Currently Ongoing

Project # One

Title: Female Domestic Work in Ethiopia: Current situation and future reform

Duration: February 7th2023 – December 30th2024

Description

While the situation of Ethiopian migrant FDWs has attracted much research, there is no much corresponding interest in investigating the conditions of FDWs within Ethiopia itself. This is regrettable not only because FDWs in Ethiopia live under conditions of vulnerability, but also because the gendered impact of the political, economic, population and social transformations the country is undergoing are very likely to be manifested in the conditions and trajectories of domestic work in the country. 

In order to fill this gap, FSS is undertaking a two-year research and advocacy project on female wage labor – a sector that employs mostly young, uneducated, rural women who hold multiple and intersecting disadvantaged positions and are carrying the burden of legal exclusion. The purpose of the project is to generate knowledge on the conditions of female domestic workers and to improve the legal framework of domestic work in Ethiopia through research and advocacy/lobby interventions. Thus, it has two interrelated parts: the first constituting research on the conditions of FDW, and the second, advocacy and lobby activities based on the findings and recommendations of former. The project activities will be carried out in Addis Ababa and one regional city

  1. Objective and Method of the Research Section

The general objective of the research is to “generate knowledge on the existing situation and direction of change of female domestic work in Ethiopia in order to inform policy and legislation. The specific objectives are:

  • Identify the current situation of female domestic work in Ethiopia, including working conditions, wages, benefits, and job security.
  • Analyze the challenges faced by female domestic workers in Ethiopia, including discrimination, harassment, and exploitation, if any.
  • Investigate the role of intermediaries, employers, and rights advocates in the female domestic work sector in Ethiopia.
  • Explore the attitudes, perceptions, and practices of employers towards female domestic workers in Ethiopia.
  • Investigate the challenges faced by employers of female domestic workers in Ethiopia.
  • Identify potential policy and regulatory interventions that could improve the working conditions and protections for both employers and domestic workers.
  • Provide recommendations for improving the working conditions, rights, and protections of female domestic workers and their employers in Ethiopia.

As for the methodology of the research, the research team will conduct a thorough desk review of the available literature on FDWs. Moreover, it will assess reports of CSOs working on promoting the rights of FDWs in order to capture lessons learnt from their experience in advocating for the rights of FDWs. It will also aim to capture lessons from other countries’ experience in handling the right of FDWs.

The research team will collect both qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data will primarily be gathered from FDWs, brokers, rights advocates, relevant NGO and government representatives through in-depth interviews, key informant interviews and focus group discussion. Quantitative data will be collected through a limited survey of female domestic workers. It will then analyze the data, right a draft report of the findings and recommendations, that it will finalize on the basis of inputs from a validation workshop.

  1. Objectives and Methods of the Advocacy Section

The advocacy section of the project aims to further ascertain the realities of female domestic work and the gaps in the legal regime governing it, further refine the recommendations and action plan for comprehensive legislative change, and advocate/lobby for the implementation of the same.

Previously, FSS has successfully used the “research-dialogue-dissemination” trilogy on a number of occasions. However, it had always left the task of undertaking the advocacy task recommended by its research-dialogue outputs to those CSOs whose main work was precisely that. FSS fed these CSOs, ammunition with which they could effectively conduct their advocacy and lobbying work – as in the case of FSS’ research and dialogue endeavors on Khat that culminated in its support to the drafting of regulatory legislation.

The advocacy endeavor  will be carried out through a national conference which brings together all stakeholders including advocacy groups working on the rights of workers in general and women in particular, by forming lobby group composed of relevant stakeholders and like-minded CSOs, holding lobby group meetings where the lobby group plans its activities and discusses its way forward, and producing radio programs, newspaper articles, video documentaries, as well as through the produduction of research monographs and Amharic and English policy briefs that summarize the research and the legal reform recommendations.

Project # Two

ACRC-Addis Ababa Research Uptake Project

Project Duration: February – July 2023

Project description

The African Cities Research Consortium (ACRC) is a collaborative approach to tackling complex problems in the continent’s rapidly changing cities. The FCDO-funded programme aims to generate insights and evidence that will help improve the living conditions, services and life chances of all city residents, particularly for disadvantaged communities. Initially working in 12 African cities, the project integrates systems thinking with rigorous political analysis to provide new insights designed to support urban reform efforts.

FSS’s role

For Addis Ababa, FSS is primary responsible for leading the fourth theme: research uptake.  ACRC’s work in Addis Ababa spans the housing, youth and capability development and structural transformation domains, along with political settlements analysis and a city of systems study covering ten key city systems. Accordingly, the uptake work will focus on engaging key stakeholders in Addis Ababa to co-produce and co-create knowledge, and to communicate research findings from these thematic areas to accelerate changes in policy, practice and programming with respect to the city’s urban transformation agenda.

Project # Three

Title:   Governing Climate Mobility (GCM)

Duration:   2019-2022

Partners: GCM is coordinated by the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) and implemented in collaboration among DIIS (Denmark), FSS (Ethiopia) and the Centre for Migration Studies (CMS), University of Ghana.

Funding: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of  Denmark through the Consultative Research Committee for Development

Research Theme: A Novel approach linking research on governance, climate change and mobility. It  examines how governance contexts influence mobility options and decisions in areas affected by climate change.

Research Focus: Governing Climate Mobility is a 4-years research program that investigates the role of governance contexts and interventions in shaping climate-related mobility. This may include various forms of migration, forced mobility, resettlement and forced immobility.

We do so through theoretically informed field-based research in two sites (in South Wollo Zone, Ahmahar and in West Arsi Zone, Oromia) affected by Climate change in Ethiopia.

The research project specifically examine:

  • Historical mobility patterns and their linkages to governance interventions and environmental change.
  • Current governance contexts and interventions and their influence on climate-related mobility. This includes a focus on both formal and informal across levels of governance, e.g. local, national and international.
  • Governance factors supporting adaptive climate-related mobility and limiting negative forms of climate-related mobility.

Sharing Results: We share results of GCM’s research through academic publication, mass media, policy publications and public seminars. We aim to produce innovative visual communication for broad audiences and when possible to make our outputs publicly available on our website.

Through field-based research, the program seeks to produce knowledge that:

  • Works with the full diversity of mobility practices
  • Supports adaptive forms of climate mobility
  • Informs policy and practice on climate change and mobility

Read more and follow the program at: www.diis.dk/GCM as well

Project # Four

Title: The Politics of Youth-Government interactions in Africa – Ethiopia

Duration:   2020-2021

Partners: Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) and Forum for Social Studies (FSS). The project is also implemented in Mozambique, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. It is coordinated by the CMI. 

Objectives: The main objective of the research project that is funded by the Research Council of Norway is to examine nature of interactions between youth and government in the post-1991 period in Ethiopia. The project is motivated by the need to find better ways to economically and politically empower the youth in Ethiopia and the other study countries which are characterized by political and economic fragility. By exploring regime-youth interactions and major policies addressing the young, the project aims at getting better insights into whether such policies actually empower the youth, or whether they bind them in patronage relationships and thereby reinforce marginalization. The specific objectives of the research project include – the political economy of youth employment schemes, youth representation and mobilization, and youth agency and protest.

Methods: Both primary and secondary data collection instruments will be employed for this project. Primary data will be collected in Addis Ababa and selected field sights in the regions.  In addition, documentary evidence including government policy and strategy documents, annual plans, reports, legislations, regulations, and other related documents will be used for the study.

Expected outputs: The research project will lead to the production of a working paper on youth-government interactions in Ethiopia since 1991 and also two reports (peer-reviewed articles) – one on the political economy of youth employment schemes and the second on youth representation and mobilizations. Moreover, there will be two policy briefs.