Awassa University on behalf of DCG Ethiopia, is conducting a study on the livelihood strategies of re-settlers in relation to their food security status and the impact of the resettlement on the sustainability of natural resources in those areas. The study, which runs from April/ May 2007 until December 2007, targets two settlements - one resettlement area where natural resource degradation is noticeable and another where relatively good natural resource management is practiced - in each regional state of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples (SNNP) and Oromia Regional States of Ethiopia.

The study analyses the long-term financial, economic, social and environmental costs of resettlement which may outweigh all the benefits of the scheme. It focuses on the interactions between re-settlers and host communities and their attitudes towards each other. It investigates whether newly emerging social and local institutions at the resettlement sites are strong enough to enforce rules and regulations towards the sustainable use of the natural resources in order to fine-tune the major priorities to be considered in the resettlement program in line with minimizing the cost on natural resources at the sites. Furthermore, the study analyses people’s awareness about the sustainable use of natural resources, planned and implemented activities in natural resource conservation, and looks into resettlement as a strategy to reduce persistent food insecurity and ease the pressure on land in the densely populated highlands. The aim is to eventually give feedback to policy-makers and NGOs engaged in the resettlement program so that they can revise their plans and actions, and devise future livelihood strategies that are beneficial to host and resettled communities, and to aspiring re-settlers.

A combined national report will be produced based on the results of this study as well as the other study on resettlement carried out in Tigray.

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