Browsing by Author "Tesfaslase, Guesh"

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    Food Security and Livelihood Challenges of Urban Refugees in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
    (Addis Ababa University, 2020-10) Tesfaslase, Guesh; Mulugeta PhD, Messay
    This study was aimed at investigating food security and livelihood challenges of refugees. A retrospective cross-sectional study design was employed, and questionnaire-based primary data was collected from 202 sample households. In addition, key informant interview and focus group discussions were used. Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS), Sustainable Livelihood Framework and Coping mechanism were used to achieve the food security status, livelihood availability and challenge as well as the way the urban refugees cop up in times of difficulty respectively. The data was managed and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS v20). Results were presented using tables. The results showed that the main income source of respondents was remittance (35%), earnings from casual labor (24.3 percent), revenues from small businesses (23.7 %). The challenges faced by the refugees were the lack of working permits (36.7%) as the main challenge followed by lack of job opportunities (24.9%), lack of experience (13.6) was rated as the third challenge. 67% of the study households were food secure while 22% mildly food insecure and 9% of them were moderately food insecure. The findings also showed that frequently adopted coping mechanisms such as reduce the number of meals eaten in a day (78.6%), less preferred and less expensive foods (62.7%), limit portion size at mealtimes (60%) and borrow food or rely on help from a friend or relative (35%) to manage food shortages. More than 30 thousands refugees live in Addis Ababa but the Government of Ethiopia restrict their right to work, hence the urban refugees often depended on informal economy livelihoods and struggle to secure their food requirement. Finally, it is recommended that policy implementation and improvement is needed. Jobs and livelihoods interventions also need to be better coordinated and guided by government to set out procedures and standards for developing employment opportunities for refugees.