Amhara Regional Workshop: Evidence from GAGE Midline Research

Workneh Abebe, Kiya Gezehagne, Bahir Dar, April 2021
Amhara Regional Workshop:
Evidence from GAGE Midline Research
Adolescent girl fetching water © Nathalie Bertrams / GAGE 2020

GAGE Overview
Adolescent boy, Ethiopia © Nathalie Bertrams / GAGE 20
Please note that the photographs of
adolescents DO NOT capture GAGE research
participants and consent was gained from
their guardians for the photographs to be
used for GAGE communications purposes.

Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE):
A longitudinal research programme (2015-2024)
By finding out ‘what works,’ for whom, where and
why, we can better support adolescent girls and
boys to maximise their capabilities now and in the
future.
We are following 20,000 adolescent girls and boys - the largest cohort of
adolescents in the Global South

GAGE longitudinal research sample

GAGE Ethiopia research sites
3 regions:
• Afar, Amhara, Oromia
• plus Dire Dawa City Administration
Research site selection based on:
• Districts with among highest rates of child
marriage as proxy for conservative gender
norms (MOWCA, UNICEF and ODI, 2015)
• Urban and rural sites
• Food insecure and pastoralist sites as a
proxy for economic poverty
• Woreda-based mapping of all kebeles
based on infrastructure and service
availability (vulnerable/ less vulnerable)
• Programming capacities of NGO
implementing partners

Young girl herding cattle, Ethiopia © Nathalie Bertrams /GAGE 2020
GAGE findings on education

Baseline: Educational aspirations
Nearly all (95%) of GAGE’s younger adolescents would like to attend at
least some secondary school.
The majority (61%) of GAGE’s younger adolescents would like to
attend at least some post-secondary schooling.
Many want to become professionals—such as doctors, teachers,
engineers, etc.

Baseline: Parental support is generally high
Most parents have high aspirations for
their children—though they do not always
back this up with action.
2/3 of female caregivers would like for
their children to attend at least some
post-secondary education
Declining agricultural fortunes is a
driving force.
‘There is a severe shortage of farmland in our
locality. A farming livelihood is no longer viable.
Parents encourage their children to focus on
education.’
(man, Shumegie, South Gondar)

Baseline: Access to education is highly variable
Most young adolescents are in school—
and in the appropriate grade for age.
However, patterning is complex with
South Gondar the highest.
• South Gondar: 93%
• East Haraghe: 78%
• Zone 5 (Afar): 64%
What drives differences?
• South Gondar has more full-cycle primary
schools, a history of education, and strong
regional investment in education.
• East Haraghe has a severe water shortage
problem and evolving tradition of Shagoye
dancing which distracts adolescents from
their education.
• Zone 5 (Afar) lacks schools—and teachers.
How many grades have they completed?
• South Gondar : 4.5
• East Haraghe : 4.8
• Zone 5 (Afar): 2.5

Baseline: Regular attendance is a daily struggle
 Students arrive late:
‘[School] guards do not allow the students who are late for class to
enter into the school, so the students stay out of the school up to
break time.’ (boy, Debre Tabor, South Gondar)
‘At the time of threshing, we will have to prepare food and take lunch
to our family members. There are weeks in which I never miss a day
and there are weeks in which I miss two days of school.’ (14 year old
girl, Shumegie, South Gondar)
 Students attend school irregularly:
 During agricultural peak seasons they miss months of
school:
‘Local people’s livelihood is based on agricultural activities and
livestock production. As a result, most registered students used to be
absent from school during the harvesting season.’ (Principal,
Aquaschmoch, South Gondar)
GAGE younger cohort,
percentage of school
days missed over last
two weeks, by location

Baseline: Educational access is improved—with gaps
 Young adolescent girls are more likely to be enrolled than boys: 96% versus 89%
 Young girls have completed more years of schooling than boys: 4.8 years versus 4.3 years
 Many children still enroll quite late.
‘One of my younger sisters is 11 years old and in grade 1. But the younger one is 9 years. She
looks after cattle until my sister’s son grows up. She will start school after he grows up.’
(12-year-old girl, Abena)
 Many students miss hours, days, and weeks of school—depending on demands on their time.
‘At the time of threshing, we will have to prepare food and take lunch to our family
members. There are weeks in which I never miss a day and there are weeks in which I miss
two days of school.’ (14-year-old girl, Shumegie)

Baseline: Students are dropping out for multiple reasons
•‘My sister started working as a domestic worker in people’s houses. She dropped out of school in
grade 6, when she was not able to combine schooling with work.’ (11-year-old girl, Debre Tabor)
High opportunity costs compared to working—and no way to combine school and work.
•‘When the families are poor, children don’t have enough time to study… If we have 100 students, 40
will pass and the rest will fail.’[and then dropout] (Girl, Shumegie)
Rural students are poorly prepared for exams.
•‘Qualisa Secondary School…is 4 hours walking distance. Completing 8th grade is considered as the
highest achievement’. (Principal, Aquashmoch)
Lack of accessible secondary schools.
•‘Costs are high for food, stationery materials, house rent and others.’ (Teacher, Abena)
High real costs, especially for secondary school given cost of boarding.
•‘Parents don’t want to send their older female children because they might be attacked or become
unexpectedly pregnant’. (Key informant, Aquashmoch)
Girls are removed from school to keep them “safe”—and once married have few routes back in.

Baseline: Violence in classrooms is endemic and quality is variable
 Students—especially girls—are punished for events
beyond their control.
‘Teachers are assigned in a field that they
didn’t receive training in.’
(Teacher, Embachiko)
‘Some teachers teach well… others spend
their teaching time by sitting… and do not
teach properly.’
(11-year-old girl, Aquashmoch)
‘They only hit us [with a whip] when we couldn’t answer a question’.
(11-year-old girl, Abena)
‘Today, I came late to school and forced to collect 30 stones.’
‘I like education. But I quit it because I couldn’t write and read. I didn’t pass grade 1. When I came
to join from grade 1, they registered me in grade 3. Then I refused to continue my education.’
(12-year-old boy, Embachiko)
 62% of young adolescents in South Gondar report
having experienced violence at the hands of teachers—
boys are most at risk
 Students are punished for academic mistakes.

Baseline: Education for children with special needs
• Adolescents with disabilities are disadvantaged—
but some are aiming high.
‘I need to be a doctor to give support to those who are
physically disabled.’
(17 year old girl, Debre Tabor, South)
• Policy commitments are translating into results for
students.
• Teachers report that special needs classrooms are
drawing students en masse.
‘Students flood to our school’ (teacher, Debre Tabor, South
Gondar)
‘We have first graders who are 20 years old’. (teacher, Jeman,
South Gondar)
• Adolescents with disabilities love their teachers and
the chance to make friends.
‘Teachers teach until all of us understand it.’ (16 year old girl,
Debre Tabor)
‘There is no discrimination or insulting in the community now’.
(17 year old girl, Debre Tabor)

Midline: Girls’ educational aspirations are high…but
‘I aspire to be an astronomer.’
(14-year-old girl, Debre Tabor)
They are not as high as boys’—in large part because girls lack role models:
 Across locations and cohorts:
 61% of girls aspire to attend college or university—compared to 78% of boys.
 The gender gap is the largest in East Hararghe—where older boys are twice as likely (79% versus
39%) to aspire to college or university as older girls.
They vary across regions:
 87% of younger girls in urban areas
 63% of younger girls in South Gondar
 52% of younger girls in East Hararghe
 31% of younger girls in Zone 5
…aspire to college or university

Midline: Most adolescents are enrolled in school…but
Of the younger cohort—girls are more likely to be
enrolled than boys in:
• South Gondar ( 95% vs 87%)
• Zone 5 (64% vs 57%)
Girls and boys are equally likely to be enrolled in
urban areas (98%)
Boys are far more likely to be enrolled than girls in
East Hararghe (88% vs 65%)
Of the older cohort—boys are more likely to be
enrolled than girls in all locations:
• South Gondar (58% vs 51%)
• Zone 5 (40% vs 28%)
• Urban (86% vs 77%)
• East Hararghe (72% vs 31%)
Girls have missed an average of 11% of school days
over the last two weeks.
• Rural girls miss more school than urban girls (12%
vs 8%).
• 28% of girls have repeated at least one grade
In rural areas, girls are years over-age for grade—of
younger cohort (12-14) girls:
• Those in urban areas have completed 6.1 grades
• Those in SG have completed 5.5 grades
• Those in EH have completed 4.4 grades
• Those in Z5 have completed 3.9 grades

Midline: Gender norms shape access in South Gondar
 For younger adolescents, gender norms limits boys’ access more than girls’—because boys’ farm work is harder to
combine with school than girls’ domestic and care work.
 But girls have less time to study—because they work more hours each day. This means they are less likely to pass
gateway exams.
 Sexual violence limits girls’ access to education—rape is common.
‘It is now the female children
[that have] started to learn [in]
large numbers.’ (father)
‘It’s not like past times. There are
bandits and they will fight and
rape the girls,’
(14-year-old girl, Debre Tabor)
‘When I did not pass grade 10, I lost hope. I was thinking that
I had been a burden on my family for 10 years until grade 10.
I did not want to continue to be a burden after that.’
(married young woman, SG)
 By mid-adolescence, marriage—which in South Gondar is almost always arranged-- threatens girls’ access.
• SG, 25% of the girls in GAGE’s sample were married by age 15—59% by age 18.
• In SG, 35% of older girl drop-outs girls reported that they left school in order to marry.
• Parents are concerned about sending girls to secondary school because of concerns about
their sexual purity—which if violated threatens their marriage options.
• Girls who are out of school—because they have failed exams or are not allowed to
continue—are pushed into marriage.

Midline: school environments are not supportive of girls’ needs
Violent discipline is common.
Most schools do not have menstrual management
facilities.
Of adolescents who have been violently
discipled—girls are less likely to report than boys
(18% vs 23%).
Many school lack separate toilets for girls
and boys.
 In urban areas, only half
 In SG, only a third
 In EH, only an eighth
 In Z5, only a tenth
 One-fifth of schools in South Gondar and East
Hararghe
 One half of schools in Zone 5
Many schools also lack water.

Midline: Learning is limited—including by gender norms
Some barriers are ‘gender neutral’:
 Classrooms are over-crowded
 Classrooms are under-resourced
 Teachers are poorly prepared
‘Students are congested in the classroom…
When there are many students in any given
classroom, the teacher will be disturbed and
the teaching-learning process will be affected.’
(teacher, SG)
‘Even I write better than her. When she takes
our exercise books to grade our homework,
she has to look up the answers herself before
she starts to grade.’ (13-year-old girl, SG)
But others especially limit girls’ learning:
 Girls have less time for learning.
 Some households buy girls fewer school
supplies than boys.

Policy and programming implications
1
•Encourage high but realistic aspirations by
exposing girls to multiple alternatives--and
role models.
2
•Intensify awareness-raising efforts for
parents—pairing messages about the
importance of girls’ education with
suggestions about how parents can
practically support daughters’ education.
3
•Directly address- with parents,
adolescents, and community leaders-- how
gender norms—including for girls’ work and
child marriage-- limit girls’ education and
learning.
4
•Address violence at school—from teachers as
well as peers.
5
•Step-up resourcing: make sure classrooms are
supplied, teachers are trained, and schools have
WASH facilities that meet girls’ needs.
6
•Scale up girls’ clubs—working to ensure they
meets girls’ needs for information and
psychosocial support (from peers and adults).
7
•Focus on learning outcomes—including
through offering tutorials to girls to ensure
mastery of academic skills.

GAGE findings on food
security and nutrition
Adolescent girls fetching water, Amhara, Ethiopia© Nathalie Bertrams / GAGE 2020

Baseline: Nutrition is seeing uneven progress
• Most younger adolescents live in households that are moderately food insecure and diets that are
not diverse—adolescents with disabilities are especially likely to be too short for age.
• Food customs—not food availability-- appear to prevent some diversity.
• Barriers to health and nutrition for young people with disabilities are primarily related to:
• Limited service availability, especially in rural areas and for disability-specific health care
• Poverty and parents’ poor knowledge about and stigma towards disability.
‘Our parents say that it is shame to eat with parents.’
‘There are many children who come to school without having breakfast’.
(teacher, Jeman)

Midline: Food insecurity is common
•34% of adolescents have been hungry in the last month.
•Compared to 8% in S. Gondar and Zone 5
East Hararghe is disadvantaged
•In E. Hararghe and S. Gondar, boys are more likely to report hunger.
•In Zone 5, girls are more likely to report hunger.
Gender matters
‘We don’t eat such food! Only a few households who have certain petty business like me eat eggs just
sometimes.’ (10-year-old girl, E. Hararghe)
‘It [school feeding] is not a sustainable programme.’ (KI, S. Gondar)
Social protection programming is inconsistent
Gender matters
In E. Hararghe and S. Gondar, diets often lack protein and micro-nutrients
Adolescents with disabilities are more likely to report hunger in the last month than those without (29% vs 20%)—
primarily because those living alone in order to attend special needs schools are not given large enough stipends.

Policy and programming implications: food security and nutrition
1
• Ensure that adolescents and parents are targeted for nutrition education.
2
• Expand the PSNP—including pastoralist areas and poor urban populations.
3
• Scale up school feeding.
4
• Provide sustainable support to IDPs.
5
• Provide more support to students at special needs schools

GAGE midline findings on
general health
Adolescent girl in Amhara, Ethiopia © Nathalie Bertrams / GAGE 2020

Midline: Health is shaped by gender and residence location
Overall, 89% of adolescents report being in good health.
There are slight advantages for younger adolescents (91% versus 86%), boys (91% versus 87%), and those
in rural areas (88% versus 84%, among the older cohort).
‘We prefer taking a bath with water from the
pipe, since the water from the river causes
itching.’
(14-year-old girl, S. Gondar)
• There are gender differences in health—girls
(esp. older girls) are more prone to some types
of infection and boys have more accidents.
• Health risks also vary by location—in rural areas,
parasites and malaria are common. Boys in lowland
rural areas reported that they have been facing
recurrent skin diseases.
‘We have parasitic problems… always, especially
during the rainy seasons.’ (13-year-old boy,
S.Gondar)
‘We have faced serious skin problems on our hands
and other parts of our bodies.’
(19-year-old boy, South Gondar)
• Poor health outcomes in rural areas are due
to limited WASH, cost of and distance to
services, and low awareness of when to seek
professional care.

Midline: Substance use is gendered and differs by region
‘Boys would ask you for a break to chew khat;
but once girls start pruning, they would not stop
till 5pm. They would not take a break.’
(father, E. Hararghe)
‘It is disgraceful for a woman to go to a
drinking house. It is only allowed for men.’
(13-year-old girl, S. Gondar)
‘They may use anything to get
a relief from their sorrow.’
(18-year-old boy, Batu)

Baseline: Health and disability
• 60% of adolescents with visual impairments acquired them from preventable diseases
• ‘When I was in grade 3, I felt pain in my eyes. It started looking like a boiled meat. I had blurred vision. I
was complaining to my parents that I was in pain. But you know how rural parents are; they just gave me
a deaf ear. When they took me to the hospital, it was already too late.’ (18 year old girl with visual
impairment, South Gonder)
Many permanent disabilities could be prevented with better nutrition and more timely
health care.
• 63% more likely to have stunted height
• half as likely to report good health (44% vs 89%)
Adolescents with disabilities are:
• ‘I wanted to take them to the health centre but their father refused. He believes that those children born
with problems will not be cured by treatment after birth.’
(Mother of two adolescents who are deaf, South Gonder)
Adolescents with disabilities have limited access to health care—esp in rural areas.

Midline: Disability and ill health are linked both ways
Adolescents with disabilities are still far less likely to report good health than those without (71% vs 91%).
‘I didn’t try any medical help and support for my
daughter’s problem. It was Allah who created her
as she is.’ (Mother of a 13-year-old girl with
hearing disability , South Gondar)
‘Since they [my family] are living in a rural area they’re
not used to spending money for hospital care and they
couldn’t easily access money at that time… When they
finally decided to take me to the hospital [following an
ear infection] it was too late.’
(17-year-old girl who is deaf, S. Gondar)
• Many permanent disabilities result from
delayed care seeking.
• Cost and fatalism reduce access to medical
care for those with disabilities.
• Reliance on traditional and faith healing
among parents

Recommendations: general health
1
Awareness raising for adolescents on hygiene and sanitation.
2
Expand health services [physical facility, trained health professionals and medicines] in rural
areas to improve accessibility.
3
Awareness raising for parents to improve their health/health services seeking behaviour.
4
Invest in substance use campaigns and help boys find alternative [such as, creating job
opportunities] ways to cope with their addiction.
5
6 Continue to scale up the HE programme into remote [such as, pastoralist communities] areas.
Work with religious/community leaders to discourage faith healing (and encourage referrals to
medical providers).

GAGE findings on sexual
and reproductive health
Adolescent secondary school student, Ethiopia © Nathalie Bertrams / GAGE 20

Baseline: Access to puberty education varies, and is limited
 Adolescents in South Gondar have less access to information about puberty than adolescents
in other areas.
• 45% in rural areas (compared to 52% in East Hararghe and 64% in Zone 5)
• 60% in Debre Tabor
 Menstruation is so stigmatized that it pulls sisters and mothers and daughters apart—and
keeps girls out of school.
“I didn’t know anything about menstruation and when
my sister said she saw her period for the first time; I
told her not to give me with her hand and considered
her as a prostitute.” (Mid adolescent girl, Debre Tabor)

Midline: Access to puberty education varies
‘We used to perceive menstruation as something
wrong and we used to laugh at girls when they had
their period. But I am no longer laughing at girls as I
understood it is a normal process.’
(younger boy, So. Gondar)
• Three-fourths of adolescents have a source of
information about puberty.
• Boys mostly feel pride at growing up.
• Girls are more conflicted—because menarche is
stigmatized and, in some communities, means that girls
must soon marry.

Baseline: Access to contraception
 Condoms have been in short supply—which especially dangerous given trends in sexual behaviour.
 In S. Gondar, pre-marital sex is stigmatised, but contraception is accepted—even for unmarried girls.
‘They told me that there is a chance of being pregnant
even though you don’t have your periods and I was
scared. On the 26th of this month I take the injection so I
won’t get pregnant.’ (12-year-old married girl, Abena)
 Most girls have good access to contraception.  There are high levels of mis-information about
contraception.
‘If you take penicillin, then there's no
problem.’ (older girl, Aquoshumoch)
‘We have to teach young girls to use contraceptives to become safe. I took
my daughter to the health centre and made her use contraceptives. She has
no [boy]friends but I did it for safety.’ (Father, South Gondar)

Midline: Contraceptive knowledge and uptake varies
Health Extension Workers are central to disseminating
information in urban areas and S. Gondar. They teach in
the community and in schools.
‘Health extension workers are doing great in this regard. They
are creating awareness in each school.’
(educator, Debre Tabor)
• Of sexually active girls (nearly all of whom are married)—
only 41% have ever used conception.
• Uptake is higher in urban areas (42%) versus rural areas
(23%).
• Uptake is higher in S. Gondar (54%) versus Zone 5 (9%)
and E. Hararghe (4%).
• Misinformation about side effects is common across
locations—even in S. Gondar.

Midline: Fertility tracks contraceptive uptake
Access to maternity care is more common in S. Gondar than in other rural locations.
• In S. Gondar, 25% of married girls have been pregnant…
despite 59% of older girls having been married by age 18.
• In Zone 5, 43% of married girls have been pregnant…
46% of older girls were married by age 18.
• In E. Hararghe, 38% of married girls have been pregnant…
50% of older girls were married by age 18.

Baseline: HIV/AIDS: Urbanisation and migration are central drivers
Key informants report that HIV rates in
urban areas are high – with rural-to-urban
migrants at elevated risk.
Migration - especially, the
migration of boys and young
men to the commercial farms
—is spreading HIV.
Migrants have more sex partners
and bring HIV back to rural
communities when they return
home.
Work-related migration is spreading HIV from
towns and cities to more rural areas.
‘Migration is the main reason for HIV
prevalence, when people migrate they
bring back the disease that they pick
from there and spread the infection
here.’ (Woman, South Gonder)
‘The main problem for young people
(when they migrate) is disease. Some
people are caught with HIV/AIDS.’
(Woman, South Gonder)

Baseline: Young males spread HIV between communities
 Adolescent boys and young men feel invincible.
‘He tells me I am too worried and no one can trick
him’ (Mother, Debre Tabor)
‘I try to tell the girls that the current generation of
boys have sexual experiences with women when they
go to Metema.’ (Women’s Affairs KI, Community G)
 Boys’ and men’s sexual practices spread STI’s, including
HIV. They visit CSWs and keep concubines in town and
others also keep mistresses [gulit or qimit].
 Substance use increases risk.
‘After youths have taken alcoholic drinks they have sexual
relationships without using condoms.’
(Adult, Aquashumoch)
Adolescent girls, Ethiopia © Nathalie Bertrams GAGE 2020

Baseline: Girls are most at risk of infection
Females are more biologically
susceptible to HIV infection.
Adolescent girls are socially more
at risk – they are the most
desirable partners in terms of
marriage and extra-martial sex.
‘Most of the males wanted to make
sexual relationships with
adolescent girls at their lower age.’
(Justice KI, Community G)
They are at risk of sexual violence
in rural and urban settings.
Rape of girls while attending
school, trying to collect fuel wood
in the forest and fetch water.
Girls are also exposed to rape
when tablet kind of thing is added
to their drinks during party which
leave them unconscious.

Midline: HIV awareness and practices, and access to abortion
‘We were taught by our teacher about the prevention methods for HIV/AIDS including the use
of condoms… We were told to have a condom, which should not be only men’s mandate… Our
teacher told us girls should hold condoms too.’ (15-year-old girl, S. Gondar)
HIV awareness and practices
 S. Gondar stands out for HIV awareness—with
schools and HEWs behind improved
knowledge, due to fears that migration is
driving spread.
 In S. Gondar, 51% of sexually active
adolescents spoke to their last partner about
HIV
 In E. Hararghe and Zone 5, rates were 14%
 Across regions, only 17% of sexually active
older boys used a condom at last sex.
Access to abortion
 Key informants reported improved access
and actively referring girls for abortion—to
protect girls’ health and to protect their
access to education.
 Young people reported more limited
awareness—and a reliance on home
remedies.

Policy and practice implications: Puberty education
1
• Use school and community-based classes to provide adolescents with
accurate and timely information about their maturing bodies.
2
• Ensure that girls are offered practical advice about how to manage
menstruation(including how to make sanitary supplies).
3
• Work with boys to reduce menstruation-related stigma.
4
• Work with parents to improve their knowledge about menstruation and to
reduce menstruation-related stigma.

Policy and practice implications: Sexual and reproductive health
1
• Use school and community-based (provided by HEWs) classes to provide adolescents with accurate,
age-tailored and timely information about reproductive biology, contraception, and disease prevention.
2
• Ensure that HEWs offer a full array of youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services –
including contraception (and condoms) and HIV testing.
3
• Use marriage as a point of intervention work with couples to ensure that partners are aware of
biology and options.
4
• Promote natural ways of birth control in communities where modern contraceptive is not welcomed
due to cultural reasons, and proactively target men and boys.
5
• Strengthen investments in efforts to change gender norms around child marriage, adolescent child-
bearing and safe sex.

Student during a break, Amhara, Ethiopia© Nathalie Bertrams / GAGE 2020
GAGE findings on bodily
integrity and freedom from
gender & age-based violence

Midline: Violence from caregivers
 Nearly half (47%) of adolescents report violence at
the hands of their caregivers in the last year.
 Younger adolescents are more likely to experience
physical violence than older adolescents—because
older adolescents run away.
 Caregiver violence is most common in Zone 5—
60% of boys have experienced violence in the last
year.
 Boys are more at risk—but girls are beaten not for
misbehaving, but for violating gender norms.

Midline: Violence from teachers
 Two-fifths of enrolled adolescents report violence from a
teacher in the last year—with boys and those in E.
Haraghe and Zone 5 at higher risk.
 Younger adolescents are more at risk than older
adolescents (46% vs 30%)—because older adolescents are
usually just sent home.
 Adolescents are beaten for misbehavior—and for lack of
learning—and for arriving late because their parents give
them chores.
‘The teacher hit on my ear last year, and I became
sick…the illness resulted in partial damage of my
hearing.’
(13-year-old boy, S. Gondar)
 Violence can be extreme.
 Some families are speaking out against violence.
‘Families started to blame the teachers when their child is
punished in the school.’ (14-year-old boy, Debre Tabor)

Midline: Violence from peers
 Peer violence is most common for boys, for younger
adolescents, and those in urban areas.
 Of rural areas, S. Gondar stands out for the most peer
violence (29%)
 Violence is increasingly life-threatening—and
adolescents and their parents are often terrified.
‘The number of killing incidents has increased… They
use both gunshot and knives to kill one another.’
(12-year-old boy, S. Gondar)
‘It doesn’t matter what year they are; students come
together in times of clashes. The seniors gather fresh
students, help them and they attack the others together’.
(19-year-old girl with a physical disability, Debre Tabor)

Policy and practice implications: Parental and peer violence
4
Scale up clubs aimed at improving
communication and fostering friendships
between young people.
5
Proactively target violent masculinities.
6
Using mass and social media and
community meetings, promote social
cohesion and national identity.
1
•Develop parenting education classes
that teach techniques for
communicating with and disciplining
adolescents.
2
•Use local role models and mass media
to promote behaviour change
3
•Invest in social workers and social
courts to identify and follow children
experiencing the worst forms of abuse.

Policy and practice implications: Teacher violence
1
• Train teachers in child-friendly pedagogies and positive discipline.
2
•Reduce class sizes.
3
•Provide ways for students to anonymously report violence.
4
• Provide school counselors.
5
• Strengthen PTSAs.
•6
• Develop clubs that support adolescent voice and agency.
•7
• Sanction repeat offenders.

Baseline: Access to justice for child marriage is limited
 Good progress on delaying the marriages of the youngest girls—the age of marriage is rising
faster in Amhara than in Oromia or Afar.
 But, the youngest girls are the most likely to have forced marriages.
‘I had no idea that I was going to get married. And then the day approached and they told me... I said
no way. I was even tempted to flee. But I had nowhere to go.’ (Married 12-year-old, Shumegie)
‘To be the wife of a priest she will be engaged at 7 or 8 years. To be the wife of a
farmer she will be engaged when she is older than that.’ (younger boy, Shumegie)
‘We don’t fight, we just don’t talk about it. He does it with
force even now.’ (12-year-old girl, Abena)
 Orthodox priests continue to marry the youngest girls.
 Marriage of older adolescents is still common--child marriage is not seen as child marriage
if girls are 15+.
 Sexual violence in marriage is common—but not even conceptualized as violence.

Midline: nearly all marriages in Sth Gondar are arranged
Nearly all marriages are arranged, and two-thirds of married girls would have rather married later.
The age of marriage is
increasing—and girls have some
space to argue for delay—but most
girls are still married as children.
‘My first marriage proposal was at
the age of 13 but my father
refused as I was a teenager and
then I got married at age 15.’
(married 17-year-old girl)
Parents’ interest in child marriage
is driven by needs to prevent
premarital sex.
‘We are afraid that they will start a
sexual relationship before
marriage.’ (mother of married girl)
Girls often feel they must say
‘yes’ to their parents—even when
they do not want to marry yet.
‘I would have been cursed and my
parents would feel sad.’ (married
15-year-old girl)

Tailor programming to local drivers.
Empower girls with knowledge and skills –developing broader aspirations and strengthening
voice and agency
Build—and publicise-- reporting mechanisms to have marriages canceled
Work with parents and communities to shift gender norms that favour child marriage over
education
Work with traditional and religious leaders to develop messaging
Step up enforcement and prosecute adults involved in child marriage
Policy and practice implications: Child marriage

Female genital mutilation/cutting
 Nearly half (47%) of older girls had been
cut—with marked regional variation.
 Progress in South Gondar is related to:
• Most developed network of HEWs
• Most active Women’s Development
Army
• More gender-focused NGOs
• More active school clubs raising
awareness

Baseline: Girls’ risk of sexual violence
Rape is a constant fear for adolescent girls and their families and is insufficiently
prosecuted—leading to a reliance on traditional justice.
‘In our locality girls get forced to marry. He raped her, now after, she got married.’
(Young girl, Shumegie)
‘‘There is no person following the cases of the females in the area once they have been raped.’
(man, Jeman)

Midline: Sexual violence risks are high
• 10% of older girls reported having
experienced sexual violence.
• Urban girls (12%) reported more sexual
violence than their rural peers (8%).
• Girls in S. Gondar (15%) reported more sexual
violence than those in East Hararghe (5%) and
Zone 5 (4%).

Policy and practice implications: FGM/C
1
Use HEWs to message to
mothers and schools to
message to girls (and boys)
about the heath risks.
2
Work with religious and
traditional leaders to develop
messages about FGM/C and
the broader gender norms
that support it.
Adolescent girls, Amhara, Ethiopia © Nathalie Bertrams /GAGE 2019

•Teach girls they have a right to be safe, how to defend themselves, and how to report.
Work with boys and men to target violent masculinities.
Message that girls are not to blame.
Work with elders to pursue formal justice—and enforce the law.
Work with communities to address gender norms.
Establish safe houses.
Provide girls in secondary school with safe lodgings to reduce risk
Policy and practice implications: Sexual violence

Download the midline reports…
https://www.gage.odi.org/countries/ethiopia/

Contact Us
WEBSITE
www.gage.odi.org
TWITTER
@GAGE_programme
FACEBOOK
GenderandAdolescence
About GAGE:
 Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence
(GAGE) is a nine-year (2015-2024) mixed-
methods longitudinal research programme
focused on what works to support
adolescent girls’ and boys’ capabilities in the
second decade of life and beyond.
 We are following the lives of 20,000
adolescents in six focal countries in Africa,
Asia and the Middle East.

Amhara Regional Workshop: Evidence from GAGE Midline Research

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