Bahir Dar University, one of the partner institutions in the project GIRT, held a validation workshop on June 01, 2025 at the university campus. The workshop was held with 30 interview partners from informal settlements who were participating in the previous qualitative research phase. The participants had been engaged in interviews on the following thematic areas: livelihood, tenure security, infrastructure and basic services, social capital, gender and income, governance, well-being as well as food security.
First, findings from the eight thematic areas were orally presented to the respondents in the local language for review. The purpose was to verify and confirm the accuracy of the respondents’ account of their experiences and confirm their original words. Moreover, the validation workshop aimed to give a chance for the respondents to add some new information and solve knowledge gaps. The participants mentioned problems of accessing schools for their children and the corrupted system they face.
During the workshop with the support of workshop facilitators, participants additionally were asked to prioritize the women’s key problems in their informal settlement. As a result, tenure insecurity, lack of access to infrastructure and basic services as well as diminished livelihood opportunities, with a strong nexus showing between them, were identified as the most pressing problems. During the workshop, participants further discussed about the root causes of the identified problems, providing valuable insights despite some difficulties with abstract concepts.
Besides its importance to validate the qualitative research results, the workshop served to build trust and promote further cooperation to support the next dialogue in transdisciplinary research.
