Demographic Training
and
Research Center

Institute of Development Research

Addis Ababa University

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P.O.Box 1176
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Tel. 251 1 115777
Fax: 251-1-55-13-33
E-mail: DTRC@padis.gn.apc.org
1996

Introduction

In 1982, the Government of Ethiopia in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) founded the Demographic Training and Research Center (DTRC). Due to its research status, DTRC became one of the units of the Institute of Development Research (IDR) which serves as an umbrella for its academic programs. The Center's activities have received major support from Addis Ababa University (AAU) and UNFPA, as well as additional funding from other agencies.

DTRC is working within the framework of the training and research programs of the University, and increasingly, in support of the training, research and service areas of the Ethiopian Development Policies. Furthermore, DTRC has been assisting the implementation of the National Population Policy and the Plan of Action by providing skilled personnel and conducting policy relevant researches. In addition, collaboration with other research and academic institutions is being actively sought.

Objectives

As DTRC is the only training and research center in the country dealing with population issues, the growing importance of population in policy making and planning, and its role in development activities of the country is expected to further enhance the significance of the Center in the near future.

The long term objectives of the Center are to train high level personnel capable of developing and teaching courses in population studies in the institutions of higher learning in the country; as well as to increase the country's capacity in conducting scientific research on population problems with a view towards the integration with development activities.

In the short term, the main objectives of DTRC are:

  1. Meeting the human resource development needs for addressing the problem of population and development in Ethiopia by providing relevant training at post-graduate, undergraduate and in- service levels.
  2. Formulating and carrying out research in the areas of population and development.
  3. Providing advisory services to governmental and non- governmental organizations in the area of population policy, program design and evaluation, training, demographic information and related issues at national, regional and local levels.
  4. Disseminating the research findings through publications, seminars, workshops, and conferences.

Teaching and Training

Graduate Program (M.Sc. in Demography) Courses at the graduate level for the Master of Science Degree in Demography are designed to produce manpower capable of dealing with population and development data, including its collection, processing, analysis, interpretation and its relationship with socio- economic development. The emphasis is to provide students a strong background in technical and substantive as well as practical orientation. The program provides formal course work and thesis research, which normally takes for two years. Admission to the graduate program in demography is open to first degree holders who meet the general admission requirements of the School of Graduate Studies of AAU. The usual applicants for admission into the program are B.A./B.Sc. degree holders in Economics, Geography, Mathematics, Sociology and Statistics.

Undergraduate Minor Program

DTRC provides a minor in Demography to the Department of Geography, and has been assisting other departments of the university, such as Economics and History, in teaching courses in demography/population studies at the undergraduate level.

Seminars/Workshops and In-service Training

Short-term training on population related issues and basic demographic principles and methods is offered to personnel working in the areas of population and development at national, regional and zonal level of both governmental and non-governmental organizations. In the pursuit of disseminating research findings and promoting public awareness on population-related issues, a number of national as well as departmental fora such as seminars, conferences and workshops were conducted during the past decade by DTRC.

Research Themes

With an ultimate objective of making valuable contributions for policy formulation, program implementation and at the same time for developing a well organized information system on the demography of the country, DTRC considers research as another equally important component of its activity. To accomplish this, both the staff and students of the Center have made substantial contribution mainly in demographic research in the country. However, there are still areas of policy relevance that have not been adequately addressed.

This suggests the need for a shift of emphasis from a stress on demographic perspectives to broader issues, such as:

(i) Population, Health and Nutrition Includes reproductive health, mortality, family planning, nutrition, demographic and non- demographic implications of AIDS, demographic and health surveillance, and related issues.

(ii) Population, Environment and Sustainable Development Includes land-use, environmental management and food security; human population and ecology, migration and urbanization processes, integration of population variables in development planning, population and gender issues, demographic dimensions of poverty, and related issues.

(iii) Policy/Program/Project Assessment, Monitoring and Evaluation This cross-cutting, policy relevant area, includes both population-based and institution-based studies and also includes evaluation of the demographic impacts of various population and socio-economic programs and policies. Specifically, psychological, cultural and socio- economic determinants and consequences of population dynamics will be translated into recommendations for intervention within the National Population Policy and related development programs.
Research is funded by AAU, and also supported by grants from multilateral, bilateral and non-governmental agencies and foundations. These broad population and development issues are addressed in multidisciplinary teams, complimented by the intersectoral participation of policy-makers, program planners and extension workers. Under the new decentralization policy of the government, every attempt is made to involve regional colleges, training institutes and applied research agencies.

Facilities

DTRC has its own computer laboratory equipped with some personal computers and a server system. At present, the laboratory is in operation with ten of its personal computers ranging from IMB to 8MB memory sizes, from 80286 to 80486 MPUs and the storage capacity from 40 MB to 600 MB hard disks on each of the machines. Some of the PCs in the computer laboratory are connected together on Local Area Network. Besides, the laboratory has accommodated a good number of personal application software and demographic/statistical software including the POPLINE CD-ROM.

In addition to the most valuable collections of documents and literature at the IDR Documentation Center, various libraries and documentation centers within AAU and those of Government Departments and International Organizations in Addis Ababa are accessible to the students, the staff and the researchers with tremendous amount of secondary data and literature for their research works.

Faculty and Staff

The list of staff members currently associated with the Center, is given bellow:

Core Staff

  1. Johannes Kinfu, Professor and Director, IDR/DTRC.
  2. Assefa Hailemariam, Ph.D., Demography, London, LSE, Associate Prof. and Program Coordinator.
  3. Aklilu Kidanu, Ph.D. Applied Demography, Delaware. Assistant Prof.
  4. Markos Ezra, Ph.D. candidate, Netherlands, Lecturer.
  5. Gebre-Egziabher Kiros, M.Sc., Stat., AAU, Assistant Prof.
  6. Melaku Eshetu, M.Sc., Demography, AAU, Lecturer.
  7. Eshetu Gurmu, M.Sc., Demography, AAU, Lecturer.
  8. Yohannes Kinfu, M.A., M.Phil., Population Studies, RIPS, Ghana, Lecturer.

UN Staff

  1. Charles Teller, Ph.D. Sociology/Demography, Cornell U., Associate Prof.
  2. Yu Khin, M.A., Demography, Australia, Lecturer.
  3. Ms. Bolaji Salawu, M.A., M.Phil., Population Studies, RIPS, Ghana, Lecturer.

Associate Staff

  1. Seyoum Gebre Selassie, Ph.D., USA, Professor
  2. Asmerom Kidane, Ph.D., USA, Professor

Part-time Staff

  1. Hadgu Bariagher, Ph.D., Ghana, Assistant Prof.

Administrative Staff

DTRC has its own secretary, Ms. Ayni Umer, and financial, administrative, reproduction and logistic/transport staff are provided by IDR.