We had a guest from the Embassy of the United Republic of Tanzania in Japan on January 8, 2020: Mr. John F. Kambona (Minister Plenipotentiary - Charge　D'Affaires, ad interim). He visited our center after the SADC Ambassador Relay Lecture.

Dr. Teshome delivered a lecture at our ASC Seminar. The theme of the seminar was "Land and Youth Migration in Africa: the Case of Two Districts from the Highlands of Ethiopia". You can see the detailed report from here.

Date & Time: Thursday, December 19, 2019 5:40 - 7:10 pm Venue: Room 104, Research and Lecture Building, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies Title: Land and Youth Migration in Africa: the Case of Two Districts from the Highlands of Ethiopia Speaker: Dr. Teshome Emana (Visiting Professor, African Studies Center - TUFS / Assistant Professor, Department of Social Anthropology, Addis Ababa University) Report: Dr. Teshome began by explaining that this research is part of a joint research funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and carried in two selected districts in Ethiopia and the objective was to explore the challenges and opportunities for rural youth employment and to inform policy and programs. Initially, he presented data about youth in Ethiopia showing that 37% of the population was between the age of 15 and 34 and 61.42% were between the ages of 0 to 24. This was followed by an explanation of the methodology of the research, focused on the districts of Bora and Kuyu in Oromia region with informants between the ages of 18 to 30. Presenting the preliminary findings, Dr. Teshome explained that there was no problem of land in the Bora district, and there is opportunity for farming as well as non-farming activities such as brokerage (dalala). Contrastingly, while in Kuyu district, the main activity is farming and milk production, the youth is restricted from this opportunities because they do not own land. He proceeded to explain the legal framework of rural land in Ethiopia, highlighting that the land is an exclusive state propriety where only 21% of the rural land is owned by the youth of which only 3% is owned by young women. He mentioned that the main challenge is land scarcity because of its concentration in the hands of the families and absence of land redistribution. He argued that alternative land access opportunities are through share cropping, labor to cash or labor to crop, traditional means of lineage inclusion, and contract systems. Addressing the patterns of migration, the speaker noted that there was migration of the youth in Kuyu to Arab countries or within the Oromia region due to land scarcity. And contrastingly migration is not common in Bora due to diversification of livelihood. And regarding youth aspirations, according to the informants, they want to do non-manual labor work. The challenges identified by the speaker are: serious lack of land in Kuyu, no financial support and no networking systems for the youth in both districts. In conclusion, he argued that since the young people are migrating from Kuyu area, there is a decrease in productivity; there is commercialization of agriculture land by the landholding families, off-farm jobs are directly related to outward migration, and families encourage the female youth to migrate abroad. As solutions, the speaker proposed a better access to financial resources, land law in favor of the youth such as readjustment or resettlement programs to support the youth in Kuyu district, and developing control systems over illegal trade in Bora district to prevent the illegal actors. In the Q&A session, Dr. Teshome discussed with the audience topics related to youth engagement in sand mining, migration and labor conditions of African workers in Arab countries, land policies during the communist era, the interest of youth in agriculture, the role of education in the aspirations of youth and the impact of land inputs .

African Weeks 2019 held a concert, inviting Mr. Sakaki Mango, a Thumb Piano Player. Many audience, including students and researchers, as well as people from outside of TUFS and students from African countries, joined the concert and enjoyed Mr. Sakaki Mango's distinctive music and humorous speech. Mr. Sakaki Mango used music instruments from African countries and from South Kyushu, his hometown, and played famous African music and his original music. Although he was the only player in the concert, he used some digital equipments to enhance, repeat, or edit sounds he was playing there, which made his music as if there were several or a dozen players or singers. His original musics gave us such feelings as if we were standing in the midst of African town, as if we were flying the sky, or as if we were floating in our imaginary world. He also showed us some pictures and movies that he took or shoot when he visited African countries as field trips. In the photos or the movies, African people including kids play their bricolage instruments. Even though we call that huge continent in one word, Africa, there are more than 50 countries and countless languages and ethnic groups. Japan is geographically far from the continent, we don't have many chances to experience its charms. In the concert, Mr. Sakaki Mango introduced us his experience at African countries and various music instruments he got there, which eventually showed us the diversity of "Africa". Besides, since he sometimes encourage us to sing or be a part of his music, we could experience a small part of "Africa". Thanks to Mr. Sakaki Mango, the audience could know and experience "Africa That You May Not Know", the catchphrase of African Weeks 2019, with our hearts and bodies.