Issues in Urban Poverty

The urban sector in Ethiopia has largely been neglected by researchers and policy analysts, and ignored in debates on poverty. This has resulted in a ‘rural bias’, which is reflected in development policies and public debate in the country. If one of the goals of development is to reverse the dominance of the rural economy, and to place the urban environment on the centre stage, it is important to shift the balance of the research agenda from the rural to the urban. The papers in this volume were first presented at the Third International Conference on the Ethiopian Economy convened by the Ethiopian Economic Association in 2005.

The first paper contained in this volume is entitled: ‘Some Aspects of the Charcoal Economy and its Impacts on Poverty and the Environment’. It is a study of the charcoal economy in the Meki-Zwai area, a medium-sized urban town. The study examines the production, marketing and consumption of charcoal in both rural and urban areas. It shows how these affect both rural and urban poverty and the environment. It illustrates how difficult it is to disentangle rural and urban problems.

The second paper is entitled: ‘Gender Dimensions of Urban Poverty in Ethiopia: The Case of Three Kebelles in Addis Ababa’. Research for the study was undertaken in three kebelles in Addis and the focus of the analysis is the impact of urban poverty on women.