When: Tuesday, 10 June 2025, 18:00-21:00
Where: OeAD, Ebendorferstraße 7, 1010 Vienna, Saal 1
Registration is closed.
The project GIRT | Strengthening Research and Educational Competences of HEIs for Gender sensitive Urban (InfoRmal Settlement) Transformation has set its focus on housing and living conditions of women in rapidly transforming cities of the Global South. In a cooperation of Addis Ababa University (AAU), Bahir Dar University (BDU) and Mekelle University (UoM) in Ethiopia, Lúrio University (LU) in Mozambique and University for Continuing Education Krems in Austria, joint research activities have been undertaken in the past three years. Based on more than four hundred interviews with residents in informal settlements and slums, results will shed light on the lived experiences and resilience mechanisms.
All four study sites are affected by urban planning policies as well as urban renewal, either by public or private stakeholders. Residents in Ethiopian cities face the threat of eviction due to demolitions of homes or reallocation of land in their settlements. Particularly in the post-conflict city Mekelle land is currently used as a commodity, leading to highly volatile urban and peri-urban land markets. But also the Addis Ababa City Corridor Project brings about large-scale urban construction with consequences for thousands of residents. Even in secondary towns like Bahir Dar in Ethiopia or Nampula in Mozambique, population growth and urban expansion shape the cultural, political and economic landscapes within the countries. Housing comfort and provision of urban infrastructure services are similar at the Ethiopian and Mozambican study sites, entailing a lack of privacy, time losses and health risk for many women who spend much of their time at home.
Under these circumstances we will inquire about female livelihoods and wellbeing in urban Ethiopia and Mozambique. What needs to change to grant women a right to the city? What measures should be taken to fulfil women’s basic needs? How could local authorities include their voices to achieve gender-sensitive urban governance? And how would urban redevelopment look like if conceptualized from a female perspective?
At this event, we will present and discuss the outcomes of the qualitative research, explore the challenges for the upcoming transdisciplinary processes, reflect on the collaboration between Austrian, Ethiopian and Mozambican higher education institutions and provide an outlook for future research activities.
Programme
Opening and welcome remarks by Andreas Obrecht, Head of Sector Science and Research for Development Cooperation at OeAD
Presentations
- Governance in Light of Urbanization: Women’s Political Involvement by Kumela Gudeta Nedessa, Addis Ababa University
- Learning Experiences and Reflections from Urban Informal Settlement Housing, Women’s Livelihood and Insecurity in Ethiopia by Yismaw Assefa Lakew, Bahir Dar University
- Navigating Insecurity - Housing, Livelihood, and Women's Wellbeing in Urban Ethiopia by Binyam Fitsum Arefayne, University of Mekelle
- Informal Female Living on the Urban Periphery of Nampula by António Manuel de Amurane, Lurio University
Spotlight on the Poster Presentations
- Women's Livelihoods: Coping Strategies and Recovery by Meskerem Abi Teka, Addis Ababa University
- Designing Transdisciplinary Research for Everyday Urbanization and Women’s Life: The Case of Bahir Dar City, Ethiopia by Atsede Desta Tegegne, Bahir Dar University
- Voices from Dingur - Women's Resilience in a Post-Conflict Informal Settlement by Semhal Tadesse Negash, University of Mekelle
- Women's Perceptions of Governance in the Namutequeliua Neighborhood, Nampula by Aldevina Manuela d'Alva Brito dos Santos, Lurio University
Q&A and Discussion
Visit the Poster Presentations and continue the discussion over Ethiopian food.
You would like to know more about GIRT? Visit the project websites: https://www.donau-uni.ac.at/girt and appear.at/girt
Speakers
Kumela Gudeta Nedessa
Assistant Professor at the Center for Regional and Local Development Studies, College of Development Studies, Addis Ababa University. He was a research fellow at the Centre for Development Research at BOKU, Natural Resources and Life Sciences. Kumela graduated with a doctoral thesis on development paths of non-farm employment and rural transformation processes in the Amhara region, Ethiopia. As a former OeAD scholar and back in Ethiopia at Addis Ababa University, Kumela expanded his skills and competences in transdisciplinary research in several projects and consultancies. Kumela has supervised numerous MA theses and has gained much experience in teaching courses on livelihood, wellbeing, governance as well as regional and local development.
Meskerem Abi Teka
Meskerem Abi Getu is Assistant Professor at the Centre for Food Security Studies, College of Development Studies, Addis Ababa University. Meskerem has received her PhD degree from Wageningen University, the Netherlands. In addition to her role as academic staff, she served as a Head of the Center for Food Security Studies from 2021-2023. Currently, she is an Associate Dean for academic programs of College of Development Studies, Addis Ababa University. Meskerem has participated in various research projects and published several scientific articles of high quality.
Yismaw Assefa Lakew
Yismaw is currently working as a lecturer in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia. He graduated with a master’s degree in Socio-Economic Geography from Bahir Dar University and has over ten years of teaching experience. His research interests focus on socio-economic and environmental issues, including rural land management, food security and sustainable development. Currently, he is also working as a team member in the GIRT project.
Atsede Desta Tegegne
Has received her MSc. degree in population studies at Addis Ababa University. She is an alumna of BOKU, Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Department of Social and Economic Sciences and received her PhD in 2016. She has contributed to the academic literature with several publications appearing in different journals. Currently, as an academic Atsede is involved in both teaching and research at Bahir Dar University. She is experienced in coordinating various consortium projects including the GIRT project, which is funded by the APPEAR programme.
Binyam Fitsum Arefayne
Binyam Fitsum Arefayne is an urban planner, researcher, and lecturer at Mekelle University’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning, holding an MSc. in Housing and Sustainable Development from Addis Ababa University. As an assigned coordinator of Mekelle University’s team for the GIRT Project - focused on gender-sensitive transformation of informal settlements - he manages research on housing-related challenges and urban redevelopment in post-conflict contexts. As an academic assistant for the Tigray Heritage-scapes Restoration Initiative under Dr. Alula Tesfay Asfha, he contributes to community engagement, heritage documentation, and the design of restoration strategies, bridging sustainable urban policy with cultural preservation in Ethiopia’s evolving landscapes.
Semhal Tadesse Negash
Semhal Tadesse Negash is an architect, researcher, and assistant lecturer at Mekelle University’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning. She contributes to the GIRT Project through research on women’s experiences in post-conflict informal settlements like Dungur. Semhal represented Mums for Mums at a regional peacebuilding conference in Nairobi, Kenya, and has worked on 3D documentation of Tigray’s vernacular architecture under Dr. Alula Tesfay Asfha and Prof. Rumi Okazaki. She is a DAAD scholar and will begin her master’s in Integrated Urbanism and Sustainable Design (IUSD) at the University of Stuttgart in October 2025.
António Manuel de Amurane
Born in Nampula, Mozambique, he holds a Master's Degree in Planning and Management of Informal Settlements, bachelor in Architecture and Site Planning at the Eduardo Mondlane University. He has been a lecturer and researcher at Lurio University since 2013. Mr. Amurane has participated in numerous training and projects, including collaborations with UN-HABITAT, UNHCR, UNDP. He has participated in territorial planning projects. He is the author of the book Mapeamento e Caracterização de Asssentamentos Informais, caso de Namutequeliua www.morebooks.de/shop-ui/shop/product/9786206759799.
Aldevina Manuela d'Alva Brito dos Santos
Aldevina Manuela d'Alva Brito dos Santos was born in Leipzig, Germany in 1994. She is an architect and urban planner who graduated in Architecture and Physical Planning from Lurio University in 2015 and completed her master's degree in Territorial Development and Urban Management at the same institution in 2020. She is currently developing her PhD in Architecture of Contemporary Metropolitan Territories at the University Institute of Lisbon, where she is in her fourth level. Since 2016, she has been a university lecturer at Lurio University, contributing to the academic training of future professionals. Between 2016 and 2021, she also taught at the Military Academy, where she shared her knowledge and experience with students. In the field of research, Aldevina dos Santos has shown a wide-ranging interest in areas such as housing, women, resilience, climate change disaster and vulnerability, contributing significantly to knowledge in these areas.
