Delivering Quality Early Learning In Low-Resource Settings: Progress And Challenges In Ethiopia

The potential of high quality early childhood care and education ECCE programmes to deliver positive outcomes for children and society is well recognised. But delivering on this potential presents huge challenges, especially in low and middle income countries. This final working paper in the Transitions in Early Childhood series focusses on Ethiopia. While in many respects Ethiopia is a success story of Education For All, in terms of increased enrolments in primary education, the early years of schooling is faced with numerous access and quality challenges. This working paper reviews the government of Ethiopia's 2010 policy framework for ECCE and highlights these different challenges in rural and urban areas of Ethiopia, drawing on survey and qualitative research data collected as part of Young Lives longitudinal research

Putting Children First: New Frontiers in the Fight Against Child Poverty in Africa

Despite important strides in the fight against poverty in the past two decades, child poverty remains widespread and persistent, particularly in Africa. Poverty in all its dimensions is detrimental for early childhood development and often results in unreversed damage to the lives of girls and boys, locking children and families into intergenerational poverty. This edited volume contributes to the policy initiatives aiming to reduce child poverty and academic understanding of child poverty and its solutions by bringing together applied research from across the continent. With the Sustainable Development Goals having opened up an important space for the fight against child poverty, not least by broadening its conceptualization to be multidimensional, this collection aims to push the frontiers by challenging existing narratives and exploring alternative understandings of the complexities and dynamics underpinning child poverty. Furthermore, it examines policy options that work to address this critical challenge.Comparative Research Programme on Poverty (CROP) at the University of Bergen.publishedVersio

School management and decision-making in Ethiopian government schools

Both academic and policy documents indicate that poor school management and decision-making at local level are major challenges in creating equitable access to good-quality education in Ethiopia. In principle, educational provision can be improved through better management practices, transparency in the use of resources and accountability to all stakeholders (community, parents, students, teachers, etc.). This study focuses on school management and decision-making in government schools and is based on the qualitative data collected in 2010 as part of the Young Lives school survey. The paper examines the extent to which the involvement of different stakeholders in schools (teachers, headteachers, parents, students, local government administration, etc.) impacts upon critical decision-making at school level. The paper uses qualitative data collected as part of the recent Young Lives school-based research from five of the 20 sentinel sites. Specifically it uses data collected through in-depth interviews with teachers and headteachers. It is only in recent years that the Ethiopian Government has paid attention to the importance of school management and school-level decision-making. Research in the area of school management is almost nonexistent in Ethiopia. However, various reports and policy documents prepared by the Federal Ministry of Education clearly indicate the extent to which the Government has been focusing on improving school management in recent years (MOE 2005; MOE 2010a). The paper examines how headteachers and teachers contribute to the strengthening of the day-to-day management and supervision of schools attended by Young Lives case study children.</p

Ways forward for early learning in Ethiopia: Young Lives Policy Brief 20

The importance of early childhood care and education (ECCE) is now widely accepted in international research and development policy. There is considerable evidence that targeted early childhood interventions have the potential to mitigate some of the risks to children’s learning and development posed by poverty. But in many countries resources are scarce and are mainly concentrated on achieving the Education For All goal of universal primary education. A major challenge is to find ways to develop high-quality ECCE services which are accessible to poorer children and children in rural areas. This Policy Brief uses findings from Young Lives in Ethiopia to illustrate the early childhood experiences of two age cohorts of children. It concludes that the Ethiopian government’s framework for ECCE provision is a positive advance, but highlights some of the obstacles that will need to be overcome in order to implement the policy effectively and in ways that benefit the most disadvantaged children

Young Lives Qualitative Research: Round 1 - Ethiopia: Young Lives Technical Note 19

This report presents initial analysis of the first round of qualitative data collected between September and November 2007 as part of the Young Lives study in Ethiopia. Data collection was carried out in five of the twenty Young Lives study communities, with both cohorts of children – the younger cohort (then aged between 6 and 7 years) and the older cohort (ages 12 to 13) – as well as their caregivers, teachers, health workers, and community representatives. The sub-sample included 60 children, 12 from each of the sites with equal numbers of boys and girls from each cohort. Key variables for sub-sampling included gender, cohort, ethnicity, religion, parental presence and school attendance. These criteria were used to select a core group of 12 ‘case study’ children in each of the communities, in addition to another eight children per community who could be ‘stand by’ cases and who were included in group based research activities. The three overriding questions that guided the qualitative research are: (1) What are the key transitions in children’s lives, how are they experienced (particularly in relation to activities, relationships, identities, and well-being) and what influences these experiences? (2) How is children’s well-being understood and evaluated by children, caregivers and other stakeholders? What shapes these different understandings, and what causes them to change? What do children, caregivers and other stakeholders identify as sources of and threats to well-being, and what protective processes can enable children to minimise these threats? (3) How do policies, programmes and services shape children’s transitions and wellbeing? What are the different stakeholder perspectives on these processes? What is the interplay between public, private and not-for-profit sectors and communities within these processes? The qualitative research entailed a mix of methods to generate data on the themes of transitions, well-being and services including individual interviews with children, caregivers and teachers, and group interviews with children (both cohorts) as well as with adults in the community. Creative methods such as drawing and self-report diaries were used as a basis for discussions with children on key research themes. Semi-structured observations of homes, schools and community settings provided the context for analysing and understanding the data

Gender-norms, violence and adolescence: Exploring how gender norms are associated with experiences of childhood violence among young adolescents in Ethiopia.

Adolescence is a time of particular risk for violence perpetrated by parents, teachers, peers and intimate partners. Social norms that condone violent discipline, promote masculinities focused on violence, and support gender inequality play an important role in perpetuating violence. However, little is known about the relationship between inequitable gender norms and children’s experiences of violence from parents or other adults in the household. Utilising data from the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) study, this paper explores how adolescent and household attitudes and community-level gender norms influence experiences of violence among young adolescents (aged 10–12) in Ethiopia. Our results show that community norms, rather than adolescent and household attitudes, are significantly associated with experiences of household violence. This result holds for boys and girls, and in rural areas. In urban areas, however, adolescent attitudes were more influential than community norms, perhaps indicating less cohesive communities. Overall, these findings suggest that violence prevention programming should prioritise shifting community norms, particularly in rural areas, in order to promote adolescent girls’ and boys’ right to bodily integrity

Ways forward for early learning in Ethiopia

The importance of early childhood care and education (ECCE) is now widely accepted in international research and development policy. There is considerable evidence that targeted early childhood interventions have the potential to mitigate some of the risks to children’s learning and development posed by poverty. But in many countries resources are scarce and are mainly concentrated on achieving the Education For All goal of universal primary education. A major challenge is to find ways to develop high-quality ECCE services which are accessible to poorer children and children in rural areas. This Policy Brief uses findings from Young Lives in Ethiopia to illustrate the early childhood experiences of two age cohorts of children. It concludes that the Ethiopian government’s framework for ECCE provision is a positive advance, but highlights some of the obstacles that will need to be overcome in order to implement the policy effectively and in ways that benefit the most disadvantaged children

Intersecting inequalities, gender and adolescent health in Ethiopia

© 2020 The Author(s). Background: Until recently, global public health initiatives have tended to overlook the ways that social factors shape adolescent health, and particularly how these dynamics affect the specific needs of adolescents in relation to information about puberty, menstruation and sexual health. This article draws on mixed methods data from rural and urban areas of Ethiopia to explore how access to health information and resources - and subsequently health outcomes - for adolescents are mediated by gender and age norms, living in different geographical locations, poverty, disability and migration. Methods: Data was collected in 2017-2018 for the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) mixed-methods longitudinal research baseline in three regions of Ethiopia (Afar, Amhara and Oromia). Quantitative data was collected from over 6800 adolescents and their caregivers, with qualitative data obtained from a sub-sample of 220 adolescents, their families and communities. Adolescent participants shared their experiences of health, illness and nutrition over the previous year; their knowledge and sources of information about sexual and reproductive health and puberty; and their attitudes toward sexual and reproductive health. Regression analysis was used to explore differences by gender, age, rural/urban residence, and disability status, across a set of adolescents\u27 health knowledge and other outcomes in the quantitative data. Intersectional analysis was used in analysing the qualitative data. Results: Analysis suggested that gender inequality intersects with age, disability and rural/urban differences to shape young people\u27s access to information about puberty, with knowledge about this topic particularly lacking amongst younger adolescents in rural areas. Drought and lack of access to clean water exacerbates health challenges for adolescents in rural areas, where a lack of information and absence of access to preventive healthcare services can lead to permanent disability. The research also found that gaps in both school-based and alternative sources of education about puberty and menstruation reinforce stigma and misinformation, especially in rural areas where adolescents have higher school attrition rates. Gendered cultural norms that place high value on marriage and motherhood generate barriers to contraceptive use, particularly in certain rural communities. Conclusions: As they progress through adolescence, young people\u27s overall health and access to information about their changing bodies is heavily shaped by intersecting social identities. Structural disadvantages such as poverty, distress migration and differential access to healthcare intersect with gender norms to generate further inequalities in adolescent girls\u27 and boys\u27 health outcomes

Exploring adolescents with disabilities’ access to education, social protection and employment opportunities in Ethiopia

The importance of providing inclusive services for persons with disabilities has been gaining increasing international attention in line with the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and pledges made at the 2018 Global Summit on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to scale up investments in inclusive education, health and employment services. This trend has been mirrored in Ethiopia as highlighted by the National Action Plan for Persons with Disabilities (2012–2021). This article explores the extent to which adolescents with disabilities in Ethiopia are able to access inclusive services to realise their full capabilities, drawing on longitudinal data collected before and after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic with a sample of young people with physical, visual or hearing impairments aged 10–19 from Afar, Amhara and Oromia Regions and Dire Dawa City Administration. The findings highlight that while recent investments in special needs education services have made a critical difference to adolescents’ access to formal education in Ethiopia, there are significant quality deficits, including inadequate teacher training, a dearth of adapted teaching materials and infrastructure and underinvestment in follow-on inclusive education services beyond 4th grade. These challenges are compounded by inadequate social protection to address economic barriers to education service uptake, and a dearth of inclusive youth- and disability-friendly psychosocial support services. The article concludes by reflecting on context-sensitive and cost-effective entry points for strengthening inclusive services in Ethiopia, including case management by social workers, in line with international commitments enshrined in the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities