Annual Conferences

The Ethiopian Society of Sociologists, Social Workers and Anthropologists (ESSSWA) was founded in June 1996. ESSSWA works with a vision to see sustainable and positive social change in Ethiopia and be an active participant in the transformation process. Its mission is to represent the interests of the professionals of Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology and advance the application of these disciplines for the wellbeing of the Ethiopian Society. Since its establishment, ESSSWA has organized a series of national and regional workshops, annual conferences and trainings to its members and concerned stakeholders.

ESSSWA takes the issue of social welfare and development at the heart of its research and policy agenda. It considers the scope of social protection and safety net issues to include strategies used by different organizations (government, CSO/NGOs, donors) to transfer income or assets to the poor, protect the vulnerable against livelihood risks and shocks and thereby enhance the social status and rights of the marginalized. These can be social protection policies and best practices that aim to tackle the problems of chronically poor (severely disabled, terminally ill, , urban unemployed, pastoralists, smallholder subsistence farmers), economically vulnerable (cash crop farmers, internally displaced persons, orphans, informal sector workers, widows, the elderly) and socially marginalized groups (ethnic minorities, abducted children, people living with HIV/AIDS, victims of domestic abuse and violence, people with disabilities, street children, female-headed households, and socially out casted minority communities).

As the country is entering into a new phase of Economic Growth and Transformation Plan, it is evident that exploring the important dimensions and implications of social safety nets, social protection strategies and instruments is equally important in order to ensure that the benefits from such rapid economic growth become broad based and trigger in the improvement of the wellbeing of the various cross sections of the society.

The lead topic for the 8th annual conference will be “Effective Social Protection and Safety Net Schemes: Bedrocks for Economic Growth and Transformation in Ethiopia”. The Conference will build from previous conferences and workshops and dwell on specific social safety nets and social protection instruments, explores best practices on the design and implementation of broad-based social protection initiatives and brings new knowledge on the subject based on the recent work of researchers.

The conference is open for members of ESSSWA, researchers, practitioners and policy makers.

Objectives of the Conference

The objectives of the Conference are to:

Enhance debates on what should constitute the would be social protection policy and strategy of Ethiopia;
Enable participants to share best practices and experiences on Social Protection Schemes and Safety Net Programs from Ethiopia and other countries;
Familiarize ESSSWA members in particular and other participants in general about the opportunities and challenges of alternative models of social protection systems taking in to account universal theories, guiding principles and approaches; and
Came up with recommendations that would help to nurture and influence the process of formulating a comprehensive social protection policy in the country.

Organizers of the Conference

This Conference under the theme “Effective Social Protection and Safety Net Schemes: Bedrocks for Economic Growth and Transformation in Ethiopia” will be organized by ESSSWA in partnership with the National Social Protection Platform Partners and the Oak Foundation.

Expected Outcomes of the Conference

The Conference will create a platform for policy makers, researchers and practitioners to share their thoughts and perspectives on the link between economic growth and social safety nets/ social protection measures. The Conference will also document, produce and share the technical papers and the deliberation of the conference to be widely available for various users both nationally and internationally.

Thematic Areas

The following are the three broad thematic areas for the conference;

Theme One: Experiences on Recent Social Policies and Social Protection Schemes and Strategies,

Pension and Social Security Reforms and Intervention Instruments in Ethiopia
Social Health Insurance Instruments and Practices in Ethiopia
Provident Fund Management, Universal Social Security Instruments and Practices
The challenges and lessons learnt about covering informal sector workers by formal social insurance and/or security schemes

Theme Two: Practice/Initiatives in the Implementation of Social Protection and Safety Net measures for various cross sections of the society (urban, rural, health, food security, social service)

Social Protection and Safety Net best practices from Ethiopia and across the global south for the rural and urban poor,
The Impacts of Social Protection and Safety Net Interventions on beneficiaries in the face of the current global, regional and national food, fuel and financial crises ,

Theme Three: Recent Policy, Research Findings and Debates

Social Capital and Social Risk Management Practices in urban, rural and pastoralist communities

Facilitators

The facilitators of the conference will be resource persons who have had wealth of knowledge and experiences on social protection and safety net matters internationally. They will be drawn from a wide range of organizations that include universities, professional associations, UN agencies, governmental and non-governmental organizations, bilateral and multilateral donor organizations.

Participants

Participants of the Conference, among others, include ESSSWA members, representatives of other professional associations, donors, NGOs, bilateral and multilateral organizations, UN organizations, government organizations, community institution/such as Iddirs, different stakeholders involved in providing social protection and social safety net services.

Time Frame

The conference will operate on the following time frame proposed for all linked activities.

The Conference will be held from 6-7th May 2011
Abstracts should be submitted to ESSSWA on/before 25th March 2011
Selected abstracts will be invited to prepare a full paper by 1st April 2011
Deadline for submitting draft paper to ESSSWA is on/before 31st April 2011
Deadline for final paper submission for publication consideration is on/before 25th May 2011
Location

The Conference will be held at the Hilton Hotel, Addis Ababa.

Contact Addresses

        Samuel Lule
        Program Coordinator
        Tele: +251111223450,         OR +251111228412 Fax: +251111223450
        Mobile: +251911477264
        E-mail: [email protected] OR [email protected]

Website: www.essswa.org, www.essswa.org.et

ESSSWA held its 5th Annual conference

The Ethiopian Society of Sociologists, Social Workers and Anthropologists (ESSSWA) held its 5th Annual Conference at the Addis Ababa Hilton Hotel on March 3 & 4, 2006. The theme of the conference was "HIV/ AIDS Orphan and Vulnerable Children in the Eyes of Social Scientists and Development Practitioners". Six papers on various topics under the conference theme were presented and discussed during the two-day meeting. The conference was attended by representatives of government ministries, UN agencies, bilateral organizations, and NGOs, including FSS.

The conference underlined the importance of the participation of all concerned in curbing the multifaceted problems of 4.6 million orphans in the country. Speaking at the conference, Dr Bulti Gutema, Head of the Children and Family Affairs Department of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, said although there are laws and policies that provide for the protection of orphans and vulnerable children, many children who are in dire need of assistance are not reached for a range of problems.

The number of vulnerable orphans has been increasing due to poverty, drought, HIV/AIDS and other social crisis, noted the UNICEF Youth and HIV/AIDS Department Head, Richard Mabala.

ESSSWA held its 6th Annual conference

Inter-Generational Challenges in Ethiopia: Understanding the Family, Children and the Elderly
Click here to download table of contents of the papers of the 6th Annual Conference

ESSSWA held its 7th Annual conference

Social Protection/Safety Nets for Vulnerable Social Groups under Economic Growth in Ethiopia

Objectives of the conference

The objectives of the conference are to:

Identify the relevance, impacts and challenges of social protection/safety nets strategies and practices at different levels in line with the broader poverty reduction and economic growth efforts of the country,
Enable participants of the conference to identify synergies among different social protection/ safety nets components for various cross sections of the society.
Provide insights on long term perspective for social protection/safety nets initiatives that takes into account the changing nature of shocks and stresses as well as the perpetuation of chronic urban and rural poverty among destitute social groups,

Click here to download Resources Related with the 7th Annual Conference

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