Fewer Jobs and More Migrants: Large Scale Agricultural Investment and Internal Migration in Ethiopia: A Case of Saudi Star and Merti Agricultural Development Farms

Chalachew Getahun   

Large scale agricultural investments offer huge potential in creating employment opportunities, which, in turn, are expected to cause substantial migration. In Ethiopia, whereas extant ample literature shows substantial in-migration of people triggered by employment opportunities in scattered commercial farms and plantations established from 1950s to 1970s in the Awash Valley and other areas of the country, the literature on the link between large scale commercial farms recently leased to investors and migration is very limited. Using cross-sectional survey, this paper analyzed this link in the context of Saudi Star and Merti Agricultural Development farms, respectively in Abobo and Merti woredas. Results show that 34.4% of the respondents were migrants overall (45.1% for Abobo and 23.5% for Merti). Proportionally, more migrants than non-migrants were working in the commercial farms. However, this proportion (of employed migrants) was lower when compared to the total number of migrant respondents, suggesting that more migrants were not employed in the farms. The association between employment in commercial farms and a respondent's migration status in the regression analysis is positive. Although the association is only statistically weakly significant or not significant at all, these results may suggest that migration to employment areas is not necessarily informed by actual employment but rather by migrants' expectations encouraged by lowered costs of migration, a result in line with existing literature regarding labor migration and employment.

Use of Whatsapp Social Media as Platform for Crowdfunding: Selected Observations in Tanzania

Honest Ngowi

Crowdfunding which is raising small amounts of resources – mainly financial – from many people in order to collect huge sums for a particular purpose has been practiced by some societies over years. The practice of crowdfunding today makes the use of different kinds of platforms necessary. This paper presents a survey of 18 observations and one in-depth case study of WhatsApp groups in Tanzania where WhatsApp social media has been used mainly between 2018 and 2019 as a platform for crowdfunding. The paper is mainly informed by secondary data. It identifies purposes of the observed crowdfunding, number of individuals involved in each round of crowdfunding per group, total amounts of funds raised per group per round of crowdfunding, maximum and minimum amounts contributed per group as well as average contribution per contributor in a round of crowdfunding.   

Impact of Satellite Television Programs On Ethiopian Culture: An Exploratory Study of Viewing Habits and Attitudes

Daniel Erena And Hailu Gutema

The purpose of this study was to determine satellite television viewing habits of high and preparatory school students. The study also aimed at finding out whether viewing habits of students would indicate relationship with students’ attitudes, socioeconomic and gender background. The study is conducted on select private and government schools found in Nifas Silk Lafto sub-city of Addis Ababa. This exploratory study combined quantitative and qualitative research methods. Instruments of data collection composed of questionnaire and interview. The findings indicated that all the high school teenagers named television as the prime media followed by mobile device. The results revealed that fulfillment of affective needs were one of the most widely declared motivations for teenage satellite TV program consumers. The overwhelming majority of the students opted for movies as the prime show of the media. Most of the teenage students were found to be heavy TV viewers. This study also found that there is association between TV viewing habits, socioeconomic background, gender and attitude of teenage students towards various elements of culture imbibed from Kana TV movies and its impact. Findings of the present study have implication on media literacy training, an essential skill in the digital age.

Information and Social Networks as Immediate Factors of Migration

Ataklti Gebreyesus & Shishay Tadesse

The Kembata-Tembaro, Hadiya and Welayta are one of the highly migratory zones in Ethiopia. While they all enjoy similarities along population densities, land holdings, agro-ecologies and employment opportunities; the migration patterns in these areas differ in that, while the first two are known for international migration mainly to the Republic of South Africa, the latter is known for its internal migration with few international migrations. The Migration Network Theory was adopted to assess the role of information and social networks in triggering migration and the role they played in shaping patters of migration from the study area. A descriptive research with mixed methods approach was employed. Results show the importance of information and social networks in triggering migration decisions, serving as immediate causes as opposed to the root causes of migration. This study has concluded that information and social networks have served as factors triggering migration from study area. Accordingly, it calls for separate migration policy responses and interventions at the root cause and immediate levels. 

Challenges and Prospects of Cooperation Over the Nile River: State Policies and Determinants

Zelalem Muchie

The study examines challenges and prospects of Cooperation in the Nile River basin. The study is underpinned by the significance of pivotal riparian state thereby considers Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan as pivotal riparian states. The study identified that domestic politics, geopolitics and water regimes are major determinant factors of cooperation in the basin. Egypt’s unchanged domestic legal system and its contentious approach towards Nile basin states are the major domestic and geopolitical factor affecting cooperation respectively. Besides to this, the mere existence of water regimes, either in the form of legal agreements or institutional attempts, does not bring effective cooperation. The finding of the study shows that, domestic politics, geopolitics and water regimes are indeed determinant factors for the cooperative and conflictive nature of water sharing in the basin. The level of their impact however is neither equal nor constant. Importantly, these three factors affect and condition one another. The dynamic nature of these factors would make the prospect of cooperation to be a fantasy in the basin. 

Climate Change and The Nature of Intergenerational Transfer of Knowledge in The Contemporary World: The Case of Masasi District in Tanzania

Jackson M. Kaijage

This article discusses a detailed overview of the paradigm shift as a result of contemporary socio-economic and environmental changes, and their implications to the continuity in intergenerational transfer of traditional ecological knowledge. The continuity of intergenerational transfer of TEK faces challenges due to a number of factors, but most importantly being the erosion of traditional platforms for common sharing about the environment or environmental changes. The information presented in this article was mainly obtained from in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, photo narratives and data on climate from the Tanzania Meteorological Agency. A content analysis was used by the study to interpret phrases, terms and expressions used by respondents to respond to questions and in discussions conducted in line with the objectives. From the study findings it is seen how modern systems for communication such as the media, new ways of learning about the environment such as through Extension workers in agriculture are gradually overtaking traditional systems of knowledge sharing. In addition, the gradual inability of TEK to make accurate predictions about the environment in the context of a rapidly changing environment due to climate change is also causing distrust. For a generation that demands quick and tangible answers, TEK practices may not seem to satisfy this need.