A survey study aimed to provide a rigorous, representative, and robust assessment of needs, perceptions, and attitudes about peace and justice among the population of Ethiopia was initiated in February 2023. This survey was led by Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) with the financial support of the Global Initiative for Justice, Truth and Reconciliation (GIJTR), and the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience (ICSC). The administrative support and coordination were carried out by PAPDA.
Besides the international and national experts involved both in informing the design and the direct involvement in its execution, over 110 enumerators with their 12 lead focal points from eleven public universities and the 17 supervisors were able to administer a population-based quantitative survey to a random sample of 6,689 Ethiopian adults across all regions and city administrations.
This was followed by six focus group discussions held in selected regions to inform the quantitative data analysis and draft of the draft survey report.
The findings of this survey were launched on December 5th,2023, at a conference at the Radisson Blue-Addis Ababa Hotel, marking a crucial milestone in Ethiopia’s pursuit of transitional justice and peacebuilding. The participants were welcomed by the executive director of PAPDA followed by opening remarks by Patrick Vinck, Research Director from HHI, which paved the way for Tadesse’s illuminating discussion on conflict dynamics and transitional justice history in Ethiopia. The research director followed with the presentation of the findings on Peace, Security, and Transitional Justice. The presentation was followed with comments and questions which was by itself enlightening. However before the research director excused himself to let in an online presentation of Global Data on Transitional Justice for the last seventy years by Geoffrey Dancy, Associate Professor, University of Toronto from Transitional Justice Evaluation Team (TJET).
Then the floor was opened for further questions and comments on both presentations. There were subsequent comments and questions from the diverse participants to which both presenters reacted eloquently and most participants seemed to be satisfied with the answers given.
Finally, Tadesse S. Metekia summarized the deliberations and gave concluding remarks.
The conference drew a diverse audience, including participants from the National Dialogue Commission (Head), the Ministry of justice, different human rights organizations, different embassy representatives, UN agencies, AU representatives, USAID, State Department, PAPDA partners, and other key stakeholders totaling to 50 participants.
