Project Partners and Trainers
The Jane Addams College of Social Work (JACSW) and the Great Cities Institute (GCI) at the University
of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) work with the School of Social Work at Addis Ababa University (AAU). The
unique blend of these interdisciplinary, engaged facilitative units will serve as a platform of the
project activities.
The Jane Addams College of Social Work (JACSW) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) is one of the largest schools of social work in the United States. JACSW will draw on the expertise of Dr. Alice K. Butterfield. Alice has been involved in social work education and child welfare training in Romania from 1990-1999, and as a Visiting Professor in social work education and action research in Ethiopia since 2001. She will lead the UIC-AAU faculty-student team. Dr. James Scherrer is an expert in child welfare. He has also taught advanced counseling skills at the School of Social Work at AAU.
The Great Cities Institute at the University
of Illinois at Chicago is built upon partnerships between UIC faculty and external sites of knowledge to
address issues that challenge the “great cities” of the world, such as Addis Ababa. Dr. Richard
Kordesh is an expert in community planning, home-based business development, and family based community
development, and has taught policy analysis and program evaluation at AAU. He is the author of Restoring
power to parents and places: The case for family-based community development, NY: iUniverse, Inc. 2006.
Addis Ababa University started the School of Social Work in 2004 with the Masters in Social Work degree, followed by a PhD in Social Work and Social Development in 2006. PhD students, Debebe Ero and Dessalgn Negeri, are the on-site Coordinators, who work with the UIC trainers to build the future training capacity of the School. Their role includes: 1) recruitment and admission of trainees, 2) promoting the project to key stakeholders in Ethiopia, 3) coordination of the logistical and administrative support services, and 4) participation in the project review, monitoring, and evaluation.