Policy In Ethiopia Research Articles

Connecting Green Economy goals with innovation policy in Ethiopia

Ethiopia aims to achieve middle-income status by 2025. When following the conventional development path, high growth rates would result in a sharp increase in greenhouse gas emissions and unsustainable use of natural resources. To avoid such negative effects, Ethiopia committed to put its growth model on a more climate friendly and sustainable basis.

The Political Economy of Agricultural Extension Policy in Ethiopia: Economic Growth and Political Control

This article argues that, in Ethiopia, the aim to transform the performance of smallholder agricultural production is driven by the twin imperatives of economic growth and political control. The agricultural extension programme – the largest and fastest growing in the continent – has been central to this strategy, and the unparalleled investment in the extension system has been driven by these twin imperatives. However, there are tensions between the objectives of stimulating agricultural growth, on the one hand, and extensively penetrating society and winning elections, on the other, and these may reduce the returns to this investment. Implications are drawn for wider debates on the reform of agricultural extension.

Ethiopian state support to insurgency in Southern Sudan from 1962 to 1983: local, regional and global connections

During the 1960s and 1970s, the Government of Ethiopia supplied Southern Sudanese insurgents with arms, training and political support. This support has been explained as retribution for Sudanese aid to Eritrean rebels fighting against the regimes of Emperor Haile Salassie and the Derg. This is one aspect of the Ethiopian rationale for this proxy war, but other factors were also relevant. Based on primary sources from the Ethiopian Ministry of Defence and the Nation Archive of Great Britain, this article shows that Ethiopian policy was also influenced by local concern for state control in Ethiopia's Western region of Gambella, by the regional interests of Middle Eastern powers in the Horn of Africa and by the global context of Cold War, reflecting a network of multi-level proxy wars.

Policy and demographic factors shape deforestation patterns and socio-ecological processes in southwest Ethiopian coffee agroecosystems

Land-use change, a major driver of biodiversity loss and ecosystem service degradation, is caused by intertwined local and regional forces that shape human-environment interactions. In order to understand the interacting effects of local processes and national policies on landscape changes, we studied two districts of contrasting demographic and land-management histories in southwest Ethiopia. Our main objectives were to understand the extent of forest cover changes through time, and to explore how deforestation rates correlate with (a) local changes in settlement, demographic conditions, and livelihood practices, and (b) broader changes in land-tenure and agricultural development policies in Ethiopia. We found that: (a) over 36% of the forests were lost since 1973, (b) deforestation rates varied through time due to changes in land-tenure and agricultural development policies, and (c) rates also varied between the two districts with higher rates in Yeki that correlated with demographic pressure from resettlement and agricultural expansion, and lower rates in Decha associated with lower population pressure and in response to forest conservation practices and higher non-timber forest benefits to local communities. The interactions in agricultural policy, land-tenure, demographic dynamics, and conservation policies with forest stability or decline suggested by this study shows the importance of carefully considering the undesirable effects of resettlement and agricultural development policies and the need to support community forest conservation that also benefits local people.

Effectiveness of an improved road safety policy in Ethiopia: an interrupted time series study.

BackgroundIn recent years, there has been an increasing interest in implementing road safety policy by different low income countries. However; the evidence is scarce on its success in the reduction of crashes, injuries and deaths. This study was conducted to assess whether road crashes, injuries and fatalities was reduced following the road safety regulation introduced as of September 2007 by Oromia Regional State Transport Bureau.MethodsRoutine road traffic accident data for the year 2002-2011were collected from sixteen traffic police offices. Data on average daily vehicle flow was obtained from the Ethiopian Road Authority. Interrupted time series design using segmented linear regression model was applied to estimate the effect of an improved road safety policy.ResultsA total of 4,053 crashes occurred on Addis Ababa - Adama/Hawassa main road. Of these crashes, almost half 46.4% (1,880) were property damage, 29.4% (1,193) were fatal and 24.2% (980) injury crashes, resulting 1,392 fatalities and 1,749 injuries. There were statistically significant reductions in non-injury crashes and deaths. Non-injury crash was reduced by 19% and fatality by 12.4% in the first year of implementing the revised transport safety regulation.ConclusionAlthough revised road safety policy helped in reducing motor vehicle crashes and associated fatalities, the overall incidence rate is still very high. Further action is required to avoid unnecessary loss of lives.

A Modified Actor-Power-Accountability Framework (MAPAF) for analyzing decentralized forest governance: Case study from Ethiopia

This paper posits a Modified Actor-Power-Accountability Framework (MAPAF) that makes three major improvements on the Actor-Power-Accountability Framework (APAF) developed by Agrawal and Ribot (1999). These improvements emphasize the nature of decentralized property rights, linking the outputs of decentralization with its outcomes and the inclusion of contextual factors. Applying MAPAF to analyze outputs and outcomes from two major decentralized forest policies in Ethiopia, i.e., delegation and devolution, has demonstrated the following strengths of the framework. First, by incorporating vital bundles of property rights into APAF, MAPAF creates a common ground for exploring and comparing the extent of democratization achieved by different decentralizing reforms. Second, the inclusion of social and environmental outcomes in MAPAF makes it possible to link the output of decentralization with local level outcomes. Finally, the addition of contextual factors enhances MAPAF's explanatory power by providing room for investigating exogenous factors other than democratization that contribute to the outcomes of decentralization reforms.

Having fewer children makes it possible to educate them all: an ethnographic study of fertility decline in north-western Tigray, Ethiopia

Education is presumed to play a decisive role in decreasing fertility rates. This article is about the role of education and other factors in fertility decline in the context of current Ethiopian policies on population and sustainable development, based on an ethnographic study of women’s agency and girls’ pursuit of education in one semi-urban and one rural area in north-western Tigray, in northern Ethiopia. Long-term environmental insecurity and scarcity of arable land for the younger generation in this area serve as important background. Another central issue in the study was the religious conditioning of women’s choices, which stood out most clearly in the case of contraceptive use. The research consisted of in-depth, semi-structured interviews in 2008 with 25 purposively selected women from three generations, based on their life histories, linked with participatory observation and extended informal dialogue with women at different points during 2008–12. A smaller household survey with 170 women and a task-based, education survey with 200 female and male students were also conducted in 2009. In those cases where women’s contestations of the authority of the Orthodox Christian priests concurred with current Ethiopian policies on fertility decline, this was based on what women defined as their own authority in reproductive matters linked with flexible adaptation to their life-situations.

Ethiopia's Food Reserve Policies and Practice

Ethiopia has for a long time been one of the world’s most food-insecure countries. Efforts by the government and a multitude of sponsors including NGOs have developed an array of institutions and instruments to mitigate the negative impact of production and supply disruptions. Public stockpiles are one such tool, the use of which is rapidly increasing worldwide. This brief field study examines the Ethiopian policies and practice in context, including various instruments operated by farmers, processors and traders. The study finds that the multiple objectives assigned to food reserves as well as the present management structure may not be well-suited at a time of high world market prices and when international food aid is dwindling, and as the international regulatory trade and investment environment remains a matter of unfinished business from a global food security perspective. A comprehensive study of various options for improvements would lay out policy alternatives for public authorities and stakeholders.

AMANDA KAY MCVETY. Enlightened Aid: U.S. Development as Foreign Policy in Ethiopia.

AMANDA KAY MCVETY. Enlightened Aid: U.S. Development as Foreign Policy in Ethiopia.

Dilemmas of Urban Development: A Survey of Addis Ababa City Residents’ Opinion on Urban Agriculture

Urbanization has historically pushed all forms of agriculture out of the city into the rural areas, considering it is too dirty for the wealth and glory of the city. This study investigated the status of the urban agricultural practices in Addis Ababa. Despite the significant role, urban agriculture could play in household food security, income and job opportunity and general poverty reduction; this activity is facing challenges due to rapid urbanization that is bringing highly competing land use demands. Urban agriculture, however, is a hazard in the development of Addis Ababa City. Urban agriculture contradicts the policy of modernizing African cities. It is associated with the theory of peasant cities thus painting a picture of permanent poverty in the Third World Countries’ cities. This descriptive survey research utilized a sample of thirty-one respondents. The general objective was to identify the major challenges and opportunities of urban agriculture in urban development. There is no clearly stated urban agriculture policy in Ethiopia. This study portrays the contradictions between urban agriculture development, competition for land and the need for developing modern cities in Africa. Critical theory alleges that urban agriculture is an outcome of a class struggle. It is a conflict brought about by the structuring of Ethiopian society. Urban agriculture activities are a direct result of poverty from shortage of income and rampant unemployment in the urban centers. Urban legislation like urban by-laws if clearly designed is useful for monitoring and controlling this activity.

Historical development of forest policy in Ethiopia: Trends of institutionalization and deinstitutionalization

The aim of this paper is to analyse and explain the historical development of forest policy in Ethiopia from post-World War II era up to present. The analysis was conducted by tracing competing ideas, interests, institutions, and power configurations over a period of time. A qualitative historical analysis method was employed to collect and interpret data along the analytical dimensions of the so-called Policy Arrangement Approach (discourse coalitions, rules, resources and power). The development of forest policy in Ethiopia exhibits a dynamic process of institutionalization and deinstitutionalization. The institutionalization and deinstitutionalization process was co-shaped by a complex interplay of structural factors such as national political orientation and economic priorities, environmental calamities; and the dynamics in the global forest related discourses. Forestry was, most of the times, marginalized or integrated into the dominant agricultural development paradigm, where the integration also failed to maximize the synergy between the two sectors. The findings indeed confirm the usefulness of Policy Arrangement Approach to understand and explain such nuanced and dynamic process of (policy) change and continuity.

‘A Last Resort and Often Not an Option at All’: Farming and Young People in Ethiopia

Development policies in Ethiopia emphasise agriculture as the pathway to industrialisation. Policies allude to the need for a new generation of young, literate and trained farmers to transform the agricultural sector and bring about the required growth in agricultural output. The success of this strategy largely depends on the willingness of the new generation of literate rural youth to take up agriculture as a potentially rewarding livelihood. This article investigates, based on fieldwork conducted in two rural kebeles of Ethiopia, whether young rural people have this willingness to take up agriculture. It examines the factors that contribute to both the desirability (and undesirability) of agriculture as a future livelihood. Findings revealed that very few young people and their parents were considering farming as a possible option for a future livelihood. For others, farming/agriculture might be a last resort.

Modeling Volatility of Price of Some Selected Agricultural Products in Ethiopia: Arima-Garch Applications

Currently change of price in agricultural products is a global problem. Agricultural products market policies in Ethiopia have undergone dramatic changes over the past several years, the desirable outcome of any policy measure or other system of intervention to prevent the markets from going into market price volatility, however, remained very unsatisfactory. The main objective of this study is to fit an appropriate model that best describes the log-returns price volatility of agricultural products under consideration. The appropriate methodology in this research, a time series econometric model, for capturing behavior of financial time series data price returns and volatility having changing variance is the ARCH and GARCH models. Hence ARCH/GARCH models were employed to capture the log-return price volatility under the study. It’s observed that GARCH( 1,1), GARCH( 1,2 ) and GARCH(2,1 ) models are the most appropriate fitted models to use one has to evaluate the volatility of the log-returns of price of Cereal, pulse and oil crops respectively. Prices volatility is persistent in all three categories of selected agricultural crops.

Enlightened aid: U.S. development as foreign policy in Ethiopia

Enlightened aid: U.S. development as foreign policy in Ethiopia

Evaluating the downstream implications of planned water resource development in the Ethiopian portion of the Blue Nile River

Ethiopia's policy of large dam construction in the Blue Nile River basin is evaluated by simulating the impact of one downscaled midrange climate change scenario (A1B) on the performance of existing and planned irrigation and hydropower schemes. The simulation finds that by 2100: 1) average basin-wide irrigation demand will increase; 2) annual hydroelectricity generation will be just 60% of potential; and 3) flow at the Ethiopia-Sudan border will be reduced from 1661 m3/s to 1301 m3/s as a consequence of climate change in combination with upstream water resource development. Adaptation to climate change and development must be considered together.

Land Politics in the Ethiopian-Eritrean Border Area between Emperor Yoḥannǝs IV and Mǝnilǝk II

The complex issue of the land tenure system in 19th and 20th century Ethiopia–Eritrea has a tridimensional aspect that constitutes the basis of my reflection here: the native conception of land, the imperial Ethiopian policy and the colonial intervention. A correct evaluation of this interrelation can be properly understood by focusing on a corpus of integrated sources related to local written documentation, oral records and colonial reports. The control of the northern border by Emperors Yoḥannǝs and Mǝnilǝk created various historical problems and a debate focusing on independence and the maintenance of a political autonomy of the Märäb Mǝllaš. Land tenure system is the key factor for understanding the dynamic of power relations in the area at the eve of colonial rule.

Technical Vocational Education and Training for Micro-Enterprise Development in Ethiopia

Technical vocational education and training (TVET) programmes have recently received increased attention as an area of priority for stimulating growth in developed and developing countries. This paper considers the situation in Ethiopia where the promotion of micro and small-sized enterprises (MSEs) has been central to the development and expansion of TVET centres throughout the country. The extent to which efforts relating to TVET made by Ethiopian policy makers, higher education institutions and MSEs have enhanced the development of the micro-enterprise sector is considered, using empirical evidence gathered from nine Ethiopian cities. It is argued that the existing relationship between TVET and micro-enterprise cannot be regarded only as one of constrained capacity, usage and transformation. The authors argue further that the development of micro and small-sized enterprises requires approaches extending beyond the simple expansion and development of TVET institutions.

From food aid to food security: the case of the Safety Net policy in Ethiopia

ABSTRACTEthiopia's Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) is an attempt to bring food security to 5 million people by providing them with social security to close the yearly hunger gap, coupled with development projects to lift them permanently out of poverty. The programme is an example of the new policy arrangements that aim to link relief to social security and development. This paper analyses the early implementation of the PSNP in two villages of the Amhara Region. The paper shows how the programme was in practice interpreted and used by local authorities to realise a related programme of voluntary resettlement, and how this locally changed the objective from helping the most vulnerable people, to reserving the benefits of the programme for the more affluent and economically potent households. It shows how local responses to food security policies were informed by institutional patterns, discourses about food insecurity and the articulation of policy with adjacent or past policy practices.

CONFRONTING A CHRISTIAN NEIGHBOR: SUDANESE REPRESENTATIONS OF ETHIOPIA IN THE EARLY MAHDIST PERIOD, 1885–89

This article deals with the Sudanese–Ethiopian conflict (1885–89) from a Mahdist perspective, in the wider context of the European scramble for Africa. Focusing on Sudanese representations of Ethiopia as well as on the causes underlying the conflict, I confront a Mahdist chronicle of particular historiographical significance with a range of historical sources. Departing from a purely jihadist framework of analysis, I highlight various Mahdist conceptualizations of Christian Ethiopia as well as historical, political, military, and economic processes conducive to the outbreak of an armed confrontation between the two independent African states. I argue that the Sudanese ruling elite resorted to jihadist discourse as a legitimizing device rather than as an inflexible policy and examine more specific rhetoric instruments meant to justify Mahdist attitudes toward the Christian kingdom. Whereas prophetic visions were used to make the khalifa's Ethiopian policy acceptable to Mahdist eyes, the ambivalent legacy of early Muslim–Aksumite contacts was reactivated in the framework of a dialogue with the Ethiopian enemy.

Heterogeneous Risk Preferences, Discount Rates and Land Contract Choice in Ethiopia

AbstractThis paper analyses the role of risk and rate of time preference in the choice of land contracts. The analysis builds on the risk‐sharing and imperfect market explanations of contract choice. Unique data from Ethiopia, which contain land contract information and experimental risk and rate of time preference measures on matched landlord–tenant partners, are employed in the empirical analysis. The results show that landlord and tenant time preferences are significant determinants of contract choice. For landlords (but not tenants), risk preference is also significant, indicating the importance of financial constraints and production risk in the determination of contract choice. The results are of particular relevance to land market policy in Ethiopia, where production is risk‐prone, financial markets are imperfect, and where there is a major need for the development of vibrant land rental markets.