Challenges and Opportunities of Investment to the People of Sebeta Town, Oromia Regional State

This study deals with the challenges and opportunities of investment to the people of Sebeta town. Currently, countries throughout the world are intensifying investment activities in African countries. Ethiopia is one of them. The developing countries are in need of heighted investment activities for employment and income generation. Despite its positive impact pertaining to employment, investment also brings challenges to the community. The focus of this study is to investigate the challenges and opportunities of investment to the people of Sebeta town of Oromia Regional State. To achieve this objective, both primary and secondary data was used. For this purpose, informants selected from the displaced people, government officials, workers of different investment types and selected residents of the town were participants of focus group discussions, interview (semi-structured), observation and case study. In such away, 141 individuals were directly involved in this study. In anthropological studies, analysis is an instrument to extract meanings from the information obtained during the field work. In such a manner, data were presented in a qualitative type. The result of the study showed that local communities lost their land, which used to serve for farming and residential purposes with inadequate cash compensation, rivers were contaminated by waste released from companies, labor exploitation and number of workers in several companies were disabled, and instability in the town. Investment also brought several opportunities for local people as source of income, skills and technology transfer. Local communities used daily labor, self-employment informal sector to sustain their livelihood. Based on the findings of the research, some alternatives were forwarded that could solve the problem and capitalize the opportunities available. In this regards, implementing proclamations and regulations of the country, prioritizing people in decision making and reconstructing the livelihoods of displaced household‟s need emphasis by the concerned bodies.

Keywords: Investment; Challenges; Opportunities; Livelihood; Sebeta.