Ethiopia WIDE, a longitudinal qualitative research tracking change in rural Ethiopia since 1994, obtained funding in early 2018 to carry out further fieldwork in four of the twenty WIDE communities, in partnership with four Ethiopian universities and the Addis Ababa-based Forum for Social Studies.  The WIDE Bridge project, as it was called, produced a number of outputs using print, radio and TV medias (see here). The most recent WIDE Bridge output is now available, in the form of a special issue of the Los Angeles-published International Journal of Ethiopian Studies, focusing on ‘Globalisation and Rural Ethiopia’, and based on draft papers presented at the 20^th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies held in Mekelle, 1^st to 5^th October 2018. The International Journal of Ethiopian Studies [XIII:1] is now available here.

In this special issue, the authors have used the qualitative data made in early 2018 through the WIDE Bridge project to question the widespread perception associating globalisation with cities and urban life. Cities are seen as the places where globalisation and modernisation unfold first, foremost and fastest, whilst rural areas remain less affected, sometimes stereotyped as ‘conservative’, with rurality often equated with continuity and limited change. In this issue the authors challenge this view, suggesting that in the four WIDE Bridge communities and likely other similar communities in Ethiopia, ‘rural globalisation’ plays out in complex and differentiated ways, with a number of ‘rurally-relevant globally-linked modernisation processes’ having contributed to the emergence of ‘multiple rural modernities’ in Ethiopia, especially since the early 2000s.

The IJES XIII:1 contains the following articles:

1. Whither global rural Ethiopia? Alula Pankhurst and Catherine Dom
2. Youth and globalisation in four WIDE Ethiopia sites. Alula Pankhurst
3. Diverse involvements in globally-linked modernisation processes. Philippa Bevan
4. The importance of rural connectedness. Tefera Goshu
5. Is ICT in education, bridging or exacerbating the digital divide? Agazi Tiumelissan
6. The impact of globalisation on agriculture in a coffee-producing rural community in Southern Ethiopia since 2011. Shiferaw Fujie, Philippa Bevan, and Agata Frankowska
7. Climate change and migration in rural eastern Tigray. Catherine Dom
8. Globalization, smallholder agriculture, and rural livelihoods. Mulugeta Gashaw and Bayissa Abdissa

Our latest WOLTS blog has been written by our Team Leader, Elizabeth Daley. Co-published simultaneously with the Land Portal, “Putting research into action – one muddy step at a time” features her reflections on some of the initial impacts of our team’s work. Recently back from launching round two of our ‘champions’ training initiative on gender, land and mining in pastoralist communities in Tanzania and Mongolia, with our project partners Haki Madini and PCC, Elizabeth shares emerging insights from very encouraging feedback to date.

Read Elizabeth’s blog here, and sign up to keep in touch with WOLTS via our webpage here.

On 6 January the Mokoro-hosted Land Rights in Africa website is celebrating its 20^th Anniversary. The website was created in January 2000 by Robin Palmer, and was originally housed by Oxfam GB, where Robin worked as a Land Rights Adviser. The website has been hosted by Mokoro since 2012. It is a library of resources on land rights in Africa – with a particular focus on women’s land rights and on the impact of land grabbing in Africa. The portal has been well received by practitioners, researchers and policy makers, and has grown considerably over the years. On average the website receives 400 visitors each month. View the Land Rights in Africa site.

The September issue of our e-newsletter is available here. It shares our recently completed assignments, publications, and news of our recent seminars. Read more.

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our times, and it is well-known that carbon dioxide emissions released through air travel – an activity that Mokoro engages in frequently – contribute significantly to the problem. The most effective way to address our carbon emissions would of course be not to create any in the first place, but the nature of Mokoro’s work means that some level of aviation-related emissions is unavoidable. We are therefore pleased to share that  Mokoro has partnered with ClimateCare to offset these emissions, and as such our flights for business can now be deemed “climate neutral”. Moving forward, every 6 months we will take stock of the emissions our air travel generates, and offset this amount by investing in a portfolio of projects that cut emissions elsewhere, as well as improving people’s lives. You can find out more about ClimateCare’s projects via their website.

From 17-19 September Christine Fenning attended this year’s UKFIET conference about Inclusive Education Systems: futures, fallacies and finance. Strategic Development Goal (SDG) 4.5 calls for countries to “eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations”. Over 700 participants working in the education sector came together to think about the challenges and opportunities and how systems could be reformed to enable them to provide quality inclusive education and training for all. Presentations and workshops were organised around six thematic strands:

1. Future directions in inclusive education systems
2. Problematising inclusive systems
3. Education financing for global equity and inclusion
4. Education technology and data science for inclusive systems
5. Education system actors: strengthening inclusive practice
6. System responses to conflict and crises.

The three days provided a lot of food for thought and inspiration. Watch out for an article in our next newsletter.

Mokoro’s most recent seminar – ‘Education in Emergencies: Resilience, Social Cohesion, and Peace’ was held at Wolfson College on 21 June, 2019, and provided audience members with an engaging insight into this burgeoning field. Our guest speakers – Hiba Salem (University of Cambridge), Allison Anderson (Brookings Institution), and Marie Tamagnan (Save the Children) – each brought a unique and thought-provoking perspective, developed through research and implementation across diverse contexts. For anyone unable to attend, or for attendees seeking a recap, we are happy to announce that the seminar video is now available to view online.

You can watch the video here.

You can read a full write-up of the seminar here.

This WOLTS publication is a fascinating photo essay from one of our pilot research communities, Mundarara, in Tanzania. The piece by Jim Grabham, titled “Are rubies undermining Maasai culture”, shares insights gleaned from in-depth interviews with two participants in a one-year training programme on gender, land and mining that has been developed and carried out by the HakiMadini and Mokoro WOLTS project team in Tanzania.

Read the photo essay here, and please sign up to keep in touch with WOLTS latest news via our webpage here.

Following publication of the WOLTS blog on Left Behind Men, the WOLTS project team is delighted to have published a second blog that also focuses on the complex intersection of gender and social relations and natural resource governance and management. The piece, titled “Mongolian herder families are being split between countryside and town”, has been written by B. Munkhtuvshin, a key member of our WOLTS Mongolia team, and has been simultaneously published on the Mokoro website and on the Land Portal. In her blog, Munkhtuvshin looks at how changes in government policies around education impact negatively in unintended ways on the family life and livelihoods of Mongolian pastoral communities. Read the blog here.

Keep in touch with WOLTS latest news by signing up via our webpage – where you can also download our latest research report from Tsenkher soum, in Arkhangai aimag, Mongolia, and our 2018 Mongolia and Tanzania country reports.

The WOLTS project is excited to have published a blog by Narangerel Yansanjav, a key member of our team. The piece, titled “Left behind – the Mongolian herders living at home with Mum”, has been simultaneously published on the Mokoro website and on the Land Portal. In her blog, Nara describes the plight of men in their mid-to-late 30s who lost out on their education due to past policy changes. Many who are still single provide welcome support for their mothers, enabling widows to keep herding, but those who are married often miss out on life with their young families due to a much more recent policy change. Read Nara’s blog here.

If you are not already on our mailing list, please sign up to keep in touch with WOLTS latest news via our webpage – where you can download our latest research report from Tsenkher soum, in Arkhangai aimag, Mongolia, and our 2018 Mongolia and Tanzania country reports.