Ethnic Federalism and the Developmental State: The Search for Balance in Ethiopia

Contrary to most Africa states, Ethiopia since 1990s reconfigures the country along ethnic lines. Despite many hopes and expectation, the restructuring of the country under ethnic federalism doomed to consolidate ethnic peace. Besides, the political economy of ‘developmental state’ has become the state ideology following the disgraceful 2005 national election in the country. However,  sporadic ethnic-based conflict and animosities become the rule of the game and pose a serious challenge to the state-building project of replicating East Asian version of developmental state ideology.  The politics of identity and representation, ethnicity and language issues, secession claims, and unsettled regional boundary issues polarised the country and the aspiration of the state to build a democratic developmental state in the Horn of Africa.  The state failure to balance ethnic federalism and developmental state makes the country still one of the poorest countries in the world with a per capita income of $706 and subsistence agricultural economy. DOI: 10.7176/IAGS/76-03 Publication date:September 30th 201

The Dynamics of Anti-Government Protest in Ethiopia from 2015 to 2018: From Hidden to Public resistance

DOI: 10.7176/IAGS/72-01 Publication date:May 31st 2019 Introduction The past three years, anti-government protests in Ethiopia revealed that the country is moving from rising narratives to civil unrest.  The civil unrest mainly emanates from the official state discourse of ‘democratic developmental state’, revolutionary democracy and other competing narratives (Branch and Mampilly, 2015). To facilitate a systematic paradigm moves from the democratic transition to economic development, the developmental state narratives become the official ideology of the state (Abbink, 2017; Allo, 2017). Following the disgraceful 2005 election where opposition political parties won major urban areas in including the capital city of Addis Ababa (Lefort, 2007), the Ethiopia People Revolution Democratic Front (hereafter EPRDF) introduces many political and economic reforms to restore its legitimacy. For many observers, the EPRDF’s thriving development narratives, however, depoliticize society, widen social gaps, justify violent repression, and entrench ‘ritual’ power. Besides, Elites governing narratives extend, legitimize, and sustain a defacto power of the government. (Allo, 2017; Di Nunzio, 2015). Failure to comply rules creates we-they nature of relationship and above all the state politicisation of megaprojects results create an "otherness" of those who do not support such mega projects (Allo, 2017; Lefort, 2007). Finally, the open anti-government protest began in 2015 and continued until 24 March 2018. This paper, therefore, discusses the dynamics of power relation between the government and protesters based on Scott conceptual analysis of ‘domination and art of resistance’ which reveals how elite complex domination strategies pushed subordinate groups to develop resistance strategies. Scott has also reformulated the sources of resentment, driving us to look beyond points of open conflict to social spaces where different ideas and thoughts are created. For Scott (1990, P. 70) ‘‘[the powerful] … have a vital interest in keeping up the appearances appropriate to their form of domination. Subordinates, for their part, ordinarily have good reasons to help sustain those appearances or, at least, not openly to contradict them’’. These two social realities have implication for the study of power relations. Study protest from this perspective also helps to understand the underlying problems of power relation before the eruption of open protest. The 2015 anti-government protest perhaps discloses the rationality of conformity and elite’s strategies of domination.  Therefore, analysing this social space and underlying power relation offers different perspectives of resistance to imposed domination which is the desired objective of this study

Experiences of parents' involvement in the management of primary schools in Oromiya National Regional State, Ethiopia

The study investigated parents’ involvement in managing primary schools in Oromiya National Regional State, Ethiopia. The main concern of this study revolved around the challenges that lead to the decline in parental involvement in their children’s schooling, low stakeholders’ participation in the management of primary schools, lack of awareness of students and their families on the school context that leads to increased rates of learner achievement. Furthermore, the study investigated the existence of conflict in role perception manifested in assuming that schools could play their roles in children’s education without parents’ interference, and both parties working together for their children’s achievements. In the study, a qualitative research methodology was employed. This qualitative study examined parental involvement in their managing primary schools through semi-structured interviews with five primary school principals, five parent –student teacher association chairpersons and 12 parents who had children in elementary school through focus group discussions. The findings of this research were centred around families’ participation in their children’s learning, understanding how parental involvement enhances learners’ achievements, views of schools and teachers on parental involvement, school assistance of parents in their parenting tasks and strategies to allow parents to take part in their children’s schooling. The conclusion drawn from this study is that the Ethiopian educational policy tries to advocate parental involvement in managing primary schools for improving educational quality at its level and through obtaining better family school governance experiences. School principals and PTA chairpersons did not seem to appreciate the possible advantages that could emanate from complete parental involvement in managing elementary schools. The study recommends approaches to manage and use schools, human and material resources, ways to involve uneducated parents in school management to use their indigenous knowledge in their children’s schooling, and parental involvement in managing primary schools in rural and semi-urban areas differs from other situations.Educational Leadership and ManagementD. Ed. (Educational Leadership and Management

The Politics of Ethnic Nationalism in the Ethiopian Statehood: Its Challenges and Prospects

This paper explores the dynamics of contending and ultra-ethnic based nationalism movement in Ethiopia which has recently created a rift in the country, a divergence that could have far-reaching implications to the insecurity of the Ethiopian statehood. Through the use of a qualitative desk research approach, the paper reveals that the primacy of ethnicity and ethnic nationalism in Ethiopia originally emanated from the ideological inputs of Marxism-Leninism ideology, an ideology that dominates the politics of Ethiopia for more than two decades. The paper further argues that ethnic nationalism in the Ethiopia context arguably a recent phenomenon and its provenance primarily associated with the exclusive ideological narratives of the state elites and in some case the state formation process of the country. The paper further argues the guise ‘nation-building’ narratives of the post-1990s have further intensified the saliency of ethnicity in the Ethiopian Political market place. Put differently, the re-structuring of the Ethiopian state along ethnic lines and the constitutional engineering of ‘self-determination’ including secession has further intensified ethno-nationalist movement in the country which has been become the major challenges for the continuation of the Ethiopian statehood. Perhaps, its continuance as a unified state seems lays on the will of these ultranationalist groups. Keywords: Ethnicity, Nationalism, Nation-Building, Political Narratives DOI: 10.7176/JCSD/54-01 Publication date: December 31st 201

Genomic markers associated with immune traits in Sasso chickens raised in Ethiopia

Newcastle disease virus (NDV) is one of the highly contagious avian pathogens that threaten poultry producers based in endemic zones as a result of its epidemic potential. Selection for antibody (Ab) response has potential to effectively improve the resistance of disease in chickens. However, the molecular basis of the variation among chickens in Ab response to NDV remains unclear. This study aimed to identify the genes modulating Ab response to a viral pathogen such as NDV while under outdoor conditions. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted on Sasso T451A chickens that were naturally exposed to infectious diseases to identify regions associated with Ab response to NDV. Phenotypic and immune data from 1022 chickens in two batches (507 in batch four and 515 in batch five) and genotyping from 935 chickens (2,676,181 single nucleotide polymorphisms(SNP)) were used for association analysis. BioMart data mining as well as variant effect predictor tools were used to annotate SNPs and candidate genes, respectively. The results revealed that batch four compared to batch five chickens showed a stronger Ab response at 56 days and lower Ab response at 112 days old. A total of five significant SNPs (rs733628728, rs316795557 (FOXP2), rs313761644 (CEP170B) and two unnamed) were significantly (p <3.92E-7) associated with chicken antibody response to ND. These SNPs present on chromosomes 1, 5 and 13, are in genomes regions including several genes with roles in the regulation of the immune response. The results of this study pave the path for more investigation into the host immune response to NDV.College of Agriculture and Environmental SciencesM. Sc. (Agriculture

Understanding Factors Affecting the Performance of Agricultural Extension System in Ethiopia

አህፅሮት ይህ የምርምር ጽሁፍ የአገራችንን የግብርና ስርፀት አሁን ያለበትን ብቃትና አፈጻጸም እንዲሁም ለግብርና ስርፀቱ ዋና ዋና ማነቆ የሆኑ ምክንያቶችን በመለየት ይተነትናል፡፡ ምንጃር ሸንኮራና አደአ ወረዳ የጥናቱ መነሻ በማድረግ በግብርና ስርፀቱ ዋና ፈጻሜ የሆኑትን 143 የልማት ጣቢያ ሰራተኞችንና ሱፐርቫይዘሮችን በወካይነት አካቷል፡፡ በተጨማሪም ይህ ጥናት በግብርና ስርጸት ውስጥ በቂ ልምድ ካካበቱ ተመራማሪዎች፣ የልማት ጣቢያ ሰራተኞችና አርሶ አደሮች መረጃ አካቷል፡፡ ይህ ጥናት እንደሚያሳየው ምንም እንኳን መንግስት የግብርና ስርጸቱ ለሁሉም ተጠቃሚዎች በበቂ ሁኔታ እንዲደርስ በከፍተኛ ቁርጠኝነት እየሰራ ያለ ከመሆንም በተጨማሪ ከፍተኛ የሆነ የልማት ጣቢያ ሰራተኞችን ያሰለጠነና በማሰልጠን ላይ ቢሆንም፤ የግብርና ልማቱ በሚፈለገው ደረጃ ሊያድግ አልቻለም፡፡ ስለሆነም የግብርና ስርጸቱን አንቆ የያዙትን ማነቆዎች መፍታት ተገቢ እንደሆነ ይታመናል፡፡ የጥናት ውጤቱ እንደሚያሳየው በልማቱ ውስጥ ያሉ ዋና ዋና አካላትና አጋሮች ግንኙነትና ጥምረት ደካማ መሆን፣ የገበሬ ማሰልጠኛ ማዕከላት አስፈላጊ የሆኑ ግብዓቶች አለመሟላት፣ የልማት ጣቢያ ሰራተኞች በቅርበት ለገበሬው ተደራሽ ለመሆን የትራንስፖርት ችግር፣ የልማት ጣቢያ ሰራተኞች የስራ ተነሳሽነት በሚፈለገው ደረጃ አለማደግና የአቅም ውስንነት፣ የልማት ጣቢያ ሰራተኞች ከዕቅድ እስከ ግምገማ ባለው ሂደት ተሳትፎ ውስን መሆን እና ጠንካራ ክትትልና ድጋፍ አለመኖር ዋና ዋና ማነቆዎች መሆናቸው ተለይቷል፡፡ ከዚህ በተጨማሪ ይህ ጥናት ከመንግስት ቁርጠኝነትና ከሰው ሃይል ልማቱ ጎን ለጎን የልማት ጣቢያ ሰራተኞች የስራ ከባቢ ምቹ ማድረግና ለስራው የሚያስፈልጉ ግብዓቶችን በሚፈለገው ጊዜና መጠን መቅረብ እንደሚገባው ይጠቁማል፡፡ በመሆኑም የግብርና ስርጸት ማነቆዎችን በመፍታት የወደፊቱን ልማት ማፋጠን እንደሚቻል ጥናቱ ጠቁሟል፡፡ &nbsp;Abstract &nbsp;This study is assessing the performance of the agricultural extension system and identifying factors explaining it. The paper used both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods. Quantitative data gathered based on a questionnaire survey of 143 development agents (DAs) in Minjar Shenkora and Ada’a districts. Qualitative data were collected from 25 key informants and eight separate focus group discussants. Quantitative data was analyzed by both descriptive statistics and econometric model while qualitative data were analyzed through categorization, narration and interpretation. Results show that, despite huge government investments and having one of the highest DA-to farmers’ ratio, Ethiopia has not been able to achieve the desired goals of agricultural advancement. This is mainly because of weak and limited interactions, synergies and partnership among actors, lack of adequate facilities of FTCs, lack of physical resources for mobility, DAs lack of work motivation, lack of strong supervision, lack of technical competence of DAs, and lack of involvement of DAs in the decision making process. The Econometric model results reveal that systems of rewards and sanctions, enforcement of performance targets, interaction and partnership among relevant actors, supervision, donor funding, number of motorbikes, and DAs capacity building trainings are most significantly influenced the performance of agricultural extension service. This research showed that number of DAs is not a sufficient condition of enhancing extension performance, but an effective extension system needs to focus on the enabling environment for DAs to be motivated to work as mandated

The dynamics of TseTse Fly in and around intensive suppression area of Southern Tsetse Eradication Project Site, Ethiopia

This study was carried out in and around intensive suppression area of the Southern Tsetse Eradication Project in Gamo Goffa Zone, Southern Nations, Nationalities and people`s Region of Ethiopia. Assessment of the dynamics of the vector tsetse was done by entomological survey between December-Jan, 2008 (dry season) and April-May, 2009 (wet season) in and around the intensive suppression area of the project site. The entomological survey revealed the presence of Glossinapallidipes as the only Glossina species in the study area. Total catch of flies were 95 and zero with averages of apparent densities of 1.6 and zero flies per trap per day during dry and wet seasons, respectively in ISA and a total catch of 8417 and 2028 with averages of apparent densities of 280.6 and 67.6 flies per trap per day in dry and wet seasons, respectively in Nech Sar National Park. In conclusion, results of seasonal and spatial dynamics of tsetse flies in intensive suppression areas and Nech Sar National Park, would be useful in planning an eradication program in the project area. Large population of tsetse flies in the Nech Sar National Park poses a risk of reinvasion and the uncontrolled animal movements in the project area may challenge the efficiency of the project.Generally continuous control and monitoring activities in the project area should be evaluated periodically and effectiveness of each control measures in specified sites must be seen in a favor of eradication program.The study would help in dynamic approach of the project planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.Keywords: Apparent density, Cattle, Intensive Suppression Area, Nech Sar National Park, Tsetse dynamics

Exploration of Systemic Barriers to Tef Research and Development in Central Ethiopia: A Coupled Structural-Functional Innovation Systems Analysis

Over the years, there has been a continuous increase in the demand for tef (Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter) due to population growth, average incomes and urbanization in Ethiopia, but its innovation system has not been fully explored. This research aims to determine the supportive effect of tef innovation system on its investigation and development as well as the systemic constraints in the process. A coupled structural-functional innovation system analysis was used to explore the barriers faced in Central Ethiopia. The results revealed the constraints affecting the innovation system, namely limited capacity of existing actors, weak interactions and partnerships among actors, weak enforcement of institutions as well as inadequate/poor infrastructure. They also showed that technology development, technology diffusion, entrepreneurial activities, market development, resource mobilization and legitimacy creation have been the weak functions of tef innovation. Furthermore, a failure in one of the functions has a knock-on effect on others, which causes an overall dysfunctional innovation system. Based on the results, failures of the structural elements along with weaknesses of functions have constrained the development of tef innovation systems sector. A combination of technological, institutional and technical intervention must be implemented to overcome this problem

Heavy metals in wastewater and fish collected from waste stabilization pond and human health risks in southwestern Ethiopia

IntroductionThis study aimed to measure the concentration of toxic heavy metals in wastewater samples and Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) species inhabiting wastewater (waste stabilization ponds) and evaluate their safety as a food source in southwestern Ethiopia. For this purpose, toxic metals like lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), and mercury (Hg) in wastewater samples and fish tissues (muscle, gill, and liver) were independently examined.MethodsA laboratory-based cross-sectional study was performed to ascertain the levels of Pb, Cd, As, and Hg in the fish tissues of O. niloticus and wastewater samples. Heavy metal levels were analyzed by microplasma atomic emission spectrometry (Agilent 4210 MP-AES) and hydrogen-generated atomic absorption spectrometry (HGAAS, novAA 400P, Germany).ResultsHeavy metal concentrations were measured in the following decreasing order (µg L−1): Cd &gt; Pb &gt; As &gt; Hg in facultative and maturation ponds, with Cd (27.66 µg L−1) having the highest concentration and Hg (0.349 µg L−1) having the lowest concentration. Among the heavy metals detected in the wastewater samples, Hg showed a statistically significant difference between the sampling points (p = 0.023). The maximum metal concentration was measured for Pb (0.35 mg kg−1) and Cd (0.24 mg kg−1) in the muscle tissue of O. niloticus. The value of arsenic (0.02 mg kg−1) detected in fish edible muscles exceeded the FAO/WHO maximum permissible limit (MPL = 0.01) for human consumption. The carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks of consuming fish due to trace metals were relatively low and posed fewer potential threats to human health. According to this finding, children were more susceptible to heavy metal exposure than adults.ConclusionDue to the high quantities of these harmful heavy metals, wastewater from oxidation ponds should not be used for fishing to avoid bioaccumulation. The target carcinogenic risk (TR) and target hazard quotient (THQ) indicated that all heavy metals were below the safe threshold. This research will provide a baseline for monitoring trace metals in various edible aquatic creatures and for future research in artificial habitats and regulatory considerations