Browsing by Author "Bekele, Firew"

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    Effects of Grazing Exclusion on Field Layer Species Composition, Biomass and Selected Soil Properties in Gibe Valley National Park, South-Western Ethiopia
    (Addis Ababa University, 2017-06-05) Bekele, Firew; Nemomissa, Sileshi (Professor); Johansson, Maria (PhD); Bekele, Tamrat (PhD)
    Effects of Grazing Exclusion on Field Layer Species Composition, Biomass and Selected Properties in Gibe Valley National Park, South-western Ethiopia Firew Bekele Abebe, MSc Thesis Addis Ababa University, 2017 Grazing of domestic livestock is one of the most common land-uses in Sub-Saharan Africa. In this study, the effects of grazing exclusion on field layer biomass, litter moisture content, field layer species composition, soil bulk density and soil volumetric water content, soil organic matter and soil pH were investigated using six permanent grazing exclosures situated along an altitudinal gradient in Gibe river gorge, South-western Ethiopia. Species composition was tested by Adonis test and an indicator species analysis was done. Nested anovas were used to examine the effect of grazing on all other parameters. The results showed that after 1.5 years of livestock exclusion, there was a difference in field layer species composition (p=0.022). The significant indicator species for grazed plots was the common grazing weed Leucas deflexa, whilst the most valuable pasture grass Bothriochloa insculpta was the significant indicator species for plots inside exclosures. Field layer cover, grass cover, number of grass species, field layer maximum and average heights were significantly higher inside exclosures than in grazed plots (p=0.020, p=0.004, p=0.008, p<0.001and p<0.001 respectively). Area cover of bare soil was significantly higher in grazed plots (p<0.001). Exclosures had significantly higher grass biomass and soil volumetric water content (p=0.025 and p=0.017 respectively) than grazed plots. These large differences between exclosures and grazed plots showed the large effect of grazing exclosures in changing the vegetation, in an area with relatively high grazing pressure. Excluding an area here from grazing for 1.5 years did not significantly change the number of species, leaf and wood litter biomass, moisture content of four fine fuel biomass fractions, soil bulk density, organic matter content and pH of both 0-5 and 5-10 cm soil layers. However, results indicate a slightly higher soil organic matter and pH, and slightly lower soil bulk density in exclosure plots compared to grazed plots. This finding indicates that these are variables which could become significantly altered by the fences if the livestock exclusion was run over a longer time period.
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    Factors Affecting Audience Perception of Communication Campaign Messages Aimed at Preventing HIV/AIDS Transmission
    (Addis Ababa University, 2015-06) Bekele, Firew; Lencho., Negeri (PhD)
    With th e in creased role of media in ra ising public awa ren ess, more and more health communications campaigns particul arl y focusi ng o n HI V prevention are now being imp lemented throughout the co untry . In vesting co nside rab le amount of resources, these commu nications campa igns use broa dcast medi a, print, Intern et and interpersona l co mm uni ca tions to reach th eir in te nded audie nces w ith different obj ecti ves and messages. Th is st udy aim ed t o id e ntify the fac to rs affecti ng audie nce pe rcepti on of ca mpa ign messages to prevent HIV transmi ss ion. In add it ion, as th ey also affect pe rce pti on, th e stu dy will attempt to id entify preferred HI V preve ntion informat ion so u rces of FSW , and their level of HI V preventi on methods knowledge ga in ed from th e messages. Informed by social cog niti ve and protectio n motivati on th eo ri es, th is descriptive audience resea rch used qu alitati ve and quant ita ti ve methods wi th survey questionnaires and in-depth interv iews as too ls. Train ed a nd experienced da ta co ll ectors we re use d to co nd uct the interviews and questi onn a ires. Tes t run s a nd q uality ass ura nce superv isions were co nducted to ensu re success. The study location is Ko lfe Kera ni o sub city, th e area be hind Alert hos pital a nd a sa mpl e size of 14 5 responden ts were taken. Fo r the interv iews , non-ran dom quota and snowba ll sa mpl in g techn iqu es we re used to reach a tota l of 30 respondents. For the survey questio nn ai re , a mi x of cl uster and sim ple rand o m sa m pl ing we re used based on esti mated number of FSWs in each clu st er. Findings on th e demog raphi c c harac teri stics of the wo me n shows th at majorit y are be low th e age of 25, wit h litt le to no edu ca ti on, speak in g varying prim ary lang uages, havi ng good kn ow ledge of HI V preventio n methods and an average inco me of over 500 Birr a mont h. Findin gs s how th at th e preferred HI V inform at ion so urces of t he wome n in clud ed interp erso na l co mmunica ti on s in th e form of peer educa to rs and women gro ups wi t h coffee ceremon ies, prin t materials such as brochures and leaflets foll owed by health professiona ls. Th e leve l of the responde nts' kn ow ledge with rega rd s to HI V preve ntion me th ods is very hi gh. In addi tion, respondents are practi cin g th e behav iors th at lea rn ed from the messages such as for examp le the use of co ndo ms with all client s. Th ough th ere is so me deba te among respo nde nts abo ut the use of co ndo ms w ith th eir tru st ed partners, th e wo rd "tru sted" be in g th e ca use of de bate among res pond ents. Cred ibility of th e so urce of messages, co mpre hensibility of ca mpai gn messages, wo rk ing/liv in g co ntext of th e res pond e nts, th e nature of messages that inc rease ability and sk ill s as we ll as raise ri sk pe rce ption are th e factors foun d to be stro ng ly affec tin g res pond ents pe rcepti on. Attractive ness of t he source of the messages, re leva nce of messages, appea l of m essages to audiences, message clutte r in message recip ie nts ' contex t, in te n sity of materi als (use of different chann els) , moti vat ion of the message reci pient as we ll as th e experi e nce of in cide nts are the f act ors th at we re found to be moderate ly affectin g respo ndents' pe rce ption. Fa mili a rity of th e so urce of the message to audie nces , in the form of age , sex, re li gious be liefs, ethnic background, has no effect on audience perception of messages.
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    The Impact of Horizontal Urban Expansion on Sub- Urban Agricultural Community Livelihood: The Case of Tabor Sub-City, Hawassa city, SNNPRS, Ethiopia
    (Addis Ababa University, 2010-06) Bekele, Firew; Abdissa, Melese (PhD)
    Throughout the world, we find human being residing either in urban or rural or in betweenperi- urban or peri-rural. Both urbanization and ruralism are counter competing areas whereas the area between is the field of contest. Globally, urbanization has as equal age as the ancient civilization of Babylonians. As it is concomitant with socio-economic development, urbanization has a higher level of development in developed nations than under developed ones.In Ethiopia, although its level is the lowest even among other under developed nations, its rate, however, is the highest and made a country one of twenty-three countries experiencing fast urbanization in the World. As a matter of this fact, Hawassa city is among the Ethiopian urban settings experiencing unprecedented rate of urbanization through expansion. Hence, the objective of this study was to assess the impacts of horizontal urban expansion on peri-urban agricultural community's livelihood in Ethiopia by taking the Tabor sub-city as a case in Hawassa city, SNNPRS. Based on the descriptive research design, the study had applied the mix methods of both Qualitative and Quantitative approaches. A household survey was conducted on 156 households sampled through systematic sampling and non-random sampling techniques. Primary data had been collected through semi-structured questionnaire, semi-closed interview, participant observation and focus group discussion while the secondary one was from different written and documented sources. Having analyzing the collected data through the SSPS software as a model, the researcher had arrived at the conclusion that horizontal urban expansion has adverse impact on the livelihood of peri-urban agricultural community in Ethiopia, as theHawassa city case had shown us. Hence, the livelihood of such community has been at the verge of risk. This negative externality was attributed mainly to lack of urban good governance & lack of effective rules and regulations on land expropriation from and compensation to farmers while the difference in wealth, power, educational background, family size burdens, livelihood strategies and diversity before and after expropriation were determining factors. Thus, it is therecommendation of this study that there is a need to prevail urban good governance to curtail the problem, especially, following participatory approach on stakeholders, particularly, farmers, in to urban development plans and projects, there should exist effective rules and regulations which guide expropriation from and compensation to farmers when their land is expropriated for public interest, there should, also, be consideration of the recipients' interests on kind and quantity of compensation and if money is only possible resolutions on a kind of compensation to farmers', then, pre-trainings and post coaching need to be carried out to enable such community sustain and secure their livelihood in such changed and continuously rechanging urban terrains