Raising the Key Issues Facing Resettlement Practice in Development Induced Displacement: Evidences From Households Displaced by Railway Construction in Dukem, Ethiopia

Abstract

Development projects are often resulted in massive displacement and resettlement of people. Despite the gradual improvement in resettlement practices and results, the impoverishments caused by development projects’ displacement and resettlement are still widely observed in many developing countries. This study is intended to investigate the key issues facing resettlement practices based on experiences from households displaced by railway corridor construction in Dukem area, central Ethiopia. Data were collected by using semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and archival file reviews. The study has revealed that policy, legal and practical factors were constraining effective resettlement and rehabilitation of the displaced households. The study indicates that the existing Ethiopian policy and legal frameworks on resettlement and rehabilitation of displaced people in the context of development projects were not effectively implemented in the study population context. The practice of valuation, compensation and expropriation were not fair and satisfactory mainly due to lack of objective criteria of evaluation, lack of technically competent valuation experts and widespread corruption in valuation and compensation of properties. The existing policy and legal frameworks on resettlement and rehabilitation of evicted people also lacks a clear statement on the livelihood rehabilitation of displaced households. The current compensation practice is monetary-based, inadequate, delayed and the rehabilitation approach lacks special consideration for vulnerable groups. Therefore, the researcher recommends the need for devising policy, legal and institutional frameworks which have clear provisions on how to deal with the multifaceted problems of displacement, resettlement and rehabilitation. Additionally, ensuring effective reform to the structures of implementing agents of resettlement is very important.