African Journals Online
Eastern Africa Social Science Research Review
(EASSRR)

Vol. XVIII No. 1 January 2002

LAND-COVER/LAND-USE CHANGES IN THE DEREKOLLI CATCHMENT OF THE SOUTH WELO ZONE OF AMHARA REGION, ETHIOPIA

Belay Tegene

Abstract: A land-cover analysis carried out in the catchment of Derekolli stream, using image analysis and GIS technologies, in conjunction with data collected through field surveys, revealed two types of changes, i.e., land-cover modification and conversion. The shrubland, which apparently formed the climax vegetation of the study site, and accounted for 16.4 % of the watershed in 1957, disappeared at the rate of 1.6 and 0.31 per cent per year from 1957 to 1986, and from 1986 to 2000, respectively. This change involved a gradual thinning of the shrub and its modification to shrub grassland, and then grassland, due to the selective cutting of the woody biomass for fuelwood and charcoal production. A significant conversion from natural vegetation cover to cropland was observed only between 1957 and 1986, where the cultivated land expanded by 7 per cent. There was very little change in the cropland area since 1986, as most of the land suitable for cultivation was already in use and the limit for expansion had almost been reached. The other type of conversion, i.e., the change from cultivated land to urban area, was insignificant since the land taken up by the emerging town, together with the roads accounted for less than 1.5 per cent of the total area of the catchment.

GENDER PARTICIPATION IN TECHNICAL TRAINING INSTITUTIONS: AN ASSESSMENT OF THE KENYAN CASE

Moses Waithanji Ngware

Abstract: The paper focuses on skill training opportunities for females in Technical Education Programmes (TEP) in Kenya. In Africa, labour markets have become so competitive that females need to be assisted to enter such markets. Expanding skill-training opportunities for females in training institutions could meet this demand. Informal interviews and questionnaires were used to collect data that were analysed within the framework of human capital theory. Sex balance was lacking in TEP and most institutions were internally inefficient, with endogenous factors forcing trainees out of the training programmes.

WOMEN AND LAND IN ZAMBIA: A CASE STUDY OF SMALL-SCALE FARMERS IN CHENENA VILLAGE, CHIBOMBO DISTRICT, CENTRAL ZAMBIA

Gear M. Kajoba

Abstract: The paper shows that most women in Zambia and especially in the study area suffer from insecurity in land since they do not have secure title to land under customary tenure. The results from the research which was carried out using semi structured interviews with 34 female farmers show that the majority of women farmers (62%) were not allocated land directly by headmen but got land through a male contact. However, some women were successful small-scale farmers and, together with the majority, expressed the need for more information on how to secure individual title to the land which they cultivate. Such empowerment of women would require cooperation from traditional leaders who have the power to allocate land to women, especially to single women, divorcees and widows, who tend to be marginalised.

A discipline asserting its identity and place displacement, aid and anthropology in Sudan

Munzoul Abdalla M. Assal

Abstract: The relationship between anthropology and development is very much contested. While the debate about such relationship is not new (it began during the early 1970s and continued up to the present), it started to be heated during the closing decade of the last century with the ascendance of the post-modern critique in anthropology. Arguments of the debate are, generally, either for or against involvement of anthropology, whose dubious history is often cited by those who are sceptic about its role. It is unfortunate that most current heated debates on the relationship between anthropology and development are a reflection of anthropological elitism preoccupied with general dilemmas of anthropology while the real dilemma, that of those who are brutally subjected to misguided development and mass displacement, is compromised. This paper is against such muted anthropological elitism and while it endeavours to make the case for a positive role of anthropology in development, it does not distance anthropologists from the failures of development industry or portray them as an innocent part in that industry. It argues that while revealing the realities of the powerless is still needed, anthropologists need also to focus on the powerful, and probably be part of the power apparatus. The case of the displaced persons in Sudan and the author's own experience with NGOs are used to substantiate the paper's arguments and avert the muted elitism characterising much of the current debates on anthropology and development.