The quantitative fieldwork got underway again towards the end of October. Eshetu reassembled the field team in Arsi, consisting of 14 field assistants and 2 data entry clerks and a supervisor. Some of the field assistants had been involved in the pilot study and household census collection, while others were new to the team. Eshetu ran a training / refresher training for everyone, going over the data collection protocols, as well as some changes that had been made to the questionnaire and procedures since the pilot.
Carrying out the fieldwork during a global pandemic AND an emerging civil war in Ethiopia has been very challenging. Firstly, extra measures have had to be put in place to mitigate Covid risks both for staff and study participants. The team are equipped with masks and appropriate sanitation, however, even with these measures in place difficulties remain. Wearing a mask makes communication harder which is not ideal when interviewing people about sensitive topics, and the uncertainty about how the outbreak might progress in Ethiopia and what restrictions could be put in place, has made planning complex. Additionally the pandemic has prevented Mhairi or Janet from travelling to Ethiopia to assist with the fieldwork, and as a result Eshetu has handled the entire operation single-handedly on top of many other commitments.
Secondly, the Tigray conflict in Northern Ethiopia has worsened in the last couple of months, and in November 2021 the government declared a State of Emergency and imposed a 6 month curfew in the Oromia Region which surrounds Addis Ababa, and is where our fieldsite is located. As our field team are recruited locally in the Oromia region, they were already in the area and have been able to get to the villages to carry out fieldwork without violating the curfew. However, the situation remains uncertain, reminding us of the substantial difficulties involved in data collection on this scale and in this context.
Eshetu has done a remarkable job in keeping everything going despite these significant challenges.