Double Specialization in: Methodologies of Research and Poverty Studies Members of the Examining Committee:

ii iii Acknowledgements First and foremost, my gratitude goes to my supervisor, Dr. Karin Astrid Siegmann, for her support in the whole process of writing this paper. She of-fered motivation and guidance since the inception of the idea for this paper up to its present form. I am also very grateful to Dr. Andrew Fischer, my second reader, for his precious comments and extended discussions. His suggestions of readings were also extremely important in developing my ideas further. I also would like thank Roy Hujimans, John Cameron, Shigehisa Kasahara, Morten Jerven and Tom Lavers who at various times offered advice, support, and shared readings. Many people helped me during my field work in Addis Ababa. Staffs of the Central Statistics agency were cooperative in suggesting documents to refer in their library. Some of them, who will remain anonymous, were generous to be interviewed. Awoke Atenafu, Helen Gebreyehonnes, Getnet Semeneh and Tsedi Lemma assisted me in linking to people for discussions and sharing documents. Members of the “Social Workers Group ” in Addis Ababa, espe-cially Seblewengel Belete, Selam Mezegbe, and Hiwot Abay made my days in Addis Ababa enjoyable. I am grateful to all