Thematic Workshops, Conferences, and Congresses  

• National Workshops

• Discipline-Focused Workshops

• Regional and International Thematic Conferences

• OSSREA Congress
  
  One of the approaches followed by OSSREA to realize its aim of promoting dialogue and interaction between social scientists, on the one hand, and between the scholars, development practitioners, and policy-makers, on the other hand, is the creation of public forums for the discussion and dissemination of research findings that are pertinent to development. Such forums have taken the form of national workshops, discipline-focused workshops, regional and international thematic conferences and the OSSREA Congress. These workshops and conferences have resulted in important publications.  

National Workshops

Initially, OSSREA had been organizing the National Workshops in collaboration with institutions in member countries. After the formation of the National Chapters, however, each one began to select a topic that is timely and relevant for that country and organised a national workshop in which members of its constituency and other experts in the field can presented papers and participated in the deliberations. This tradition has continued to-date although the timing of the workshops is irregular. 

So far the following National Workshops have been organised in various member countries:

• *The Indigenization of the Zimbabwe Economy: Problems and Prospects. (18-19 August 1994)

• *Small-scale Enterprises in Sudan: Management and Economic Aspects. (5-6 November 1994)

• *Natural Resources and Development in Uganda. (6-7 June, 1995)

• *Improving the Standard of Social Science Research during Structural Adjustment Period. (29-30 June 1995)

• *Social Science Research for Environmental Improvement. (Kenya, 7-8 August 1995)

• *Zambia’s Development Concerns Beyond 1996. (5 July 1996)

• *Poverty Alleviation in Tanzania. (17 April 1997)

• Issues in the Economy and Politics of Swaziland since 1968. (24-25 April 1996)

• Privatization in Sudan. (November 1997)

• *Environmental, Social and Economic Development Issues in Zambia’s Third Republic. (26 August 1998)

• *Popular Participation in Development. (Zimbabwe, 15 September 1998)

• Economy, Poverty, Banking, Development and Environment in Rwanda. (8-10 September 1998)

• *The Role of Research in Social, Economic and Political Transformation in Kenya. (13-14 November 1998)

• *Poverty and Environment in Uganda. (27 January 1999)

• Development Issues and Structural Adjustment in Tanzania. (26 February 1999)

• *Socio-economic Aspects of Health Services in the Sudan. (28-29 April 1999)

• *Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Ethiopia. (4 March 2000)

• Poverty Alleviation and Elimination in Rwanda: A New Vision. (18-20 December 2000)

• *Perspectives on Poverty in Swaziland: History and Contemporary Forms. (7-8 December 2000)

• *Globalisation and Development in Zambia. (10 May 2001)

• *Conflict in the Horn: Prevention and Resolution. (8-9 June 2001)

• *Zimbabwe’s Development Strategies since 1980 and the Way Forward. (August 2001)  

• *Zimbabwe’s Current Socio-Economic and Political Situation: Challenges and Prospects. (28 September 2002)  

The main source of funding for the workshops is the OSSREA Secretariat. A summary of the papers presented and highlights of the discussions at the workshops have been compiled into a short report for most of the national workshops and published by the Secretariat. (*See the Bibliography section and the full-text documents for a list of the workshop reports published so far.)

Discipline-Focused Workshops

These are regional workshops exploring the state of the art in the teaching of and research in the social sciences, with special reference to the Eastern and Southern African Region. Among the first of such workshops to be launched was “The teaching and research of Economics in Eastern Africa universities”, which was held at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, from 11-15 January 1984. So far, OSSREA has organised such workshops in the following disciplines:  Economics*, Anthropology and Sociology*, Geography, History, Management, Political Science and Public Administration*. These workshops have provided useful fora for identifying deficiencies in teaching and research, for suggesting ways of using research to improve the quality of teaching, and for exploring possibilities for collaboration among educational departments in the region. In some cases, they have facilitated the formation of discipline-oriented regional associations as in the case of Geography and History.

From 29-31 October 2002, OSSREA, in collaboration with Addis Ababa University’s Department of History, launched the “Third East Africa History Workshop” primarily with the aim of reviving the discipline-focused workshops and revisiting the state of the arts in these fields.

The series of discipline-focused workshops has resulted in important publications on the specific themes of the workshops. (*See the section under National Workshop Reports for a list of the publications resulting from these workshops.) 

Regional and International Thematic Conferences

OSSREA has been conducting, either independently or in collaboration with other institutions, 2-4 thematic conferences annually. These conferences focused on various topical issues relevant to the region and were often launched in addition to those organised under OSSREA’s ongoing research projects.

Among such conferences are the following:

• *The Development Problems and Prospects of Semi-Arid Areas in Eastern Africa. (Ethiopia, 9-13 April 1980)

• *Research Priorities in the Social Sciences. (Tanzania, 1983)

• *Research Methods in the Social Sciences. (Ethiopia, 1-3 October 1984)

• *Research on Women and Development in the East African Region. (Ethiopia, 27-30 October 1986)

• Food Policy in East African Countries.

• Public Enterprises in East African Countries.

• *Environmental Stress in African Drylands and Its Impact on the River Basins. (Ethiopia, April 1991)

• Workshop on Research Planning and Administration in NUFU Principal Partner Universities. (25-27 September 1995)

• Ethnicity and the State in Eastern Africa. (Ethiopia, 3-5 June 1996)

• *Environmental Management in Eastern and Southern Africa: Have the National Conservation Plans Worked? (Ethiopia, 3-4 March 1997)

• Land Tenure Networking in Sub-Saharan Africa. (Ethiopia, 24-26 January 2000)

• *Promoting Good Governance and Wider Civil Society Participation in Eastern and Southern Africa. (Ethiopia, 6-8 November 2000)

• *African Conflicts: Management, Resolution, Post-Conflict Recovery and Development (The Sudan Case). (Ethiopia, 25-28 May 2001)

(*The publications resulting from these conferences are listed in the Bibliography.)

OSSREA Congress

This is a triennial event that provides a special forum for the presentation and deliberation of scientific papers under a major theme that is both topical and significant for the countries of the region.  Apart from this scholarly conference, the Congress also has a business meeting in which OSSREA’s general membership, under a scheme of proportional representation, deliberate and decide on various issues concerning OSSREA, its activities and future direction, as well as elect members of the Executive Secretary.

To date, OSSREA has organised the following seven congresses that focus on various themes:

• 1^st Congress* (14-17 June 1983, Alemaya, Ethiopia): “Alternative Development Strategies for Africa”;

• 2^nd Congress* (28-31 July 1986, Eldoret, Kenya): “Critical Analysis of Development Policies in Eastern Africa”

• 3^rd Congress (7-11 May 1990, Kampala, Uganda): “Regional Cooperation: Problems and Prospects”

• 4^th Congress*(9-11 August 1993, Debre Zeit, Ethiopia): “The Global Nature of Environmental Crisis and Its Relationship with Development: Africa’s Plight”

• 5^th Congress* (4-8 November 1996, Cape Town, South Africa): “Political and Economic Transformations and Socio-economic Development Responses in Africa”

• 6^th Congress* (24-28 April 2000, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania): “Globalization, Democracy and Development in Africa: Future Prospects”.  

• 7^th Congress* (15-19 December 2002, Khartoum, Sudan): “The quest for social peace in Africa: Transformations, democracy and public policy”.

(See the sections under Books for a list of the books resulting from most of the past congresses.)