Browsing by Author "Girma, Endalkachew"

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    Assessing the Impacts of South Sudanese Refugees on the Host Communities of Itang Woreda: A Case Study of Tierkidi Refugee Camp in Gambella Regional State
    (Addis Ababa University, 2016-07) Girma, Endalkachew; Achiso, Demeke (PhD)
    With the core objective of analyzing the relationships between refugees and host communities, this study assesses the economic, socio-cultural and security impacts of South Sudanese refugees on the host communities of Itang special Woreda in Gambella region of Ethiopia. Attempts have also been made to point out the existing impacts of refugees on the host communities. The magnitude of refugee influx in Gambella region in recent years has generated alarm throughout the region. The unprecedented crisis have produced a mixture of humanitarian concern for thousands of people forced into exile and potential threat to the social, economical and political stability of host communities caused by its influxes. The refugees cannot return to their home due to the political instability and this produces diverse economic, socio-cultural and security impacts and potential threats on the host communities of Itang special Woreda. The findings are more emphasized and analyzed qualitatively in light of primary sources gathered by interviewing of informants from refugees, host communities and officials from the camp and field observation. On the other hand, secondary sources were used in order to address the basic objectives of the research. To this end, the study used snowball sampling technique for collecting data from the study area. The refugee population in Gambella is significantly matches the size of the local host community which has brought many impacts on the host communities. The findings of this study indicate that the presence of refugees in the region has both negative and positive impacts. As the findings show, the presence of South Sudanese refugees are having negative environmental, health, sanitation, socio-cultural and security impacts on the host community. On the other hand, economic impacts have been positive such as new job opportunity, small business activity and availability of market for local farmers around the refugee camp. Finally, the study comes up with the conclusion that the negative impacts of refugees are found to be greater than its positive impacts and this put the region in unstable situation, and potential threat for the people of Gambella region of Ethiopia