E-Business Strategy to Adopt Electronic Banking Services in Ethiopia

E-banking services in Ethiopia are increasing among low-income populations; however, with over 53 million mobile service users countrywide, more than 85% of the population still lacks access to banking services. A single case study was used to explore e-business strategies that bank managers use to promote the adoption of electronic banking services to the unbanked population in Ethiopia. The extended resource-based view of strategy served as the conceptual framework for this study. Data were collected from interviews with 12 experienced bank managers from leading commercial bank in Ethiopia. Data were analyzed using coding techniques and word clustering, with the help of qualitative data analysis software. After member checking and methodological triangulation, data were sorted into 5 themes including ensuring leadership, creating accessibility, fostering customers\u27 acceptance, leveraging unique features and organizational resources, and building an e-banking ecosystem. The result showed that bank managers need to develop a customer-centric organizational posture and they should focus to build e-banking ecosystem inside and outside the country so that they can realize their vision to become global competitors. The findings from the study may contribute to positive social change for the unbanked communities in Ethiopia by informing bank managers options of e-banking adoption strategies thereby improve the convenience and accessibility of banking services

Psychosocial Wellbeing of People with Cancer and Heart Disease: The Case of Clients in Ayder Referal Hospital, Northern Ethiopia

The purpose of this study was to gain a detailed understanding of psychosocial experiences of people with cancer and heart disease. One hundred twenty people with cancer and heart disease were surveyed. They were asked to indicate their degree of agreement related to their experience to the disease on each scale. A large proportion of patients reported experiencing severe to mild psychosocial problems in their day to day activities. Patients reported experiencing problems in the areas of anxiety (90.9%), depression (90.8%), psychological (73.3%), social (65.8%), coping (83.3%), and psychosocial wellbeing (88.3%). T-test indicated significant gender difference. Whereas, one-way ANOVA indicated the absence of significant disease type difference for psychosocial wellbeing. In conclusions many people with cancer and heart disease were experiencing psychosocial problems since they are diagnosed with their disease. Keywords: Psychosocial wellbeing, Cancer and Coronary Heart Diseas

The Outstanding Heritages of Adwa, Ethiopia

Identification and documentation of the heritage potential of Ethiopia’s tourism resources is in its infant stage among which Adwa’s resources are considered. Therefore this study is conducted to disclose the potentials of heritages in Adwa, Ethiopia. The objective is to disclose and describe the outstanding heritages of Adwa, Ethiopia. The methods used were fieldwork, observation and literature review. The major results are: that Adwa is home to several notable archaeological sites, historical events, religious places, as well as beautiful mountain chains and highland scenery. The heritage potential includes Yeha cultural and historical site and the Monastery of Aba (Father) Aftse, the archaeological site of Siba’at; the Monastery of Aba Gerima; the battlefield of Adwa as well as the ruins of Fremona. In general, Adwa is a symbol of African pride for its victory over Italy during colonial era, it is the center of extraordinary mountain chains, a land of archeological and religious treasures. It is recommended that these extraordinary heritages need to be conserved, developed and promoted

Modelling the influence of sub-grade material parameters on the response of railway line under moving train loads

The sub-grade of the railway track subjected to dynamic loading is governed by its dynamic material parameters, the basic dynamic material parameters are unit weight, Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio and the material damping. However, there is a need to identify the parameters of the sub-grade that has significant effect on the dynamic response of the railway track to achieve the specified technical requirements because the behavior of the sub-grade cannot be easily estimated or verified. Hence, this paper uses three-dimensional finite elements ABAQUS coupled with Artificial Non-Reflecting Boundary to investigate the effect of varying the unit weight, Young’s modulus, Poisson's ratio and the damping ratio of the sub-grade in the surface vibration induced at the embankment railway track in terms of Peak Vertical Velocity due to moving of the train loads. The input soil parameters used are soft clay, stiff clay, loose and dense uniform sand to demonstrate the parametric study. The predicated results show that both the Young’s modulus and damping ratio of the sub-grade have quite significant effect on the induced surface vibrations of railway track; while the influence of both unit weight and Poisson’s ratio are very small. Hence to fulfill the technical requirement of the railway track, special attention regarding to the Young’s modulus and the damping ratio of the sub-grade should be paid

An Ethnographic Museum and its Contribution to Tourism Development: The Case of Aksum

Among the various functions of museums are the notions that they attract, entertain and arose curiosity in visitors, which leads to questioning thus promoting learning. This 21st century shows many new needs and preoccupations of contemporary society relating to museums. Although there are many, access to museums, professionalism, the nature of museums, issues of collection and management are all highlighted as being particularly significant. Running across all these issues is the recurrent theme of the relationship between a museum and tourism. Therefore, the main objective of the study was to assess the condition of the Ethnographic Museum (Fetewrari Belay Ethnographic House) in Aksum and its contribution to tourism development. For the methodology, a descriptive research design inculcating quantitative and qualitative aspects was used. Samples were drawn from tourism service providers, targeted professionals, church and local community representatives and visitors by applying both probability and non-probability sampling methods. Finally, the major findings of the study show that the Ethnographic Museum of Aksum is the custodian of immense private heritage, inter alia the building, clothes, crosses, pottery, wood items, clay items, artifacts, and gifts to the Afterari, etc. The museum also has excellent tourism potential, however because of its mismanagement and lack of promotion from both the owner and the concerned tourism bodies it is not visited as much as it could be

Problems and Prospects of Implementing Continuous Assessment at Adigrat University

The purpose of the study is to assess the prospects and implementing continuous assessment (CA) in in higher education. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire from instructors and students of Adigrat University as well as Mekelle and Aksum Universities for comparison purpose. Both quantitative and qualitative data were carried out. Result of this study indicated that, instructors were not continuously collecting information about student progress, small number of assessment is used in courses and few instructors give feedback at all. Significant number of instructors and students had poor knowledge and negative attitude towards CA. Based on the results, it can be concluded and recommend that instructors need to use the results from CA as a means of identifying students’ progress and thereby providing support. Accordingly, departments need to have strong documentation and reporting systems, the maximum and minimum numbers of students in a class need to be put at a standard level. In addition, concerned officials of the university need to closely examine the challenges. On the other hand, offering pre remedial classes on specific courses, putting tests on the exam banks, establishing and following student networking programs and peer learning groups, tutorial classes, providing consultation hours, ensuring classroom size, continuous assessment, encouraging students participation in the classroom and providing incentives for instructors had positive effect on academic performance. Keywords: problems, prospects and implementing of continuous assessment.

Potentials and impacts of event tourism development: the case of Aksum Town, Tigrai National Regional State, Ethiopia

Tourism is recognized by several countries as a tool towards an integrated development. Events are a dynamic and fast-growing sector that has become a development tool in both developed and developing countries as a new tourism trend. This study examines event tourism's potentials and impacts in Aksum, Ethiopia. A mixed research approach with a descriptive design was employed through stratified random sampling technique. Questionnaire and interview were instruments used for data collection. Questionnaire respondents were selected randomly while interview participants were recruited purposefully. Descriptive statistical analysis was applied for questionnaire data using SPSS software while content analysis was adopted for interview data. Findings revealed that Aksum has potentials for the development of religious and cultural events followed by historical and business events. The impacts of event tourism to Aksum were found as both positive and negative in relation to socio-economic and environmental activities. The main positive impacts were perceived as improving destination image and boosting local businesses, on the other hand, negative impacts include problems about unfair pricing of local goods and services, trafic congestion and overcrowding. The research concludes by suggesting possible ways of maximizing the positive role of event tourism and minimizing its adverse impacts.publishe

Medvirkning i planprosesser på lokalt nivå

Denne masteravhandlingen undersøker bruken av medvirkning som metode i områdeløftet på Ammerud. Områdeløftet er en del av Groruddalssatsingen, en kommunedrevet satsing som tar sikte på å forbedre ulike områder i Groruddalen som har stått overfor komplekse utfordringer knyttet til fysiske, strukturelle og sosiale forhold (Lund, 2014, s. 30). For å løse disse utfordringene har medvirkning blitt brukt som en metode for å involvere lokalbefolkningen på Ammerud, hvor mandatet for områdeløftet har vært å jobbe med fysisk og sosial utvikling. Befolkningen i området er mangfoldig og består av en stor andel eldre, barn, unge og personer med innvandrerbakgrunn (Lund, 2014, s. 30). Blant barn og unge har medvirkningsprosessene vært svært vellykkede, hvor resultatene har ført til tydelig utvikling i området. Imidlertid har det vært utfordringer knyttet til involvering av eldre og personer med minoritetsbakgrunn i medvirkningsprosessene, til tross for at de utgjør en stor del av befolkningen på Ammerud. Avhandlingen utforsker derfor hvordan medvirkningsprosessene har foregått i området og hvorfor de har vært vellykkede blant barn og unge. Deretter forskes det på hvorfor nivået av medvirkning har vært lavere blant eldre og personer med minoritetsbakgrunn. Studien er hovedsakelig basert på kvalitative intervjuer med lokale aktører og beboere med innvandrerbakgrunn på Ammerud. Den teoretiske rammen for analysen inkluderer teorier om involvering av lokalbefolkningen som påvirkes av utvikling (Madanipour, 2017, s. 93-94), teorier om hvordan steder er resultatet av sosiale og kulturelle konstruksjonsprosesser (Henriksen, 2019, ss. 109-110), samt teorier om maktfordeling innen medvirkning (Arnstein 1969, Davidson 1998). Studiens funn viser til at det er mulig å oppnå vellykkede medvirkningsprosesser der lokalbefolkningen blir hørt og deres behov blir møtt, så lenge prosessene tilrettelegges for målgruppen. Dersom prosessen ikke tilpasses ulike grupper, vil det være utfordrende å involvere dem

An Ethnographic Museum and its Contribution to Tourism Development: The Case of Aksum.

Among the various functions of museums are the notions that they attract, entertain and arose curiosity in visitors, which leads to questioning thus promoting learning. This 21st century shows many new needs and preoccupations of contemporary society relating to museums. Although there are many, access to museums, professionalism, the nature of museums, issues of collection and management are all highlighted as being particularly significant. Running across all these issues is the recurrent theme of the relationship between a museum and tourism. Therefore, the main objective of the study was to assess the condition of the Ethnographic Museum (Fetewrari Belay Ethnographic House) in Aksum and its contribution to tourism development. For the methodology, a descriptive research design inculcating quantitative and qualitative aspects was used. Samples were drawn from tourism service providers, targeted professionals, church and local community representatives and visitors by applying both probability and non-probability sampling methods. Finally, the major findings of the study show that the Ethnographic Museum of Aksum is the custodian of immense private heritage, inter alia the building, clothes, crosses, pottery, wood items, clay items, artifacts, and gifts to the Afterari, etc. The museum also has excellent tourism potential, however because of its mismanagement and lack of promotion from both the owner and the concerned tourism bodies it is not visited as much as it could be

GEOTOURISM OF AXUM AND YEHA MONUMENTS, NORTHERN ETHIOPIA

Ethiopia constitutes one of the most significant environmental, religious and cultural reserves on Earth. The study aims to assess the geotourism of the monuments. The study has been conducted using literature review, fieldwork, data collection and production of geotourism maps and interpretations. Geosites are important resources for geotourism development in Ethiopia along the Historic route of Ethiopian tourism. This route is the main tourism corridor of the country in which geotourism knowledge is very important. Among the major geotourism sites in the study area are, Axum Stelea and its Quary Site, archaeological sites, monasteries, Adwa Volcanic Mountain Chains, palaces, rock-hewn churches, and viewpoints. Therefore, the study has concluded that knowing and understanding the geotourism (which includes geosites and historical heritages) is very important for the development of tourism in Tigray, Ethiopia