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A Partnership in Community-Based Development
in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
On Tuesday, February 5, 2008 Alice K. Johnson Butterfield, Professor in the Jane Addams
College of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Richard Kordesh,
Professor in the College of Urban Planning and Policy at the University of Illinois at
Chicago presented a seminar entitled Higher Education Partnerships and Place Based Community
Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The focus of the lecture was to
discuss both the community development project they are working on in Addis Ababa,
and its possible future directions.
Johnson Butterfield began by providing some demographics on Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, including
its high orphan and HIV/AIDS rates, and stating that Ethiopia is one of the poorest and least
developed countries in Africa. She also stated that historically, Ethiopia has less than a one percent
participation rate in higher education. Johnson Butterfield went on to talk about their
success in bringing social work education to Ethiopia. Through a partnership between the
University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and Addis Ababa University (AAU), they were able to
establish the first masters degree in social work program in Ethiopia, with an emphasis on
community building and development.
This partnership has created community-based development projects through engaged discussions
with the community. Some of these groups have included the Godnaw Garbage Collectors Association
and Children in Kebele. These sessions have further developed the ability of these communities
to create opportunities for themselves and the community at large. Accomplishments include a new
community library and an eco-city redevelopment plan in Gedam Sefer.
Johnson Butterfield and Kordesh are focusing their work on this bottom-up approach to community
development. Because there is no pre-defined program in creating development opportunities, a
community is able to create its own development projects, which are specific to its needs. The
key to replicating this work is to identify what is universal in this type of development -- what
can be applied elsewhere, in other communities.
Johnson Butterfield and Kordesh are also currently working on expanding the UIC/AAU partnership
to include a broader, cross-disciplinary research and technical assistance program. This could
include a new, masters level Urban Growth Management program in partnership with the College of
Urban Planning and Public Affairs at UIC. This United States-African initiative holds considerable
potential for broader research, teaching, and service partnerships between the two universities.
Download a podcast of this presentation.
This lecture was part of the GCI Seminar Series, which invites experts, practitioners, and academics
to speak on current issues and innovative research.
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