Conceptualising Famine in Ethiopia

This paper attempts to explain the nature of recurrent famine, not just as a result of a series of adventitious effects, but more importantly as the unintended outcome of an exclusionary growth model. This adventitious effects matter a great deal, but their impact can only be understood in the light of the inherent weakness of the growth model, which impoverished the peasantry and hence generated their vulnerability to famine

The Macroeconomics of Foreign Aid to Ethiopia: Internal Balance and Fiscal Response-An Alternate Framework

Foreign aid recipient fiscal response in developing countries is studied using utility/welfare maximization principle. The underlying assumption of this function (utility/welfare can be maximized by narrowing the deviations of the actual values from their desired values subject to the constraints of finance) doesn’t capture the interplay between project aid inflows and the adjustment process of the government budget. This paper proposes an alternative framework in conceptualizing the recipients fiscal response. This was possible due to the special feature of this paper that aid is disassociated from foreign capital inflow and also identified by its usage which is not the case in other similar studies. This makes one of the strong point and hence the advantage of this paper. Ethiopia in the pre-EPRDF regimes received project aid. The alternative conceptual framework is that project aid is an investment support which pays only for foreign exchange cost component of the investment program. This kind of aid requires the recipient government to generate local resource in order to finance the local currency component of the investment cost and recurrent costs to keep the created capacity running. In this context the change in investment will be greater than the change in project aid inflow. Hence, domestic savings will increase and government tries to improve both tax collection effort and rate and in the context of burgeoned public sector, the government will also try to raise its non-tax revenue through public enterprises surplus transfer (this has never been an issue of the fiscal response literature) to finance the difference. The results were entirely contrary to the conventional claims. Project aid has no ‘displacement effect’. Government was responding positively to project aid by improving both tax collection effort and tax rates and by increasing its non-tax revenue. In the absence of real savings, the government, however, finances the local currency component of the investment cost by domestic bank borrowing: transferring private resources and printing money. It is argued that transferring of resources from private budget surplus to the public sector was carried out through distorted preferential domestic credit policies by crowding-out private investment and depressing personal consumption. Distorted domestic credit policies (rationing with preferential treatment to public sector) was, therefore, unintended outcome the fiscal adjustment to the aid inflow, generating the local fund for local currency costs of the aid-financed public investment in excess of real public savings

Community-Based Health Insurance Schemes

Due to the limited ability of publicly financed health systems in developing countries to provide adequate access to health care, community-based health financing has been proposed as a viable option. This has led to the implementation of a number of Community- Based Health Insurance (CBHI) schemes, in several developing countries. To assess the ability of such schemes in meeting their stated objectives, this study systematically reviews the existing empirical evidence on three outcomes – access to schemes, effect on health care utilization and effect on financial protection. In addition to collating and summarizing the evidence we analyse the link between key scheme design characteristics and their effect on outcomes and comment on the role that may be played by study characteristics in influencing outcomes. The review shows that the ultra-poor are often excluded and at the same time there is evidence of adverse selection. The bulk of the studies find that access to CBHI is associated with increased health care utilization, especially with regard

Enrolment in Ethiopia’s Community Based Health Insurance Scheme

In June 2011, the Government of Ethiopia rolled out a pilot Community Based Health Insurance (CBHI) scheme. This paper assesses scheme uptake. We examine whether the scheme is inclusive, the role of health status in inducing enrolment and the effect of the quality of health care on uptake. By December 2012, scheme uptake had reached an impressive 45.5 percent of target households. We find that a household’s socioeconomic status does not inhibit uptake and the most food-insecure households are substantially more likely to enrol. Recent illnesses, incidence of chronic diseases and self-a

Performance Evaluation of Engine Operated Potato Grader

 አህፅሮት ድንችን በባህላዊ መንገድ በመጠን የመለየት ስራ ብዙ ሰዓትና የሰው ጉልበት የሚፈልግ በጣም አድካሚና አነስተኛ ውጤት የሚያስገኝ ስራ ነው። ስለሆነም ድንችን ወደ ተለያየ መጠን የሚለይ በሞተር ኃይል የሚሰራ ማሽን ፍተሻ እና የመገምገም ስራ ተሰርቷል። የመለያ ማሽኑ በተለያየ መጠን የሚለየውን ድንች ማስገቢያ፣መለያ ሲሊንደር፣ኃይል ማስተላለፊያ ዘንግና መቀበያ አሉት። ሙከራው በተለያየ ጡዘት (10፣15 እና 20 ጡዘት በደቂቃ)፣ ዘዌ (5፣10 እና 15 ዲግሪ) እና በተለያየ የድንች አጨማመር በደቂቃ (20፣ 30 እና 40ኪ.ግ) በስፕሊት ስፕሊት ፕሎት የሙከራ ዲዛይን (split split plot design)ተከናውኗል። የማሽኑን የድንች የመለየት አቅም፣ የመለየት ስርዓት ውጤታማነት፣የነዳጅ ፍጆታ እና መካኒካዊ ጉዳት ከግምት ውስጥ በማስገባት የመገምገም ስራ ተከናውኗል። የፍተሻ ውጤቶቹ እንደሚያሳዩት የማሽኑ የመለየት አቅም እና የነዳጅ ፍጆታው የመለያ ሲሊንደሩ ፍጥነት እና የሚለየው የድንች መጠን ሲጨምር አብሮ የሚጨምር ሲሆን የድንች ሜካኒካዊ ጉዳት እና የመለየት ስርዓት ውጤታማነት ደግሞ የዘዌ መጠን ሲጨምር እየቀነሰ ይሔዳል። ከፍተኛው የማሽኑ የመለየት ስርዓት ውጤታማነት የተገኘው ማሽኑ በ15 ጡዘት በደቂቃ እና በ5 ዲግሪ ዘዌ፤ 20 እና 30 ኪ.ግ. በደቂቃ ድንችን በተለያየ ጊዜ በመጨመር በሚለይበት ጊዜ 97.57 እና 97.67% በቅደም ተከተል ሆኖ ተመዝግቧል። ይህ የድንች መለያ ማሽን የኢኮኖሚ አዋጭነቱ ተጠንቶ በሀገር ውስጥ አምራቾች ተባዝቶ ለተጠቃሚዎች ቢቅርብ የድንች አምራቾችና በምርት እሴት ሰንሰለት ላይ የተሰማሩ ባለድርሻ አካላትን ውጤታማነትን ያሳድጋል። Abstract  Traditional methods of grading potato tubers require high labor-hour, cause fatigue to workers, and have low output. Hence, an engine-driven machine capable of grading potato tubers into different size classes was evaluated. The grader prototype consisted of a feeding table, grading cylinder, and catchment tray. Grading capacity, grading system efficiency, mechanical damage, and fuel consumption were used to determine the performance of the machine. Split-split-plot experimental design where grading cylinder speeds (10, 15, 20 rpm) were the main plots, angle of inclinations (5, 10, and 15°) as sub-plots, and feeding rates (20, 30, 40 Kg.min-1)as sub-sub-plots with three replications were used. The results indicated that grading capacity and fuel consumption increased with increasing cylinder speed and feed rate while percentage mechanical damage and grading system efficiency decreased with increasing angle of inclination. The maximum grading system efficiency of 97.57% and 97.67 % was observed when the machine was operated at speed of 15rpm, angle of inclination of 5°, and feed rate of 20 and 30 kg.min-1, respectively. From the performance indices, it can be concluded that the performance of the machine is very much acceptable with a high prospect for extending the technology for small and medium-scale farmers and potato whole sellers along the value chain

Integrated Water Resources Management as a System Approach for Water Security: Evidence from the Awash River Basin of Ethiopia

Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is one of the systems thinking approaches that emerged in the 1990s to achieve water security. Ever since, it has been applied in various countries and contexts. However, the implementation of the IWRM is contested. There is paucity of literature and guidelines as to how the concept can be operationalized. In Ethiopia, there is no evidence that IWRM is successfully instituted. The study generated data from household and expert surveys, in-depth interviews, focused group discussions, observations, workshops, and secondary sources. We found that pragmatic water resources management through system approach helps to resolve the problem of fragmentations among various actors, sectors, interest, and priorities. It also enables the operationalization of IWRM as a system approach to secure water resources through strengthening of the interactions of various systems, subsystems, and the elements within the entire basin system. In addition, it is important to facilitate institutional environments such as overcoming financial constraints, considering the scarcity value of water resources and equity issues, as well as ensuring progressiveness of water institutions to emerging circumstances. To this end, strengthening water resources information systems, recognizing and balancing water as economic and public goods, creating awareness among key stakeholders, encouraging the engagement of private sectors in water resources development and management should be considered as mediums of realizing IWRM.Keywords:  IWRM; system thinking; water security; Awash basin; Ethiopi

Finite Element Analysis of Polyethylene Terephthalate Waste Plastic Polymer as a Filler in Crumb Rubber Modified Binder of Hot Mix Asphalt

Ethiopia’s highway network showed that a high percentage of roads are suffering from fatigue, creep, and rutting in the long term. These stresses may have occurred due to the shortage in the mechanistic properties of either of the increase in traffic load; these modifying properties of asphalt enhanced the mechanistic properties of hot mix asphalt. Nowadays, the use of recycled waste materials in road pavement is regarded not only as a positive option in terms of sustainability but also as an appealing option in terms of providing improved service performance. Therefore, the main aim of this research is to investigate the effects of crumb rubber and polyethylene terephthalate plastic polymer in asphalt mixture modification on the pavement responses using a finite element approach. The modification was performed both for asphalt binder and for asphalt mixture. The laboratory tests for asphalt mixture, such as a standard Marshall and Indirect tensile strength were conducted. In total, 69 samples were prepared: 15 as a control mix, which was prepared by blending course and fine selected with asphalt binder of 4, 4.5, 5, 5.5, and 6% of their weight to determine the optimum binder content, and the remaining to investigate the effects of adding different crumb rubber and polyethylene terephthalate plastic percentage to asphalt mix. Two proportions of crumb rubber (10% and 15%) by weight of asphalt binder were tested to modified asphalt binder, and four proportions of polyethylene terephthalate plastic (0, 2, 4, and 6%) by weight of crushed stone filler were used as partial replacement of filler content in the asphalt mix. The dimensional finite element model of Hot Mix Asphalt pavement structure was developed using Abaqus software to quantify the stress and deformation developed in the asphalt mixture due to static load. The asphalt binder test results showed that adding 10% crumb rubber as a modified reduced penetration by 1.56% and increased the softening point (by 4.33%) of the modified asphalt binder. The addition of 10% crumb rubber as asphalt binder modified and 2% of PET as partial replacement of crushed stone in the asphalt mixture was considered the best modifier that achieved maximum stability (increased by 0.17%), minimum flow (decrease by 20.07%), maximum stiffness (increased by 20.71%) and higher tensile strength of the asphalt mixtures. When crumb rubber and PET polymer are combined, vertical deformation is reduced by 23.65% and the percentage of stress is increased by 7.36%

Healthcare-seeking behaviour in rural Ethiopia: Evidence from clinical vignettes

__Abstract__ Objectives: To investigate the determinants of healthcare-seeking behaviour using five contextrelevant clinical vignettes. The analysis deals with three issues: whether and where to seek modern care and when to seek care. Setting: This study is set in 96 villages located in four main regions of Ethiopia. The participants of this study are 1632 rural households comprising 9455 individuals. Primary and secondary outcome measures: Probability of seeking modern care for symptoms related to acute respiratory infections/pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria, tetanus and tuberculosis. Conditional on choosing modern healthcare, where to seek care (health post, health centre, clinic and hospital). Conditional on choosing modern healthcare, when to seek care (seek care immediately, the next day, after 2 days, between 3 days to 1 week, a week or more). Results: We find almost universal preference for modern care. Foregone care ranges from 0.6% for diarrhoea to 2.5% for tetanus. There is a systematic relationship between socioeconomic status and choice of providers mainly for adult-related conditions with households in higher consumption quintiles more likely to seek care in health centres, private/Non-Government Organization (NGO) clinics as opposed to health posts. Delays in care-seeking behaviour are apparent mainly for adult-related conditions and among poorer households. Conclusions: The analysis suggests that the lack of healthcare utilisation is not driven by the inability to recognise health problems or due to a low perceived need for modern care

Coping with shocks in rural Ethiopia

Based on household survey data and event history interviews undertaken in a highly shock prone country, this paper investigates which shocks trigger which coping responses and why? We find clear differences in terms of coping strategies across shock types. The two relatively covariate shocks, that is, economic and natural shocks are more likely to trigger reductions in savings and in food consumption while the sale of assets and borrowing is less common. Coping with relatively idiosyncratic health shocks is met by reductions in savings, asset sales and especially a far greater reliance on borrowing as compared to other shocks. Reductions in food consumption, a prominent response in the case of natural and economic shocks is notably absent in the case of health shocks. Across all shock types, households do not rely on gifts from family and friends or on enhancing their labour supply as coping approaches. The relative insensitivity of food consumption to health shocks based on the shocks-coping analysis presented here is consistent with existing work which examines consumption insurance. However, our analysis leads to a different interpretation. We argue that this insensitivity should not be viewed as insurability of food consumption against health shocks but rather as an indication that a reduction in food consumption is not a viable coping response to a health shock as it does not provide cash to meet health care needs

The impact of Ethiopia’s pilot community based health insurance scheme on healthcare utilization and cost of care

In recent years there has been a proliferation of Community Based Health Insurance (CBHI) schemes designed to enhance access to modern health care services and provide financial protection to workers in the informal and rural sectors. In June 2011, the Government of Ethiopia introduced a pilot CBHI scheme in rural parts of the country. This paper assesses the impact of the scheme on utilization of modern health care and the cost of accessing health care. It adds to the relatively small body of work that provides a rigorous evaluation of CBHI schemes. We find that enrolment leads to a 30 to 41 percent increase in utilization of outpatient care at public facilities, a 45 to 64 percent increase in the frequency of visits to public facilities and at least a 56 percent decline in the cost per visit to public facilities. The effects of the scheme on out-of-pocket spending are not as clear. The impact on utilization and costs combined with a high uptake rate of almost 50 percent within two years of scheme establishment, suggests that this scheme has the potential to meet the goal of universal access to health care