Suchergebnisse

Despite growing research on homeless street children, women and elderly people in Ethiopia, there is little empirical evidence regarding the experiences of homeless street youth in the country. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological research is therefore to understand the lived experiences of street homeless youth aged between 18 and 29 years in Gondar city. Face -to- face in-depth interview was conducted with 9 purposively selected study participants. Interviews were transcribed, coded, categorized and thematized through thematic analysis strategy. Five themes emerged from the data analysis include Reasons for becoming homeless; Social marginalization; Violence and Criminalization; Psychological distress; and Means of a living. Findings of this study illustrate that homeless youth suffered from poor health, sexual violence, psychological trauma, social stigma and hostility from the public. The combined effect of these precarious situations places homeless youth at the margins of society and makes them feel helpless in their daily lives. This study implies that social workers should use and promote family- and community-based interventions to deal with the problem of homeless youths and integrate them into society.
How to reference using ASWNet style:
Bihonegn, A. (2023). "Like rubbing salt into the wound": Lived experiences of homeless youth in Gondar City, Ethiopia. African Journal of Social Work, 13(5), 265-272. https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ajsw.v13i5.5
Visit journal website: https://ajsw.africasocialwork.net

Although street-based prostitution is a rapidly growing social phenomenon in Ethiopian cities, there is little scholarly attention given to address the issue. This qualitative study aimed to understand the lived experiences of women who attempted to exit street prostitution in Gondar city. Thirteen study participants were chosen using the snowball sampling technique. In-depth interviews were used to gather qualitative data, which were then analyzed thematically. The study revealed formal support services, family support, spirituality, and saving money as important factors leading women to successfully exit from prostitution. However, some participants reported that structural problems, drug addiction, and societal attitudes led them to return to street prostitution. This study suggests that to help women successfully leave prostitution, interventions for exiting strategies should focus on economic strengthening activities as well as rehabilitation services including substance abuse treatment.

Given the violent conflict and spiraling human rights violations over the last 3 years in Ethiopia, the mass killings and genocide have received little scholarly attention. This phenomenological study investigated the lived experiences of Amhara survivors of the Maikadra massacre, which occurred November 9–10, 2020, in northwestern Ethiopia. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 survivors who were purposefully selected to understand the meaning and essence of their lived experiences of the massacre. Data were transcribed, translated, and thematically analyzed using a qualitative phenomenological approach. Thematic analysis yielded seven themes centered on premassacre oppression and discrimination, traumatic experiences, emancipation, exacerbating stressors, postmassacre injustice, survivors' primary needs, and coping mechanisms of massacre survivors. The article underscores the role of social workers and community workers in providing professional psychosocial programs and interventions to address massacre survivors' specific needs as individuals, families, and communities.

This phenomenological study explores the reintegrating experiences of nine prison torture survivors in the community of Gondar, Ethiopia. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and then thematically analyzed, revealing three major themes: the nature of reintegration, personal challenges of integration, and available supports for reintegration. The findings revealed prison torture survivors' successful integration was based on their community social bonds. Poorly reintegrated prison torture survivors gradually become violent and committed other crimes. Providing community-based psychosocial support and well-organized social services is necessary for the well-being and sustainable reintegration of prison torture survivors into the community.

This paper reviews the experiences of intergovernmental fiscal systems (IGFS) to look for possible lessons for how Official Development Assistance (ODA) is delivered. Specifically, it compares IGFS and ODA in two specific respects. The first is the proportion of public resources that central governments make available to sub-national governments on a conditional basis, and how that compares with the proportion of non-earmarked ODA given to low income countries. The second is the role of performance outcome in resource allocation to sub-national governments and how that compares with the role of performance in ODA, particularly multilateral ODA allocation. The comparisons show that: (i) the share of earmarked ODA is more than three times higher than that of conditional grants in intergovernmental systems, suggesting that donors in ODA rely more on earmarking to influence the spending decisions of the recipient countries than their federal governments do on conditional grants to induce policy changes in their own sub-national governments; and (ii) none of the OECD countries currently use outcome measures in determining resource allocation to their sub-national governments for a variety of good reasons, and the recent debate as to whether multilateral ODA allocation should be based on development outcomes seems to ignore this experience.

Over the past couple of decades, global financing for development has changed dramatically. The biggest shifts have been the rapid increase of net private financing flows to developing countries, in particular to middle-income countries (MICs); the sustained growth of official development assistance (ODA) from Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members, even excluding debt relief; the emergence of MICs as growth poles and sources of ODA with different approaches to aid delivery than those of DAC donors; and the expanded role of private aid. In addition, past trends of proliferation, fragmentation and earmarking of aid have continued. This paper reviews broad trends in global financing for development, with a focus on ODA and the growing importance of new development partners such as the so-called BRICS. In this context, it discusses the implications of this changing landscape for aid effectiveness and the role of ODA going forward.