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This article analyses the role of social protection programmes in contributing to people's resilience to climate risks. Drawing from desk-based and empirical studies in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, it finds that social transfers make a strong contribution to the capacity of individuals and households to absorb the negative impacts of climate-related shocks and stresses. They do so through the provision of reliable, national social safety net systems-even when these are not specifically designed to address climate risks. Social protection can also increase the anticipatory capacity of national disaster response systems through scalability mechanisms, or pre-emptively through linkages to early action and early warning mechanisms. Critical knowledge gaps remain in terms of programmes' contributions to the adaptive capacity required for long-term resilience. The findings offer insights beyond social protection on the importance of robust, national administrative systems as a key foundation to support people's resilience to climate risks.

Humanitarian governance is usually understood according to the classic, Dunantist paradigm that accords central importance to international humanitarian agencies. However, this is increasingly paralleled by 'resilience humanitarianism' that focuses, among other things, on including national actors in humanitarian governance. This article views humanitarian governance as emerging through interactions between authorities, implementing agencies and communities. It is based on interactive ethnography in five countries by Partners for Resilience (PfR). Using the Theory of Change (ToC) tool, it analyses the various interpretations and priorities of actors involved in humanitarian problems, solutions and programme governance. For example, PfR had a 'software' focus, aiming to unlock communities' potential for resilience, whereas communities and authorities preferred to receive tangible 'hardware' support. The findings highlight the crucial role of local authorities in shaping humanitarian aid. This is especially pertinent in view of the international agenda to localise aid, which requires the understanding and support of national actors in order to responsibly protect the vulnerable.

Forecast-based drought early warning/early action has been hampered by both inadequate decision-making frameworks and a lack of appropriate funding mechanisms. Rural communities in Nicaragua and Ethiopia that have participated in resilience-building interventions of varying durations demonstrate the value of community-based actions informed by early warning, forecasts and drought management advice, both before and during the agricultural season. While drought affected all crops negatively, participants were better able to mitigate impacts, were more organised in accessing relief and recovered more effectively. These results are consistent with other research on the cost/benefit of anticipatory actions, use of climate services and appropriate drought management advice. They also confirm the importance of embedding short-term early action in long-term resilience-building. Despite this, formal systems, national and local, remain essentially unimplemented. Systems being developed at global level now need to be operationalised and translated into effective local drought management standard operating procedures for the most vulnerable.

Resilience is a complex phenomenon whereby a multitude of social and environmental factors, including gender, combine to shape the ways that shocks affect people. Looking at two BRACED (Building Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters) projects, in Burkina Faso and in Ethiopia, this article uses a desk review and primary data from partners and people at risk to explore how a gender-transformative approach can be an integral part of resilience-building projects, particularly those implemented by multi-stakeholder consortia. It also suggests ways to incorporate a stronger gender component in similar future projects. The article argues that donors and programme managers must provide clear principles and guidelines for achieving gender equity within resilience-building efforts. However, these must allow flexibility to adapt to norms, needs and resources as determined by implementing partners. The right balance can be achieved by facilitating spaces for individual and collective goal-setting; assessing current capacity and trajectories; and lesson-sharing as an iterative process for institutional learning.

In the mid-18th century, at the royal court of Gondar, the scriptorium of King Iyo’ās (1755-70) imported sheets of paper to make a lectionary (senkesar) in three volumes. Today, one volume remains in Addis Ababa at the Ethiopian National Archives and Library Agency, Department of Manuscripts, under the serial number 197. It is the only known Ethiopian Christian manuscript on paper. In Ethiopia, Christians copied their manuscripts on parchment while Muslims used paper. Craftsmen who knew how to work on paper, foreigners and/or Ethiopians trained by foreigners, made this volume. This innovative and ambitious project met the most sophisticated Ethiopian standards while introducing some novelties and adapting the codicological norms to the requirements of this new medium. The status of this manuscript was high enough to be part of the imperial library at the turn of the twentieth century and then included in the national heritage collection., Au milieu du XVIIIe siècle, à la cour royale de Gondar, le scriptorium du roi Iyo’ās (1755-70) importa des feuilles de papier afin de confectionner un lectionnaire (senkesar) en trois volumes. Il en reste aujourdvhui un volume conservé à Addis Abeba, à l’Ethiopian National Archives and Library Agency, au département des manuscrits, sous la cote 197. C’est le seul manuscrit chrétien éthiopien sur papier connu. En Éthiopie, les chrétiens copiaient leurs manuscrits sur du parchemin tandis que les musulmans faisaient usage du papier. Des artisans connaissant le travail sur papier, étrangers et/ou éthiopiens formés par des étrangers, confectionnèrent ces volumes. Ce projet novateur et ambitieux répondait aux standards éthiopiens les plus sophistiqués tout en introduisant quelques nouveautés et en adaptant les normes codicologiques en vigueur aux exigences de ce nouveau medium. Le statut de ce manuscrit était suffisamment élevé pour qu’il fasse partie de la bibliothèque impériale au tournant du XXe siècle puis qu’il soit versé dans la collection patrimoniale nationale.

Heavy metals are among the major contaminants of vegetables. A study was conducted at Wonji Gefersa farms where paper wastewater is used for cultivation of vegetable crops. Four vegetable samples, namely Swiss chard, carrot, tomato, green pepper, as well as paper wastewater were examined for heavy metal [Lead (Pb), Zinc (Zn), Cadmium (Cd), Iron (Fe), Copper (Cu), Chromium (Cr) and Cobalt (Co)] contamination using atomic absorption spectroscopy. The levels of Pb, Cd and Cr in paper wastewater were all above the safe limit for FAO standards for wastewater quality for irrigation. The concentration of Pb in Swiss chard and Green peeper was exceeded the permissible limits. The study reveals that Pb metal contamination in the study area which poses health risk with time unless an urgent step is taken by relevant agencies to address this issue.

Au milieu du xviiie siècle, à la cour royale de Gondar, le scriptorium du roi Iyo’ās (1755-1769) importa des feuilles de papier afin de confectionner un lectionnaire (senkesar) en trois volumes. Il en reste aujourd’hui un volume conservé à Addis Abeba, à l’Ethiopian National Archives and Library Agency, au département des manuscrits, sous la cote 197. C’est le seul manuscrit chrétien éthiopien sur papier connu. En effet, en Éthiopie, les chrétiens copiaient leurs manuscrits exclusivement sur du parchemin. Novateur et ambitieux, ce manuscrit répondait aux standards éthiopiens les plus sophistiqués, tout en adaptant les normes codicologiques en vigueur aux exigences de ce nouveau médium qu’était le papier. Il fut fabriqué par des artisans connaissant le travail sur papier, qu’ils soient des étrangers ou des Éthiopiens formés par des étrangers. Le statut de ce manuscrit fut suffisamment élevé pour qu’il fasse partie de la bibliothèque impériale au tournant du xxe siècle, puis qu’il soit versé dans la collection patrimoniale nationale. In the mid-18th century, at the royal court of Gondar, the scriptorium of King Iyo’ās (1755-1769) imported sheets of paper to make a lectionary (senkesar) in three volumes. Today, one volume remains in Addis Ababa at the Ethiopian National Archives and Library Agency, Department of Manuscripts, under the serial number 197. It is the only known Ethiopian Christian manuscript on paper. In Ethiopia, Christians copied their manuscripts exclusively on parchment. This innovative and ambitious project met the most sophisticated Ethiopian standards while adapting the codicological norms to the requirements of this new medium. Craftsmen who knew how to work on paper, foreigners or Ethiopians trained by foreigners, made this volume. The status of this manuscript was high enough to be part of the imperial library at the turn of the twentieth century and then included in the national heritage collection.

Background Paper currency is used for every type of commerce and plays an important role in the life of human beings. However, the combination of its widespread use and constant exchange make paper currency a likely agent for disease transmission. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the microbial load and safety of Ethiopian paper currencies collected from some food vendors in Jimma town. Methods Standard microbiological methods were used for the enumeration of various microbial groups, isolation and characterization of pathogenic bacteria and their growth potential in selected weaning foods. A total of 100 samples of Ethiopian paper currencies, consisting of five denominations, from street food venders, hotels and cafeterias in Jimma town were collected aseptically. Sterile cotton swabs moistened with buffered peptone water solution were used for swabbing and the swabs were separately soaked into 10 ml sterile buffered peptone water solution. Results Mean microbial counts of Aerobic mesophilic bacteria, Staphylococci, Enterobacteriaceae, coliforms and Aerobic bacterial spores were (log CFU/cm2) 6.32, 4.43, 3.14, 2.98 and 3.78, respectively. However, mean counts of Yeasts and Moulds were below detectable levels. There was statistically significant variation (p