Tizazu, Ashenafi

Position 
PhD Fellow
Nationality 
Ethiopia
At UNU-CRIS 
01/10/2018
Research Interests 

Return Migration 
Reintegration Processes
Ethiopia 
Forced Return of Labour Migrants 
Social Work 
Community

Education 

MA in Sociology of Health and Wellbeing, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
BA in Sociology and Social Anthropology, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia

Biographical Statement 

Ashenafi Tirfie Tizazu is a PhD fellow at Ghent University. His doctoral research, under the supervision of Professor Dr Ine Lietaert (Ghent University and UNU-CRIS) examines the return and reintegration processes of Ethiopian forced returnees from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in a rural area, an area that has been neglected in studies conducted so far in Ethiopia. In this study, he aims to address the following questions: To what extent do forced returnees reintegrate into the social and economic structures of origin communities? What are the determinants of Successful Reintegration in Rural Ethiopia? What are the returnees strategies to cope with challenges and opportunities that they are faced with during the reintegration processes? What are the socio-economic impacts of return and reintegration on recipient households and communities? Ashenafi divides his time between Ghent University, Addis Ababa University, Wollo University and UNU-CRIS.

Ashenafi graduated in 2011 with a Master’s Degree in Sociology from Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. For his Master’s thesis, he employed the integrated model of resilience as a framework to explore orphans’ problem and the efforts made by caregivers, government, non-governmental as well as community-based organisations in Woldiya town, Northern Wollo, Ethiopia. He is also a staff member of the Wollo University in Ethiopia, where he served as assistant lecturer, lecturer and head of the department Sociology before.