Annual Conferences
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.
Attending the conference were 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
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 to 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 well being of the Ethiopian Society.
Since its establishment, ESSSWA has organized series of national and regional workshops, annual conferences and trainings to its members and concerned stakeholders. This year’s conference will focus on issues of social protection and safety nets across urban, rural and pastoralist areas. The scope of the social protection/ safety nets 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 enhance the social status and rights of the marginalized. These can be social protection policies and practices that aim to tackle the problems of chronically poor (severely disabled, terminally ill, ethnic minorities, urban unemployed, pastoralists, subsistence smallholders), economically vulnerable (cash crop farmers, internally displaced persons, orphans, informal sector workers, burial societies, widows, the elderly) and socially marginalized groups (ethnic minorities, abducted children, people living with HIV/AIDS, victims of domestic abuse, people with disabilities, street children and female-headed households).
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
