Ph.D. Gizachew Teshome Haile

Q1. Who are you?

My name is Dr Gizachew Teshome Haile. I’m assistant professor of Peace and Security Studies at the Department of Civics & Ethical Studies, Gambella University. I received my PhD in July 2020 from Addis Abeba University, and MA in Ethiopian Studies (Cultural Studies) and BA in History in 2011 and 2006 respectively, from the same university. My research focuses on conflict transformation, peacebuilding, and refugee impacts on demographic and political dynamics, as well as refugee-host community interaction, specifically on localization of the CRRF, migration and social cohesion between host-communities and refugees from the Global South.

Q2. What was your motivation for applying for the FFVT fellowship? Why Germany?

My motivation and interest for applying for FFVT fellowship are manifold. First of all, the purpose of the FVVT fellowship program, strengthening interdisciplinary forced migration and refugee research is congruent to my career and previous experiences, and above all the path I have taken to focus on over the past few years, as my academic career specialization. My interest on refugee and migration phenomena sparked in 2010/11 when I wrote my Master’s thesis on the intra-ethnic political conflict among the Ethiopian Nuers and its impact on the regional politics. The master’s thesis shed light on how the refugee flow from the neighbouring country affected the dynamics of inter-group relation and political representation in Gambella region. My PhD thesis project on conflict transformation and peacebuilding in Gambella region was even more invigorating. It focused on the relationship between migration and refugee phenomena and conflict, peace and social cohesion in the context of long-lasting inter-group interaction with long history of animosity in the context  of blurred citizenship and strong ethnic ties along the border. Between September 2021 and February 2022 I participated in a global-local research consortium. The collaborative research was conducted jointly by the German Centre for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM) and the Gambella University (GBU) on the topic entitled: “Global Norms and Local Practices - Implementing the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework in Ethiopia”.

Q3. What do you expect from the fellowship?

Needless to say, this fellowship exposure will have robust input to the realization of my professional aspirations. It also means an opportunity to extend my fair share contribution in migration and refugee research, particularly with the empirical analysis from the Global South.

Q4. What is the focus of your work, and what is innovative about it? / What are your planned outcomes and activities for the fellowship period? And how do they relate to your FFVT hosting institution/ the FFVT cooperation project?

Specifically will be working on a paper on the topic entitled “Social Cohesion between host and refugee communities in Ethiopia, Gambella region“. The work explores the relationship between inter-group interaction and host community attitude formation in Ethiopia, addressing three main questions. Specifically, it will explore the factors that shape and determine host-communities attitude towards the refugees, the dynamics of refugee-host communities’ interaction across various areas and refugee camps, patterns of refugee inflow, demographic dynamics and social cohesion, and the conditions and factors that enhance greater social cohesion between host-communities and refugees. In doing so, it will help that we get a step closer to pinpointing the factors that influence contact's impacts in an institutional context that has received little prior research.    Furthermore, the topic that the proposed project grapples with is of relevant one in that by shedding light on the determinants of social cohesion it can enable policy-makers and practitioners to design programmes that improve the willingness of host communities to receive and integrate refugees. This is especially important in the global south particularly Africa. In this part of the world, antagonistic and  conflictual relationship between the host conflict and refugees have resulted in intermittent violence, the empirical conditions like the large inflow of refugees, sociocultural and socioeconomic, and sociopolitical issues being essentially the variables shaping the local the developments. In strict sense, the outcome of this project could be a substantial input in an endeavor to unlock the direction toward greater social cohesion between refugees and nearby host-communities.  Hence, the outcome of the project may have direct policy implication on one of the major intricate in migration and refugee research. The topic I grappled with relate to my FFVT hosting institution, IDOS. IDOS currently runs a project that fits to my proposed research project, social cohesion. In the project “Centrifugal forces and cohesion in a social context – is there a safe space for societies?”, IDOS has initiated an international search and learning process in order to bring together existing but not connected knowledge on key dimensions of social cohesion and opposing factors.

FFVT events will offer me the opportunity to further discuss and share ideas from the above research and my current project. It will also be an opportunity so that the current project could be translated into a joint research project with the FFVT institutes that have interest in the area. As such, my current proposed project is on social cohesion.  It also means an opportunity to extend my fair share contribution in migration and refugee research, particularly with the empirical analysis from the Global South.