Journal of Indigenous Knowledge and Development Studies

Adaptive Leadership Behaviors in Secondary schools: A Systematic Review of Practices, Challenges, Outcomes, and Implications

2026-02-25T11:38:19+00:00

This systematic review examined adaptive leadership practices in secondary schools worldwide, focusing on their implementation, challenges, and outcomes. A comprehensive search of peer‑reviewed studies published between 2000 and 2025 was conducted across major databases and institutional repositories, yielding 15 eligible articles from diverse contexts including Ethiopia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Palestine, and New Zealand. Thematic synthesis indicated that principals utilized adaptive practices such as contextual problem‑solving, collaboration, digital transformation, and stakeholder engagement to address complex educational challenges. Despite persistent constraints including bureaucratic rigidity, resource limitations, and cultural resistance, findings revealed positive links between adaptive leadership practices and teachers’ engagement, motivation, performance, curriculum innovation, and equity outcomes. The review concludes that adaptive leadership provides a flexible and globally relevant framework for boosting resilient, inclusive, and future‑ready secondary schools, while stressing the significance of contextual adaptation to local traditions and systemic constraints.

Agency in Adversity: How Long-Term Unemployed Youth Construct Survival Pathways in Hosanna City, Ethiopia

2026-02-25T11:23:19+00:00

Youth unemployment is not only widespread but increasingly prolonged, posing complex challenges for community well-being and sustainable development. Nevertheless, it is often measured in statistics rather than understood through the lived experiences of youth themselves. Moreover, research and policy debates frequently frame long-term unemployed youth as passive, dependent, and vulnerable, overlooking the resilience, creativity, and adaptability they display in navigating everyday survival. Addressing this gap, this study explored the survival strategies of long-term unemployed youth in Hosanna City, Ethiopia. Using a phenomenological design, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 21 participants and analyzed the data through Colaizzi’s method to ensure analytical rigor and thematic depth. From 45 significant statements, four interrelated themes emerged: economic and material survival, social and collective survival, psychological adaptation, and aspirations for migration and self-improvement. The findings show that young people actively develop practical and context-specific strategies to cope with prolonged unemployment. However, these strategies are largely reactive, shaped by structural constraints within labor markets, education systems, and social protection frameworks. Consequently, survival often entails significant personal trade-offs, including delayed transitions into adulthood and the normalization of precarity. While resilience is evident, it should not be romanticized as a sustainable solution to structural unemployment. Instead, policy interventions should move beyond supporting mere survival and instead promote sustainable livelihood pathways by expanding access to decent work, state-funded mega projects such as industrial parks, airports, and railways, entrepreneurship and agro-processing initiatives, skills development, and safe, legal migration opportunities.

Beyond Cultural Heritage and Symbolism: A Quest for Constitutional Recognition of the Oromo Gadaa System in Ethiopia

2026-02-25T14:07:09+00:00

This study argues for the formal legal and functional recognition of the Oromo Gadaa System (OGS) beyond its current status as intangible cultural heritage. Through a qualitative analysis of Ethiopia’s legal framework and the implications of UNESCO’s 2016 inscription, the research has found that while Proclamation 839/2014 provides a basis for safeguarding heritage, it fails to address the integration of the OGS’s governance mechanisms. Constitutional provisions allow for such recognition but remain unimplemented. The study has identified the OGS’s core democratic principles-such as periodic succession, checks and balances, and restorative justice-as potential contributors to strengthening Ethiopia’s governance architecture. However, significant structural incompatibility between the centralized state and the decentralized, consensus-based logic of Gadaa present fundamental challenges. The findings, derived from interviews and document analysis, suggest that moving from symbolic to functional recognition requires navigating complex questions of legal pluralism, power-sharing, and institutional hybridity. The study concludes that a constitutionally recognized, hybrid model is necessary to leverage the OGS’s indigenous values for enhanced political stability, administrative effectiveness, and socio-cultural harmony.

Climate Variability and Drought Trends in Pastoral and Agro-Pastoral Districts: Spatial-Temporal Perspectives in Guji and West Guji Zones

2026-02-25T14:13:13+00:00

This study examines the spatial and temporal patterns of climate variability and drought trends in the Guji and West Guji zones of Ethiopia, focusing on their effects on pastoral and agro-pastoral communities. A mixed-methods, cross-sectional design was used, combining household surveys, key informant interviews, focus groups, and remote sensing. A multi-stage sampling method selected four districts per zone based on vulnerability to climate shocks, with 382 households sampled using Yamane’s formula. Climate data, including rainfall and temperature, were obtained from Ethiopia’s Meteorology Institute and complemented with satellite imagery (Landsat, Sentinel-2) analyzed via ArcGIS and ERDAS Imagine. Quantitative analysis involved calculating the coefficient of variation (CV), rainfall concentration index (PCI), and Standard Precipitation Index (SPI) to assess variability and drought severity across districts and seasons. Findings reveal high inter-annual rainfall variability (CV > 50%), with eastern and southern areas experiencing more unpredictable rainfall, thus increasing drought risk. SPI results show recurrent severe drought episodes during autumn and spring, with some districts facing drought over 60% of the time. Spatial drought hotspots include Liban, Dugda Dawa, and Saba Boru, indicating uneven vulnerability. Climate variability has caused water shortages, pasture degradation, and livestock mortality, severely affecting livelihoods. Drought frequency has increased over the past two decades, intensified by rising temperatures. The study emphasizes the need for district-specific adaptation strategies such as water harvesting, drought-resistant crops, and resilient pastoral practices. It advocates for integrated climate monitoring and community resilience programs to reduce risks and promote sustainable livelihoods in vulnerable districts.

Compensation Dynamics of Expropriation for the Expansion of Development Programs in Ethiopia: An Evidence from the Gada Special Economic Zone

2026-02-25T14:25:18+00:00

Land transcends its physical dimensions to form the bedrock of life, cultural identity, and spiritual belonging for communities worldwide. In Ethiopia, this connection is profound, with land representing ancestral heritage, social status, and economic survival. However, the state's pursuit of development through Special Economic Zones (SEZs) often necessitates land expropriation, disproportionately displacing smallholder farmers. This process frequently occurs without commensurate compensation or due process, leading to severe socio-economic and cultural disruptions. This paper employs a qualitative doctrinal research approach to critically examine the compensation dynamics for smallholders expropriated for SEZ development in Ethiopia. Through an analysis of the constitutional framework, national proclamations including the Expropriation Proclamation No. 1161/2019 and the Special Economic Zone Proclamation No. 1322/2024 and subsidiary legislation, the study identifies a significant gap between legal principles and their implementation. The findings reveal that the current compensation implementation process is clearly departs from principles enshrined under the 1995 constitution of FDRE and other international principle and standards that mandates for advance, commensurate compensation. The paper concludes that a transformative, inclusive approach is urgently needed. It argues for expropriation processes that are not only legally compliant but also ethically grounded, integrating Indigenous knowledge and ensuring meaningful community participation.

Effects of Picture-Cued Vocabulary Instruction on Students’ Vocabulary Learning Ability, and Attitude of Grade 5 students at Sadamo Welmera Elementary School

2026-02-25T14:34:28+00:00

This study investigated the effects of picture-cued vocabulary instruction (PCVI) on Grade 5 students’ Vocabulary Learning Ability and Attitude at Sadamo Welmera Elementary School, Oromia, Ethiopia. A quasi-experimental research design was employed with 80 students, divided equally into an experimental group and a control group. Picture-cued vocabulary tasks were developed and used as teaching material for the experimental group. Data was collected through tests (pre-and post-tests) and questionnaire, analyzed using an independent t-test, and supplemented with interviews from 10 randomly selected students in the experimental group. The pre-test results revealed no significant difference in vocabulary learning ability between the control and experimental groups prior to the intervention. However, post-test results indicated a significant difference in favor of the experimental group (p = 0.001 < 0.05), demonstrating that PCVI had a strong positive effect on vocabulary learning ability. In addition, student questionnaire and interview findings showed that students in the experimental group developed a positive attitude towards vocabulary learning as a result of the picture-cued instruction. The study concluded that PCVI is an effective instructional strategy that can enhance students’ vocabulary learning ability and foster favorable attitudes toward vocabulary learning in elementary schools. Recommendations for practice were also provided.

Mediating Effects of School Climate on the Link Between Leadership Self-Efficacy and Student Performance in Public Secondary Schools in West Shewa Zone

2026-02-25T14:47:22+00:00

In recent years, trends indicate that student academic achievement particularly national examination results in secondary schools has faced significant challenges, prompting the need for multiple interventions. The study investigates the effect of school leaders’ self-efficacy on student academic achievement, while exploring the mediating role of school climate. By analyzing how school leaders’ confidence in their role provision shapes the school environment and ultimately contributing to boosting student academic achievement. The study employed quantitative survey design by applying AMOS version 23 and SPSS version 25 for data analysis with 235 determined using multistage sampling method. The finding of the study revealed that self-efficacy has a direct positive effect on student academic achievement (β = 0.07, p = .001), confirming Hypothesis H1. Leaders’ self-efficacy also significantly influenced school climate (β = 0.38, p = .001), supporting Hypothesis H2. School climate itself was found to be a significant predictor of student academic achievement (β = 0.11, p = .001), thereby confirming Hypothesis H3. Mediation analysis further demonstrated that school climate partially mediates the relationship between self-efficacy and student achievement, with an indirect effect of β = 0.56, p = .001. Overall, the study underscores the critical role of school leaders’ self-efficacy in shaping positive school climates and driving students to success. It highlights the importance of strengthening leadership capacities as a strategic approach to addressing the current persistent academic achievement decline in public secondary schools.

Sustaining Indigenous Governance: The Role of Gujii Women in the Continuity of the Gujii Gadaa System

2026-02-25T14:51:24+00:00

Indigenous governance systems in Africa have historically provided comprehensive frameworks for social organization, leadership, conflict resolution, and cultural continuity. Among these systems, the Gadaa system of the Oromo people represents a highly developed socio-political institution grounded in democratic principles, grade governance, accountability, and collective responsibility. Despite its significance and global recognition, scholarly attention has largely emphasized male leadership roles, resulting in the marginalization and under representation of women’s contributions to the continuity and functioning of the system. This study addresses this gap by examining the roles of women in sustaining the Gadaa system and the indigenous legal and institutional mechanisms that protect and empower them. Among the Guji Oromo who are one of the major Oromo moieties where the Gadaa system is a living institution. The main objective of the study is to analyze women’s roles in governance, ritual practice, generational continuity, and social regulation within the Gadaa system. Specifically, the study investigates women’s shared responsibility in leadership, their participation across Gadaa grades, their exclusive roles through indigenous institutions such as Haadha Bantooyyee, and the legal protections accorded to them from birth to death. The study employs a qualitative research approach using ethnographic methods. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with elders, women leaders, and key informants, participant observation of rituals and social practices, and analysis of oral traditions and customary laws. The data were thematically analyzed to capture indigenous meanings and institutional structures. The findings reveal that women are indispensable to the continuity of the Gujii Gadaa system. Leadership is exercised through marital partnership, ritual legitimacy depends on women’s participation, and women’s institutions play critical roles in public health, moral regulation, and cultural transmission. The study concludes that the Gujii Gadaa system embodies a complementary model of gender relations rooted in balance, mutual responsibility, and collective well-being. The study recommends greater scholarly recognition of women’s indigenous governance roles, legal protection and documentation of women’s institutions, and the integration of indigenous gender-balanced governance principles into contemporary policy and cultural preservation initiatives.

The Qaalluu institution: An indigenous peacebuilding practice among the Gujii Oromoo in southern Ethiopia

2026-02-25T14:59:47+00:00

We examine how the Qaalluu institution contributes to peacemaking and the administration of justice among the Gujii community. The Qaalluu institution is one of the many Gujii Oromoo indigenous institutions of conflict resolution, used exclusively to settle various types of charged disputes. By examining the histories of the community and neighboring ethnic groups, our study revealed that Abba Qaallu is a vital leader who governs all aspects of social, environmental, and political life. The Qaalluu institution, led by Abba Qaallu, is an organized structure composed of counselors that governs Gujii Oromoo and other neighboring ethnic groups, following supernatural (Waaqa’s) law and order.

Symbolic Interpretation of Korma Qalaa (Bull slaughtering) at Odaa Doolaa Ritual of Guji Gada system

2026-02-25T15:23:27+00:00

This article analyzes the symbolic interpretation of Korma Qalaa (Bull slaughtering) performed at Odaa Doola Ritual of Guji Gadaa system, with the aim of documenting the meanings that the Guji people attach to the performance. Through ethnographic research design, the data were generated using methods such as participant observation, key informant interview and focus group discussion. The study depicted that korma qalaa embodies core Guji values underpinning their religion, and values serving as foundation for Social and Political Harmony in Guji Gadaa system. Further, korma qalaa portrays how the Guji reaffirm cattle as sacred sustainers of life and identity, linking herd prosperity to cultural renewal, invoking economic prosperity, spiritual connection, social status, communal well-being, and stability for cultural continuity. In general, korma qalaa is the crucial bind the religious and cultural life of the Guji people