Our Research

While there are many studies on poverty in Ethiopia, until the Young Lives study little was known about the extent and causes of child poverty and how child poverty impacts on later outcomes. The Young Lives' approach and analysis is enabling us to pinpoint policy implications for tackling childhood poverty in Ethiopia as well as identifying important avenues for future research.

Despite economic growth and a number of government programmes which have led to improvements in many areas, most of Ethiopia's children continue to live in very difficult circumstances.

Our research shows that there have been improvements in access to basic services, in particular large increases in school enrolment, in the number of health centres and health posts constructed, and in the massive deployment of health extension workers across the country (reaching villages). However, ensuring the quality of these services is now a key priority for the government. Tackling high levels of under-nutrition across the country remains a critical challenge and will strongly affect children's life chances in the future.

In recent years our study has concentrated on the following themes:

• UNICEF Ethiopia and FCDO working papers & policy briefs
• Young Lives at Work
• Early childhood development
• Education
• Nutrition
• Children's work
• Adolescence, youth and gender including early marriage
• Violence affecting children