Smallholder rural farm households face an increasing need of looking for alternative income sources to supplement their small scale agricultural activities. However, livelihood diversification is determined by complex and yet empirically untested factors in Debre Elias Woreda. Thus, the aim of this study is to assess the determinants of livelihood diversification strategies in the study area. The data were collected through both primary and secondary data collection methods. The data were obtained from 160 sample household heads that were selected through a combination of two-stage, purposive and simple random sampling techniques. The descriptive statistics were used to identify the livelihood strategies and the livelihood assets. The finding of the survey result indicates that much of the rural households (61%) in the study area practice diversified livelihood strategies that combined on-farm activities with non/off-farm activities. Multinomial logit model applied to investigate the determinant factors influencing the households' choice of livelihood strategies. In this regard, the econometric analysis demonstrated that out of the total sixteen variables included in the model only seven variables including land size, livestock holding size, sex of household head, mass media, market distance, total annual household income, and urban linkage are found to be the significant determinants up to 10% probability levels. The results of this study suggest that both agricultural intensification and non/offfarm diversification should be strengthened to attain smallholder households' livelihood security.

Background: Waste is a byproduct of human life. Nowadays, municipal solid waste is being produced in excessive amounts and in this way, both developing and developed countries are facing challenges regarding generation of waste. Economic development, urbanization and improved living standards in cities have contributed to increase in the amount and complexity of solid waste produced. Methods: this study aims to Analysis of households' willingness to pay for improved solid waste management Services in Gondar city, Ethiopia: evidence from a double-bounded dichotomous contingent Valuation Method.Result: A total of 222 randomly selected households were interviewed to address the objective of this study. Finally, the survey result indicated that 192(87.3%) of sample households were willing to pay for improved solid waste management services. Following this, the one and double-bounded dichotomous contingent valuation result revealed that the mean willingness to pay estimated from the Double Bounded dichotomous CVM and open ended formats were 34.48 and 17.0756 ETB[1] per month per households respectively. The total WTP was obtained by adding the WTP of the total households in each stratum, and is equal to 941361ETB and 1900848 ETB for open ended and double bounded format, respectively. Additionally, the bivariate probit model result demonstrated that income and education have positive and significant effects on willingness to pay bid amounts. The results, age, marital status, Bid1 and Bid2 have a negative and significant effect on households’ amount of willingness to pay for better solid waste management services. Conclusion: When allocating service charges the city municipality considers amount of solid waste generation and income level of the households. The study results show that when educational status of the households increases and increase their willing to participate in planned improved solid waste management service. Thus, awareness creation is importance for better solid waste management. Additionally the city municipality facilitates a learning media for uneducated households to come up with at least secondary education level.