Leaked World Bank Report and Villagization in Ethiopia

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists published on  20 January 2015 a story titled "Leaked Report Says World Bank Violated Own Rules in Ethiopia" by Sasha Chavkin.

The full World Bank report is available in the web posting.  The issue concerns Anuak people in Gambella region of Ethiopia who were resettled, allegedly forcibly, in order to make room for large agricultural investment projects.  The World Bank contributed to the funding of the program, known as villagization, which ended in 2013. 

Ethiopia's Gibe III Dam and Voices from Lake Turkana

International Rivers published in January 2015 a report titled "'Come and Count Our Bones': Community Voices from Lake Turkana on the Impacts of Gibe II Dam" by Narissa Allibhai.  The report provides the reactions of the Turkana and Marsabit people who live around Lake Turkana in Kenya to the construction of the Gibe III Dam on the Omo River in Ethiopia, which feeds Lake Turkana.

Mechanized Farming and Villagization in Ethiopia

The Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars published in August 2014 an analysis titled "Governing the Horn of Africa's Lowlands: Land Investments and Villagization in Gambella, Ethiopia" by Fana Gebresenbet Erda, a research scholar with the Africa Program of the Wilson Center.

He notes that the Ethiopian government is promoting commercial mechanized farming and villagization.  The government's goal for the villagization program is to provide new skills to farmers and herders so that they can engage in modern settled agriculture, farming, and livestock rearing.  One of the problems encountered with the program has been a lack of prior consultation.  The United States government has begun limiting the funding that can be used for the villagization program.