Greetings from the Institute of Sidama Studies (IoSS) of Hawassa University. IoSS was established in July 2020 upon the approval of the Hawassa University Senate. The mandate of the institute is to provide Sidama-related research, education, and publication; to promote culture and indigenous knowledge, and to enable language development as well as to establish library and documentation services.

Cognizant of the fact that many universities in Ethiopia are making progress in documenting, promoting, and advancing the culture and local knowledge of the communities in their catchment areas, Hawassa University has launched this institute. Here, as elsewhere in Ethiopia, indigenous peoples and their ways of life are at risk of extinction unless they are rigorously researched, documented, preserved, and integrated into the system of the modern world. It is the aim of the Institute to contribute to the regional and national efforts of preserving indigenous knowledge and cultural heritage.

Since its inception in the past year and a half, IoSS has been working on capacity needs and institutional infrastructure. So far, IoSS has successfully completed a number of projects including a research workshop on Enset production. Moreover, our language development and promotion team are working to produce a quality dictionary that will support ongoing and future scholarship on Sidama studies as well as the standardization of the language.  It is also on the process of completing the resource library and documentation centre in the university’s main campus. 

The Institute works in close partnership with government and non-governmental organizations, researchers and civil society members to galvanize the ongoing efforts at the national level to achieve sustainable social, political and economic development that would positively impact the lives of local populations in the local context and beyond. We welcome partners from Ethiopia and abroad who are interested in Sidama studies.

Kind regards,