Characteristics of Property Units in Ethiopia, the Case of Two Pilot Projects in Amhara National Regional State

The performance of agriculture, which provides livelihood for 85% of the country's population, has been poor over the last few decades. It has been realized that one of the root causes of these problems is poor and unsustainable land management practices. This calls for the current rural land administration and use laws at federal and regional levels to tackle these problems by ensuring security of use right over real properties. This paper focuses on assessing the characteristics of property units and the importance of incorporating property formation as an instrument of rural development in Ethiopia. It is found that most property units are unsuitable to their purpose. It suggests that comprehensive property formation law and clearly stated cadastral procedures should be endorsed to facilitate transfer of real properties, consolidation of plots and their updating

Effect of knowledge and implemented practices of MSPO principle 6: best practice towards outcome gain among independent smallholder in Melaka / Taffa Azmizan Tahir

Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil is certification that initiate by Malaysian Government and palm oil industry plays with certification by end of 2019. The study was carried out to study effect knowledge and implemented practice towards the outcome gain for group of certified independent smallholders, which Sustainable Palm Oil Cluster in Machap and Sungai Rambai. The data was taken from questionnaire basis and had been passed to 45 respondents in Machap and Sungai Rambai area. Results from the study reveal that correlation analysis, the knowledge and implemented practice has effect to the outcome gain. However, implemented practice is not influenced by the smallholders’ working experience. The recommendation, the next study should focus on the yield gain by smallholder and provide the data to any agency involve and is there something wrong with the certification, it can be improvise for the future of oil palm in Malaysia

The influence of land management on the prevalence of informal settlement and its implication for environmental management in Bahir Dar city, Ethiopia

Bahir Dar is one of the rapidly growing Ethiopian cities characterized by the rise of informal settlements. The expansion of spontaneous neighbourhoods in Bahir Dar is, among other things, conditioned by land management policies and practices. Thus, the intention of this research was to explore the influences of land management on the prevalence of informal settlements in Bahir Dar city, Ethiopia. So as to meet the study targets this research employed mixed method approach, and the data were gathered from various sources by applying different methods. The quantitative data was drawn from 156 random samples through household surveys. It was collected from four FGDs, interview of eight community elders, sub-cities and municipality officials and code enforcement professionals. Furthermore, case studies, published and unpublished documents, photographs, and satellite images were used to enrich the analysis. To analyse quantitative data, SPSS statistical software was used to extract descriptive statistics, to test hypotheses and to draw tables and various types of graphs. Content analysis was employed to analyse qualitative data. It was found that expansion of informal settlements in Bahir Dar was caused, among others, by Poverty of inhabitants, rural-urban migration, limited capacity of the city to deliver basic services, low housing supply and high housing demand, and limitations in land lease laws, as well deficiency of essential amenities like water, sanitation and electricity. The influences of land management policies and practices that resulted to prevalence of informal settlements were found to be the subjective implementation of housing and land leasing policies, harsh government farm expropriation and very low compensation payments, weak governance practices in land administration, frequent demolishing of houses and precarious security of tenure. Even though informal settlements help to address the housing shortage in the city and contribute to environmental management in some areas of the city, it is largely intimidating environmental management, deteriorating the livelihoods and thus brought about the unsustainable city development. In order to address the challenges of informal settlements, it was suggested that legal framework to formalize informal settlements, develop an effective and efficient land administration system, improving good governance in land administration, establish land and housing policies favouring low-income population, and bring about attitude change favourable to urban development are essential.Environmental SciencesD. Litt. et Phil. (Environmental Management

External Factors Affecting Budget Utilization in Ethiopian Public Universities

Inefficient higher education budget utilization has been adversely affecting the implementation of government policies, programs and project implementation in Ethiopia. This study sought to investigate external factors that affect proper budget utilization in public universities of Ethiopia in 2017. A total of 178 respondents were randomly selected from Dilla, Wolaita Sodo, and Bule Hora Universities. Primary data were collected using closed and open questionnaires. To supplement the survey result secondary data were collected from a federal general auditor. The data were analyzed using various descriptive statistics. The findings indicated a significant improvement in budget allocation to public universities from time to time. However, imposition of the federal agencies to implement unplanned activities by Universities, delay in project implementation, low financial and technical capacity of the contractors in terms of financial and technical matter that cause project implementation delay’s particularly for construction projects had adversely affected the budget utilization of the study Universities. This study recommended that the potential of the contractor both technical and financial capacity and their past performance should be properly evaluated before coming to an agreement. The result also suggested that there should be a need timely and continuous follow up the progress of the project and take corrective action before the end of the fiscal budget year. Keywords: Budget Utilization, Public Universities, External Factors, Ethiopia DOI: 10.7176/JESD/10-21-06 Publication date: November 30th 201

Modeling the hydrological impacts of land use/land cover changes in the Andassa watershed, Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia

Understanding the hydrological response of a watershed to land use/land cover (LULC) changes is imperative for water resources management planning. The objective of this study was to analyze the hydrological impacts of LULC changes in the Andassa watershed for a period of 1985–2015 and to predict the LULC change impact on the hydrological status in year 2045. The hybrid land use classification technique for classifying Landsat images (1985, 2000 and 2015); Cellular-Automata Markov (CA-Markov) for prediction of the 2030 and 2045 LULC states; the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) for hydrological modeling were employed in the analyses. In order to isolate the impacts of LULC changes, the LULC maps were used independently while keeping the other SWAT inputs constant. The contribution of each of the LULC classes was examined with the Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR) model. The results showed that there was a continuous expansion of cultivated land and built-up area, and withdrawing of forest, shrubland and grassland during the 1985–2015 periods, which are expected to continue in the 2030 and 2045 periods. The LULC changes, which had occurred during the period of 1985 to 2015, had increased the annual flow (2.2%), wet seasonal flow (4.6%), surface runoff (9.3%) and water yield (2.4%). Conversely, the observed changes had reduced dry season flow (2.8%), lateral flow (5.7%), groundwater flow (7.8%) and ET (0.3%). The 2030 and 2045 LULC states are expected to further increase the annual and wet season flow, surface runoff and water yield, and reduce dry season flow, groundwater flow, lateral flow and ET. The change in hydrological components is a direct result of the significant transition from the vegetation to non-vegetation cover in the watershed. This suggests an urgent need to regulate the LULC in order to maintain the hydrological balance

What restrains Ethiopian NGOs to participate in the development of policies for natural resource management?

By law, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Ethiopia are severely restricted in their activities towards policy development. In this study we explore to what extent these restrictions have affected NGOs in Natural Resource Management in the Oromia regional state of Ethiopia. We quantitatively analyzed 106 semi-structured questionnaires, in order to assess 1) the general characteristics of these NGO, 2) the role of NGOs in natural resource management, 3) the factors that constrain their activities, especially in relation to the proclamation, and 4) the cooperation between NGOs as well as other stakeholders. Results indicate that NGOs are mainly involved in policy implementation, including afforestation, forest management, and soil and water conservation. We find that a more active role in agenda setting and policy formulation is hampered by the 2009 proclamation, which explicitly restricts the role of Ethiopian Residence Charities/Societies (ERCS) and Foreign Charities (FC). Consistently, NGOs, as well as their donors, often avoid involvement in policy development, in fear of potential collusion with the government. In addition, NGOs listed legal and administrative barriers, poor networking and cooperation among NGOs, lack of capacity, lack of information, and a lack of clear role on policy issues as constraints for influencing policies for natural resource management. The extent to which these factors affect NGOs is dependent on their type and the source of their funding

Farmers’ participation in the development of land use policies for the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia

Farmers in Ethiopia are elementary for the implementation of land use policies. However, in order to effectively implement these policies, they need to be aware of them, and accept them accordingly. In this study we assess to what extent farmers in the Central Rift Valley are aware of prevailing land use policies in their area, to what extent they participated in the development of these policies, and how they perceive the impacts of these policies, using interviews with local farmers as well as stakeholders from governmental institutions at various levels. Farmers and local governments indicated that there was very little participation in the development of land use policies. Contrary, government informants at higher level indicated the opposite, suggesting a gap between farmers and local governmental institutions on the one side and higher governmental institutions on the other side. The perceived lack of participation of farmers led to a lack of ownership, involuntary participation, and failure to use the local knowledge, all hampering the effective implementation of these policies. The recently introduced land registration and certification process was identified as an exception, as it was the result of a participatory process, generally leading to acceptance upon implementation. Despite their low policy awareness, farmers could identify the impacts of land use policies on land use and land cover change, as well as its impacts on their. Further improvement farmer participation in the development of land use policies could increase ownership and thus yield more effective implementation and avoid social unrest

Do parents and young people communicate on sexual matters? The situation of Family Life Education (FLE) in a rural town in Ethiopia

Abstract: As a result of a cultural taboo, adolescents in many developing countries rarely discuss sexual matters explicitly with their parents. Most information for their patchy knowledge often comes from peers of the same sex, who may themselves be uninformed or incorrectly informed. This report is a summary of two surveys carried out on two occasions (November 1996 and October 1997, respectively) on 343 high school students and 246 families who had children 10-24 years of age in a rural town 160 Km south of Addis Ababa. The purpose was to assess the awareness and attitude of both study groups on major Family Life Education (FLE) components and know the level of parent-adolescent communication on matters related to young people’s sexuality. Findings suggest that young people’s knowledge on aspects of their sexuality is incomplete and not enough to minimise risk-taking. Yet, more than half of them believed that is unacceptable to discuss growth changes and sexual issues with parents during adolescence. Different grade and age levels did not influence the consensus except for a female sex, which significantly favoured this negative attitude. For some who approved discussion (sexual matters and contraception), peers were preferred most. Furthermore, 31.5% of the students were sexually active, and 65.7% of the sexually active ones reported use of some contraception (including calendar method) in the past. Likewise, parents had a partial knowledge regarding adolescent sexual maturation and behaviour or complication of teenage pregnancy. Nonetheless, 93% did not approve premarital sex and ironically, not more than 20% of them reported discussion of growth changes during adolescence, sexuality, and contraception in the past. However, parental education and lower family size positively influenced this attitude and practice. Implications of the study were discussed and recommendations made on future needs to initiate a comprehensive FLE in the school system and increase the responsibility of parents in adolescent sexuality. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 1999;13(3):205-210

The role of institutional actors and their interactions in the land use policy making process in Ethiopia

This study investigates the role of the different institutional actors involved in the development and implementation of land use policies in the Ethiopian Rift Valley. The work is based on interviews with key informants from different administrative levels and these results are compared to the relevant policy documents. While the constitution prescribes a participatory policy development process, our results show that in reality policies are made at the highest level and implemented in a top-down approach from the higher to the lower administrative levels. Moreover, the institutional network mainly consists of institutions that are hierarchically linked, while horizontal and diagonal relations are less common and less important. Consistently, higher level institutions are mostly involved in the development of land use policies, while the roles of lower level institutions are predominantly in the implementation thereof. This lack of participation by lower level institutions, in addition to a lack of capacity and absence of clear institutional mandates, hampers the effectiveness of land use policies. Our results also provide suggestions to improve the development, communication, and eventually the acceptability of land use policies towards sustainable land management