Enhancing graduate employability for enhancing the role of higher education in poverty reduction: a gap analysis study with particular reference to private providers operating in Ethiopia

With the aim to identify and document gaps and good practices for enhancing graduate employability, what private universities doing in Ethiopia and the associated macro environment were assessed with mixed approaches, using qualitative and quantitative data collection. Methods included: an extensive review of literature, examination of official documents and key informant interview at five institutions selected for case study. Document survey results show that since the second half of the 1990s, Ethiopia has been made to have national policies and strategies promoting and supporting the education for employment agenda which needs to be supported by national graduate employability focused policy framework, vision, strategies, programs, guidelines and working group dealing with the matter. Regarding the situation at micro level, it was found that all private higher education providers covered in the study are well aware of the fact that graduate unemployment or underemployment problem has been manifesting in unprecedented way in present Ethiopia. Paradoxically, however, none of them managed to have a full-fledged system function dedicated to the enhancement of graduate employability. Unlike pre-program need assessment, the practice of conducting tracer studies and/or industry satisfaction surveys for identifying the employment situation of graduates and taking the necessary corrective measures with industry feedback and participation was found a rarity. In so far as interventions seeking to enhance graduate employability through curricular, co-curricular and extracurricular activities are concerned, much has not been done in all cases. In nutshell, the agenda of graduate employability has not been given adequate attention at all levels: policy, strategy, curriculum & instruction, research and development. Changing such a scenario will definitely enable the case study institutions produce employable graduates capable of emancipating themselves and others from the yoke of poverty

A monitoring and evaluation framework to assess the performance of innovation platforms in the context of livestock value chains

Growing local and informal markets in Asia and Africa provide both challenges and opportunities for small holders. In developing countries, market failures often lead to suboptimal performance of the value chains and limited and inequitable participation of the poor. In recent years, innovation platforms have been promoted as mechanisms to stimulate and support multistakeholder collaboration in the context of research for development. They are recognized as having the potential to link value chain actors, and enhance communication and collaboration to overcome market failures. Despite the increased use of innovation platforms in research for development projects and programs, a monitoring and evaluation framework that encompasses the dynamic nature of innovation systems and value chains is not available. In this paper, the authors aim to develop a monitoring and evaluation framework for understanding and assessing the performance of innovation platforms in the context of pro-poor value chains, based on a discussion of various approaches

Summary of research for development ‘best practice’ technologies validated in the Africa RISING Endamehoni site in Ethiopia, 2013-2016

United States Agency for International Developmen

Epidemiology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis lineages and strain clustering within urban and peri-urban settings in Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Previous work has shown differential predominance of certain Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) lineages and sub-lineages among different human populations in diverse geographic regions of Ethiopia. Nevertheless, how strain diversity is evolving under the ongoing rapid socio-economic and environmental changes is poorly understood. The present study investigated factors associated with M. tb lineage predominance and rate of strain clustering within urban and peri-urban settings in Ethiopia. METHODS: Pulmonary Tuberculosis (PTB) and Cervical tuberculous lymphadenitis (TBLN) patients who visited selected health facilities were recruited in the years of 2016 and 2017. A total of 258 M. tb isolates identified from 163 sputa and 95 fine-needle aspirates (FNA) were characterized by spoligotyping and compared with international M.tb spoligotyping patterns registered at the SITVIT2 databases. The molecular data were linked with clinical and demographic data of the patients for further statistical analysis. RESULTS: From a total of 258 M. tb isolates, 84 distinct spoligotype patterns that included 58 known Shared International Type (SIT) patterns and 26 new or orphan patterns were identified. The majority of strains belonged to two major M. tb lineages, L3 (35.7%) and L4 (61.6%). The observed high percentage of isolates with shared patterns (n = 200/258) suggested a substantial rate of overall clustering (77.5%). After adjusting for the effect of geographical variations, clustering rate was significantly lower among individuals co-infected with HIV and other concomitant chronic disease. Compared to L4, the adjusted odds ratio and 95% confidence interval (AOR; 95% CI) indicated that infections with L3 M. tb strains were more likely to be associated with TBLN [3.47 (1.45, 8.29)] and TB-HIV co-infection [2.84 (1.61, 5.55)]. CONCLUSION: Despite the observed difference in strain diversity and geographical distribution of M. tb lineages, compared to earlier studies in Ethiopia, the overall rate of strain clustering suggests higher transmission and warrant more detailed investigations into the molecular epidemiology of TB and related factors