This article examines the major drivers that spurred the post-1991 agrarian transformation policies in Ethiopia. The political economy approach was used as the analytical tool in the course of identifying the incentives that led to embarking on agrarian transformation efforts. Data were elicited from different primary and secondary sources that included review and analysis of government policy documents, multilateral conventions, and pertinent literature; and key informant interviews with experts and practitioners dealing with agricultural development schemes. The study established that the post-1991 Ethiopian Government embarked on agrarian transformation by lending considerable support to smallholder producers as opposed to the military regime’s neglect of the sub-sector by according primacy to large-scale state farms and agricultural cooperatives. Based on the study findings, it can be concluded that the current Ethiopian Government’s support for smallholder farmers is driven not by its quest for bringing about fast economic growth alone but also by the urge to secure smallholders’ support for ensuring political legitimacy and regime survival. Moreover, the study uncovered that Ethiopia’s proactive unleashing of large-scale commercial farms and adoption of the donor-supported Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) at a later stage, is propelled by the need for attaining the aforementioned twin objectives.

 

 

 

The study investigated the policy and business constraints influencing the growth and expansion of youth-owned Micro- and Small-Enterprises (MSEs) using mainly descriptive statistics and the econometrics framework of the Logit model on 909 youth-owned sample MSEs in Ethiopia. The findings showed that high collateral requirement of finance providers was a very severe problem constraining the growth of youth-owned MSEs, followed by limited access to credit, lack of business premise, lack of business support services, frequent interruption of infrastructure services (such as, telecom, power, and water), and lack of raw material inputs. However, since the youth-owned MSEs have heterogeneous characteristics, they are affected differently by the policy and business constraints. As per the econometric results, tax rate and administration, corruption, labour law, and licensing were found to be insignificant constraints influencing the growth of youth-owned MSEs. Although lack of access to finance and shortage of capital were identified as key challenges, they were found to be insignificant variables in influencing the growth of youth-owned MSEs. Policy predictability was found to have a positive and significant effect on growth of youth-owned MSEs. On the other hand, lack of marketing space for products and lack of business support services were found to have negative and significant effects on growth and expansion of MSEs. Owners attributes (household size, age and education), type of ownership structure and the sector the respondents engaged in were found to have a strong positive effect on the growth of youth-owned MSEs. Moreover, sole owners of MSEs were found to have higher likelihood of growth in employments. Contrary to the researchers’ expectation, type of enterprise (micro or small enterprises) was found to have negative effect on the growth of MSEs. From the results of the study, it can be concluded that the growth of youth-owned MSEs was affected more by owner and firm attributes than by policy and regulatory constraints.

 

 

 

This paper describes colour terms and related concepts in selected Ethiopian languages. It examines the inventory of colour terms and describes their formal and semantic structures. It also gives some insight on the categorisation of colour terms and their hierarchy from the most salient to the less salient and to the marginal ones. The findings show that the generic term colour does not always have a lexical equivalent. The most salient colour terms are black, white and red. Almost all languages considered in this study have simple names for the three prototypical colours with a complete agreement on the nomenclature among mother-tongue speakers. Nearly all of them have derived terms for the less prototypical colours: green, yellow, brown and blue. There are instances in which green extends to blue and black to brown. Grey is one of the most frequently used colours sometimes included in the white region. Pink, orange and purple are marginal colours showing fuzzy boundaries with the dominant colours: red and yellow. The colour white is metaphorically expressed by the words for milk, ash, foam, ice and cotton. Black is associated with darkness, charcoal, soot, devil and beetle. Red is associated with blood, fire, amber, pepper and dusk. The major source of colour vocabulary is the natural environment. The word for green is taken from the words for leaf, cabbage and grass. The word for yellow is taken from flower, mead, yolk, child diarrhoea, banana and honey. It is customary to find identical words for sky and blue; and brown, liver and coffee. The research endorses that lexical representation of colour terms relies heavily on the functional importance of a particular colour in life. This is demonstrated in the extended terms of cattle colours among the pastoral communities. The findings also confirm that languages vary in the number of colour terms. However, the presence of extended colour terms in some languages and small number of such terms in others does not mean mothertongue speakers are unequal in sensing and discriminating colours.

 

 

Nowadays environmental problems have become issues of great concern to many parties. However, many people in Ethiopia seem to have low level of environmental knowledge. This study examined environmental awareness and attitudes of Bahir Dar University students. Data were collected from 523 respondents using 67 self-report questions, which evaluate respondents’ knowledge, attitudes and practice relating to global and local environmental problems. Descriptive statistics was used to assess students’ knowledge and attitudes. The results indicated that respondents have low levels of environmental knowledge, but environmental-friendly attitudes and willingness to commit to environment-friendly practices. No statistically significant difference was found between females and males towards environmental attitudes. To raise environmental knowledge of students, investigating the issue at further depth and revising environmental education curriculum and the methods of delivery are necessary.

 

 

The study explores classroom communication, mainly between subject hearing teachers and deaf students through interpreters in a preparatory school. Case study research design was used to explore the problems in depth. The participants of the study consist of ten Grade 11 deaf students three subject teachers and two interpreters at Menilik II Preparatory School. Data were collected through interviews, focus group discussion, and observation. Interview was conducted with the subject teachers, deaf students and interpreters. In addition, focus group discussion was conducted for eight sampled deaf students. The data was analysed by narrating, quoting as the participants stated in their own words. The result from the focus group discussion and observation revealed that the communication between the teachers, interpreters and deaf students is not satisfactory to induce efficient understanding of the subject matter. The number of sign words to teach the regular curriculum, the level of training of interpreters to carry out their job, the teachers’ awareness about the problems and their attempt to mediate were not successful to the level expected. Furthermore, the result revealed that the sampled deaf students scored the lowest marks in their study of various subjects, compared to hearing students of the same class. In general, the interpretation service that is appropriate for educational provision for deaf students at Menilik II Preparatory School was inadequate when seen in light of inclusive education.

 

 

The decision to deepen cooperation among the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in the struggle against insurgencies in Mali and Nigeria has inspired a lively debate among scholars. Since no large-scale war has occurred between ECOWAS member states since its founding in 1975, it is reasonable to ask whether the institutionalisation of a Security Community was not long overdue. Furthermore, the official proclamation of ECOWAS as a Security Community should lead to the expectation that ECOWAS is a zone of peace and stability. This study questions the stability of ECOWAS security arrangements and subsequently examines whether ECOWAS can be considered a security community in the full sense of the term. The main goal of a security community is to provide transnational peace and political stability. However, armed border conflicts between neighbouring countries emerge occasionally due to unsettled territorial claims and ungoverned spaces in the West African region, which is largely affected by growing insecurity. However, armed border conflicts between neighbouring countries emerge occasionally due to unsettled territorial claims, such as the recent border dispute between Ivory Coast and Guinea over the Kpeaba village area near Sipilou (Siquita) and Nigeria and Benin over Okpara River leading to several casualties. Moreover, in nearly half of the ECOWAS member states, there are ongoing armed insurgencies against the governments. Concerted actions of the affected ECOWAS member states against trans-nationally operating insurgents have failed to materialise. This study therefore employs historical methodology to assess the existence of ECOWAS as an effective security community as contained in its framework and also examines the challenges faced with the context of the situations in Nigeria and Mali.