In Memoriam: Professor Kassahun Berhanu
On 22 February 2022, the Department of Political Science and International Relations of Addis Ababa University lost a great teacher, mentor and leader. Ethiopia lost a committed public intellectual who offered a tempered voice on often contentious issues and availed his service for a host of important national assignments. The Forum for Social Studies lost one of its most active members and leaders.
Professor Kassahun has been a member of FSS since 2002 and served as member of its Executive Board from 2011 to 2016. He also chaired that Board in 2016. Besides playing an active role in charting the future direction of FSS, he engaged actively in the organization’s various research projects and dialogue fora. Indeed, his association with FSS goes back to the year of its establishment, when he presented a paper entitled “Resettlement: A Strategy for Vulnerable Groups?” at its inaugural workshop on 18 September 1998. This emanated from his superb PhD dissertation on resettlement of refugees in the Setit Humera area, including Mai Kadra, which has been so much in the news during the recent conflict in northern Ethiopia.
Thereafter, Professor Kassahun participated in a number of the research projects undertaken by FSS, almost all of them invariably culminating in important publications. The following are some of those projects, in chronological order:
- “The Role of NGOs in Protecting Democratic Values: the Ethiopian Experience”, in Bahru Zewde and Siegfried Pausewang, eds., The Challenge of Democracy from Below. Uppsala and Addis Ababa: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet and Forum for Social Studies.
- with Alula Pankhurst, Assefa Tolera and Gebre Yntiso, eds., Rethinking Resettlement: The Ethiopian Experience. Addis Ababa: Forum for Social Studies.
- with Tegegne Gebre-Egziabher, “A literature review of wereda decentralization in Ethiopia”,
in Taye Assefa & Tegegne Gebre-Egziabher, eds, Decentralization in Ethiopia. Addis Ababa: Forum for Social Studies.
- የፖለቲካ ፓርቲዎች ሕዝባዊ ምርጫና የሕዝብ ውክልና በኢትዮጵያ ፣ ዲሞክራሲያዊ የለውጥ እርምጃዎች እንድምታዎች እና አማራጮቻቸው፡፡ አዲስ አበባ፤ ፎረም ፎር ሶሻል ስተዲስ፡፡
- with Tegegne Gebre-Egziabher. Socio-Economic Base-Line Survey of Rural and Urban Households in Tana Sub-Basin, Amhara National Regional State. Addis Ababa: Forum for Social Studies.
- with Bahru Zewde and Gebre Yntiso, “The Ethiopian diaspora and the Tigray Development Association”, in Liisa Laakso & Petri Hautaniemi, eds, Diasporas, Development and Peacemaking in the Horn of Africa. London: Zed Books, in association with Nordic Africa Institute.
- with Tegegne Gebre-Egziabher. Implications of irrigation development in the Tana and Beles sub Basins for Local Livelihoods and Poverty Alleviation: A Baseline Survey. FSS Monograph No. 10.
In addition, Professor Kassahun was actively involved in an FSS collaborative project with the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London entitled “Parliament for People” and presented the following two research products with Dr. Asnake Kefale, during the life span of the project, 2019-2021:
- “Unheard Voices and Contestations over Representation”;
- “Participatory Democracy in Ethiopia: The Participation of Target Groups in Civil Society Organizations and the Role of Civil Society Organizations in Federal Law-Making Processes”.
In the last months of his life, Professor Kassahun was a member of a team, including Professor Bahru Zewde and Dr. Berhanu Denu, engaged in yet another FSS collaborative project with the Nairobi-based Society for International Development titled the “Ethiopia Scenarios Project”. Although the background study for the project has been completed, his untimely departure leaves a serious gap in the finalization of the project.
Professor Kassahun was not only a conscientious and diligent scholar but also a charming and engaging personality. His sense of humour, which was often heralded by the distinctive smile with which he opened a conversation, made interaction with him both entertaining and fruitful.
The above resumé of Professor Kassahun Berhanu’s scholastic achievements covers only those pertaining to his engagement with FSS. To learn about his many contributions as well as recognitions at the national and international stage, the reader is referred to a more comprehensive tribute written by his former PhD supervisor, Professor Jon Abbink. Link: https://fss-ethiopia.org/index.php/download/in-memoriam-kassahun-berhanu-1955-2022/