The Impact of Urban Poverty on Child Labor: The Case of Arba Minch Town, Southern Ethiopia

Although urban child labor is a considerable issue, it has attracted little attention in previous studies. As a result, child labor in most of the medium and small towns remains unstudied. In addition, the previous literature suggests that the impact of poverty on child labor are largely country specific, indicating that any policies aimed at reducing child labor must look carefully at country specific characteristics that expose children to work.  This study is conducted in one of unstudied areas, Arba Minch town, and its main objective is to examine the impact of urban poverty on child’s school participation in the study area. This research adds to the empirical work on child labor by investigating what household, parental and children characteristics are most common among working children in the study area, using primary data collected from selected kebeles of the town via structured questionnaire, and analyzed with the use of both descriptive and econometric tools of analysis. The multinomial logit model was employed with child activity as the dependent variable, where the four possible outcomes are working-only, schooling-only, combination of work and schooling, and leisure time. The finding show that poverty (proxied by  family per capita income) has a slightly weaker negative impact on the likelihood of a child works full time relative to schooling-only category, as do the engagement of  household head on stable income generating economic sectors. Being son or daughter to the household head has a significantly positive effect on the probability of a child participating in schooling-only category. In addition, the findings show that incidence of child labor versus schooling depends on (among other factors) age, gender, and education level of a child; household size, ownership of tap water directly in the house and home ownership; age, gender, and educational level of the household head; presence of elderly person and infants in the household.  From policy perspective, measures directed at expanding stable income generating employment opportunities and house ownership for the poor are of immense importance in reducing child labor. In addition, family planning, mainly concerned with the spacing and timing of births, and strategies that enhances old age welfare benefit may have an important role to tackle child labor in the town. Keywords: Arba Minch, child labor, income and asset poverty, multinomial logit mode

DEVELOPING THE FUTURE COMMUNITY-BASED TOURISM AT SOF-UMAR CAVE AND ITS ENVIRONS: UNCOVERING CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Objective: The main aim of this study is to investigate the possible challenges and prospects in developing the future community-oriented tourism at Sof-Umar cave and its environs after examining the contemporary benefits of traditional tourism to the local community.                                                   Methodology: The paper opted for a household survey method employing a mixed research approach. The questionnaire, interview and field observation were used as data gathering instruments whereas samples were systematically selected from Sof-Umar kebele. Descriptive and inferential statistics used to analyze the quantitative data. Findings: The findings showed that the study area has enabling factors for the future-proof of tourism to be community-focused despite the challenges that are most commonly experienced in other parts of the country where this type of tourism has been virtually established. Research limitations/implication: Because of the confinement of the objective to the possibility of making the future tourism community-focused, the study does not happen to show the contextual procedure for the development of this niche tourism. Thus, it’s recommended that a straightforward implementation guideline has to be prepared well in advance. Originality/value: This study gives stakeholders fascinating insights into the problems related to the conventional tourism and the need to make the future tourism a community-focused so as to maximize the benefits of the sector and resolve the contemporary conflict

Determinants of Internal Audit Effectiveness (IAE) in the Ethiopian Public Enterprise, Case of Southern Region

Due to political, technological and economic changes in the last decades resulted in the rise of business risks, the economic instability and the important increase of financial fraud scandals have necessitated the use of internal audit for companies (Bekiaris et al., 2013; Vinary and Skaerbaek; 2014; Tsipouridou and Spathis, 2014; Gbadago, 2015). Therefore, it is of great importance to identify the factors affecting internal audit in order to be effective. Previous studies have used different approaches to investigate internal audit effectiveness, as effective internal audit is influenced by series of factors. Moreover, factors and measurement of internal audit effectiveness have been used differently by the researchers (Arena and Azzone, 2009) and until now, there is no consensus regarding the most appropriate framework for internal audit effectiveness (Endaya and Hanefah, 2013). Thus, effectiveness of internal audit is a dynamic process and a matter of considerable debate.Public sector offices are part of the public body which is partly or wholly financed by government budget and concerned with providing basic government services to the whole society (Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED, 2004). The compositions of the public sectors are varied by their function and purposes, but in most cases, they are designed in order to enable the public sectors to achieve their goals. The public sector provides services such as banking service, financing, education, communication service, healthcare, police, transportation, electric services, security and so on, which benefit all of the society and encourage equal opportunity to benefit from those services provided (Mihret and Yismaw, 2007). This research was focused on the determinants of Internal Audit Effectiveness in SNNPR Public sector office found in Hawasa mainly regional government offices. Mostly, the efficiency and effectiveness of the management operations in public sector are ensured by the effectiveness of its employees. Internal audit which are the focus of this study and also the key employee of public offices, are expected to work independently and objectively to enhance high quality of public services, achieve good internal control system, avoid corruption, ensure good corporate governance system, promote accountability and greater transparency (Coram et al, 2008; Van Peursem 2005; Belay, 2007). DOI: 10.7176/JRDM/52-02

Financial Liberalization Policy at Micro Perspective, The Case of Banking Sector in Ethiopia: Literature Review

International institutions like World Bank (WB) and international monetary fund (IMF) are preached countries to adopt structural adjustment program around 1990.  Financial liberalization is one of among the key pillars of structural adjustment program with its own principles. Even though liberalization is with some costs due to IMF and WB followed conditionality approach for every nations especially for developing countries, all nations are adopting it. The basic themes behind the liberalization program are openness, privatization of government owned enterprises / properties, deregulation, reducing or eliminating tariffs and tax for international trade within and outside the domestic country, increasing interest rate, reducing government expenditure and eliminating government intervention in the economy (free market there by the two market forces efficiently manage marketing system), among others. The financial sector is the one that needs the adoption of liberalization strategy. This review gives more emphasis for the liberalization of the banking sector due to banks play the key role in the development arena of a given country. With the aim of facilitating economic growth the government of Ethiopia currently made different reforms to enhance and improve the capacity as well as efficiency of the banking sector. The government of Ethiopia had implemented major reform tools in the banking sector like optimizing interest rate, providing license for domestic private investors, increasing the number of government owned banks and private banks, addressing the wide-spread problem of nonperforming loans experienced by state owned banks, reconstituting both the Development Bank of Ethiopia and the Construction and Business Bank as commercial banks. The major outcomes of these measures were increasing access by customers, enhancing competition, increasing efficiency and increasing the reserve ratio and smoothing loan- credit base, among others. After implementing the above-mentioned reform measures in the banking sector (since 1990) the banking sector has been grown, yet still the banking sector is monopolized by government, inefficient in stabilizing the financial sector, and inefficient in accommodating the private sector saving as compared to other nations of the world. Hence the contribution of the banking sector for economic growth of the country remains insignificant. This review presents rough sketch of historical perspective of the banking sector in Ethiopia, current status of the banking sector in Ethiopia, financial sector reforms, summary and policy recommendations in their respective sequence

The Impact of Microfinance on Household Saving: The Case of Amhara Credit and Saving Institution Feres Bet Sub-Branch, Degadamot Woreda

In Ethiopia, among other things, low level of domestic saving  which is reflected in large resource gap is one of the fundamental problems hampering production, productivity and income of the people. Since access to institutional saving is very limited, the majority of rural poor households are forced to search financial services through informal channels and holding in-kind savings as their alternatives. To overcome these problems and to mobilize rural domestic financial resources, the government of Ethiopia supports microfinance institutions as one of the means. To this end, the government created conducive environment for the development of microfinance institutions by issuing proclamation No.40/1996 (the microfinance law). Amhara Credit and Saving Institution (ACSI) is one of the largest microfinance institutions operating in Ethiopia established in accordance with the above mentioned proclamation. Its microfinance market is the low income population of Ethiopia, particularly of the Amhara Region. ACSI’s primary mission is to improve the economic situation of low income, productive poor people in Amhara Region primarily through increased access to lending and saving services. The study sought to assess the impact of microfinance (ACSI) on household saving in Dega damot woreda.  A two stage sampling procedure was developed to select 5 sample kebels and 150 sampled rural households. Structured questionnaire was developed to collect quantitative data from sampled households’ .In addition; focus group discussion was applied to generate qualitative data. The descriptive statistics and censored Tobit regression model were used for analyzing the data collected. The output from the study shows that 70 % of sampled households practiced financial and non-financial savings where as the remaining 30 % did not practice any form of saving. Surprisingly, 73.27 % were from the treatment group while only 26.73% were from the control group which indicates the positive impact of ACSI on household savings in the study area. Therefore, financial policy aimed to encourage rural households and expanding formal financial institutions could increase the domestic resource mobilization capacity of the country and foster economic growth. Key words: Microfinance, Household Savings, ANRS,West Gojjam,Degadamot Distric

Pneumonia and malaria in under-five children of southern Ethiopia

Abstract: An observational and experimental study was conducted to see the proportion of overlap between the clinical and laboratory diagnosis of pneumonia and malaria and the therapeutic effectiveness of cotrimoxazole. Children under five years who presented to the clinic with fever and/or cough or difficulty in breathing were enrolled in the study. Blood smears were done for all enrolled children while chest x-rays were obtained only for those children with parasitaemia or who met the clinical case definition for pneumonia. There were 736 children who met the clinical case definition of malaria, while 731 met the clinical case definition of pneumonia. Of these two groups, 456 (61.9%) of children with clinical malaria and 62.3% of those with clinical pneumonia represent the overlap of children who met both clinical definitions. Specific clinical definition did not differentiate pneumonia and malaria. A single treatment of both diseases by cotrimoxazole is showed to be as effective as a combination of treatment with chloroquine and procaine penicillin. Parasite clearance was better in the cotrimoxazole group than the chloroquine-penicillin group, however the cotrimoxazole group had a higher rate of recurdescences with two out of 41 patients smear positive at day 14. A significant proportion of overlap in the clinical and laboratory diagnosis of pneumonia and malaria is shown and that a three days cotrimoxazole therapy is equally effective in treating both diseases as a combination of chloroquine and procaine penicillin is. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 1997;11(1):43-50

Farmers’ perception towards Awassi Menz crossbred sheep and management practice in North Shoa

The study was carried out in Basonawerena and Angolelatera districts in north shoa zone of Amhara region,Ethiopia. The objectives of the study were to assess the perception of the farmers on the distributed crossbredsand the management practice under take in the area. A total of 150 households were selected purposively toassess perception of farmers. Data were gathered through semi-structured questionnaire. The results showed thatthe major feed resources during dry and wet seasons were natural pasture and crop residue. The majority of thefarmers in both districts (94.44% in Basonaworena and 93.33% in Angolelatera) provide special management forthe crossbred lambs. The major diseases in both districts are Fasciola (liver fluke), pasteurolosis and sheep poxin order of importance. Farmers comparative ranking of crossbreds and local sheep showed that crossbred ramswere better in growth, wool production, and appearance but have higher feed requirements, whereas locals werebetter in meat quality (taste) and resistance to disease in both districts.Keywords: Perception, Crossbreeding and management practic

Food Service Provision Status and Patients’ Satisfaction at Selected Government Hospitals in Ethiopia

The daily provision of hospital patients’ nutritional food dietary intake is still a major problem at the majority of government hospitals found in Ethiopia. this leads to increased recovery time, morbidity, and mortality of lives. This cross-sectional study was designed to investigate the current status and functioning of the health facility concerning daily dietary food provision for patients under health care treatments for various health reasons. The main objective of this assessment was to generate evidence-based information on the current status and functioning of the health facility concerning daily dietary food provision for patients under health treatments for various health problems. A cross-sectional design, with a mixed-method approach (both qualitative and quantitative methods), was conducted from February to May 2019. The qualitative data were collected from key informants and quantitative data were collected through a structured questionnaire. The mean age of the participants was 37.35 (±16.59) and overall, 74.75% of the targeted populations were not satisfied with the food prepared at hospitals and 13.00% of them had no idea about the food prepared for the patients. Insufficient budget allocation, unskilled manpower, and less attention to hospital nutritional foods were common problems among the 13 governmental hospitals. The nutritional food services offered to hospital patients should be improved

Assessment of Impacts of Climate Change on Hydropower-Dominated Power System—The Case of Ethiopia

The Ethiopia energy mix is dominated by hydro-generation, which is largely reliant on water resources and their availability. This article aims to examine the impacts of severe drought on electric power generation by developing a Drought Scenario. OSeMOSYS (an open source energy modelling tool) was used to perform the analyses. The results were then compared with an existing reference scenario called “New Policy Scenario”. The study looked at how power generation and CO2 emissions would be altered in the future if reservoir capacity was halved due to drought. Taking this into account, the renewable energy share decreased from its 90% in 2050 to 81% in 2065, which had been 98% to 89% in the case of New Policy Scenario. In another case, CO2 emissions also increased from 0.42 Mt CO2 in 2015 to 7.3 Mt CO2 in 2065, a 3.3 Mt CO2 increase as compared to the New Scenario. The results showed how a prolonged period of drought would reduce the river flows and lead to an energy transition that may necessitate the installation of other concurrent alternative power plants. The study suggested ways to approach energy mix, particularly for countries with hydro-dominated power generation and those experiencing drought

Integrated geophysical imaging of the Aluto-Langano geothermal field (Ethiopia)

The Aluto-Langano geothermal system is located in the central part of the Main Ethiopian Rift, one of the world\u2019s most tectonically active areas, where continental rifting has been occurring since several Ma and has yielded widespread volcanism and enhanced geothermal gradient. The geothermal system is associated to the Mt Aluto Volcanic Complex, located along the eastern margin of the rift and related to the Wonji Fault Belt, constituted by Quaternary NNE-SSW en-echelon faults. These structures are younger than the NE-SW border faults of the central Main Ethiopian Rift and were originated by a stress field oblique to the rift direction. This peculiar tectonism yielded local intense rock fracturing that may favour the development of geothermal reservoirs. In this paper, we present the results of an integrated geophysical survey carried out in 2015 over an area of about 200 km2 covering the Mt Aluto Volcanic Complex. The geophysical campaign included 162 coincident magnetotelluric and time domain electromagnetic soundings, and 207 gravity stations, partially located in the sedimentary plain surrounding the volcanic complex. Three-dimensional inversion of the full MT static-corrected tensor and geomagnetic tipper was performed in the 338-0.001 Hz band. Gravity data processing comprised digital enhancement of the residual Bouguer anomaly and 2D-3D inverse modelling. The geophysical results were compared to direct observations of stratigraphy, rock alteration and temperature available from the several deep wells drilled in the area. The magnetotelluric results imaged a low-resistivity layer which appears well correlated with the mixed alteration layer found in the wells and can be interpreted as a low-temperature clay cap. The clay-cap bottom depth is well corresponds to a change of thermal gradient. The clay cap is discontinuous, and in the central area of the volcanic complex is characterised by a dome-shape structure likely related to isotherm rising. The propilitic alteration layer, pinpointed as the 80-Ohm-m isosurface, shows two dome-shape highs. The first is NNE-trending, and may be interpreted as an upflow zone along a fault of the Wonji belt. Two productive wells are located along the borders of this area, as well as the alignements of fumaroles and altered grounds. The second is linked to a wide resistive area, located at shallow depth, where no clay cap was detected. It could be interpreted as a fossil high-temperature alteration zone reaching shallow depths, and it is associated to several fumaroles. Modeling of 2D/3D gravity data shows that the anomalies are due to shallow density variations likely related to lithology. The deep lateral variations due to structural lineaments inferred from well stratigraphy have no detectable signature. However, the trend analysis performed on the residual Bouguer anomaly (via horizontal and tilt derivative computations), allowed to identify five lineaments. Three of them exhibit NNE-SSW strike, corresponding to the Wonji Fault Belt Trend, whereas two have NNW-SSE strike, corresponding to the Red Sea Rift trend, which in this area is of minor evidence. The signature of shallow structures is then indicative of major regional structures. One of the lineaments marks the presence of a major fumarolic zone