a new interpretation of the social and economic history of Ethiopia beginning with the turn of the twentieth century and ending with the third decade of that century. One of my achievements in this study is the careful utilization of property documents in the reconstruction of the modern social history of Ethiopia, more precisely Däbrä Marqos (Gojjam) in northwestern Ethiopia. Besides original use of property documents in my study, I have used new and less conventional genre of sources, viz., courtroom observation, images, biblical references, private documents, and old sayings. Combining these genre of sources and oral data helped me to provide a plausible story and advance a new interpretation of the property system and the socioeconomic and power relations arising from modern Däbrä Marqos (Gojjam). I emphasize the continued relevance of tax appropriation in contemporary Däbrä Marqos (Gojjam). This is to counter an adverse claim to tribute in kind and services as well as the resilience of old practices relating to land use, political power, exploitation, social domination, landholding and violence. All these served as the background to impede changes, in the course of progress of the imperial policy, mostly, between liberation in 1941 and revolution in 1974. As the main argument embedded in my study is that despite the attempt of the imperial state to figure out what the content of land tenure and surplus appropriation in Däbrä Marqos (Gojjam) was like, in actual fact what the effort produced was the people's multiple reaction. New measures relating to property reform which the imperial state tried to codify and fix failed to achieve stability and order, precipitated a revolution leading to the end of the imperial rule with broadly similar historical trajectory to what many scholars viewed on the subject. / History / D. Phil. (History)

No abstract available / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)

Thesis (MPA)--Stellenbosch University, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Misunderstanding of poverty and lack of sound poverty alleviating strategy, among others, are problems of some of the few NGOs existing in Ethiopia. There is a problem of understanding their roles in relation to the State and other stakeholders. The principles they apply in their intervention are other problems. These are the issues that were researched in the PRO PRIDE case study. The legitimacy of PRO PRIDE as a poverty-alleviating programme in view of global and Ethiopian poverty and the consequent policy focuses is justified. The principles of PRO PRIDE - community participation, gender equity, intersectoral collaboration, appropriate technology, focus on prevention, participatory management, cost effectiveness and sustainability of programmes - are sound principles. Reviewing the practices of PRO PRIDE as guided by the aforementioned principles it is understood that the community development principles - human orientation, public participation, empowerment, ownership, release, social learning, adaptiveness and simplicity - are commendably achieved. PRO PRIDE well dealt with understanding poverty and its interwoven nature. Issues such as the deprivation trap that the poor are entangled in; the general explanation of poverty that are given by different authors; vicious cycles of poverty and social, economic and political causes of poverty which are operating at local, national and international levels; and the rural-urban dynamics that work in exacerbating the urban poverty are covered in its socio-economic study. The study of the programme areas shows that they depict a dismal picture as a result of the operation of these poverty dynamics. Regarding the integrated rural-urban poverty alleviation strategy, the State has made favourable policies and itself dwelled on rural poverty due to lack of financial capacity to cover both rural and urban areas. The State's rural focus is accepted to impact on the urban poverty through changing the migration pattern. PRO PRIDE is operating in the urban setting to connect the nexus - the rural-urban strategy. PRO PRIDE is operating with an integrated urban development strategy encompassing income generation, basic education, primary health care, HIV IAIDS prevention and control and environmental sanitation. Through integrating these areas of intervention PRO PRIDE is improving the quality of life, promoting sustainable urban economic growth, creating income and employment generating opportunities, giving people access to resources and opportunities, improving the distribution of income and welfare, and applying sound developmental principles. The functioning of PRO PRIDE is proven to be in a well compliance with the requirement for organisations alike. It is functioning in collaboration and participation with the popular sector - the people themselves and their community leaders. It operates with the agreement of the State bodies such as FRDCB and with other line bureaus such as Health, Education, Environmental Development, and Labour and Social Affairs. It collaborates with donors the major being ActionAid - Ethiopia (AAE). Internal components of PRO PRIDE such as the Board and the staff as well as its organisational development influence its operation. All the programmes and the projects are managed through PRO PRIDE's interaction with its internal and external stakeho lders. PRO PRIDE as an agent of development has played as a catalyst to initiate development, focused on empowerment and using the people's latent potential, materialised capacity building and facilitation. These are basically the requirements that the current NGOs should fulfill, which PRO PRIDE commendably did. The study has indicated that although PRO PRIDE is an organisation of overall success, there are some areas of future focus both by the State and PRO PRIDE. Recommendations are made as to what both parties should do in their future focuses. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Wanopvattings oor armoede en die gebrek aan gesonde strategieë vir die verligting van armoede, onder andere, is swakhede van sommige van die paar bestaande NGO's in Ethiopië. Verder ondervind hulle ook probleme om hulle rol met betrekking tot die Staat en ander deelhouers te verstaan; ook die beginsels wat hulle by intervensie beoefen, is problematies. Hierdie is die kwessies wat deur die PRO PRIDE gevallestudie ondersoek word. Die legitimiteit van PRO PRIDE as 'n armoede-verligtende program, gesien in die lig van die globale en Ethiopiese armoede en die voortspruitende beleidsfokusse, word geregverdig. Die beginsels van PRO PRIDE - gemeenskapsdeelname, geslagsgelykheid, intersektorale samewerking, geskikte tegnologie, fokus op voorkoming, deelnemende bestuur, koste-effektiwiteit en die volhoubaarheid van programme - is gesonde beginsels. Oorweging van die praktyke van PRO PRIDE aan die hand van voorgenoemde beginsels toon dat die beginsels van gemeenskapsontwikkeling - menslike oriëntasie, openbare deelname, bemagtiging, eienaarskap, bevryding, sosiale leer, aanpasbaarheid en eenvoudigheid - noemenswaardig verwesenlik is. PRO PRIDE het goed daarin geslaag om armoede en die verweefde aard daarvan te verstaan. Kwessies soos die ontberingsvalstrik waarin die armes vasgevang is; die algemene verklarings vir armoede deur verskillende skrywers; die bose kringloop van armoede en die sosiale, ekonomiese en politieke oorsake van armoede, aangetref op plaaslike, nasionale en internasionale vlakke; asook die landelik-stedelike dinamika wat meewerk tot die verergering van stedelike armoede word gedek in die sosio-ekonomiese studie. Die bestudering van die programareas verbeeld 'n droewige prentjie te wyte aan die operering van hierdie armoede- dinamiek. Betreffende die geïntegreerde landelik-stedelike armoede-verligtingstrategie, het die Staat gunstige beleide gemaak en oorheersend gefokus op landelike armoede vanweë 'n gebrek aan finansiële kapasiteit vir die aanspreking van die probleem in beide landelike en stedelike gebiede. Die Staat se landelike fokus is aanneemlik gevind vir die impak wat dit op stedelike armoede kon hê deur verandering van die migrasiepatroon. PRO PRIDE opereer vanuit 'n stedelike omgewing om die verbinding, landelik-stedelike strategie, te bewerkstellig. Dit opereer binne 'n geïntegreerde stedelike ontwikkelingstrategie behelsende inkomstegenerering, basiese opvoeding, primêre gesondheidsorg, VIGS-voorkoming en -beheer, asook omgewingsanitasie. Deur integrering van hierdie tussenkomsgebiede verbeter PRO PRIDE lewenskwaliteit, bevorder dit volhoubare stedelike ekonomiese groei, genereer dit inkomste- en indiensnemingsgeleenthede, maak dit hulpbronne en geleenthede toeganklik vir mense, verbeter dit die distribusie van inkomste en welvaart en pas dit gesonde ontwikkelingsbeginsels toe. Die funksionering van PRO PRIDE is bewys te voldoen aan die vereistes gestel vir ooreenstemmende organisasies. Dit funksioneer met die samewerking en deelname van die volksektor - die mense en hulle gemeenskapsleiers. Dit opereer met die instemming van Staatsorgane soos FRDCB en ander lynstaatsinstansies soos dié van Gesondheid, Opvoeding, Omgewingsontwikkeling en Arbeid en Sosiale Aangeleenthede. PRO PRIDE werk ook saam met donateurs van wie die vernaamste ActionAid-Ethiopië (AAE) is. Interne komponente soos die Raad en personeel, asook die organisatoriese ontwikkeling van PRO PRIDE beïnvloed die operering daarvan. Alle programme en projekte word bestuur deur PRO PRIDE se interaksie met sy interne en eksterne deelhouers. PRO PRIDE as 'n ontwikkelingsagent het as 'n katalisator opgetree om ontwikkeling te inisieer, het gefokus op bemagtiging en gebruik van die mense se latente potensiaal en het kapasiteitsbou en fasilitering bewerkstellig. Hierdie basiese vereistes waaraan NGO's behoort te voldoen is noemenswaardig deur PRO PRIDE gerealiseer. Die studie het getoon dat hoewel PRO PRIDE in die geheel geslaag het as organisasie, daar tog sommige gebiede is wat toekomstige aandag van beide die Staat en PRO PRIDE verdien. Aanbevelings word gemaak oor wat beide partye in hul toekomstige fokus behoort te onderneem.

Region 5 is one of the most impoverished and insecure regions of Ethiopia. For decades, the region has suffered from a multitude of armed conflicts involving state and non-state actors. Region 5 is also one of the most underserved states of Ethiopia with some of the lowest levels of human development indicators nationwide. Although the adversities of poverty and conflict are widely acknowledged in their own respect, there has been little or no inquest into why poverty and conflict have prevailed under the same space for decades. Poverty and conflict have often been seen as separate phenomena that are dealt with using different sets of theories and practices in the real world. Nonetheless, a closer look at poverty and conflict in Region 5 reveals that both are strongly connected to each other. The poverty-conflict trap has been an on-going cycle in the region for the last five decades. The main intent of this research paper is analyzing the two-way relationship between poverty and conflict in Region 5. By studying this relationship, this analysis seeks to contribute to a new framework that brings peacebuilding and development closer.

With an increasing rate of urbanisation in East Africa, and with the highest prevalence rate of undernourished population than any region in the developing world, the issue of food access insecurity in urban areas has received considerable attention. While there are noticeable differences between big, medium- and small-sized towns, the variation in the household’s response to food access insecurity across urban hierarchies remains largely unexplored. This study aimed to investigate the social, economic and demographic factors in coping with food access insecurity among households in urban slum areas of Ethiopia. The study used both secondary and primary data sources. The national surveys of household consumption and expenditure survey and welfare monitoring surveys of 2004/5, 2010/11, and 2015/16 was used to analyse the food security situation in Ethiopia across time and urban hierarchies. Primary data of 500 households and three focus group discussions were conducted from slum areas of Addis Ababa, Hawassa, and Sheki representing a big city, medium- and small-sized town, respectively. The household survey data were subjected to descriptive statistical analysis and a standard regression model to investigate the relationship between factors such as household structure and composition, economic resources, social protection programmes and projects, and urban-rural linkages with coping with food access insecurity across urban hierarchies. A global model and three site-specific regression models were constructed. Descriptive results from both the primary and the secondary data sources have revealed that the proportion of the households affected by food shortage varies across the urban hierarchy that food insecurity was highest in the small-sized town as compared with the medium-sized town and the big city. The quality of food consumed was consistently low among female-headed households regardless of their socio-economic characteristics when compared with male-headed households. The result of the regression analysis for the global model has shown that economic resources (asset and source of income) predict nearly half of the variability in coping with food access insecurity. Household structure and composition such as gender and education of the head of the household, family structure (nuclear/extended), and the ratio of young children in the household predict a quarter of the variability in coping. Social protection programs and services predict one-tenth; the remaining variability in coping is explained by the combined effect of all the factors involved. The significance of these factors in predicting coping with food access insecurity, however, varies across the urban hierarchies. The contribution of economic factors in predicting coping is the highest at the big city (Addis Ababa); household structure and composition took the leading role in predicting coping at the small-sized town (Sheki); the significant factors in predicting coping at the mediumsized town (Hawassa) was the combined effect of all the factors involved. Household characteristics such as female headship, a higher ratio of young children, low education of the household head, lack of access to the financial loan, asset and income poverty, and weak linkages with kin structure at rural areas increase vulnerability to food insecurity and put households under stress to cope with food access insecurity. The study results show that the traditional urban-rural dichotomy may not suffice to portray the degree of food insecurity, as well as the mechanisms how food insecure households strive to cope with food access insecurity, which varies across the continuum of urban hierarchies. Those who wish to support food insecurity challenges need to be sensitive to the variability of factors in coping with food access insecurity across urban hierarchies. During policy, design and program implementation policymakers and international partners need to consider that the needs and coping mechanisms of urban households vary across urban hierarchies besides the other social, economic and demographic variables. / Development Studies / Ph. D. (Development Studies)

This research explores the perception and practice of participatory communication for development. To this end, the study focuses on a leading local Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) named Organisation for Rehabilitation and Development in Amhara (ORDA), Ethiopia. This qualitative case study was based on the participatory development communication model which has been assumed to bring about sustainable socio-economic change of a country (Melkote & Steeves, 2001; Mefalopulos, 2008; Servaes, 2008). The data were collected using in-depth interviews, Focus Group Discussion (FGD), document analysis and field observation. The collected data were organised and analysed in the form of content and thematic analysis. The results revealed economic oriented and top down approach to development communication as the dominant conceptions, and majority of the research participants perceived the concept ‘participation’ as mere contributions of labour and materials which are not real participation, but co-option. Only a few of the management members of ORDA conceptualized the idea of ‘participation’ as an empowerment process in which the organisation’s official document is also stated. Besides, the results showed no genuine participation of the local community in ORDA’s development process. Generally, these results could lead us to conclude that participatory communication was the missing link in the development process. That is, communication was perceived as a transmission of development information and an image building activity, not a process of empowerment. The major communications practices of ORDA were also best described as one-way top down which could reveal the legacy of modernisation and dependency theories of the development literature. The study further indicated pressing factors such as individual, organisational and environmental related affecting the implementation of ORDA’s participatory development communication. The results of study further indicated that participatory development communication was not used a means of liberation from the chain of poverty, dependency syndrome and other underdevelopment problems which deeply persist in the region. Based on the findings, the study commends the mainstreaming of participatory development communication both at the perceptual and practical level for achieving sustainable development in rural Amhara region, Ethiopia. / D. Litt. et Phil. (Communication) / Communication

Executive summary: last page (unnumbered) / The Sustainable Livelihood framework approach is a comprehensive method for determination of food insecurity and poverty at household level. The objective of this study was to determine the livelihood strategies and the coping mechanisms used by rural households in Abela Lida PA, Shebedino district, Southern Ethiopia. This study used both qualitative and quantitative methods to estimate the contribution of different resources to total food access and cash income, detailing expenditure patterns, asset holdings and capacity to cope with shocks. Simple random sampling was used for selecting 72 households for the survey. The data was collected during the hunger season using the checklists designed for livelihood and coping strategies. The study showed only 30% households had all the adults as working members, due to poor work skill, low awareness and lack of job opportunities. The main sources of income are sale of cash crops mainly coffee (55.6%) followed by sale of cash crops plus livestock (18%), labour (12.5%), PSNP (8.3%). The average annual income for the households was found to be birr 4,727.92 (~$293.34) and agriculture is the main livelihood strategy. Awareness and access to basic social services has improved and escalated price of staple foods, has negatively affected poor households and safety net beneficiaries who rely on purchase. Seasonality has also affected agricultural activities, prices and employment opportunities. The increase in fuel price was found to be the main shock followed by coffee price fluctuations and failure in purchasing power of money. About (63%) households faced shortage of food or money to buy food, medical expenses, cooking fuel and school fees. / Agriculture, Animal Health and Human Ecology / M.A. (Human Ecology)

Executive summary: last page (unnumbered) / The Sustainable Livelihood framework approach is a comprehensive method for determination of food insecurity and poverty at household level. The objective of this study was to determine the livelihood strategies and the coping mechanisms used by rural households in Abela Lida PA, Shebedino district, Southern Ethiopia. This study used both qualitative and quantitative methods to estimate the contribution of different resources to total food access and cash income, detailing expenditure patterns, asset holdings and capacity to cope with shocks. Simple random sampling was used for selecting 72 households for the survey. The data was collected during the hunger season using the checklists designed for livelihood and coping strategies. The study showed only 30% households had all the adults as working members, due to poor work skill, low awareness and lack of job opportunities. The main sources of income are sale of cash crops mainly coffee (55.6%) followed by sale of cash crops plus livestock (18%), labour (12.5%), PSNP (8.3%). The average annual income for the households was found to be birr 4,727.92 (~$293.34) and agriculture is the main livelihood strategy. Awareness and access to basic social services has improved and escalated price of staple foods, has negatively affected poor households and safety net beneficiaries who rely on purchase. Seasonality has also affected agricultural activities, prices and employment opportunities. The increase in fuel price was found to be the main shock followed by coffee price fluctuations and failure in purchasing power of money. About (63%) households faced shortage of food or money to buy food, medical expenses, cooking fuel and school fees. / Agriculture, Animal Health and Human Ecology / M.A. (Human Ecology)

Villagisation and large-scale agricultural investments in Gambella region has been a major concern of human right groups. The Ethiopian government argues that Villagisation program is voluntary and part of Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) which attempts to bring development to indigenous communities and nothing to do with large-scale agricultural investment. On the contrary, human right groups and local civil society organizations claim that the Ethiopian government is forcefully relocating indigenous people from their ancestral land under the disguise of development while the true motive of the government is to expand agricultural investment in the region at the expense of the livelihood of the local communities. This research is an attempt to investigate the controversial Villagisation and large-scale agricultural investment in Gambella regional state by looking into the link between large scale agricultural investment and Villagisation. The main focus of the research is to examine the impacts of agricultural investment and Villagisation in Gambella region the light of the Ethiopian government policy in the region and the alleged development induced human right violations. The research is based on a qualitative method to capture data from 32 Villagisation sites using in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and field observations. For the purpose of this study, 241 participants were selected from the study sites to participate in the research. Out of the 241 participants 75 of them were participated in in-depth interviews and the rest were included in focus group discussions and informal discussions based on the participants’ knowledge, views, experience and feelings associated with Villagisation and large-scale agricultural investment in the region. The findings of this study show no indication of involuntary Villagisation, no significant relationship between Villagisation and investment, or no evidence of previously occupied land being leased to investors. However, the study reveals that there has been serious lack of communication and misinformation from the government side in the process of planning and implementing the Villagisation program. Owing to this, suspicion and lack of trust between government officials and the local communities characterized implementation of the Villagisation project. / Geography / M.A. (Geography)