The Global Leave No One Behind agenda: what it means for Ethiopian adolescents (part one)

The Global Leave No One Behind Agenda
What it means for Ethiopian Adolescents:
the GAGE Research Baseline Launch

Mr Workneh Yadete
GAGE Ethiopia Research Uptake and Impact Coordinator
Lead Qualitative Researcher

SDGs
GAGE Ethiopia, 22 May 2019

SDG Indicators by gender
Out of 232 SDG indicators total, 54 are gender-specific
Of the 54, 14 are located in SDG 5
Overall, the framework is gender-sensitive in six dimensions of the 2030
Agenda (SDGs 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 16)
But gender-sparse in critical areas (SDGs 2, 10, 11, 13, 17) and ignores gender
in the rest (SDGs 6, 7, 9, 12, 14, 15)

SDG Indicators by gender, age, disability are even more scarce
Of the 54 gender-specific SDG indicators, 15 are disaggregated by age
The 15 gender and adolescent indicators are located in SDGs 3, 4, 5
and 8.
Of the 54, 2 are disaggregated by disability in SDG 8

Ethiopia: Current SDG Assessment:

Ethiopia: Current SDG Assessment:
om
SDG global rank: 128 (of 156 countries)
omGlobal index score: 53.2% of the way to
achieving the SDGs.

Ethiopia: SDG 3 – indicator 3.1.1 Maternal mortality
om
Data from 2010 – 2015 show that maternal
mortality dropped from 523 to 353 deaths, per
every 100,000 births.

Ethiopia: SDG 5 – indicator 5.5.1 Women in national parliaments
omData from 2000 – 2017 show the % of women in
national parliaments jumped from 2% to 38%.

Ethiopia: SDG 4 – indicator 4.6.1 Youth literacy rate
om
2007 data indicate that of youth aged 15-24, there is a 47%
literacy rate amongst girls compared to 63% for boys.

Ethiopia: SDG 8 – indicator 8.5.2 Unemployment rate by
age, gender, disability
omData from 2013 show that of youth aged 15-24, nearly 10% of
girls are unemployed, compared to 5% of males.

Ato Seleshi Taddesse
Director of Women’s Mobilisation and Empowerment,
Ministry of Women, Children and Youth, Ethiopia

Honourable Mrs Etenesh Zeleke
Member of House of Representatives and Member of
Women, Youth and Social Affairs Standing Committee,
Ethiopian House of Representatives

Professor Sarah Baird
Associate Professor of Global Health & Economics, George
Washington University
GAGE Quantitative Research Lead

Overview of GAGE Research
Sarah Baird, George Washington University
The Global Leave No One Behind Agenda: what it means for
Ethiopian adolescents, Addis Ababa, May 22 2019

Why adolescence?
An age of opportunity The demographic imperative
Percentage of the total population aged 10-24 years
in 2013
Key junctures in adolescent neurodevelopment

Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE):
A longitudinal research programme in the Global South (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

1. How do adolescent girls and boys in diverse low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)
experience transitions from childhood to adulthood? How do these differ by age, gender,
disability, geographic location?
Stemming from our conceptual framework, GAGE addresses three core sets of questions:
2. What effects do adolescent-focused
programme interventions have on
adolescent capabilities in the short and
longer-term?
3. What programme design and
implementation characteristics matter for
effective delivery and scalability?
GAGE Core Research Questions

GAGE research sample
19
Ethiopia:
6,700
Ethiopia:
220
Ethiopia:
200

GAGE Ethiopia research sites
 3 regions (Afar, Amhara, Oromia) + 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

Capturing diversity and the most vulnerable

GAGE tools focus on measurement of adolescents’ multiple
and intersecting capabilities

Motivation for Act with Her Evaluation
Unequal gender norms and
power dynamics are often
driven and reinforced by
adolescent girls’ male peers,
families, communities, and
the broader institutional
structures that surround
them.
Without change in
gender attitudes and
norms at each of these
levels, improved
outcomes for key
transitions are much
less likely to be
sustained.
Efforts to nurture change must
also acknowledge that
adolescents’ opportunities
and capabilities are shaped by
complex, intersectional forces
including ethnicity, caste,
religion, and disability, among
others.
Overall Goal: to advance our understanding of ‘what works’ to enhance young adolescent
girls’ and boys’ capabilities across the six GAGE capability domains, including among the most
marginalized girls and boys in Ethiopia, in order to fill knowledge gaps and provide evidence
on how to improve the lives of adolescent girls more effectively.

Act with Her Project Goals
To evaluate the impact of Act With Her in Ethiopia (AWH-
E) - a gender-transformative multi-level program - on
young adolescent girls’ and boys’ capabilities (11-13) in
the short- and long-run across the six GAGE capability
domains using a multi-arm cluster randomized control
trial across two regions (Amhara and Oromia).
To compare different programme modalities and
bundles on young adolescent capability
achievements and transitions in the short- and
longer- terms across two regions (Amhara and
Oromia).
To evaluate the impact of AWH-E on young
adolescent capability achievements and transitions in
the short- and long- term in pastoralist contexts
(Afar).
To use mixed-methods research to understand the
mechanisms driving the impact, and in particular
what works, for whom, and why.

Act with Her interventions
Her Spaces
•Safe spaces programme with
girls
Act with Her integrated multi-
level approach
•Safe spaces programming with
girls
•Synchronised gender equality
programming with boys
•Community awareness
•Systems strengthening
Act with Her + asset transfer
•Programming with girls, boys,
community
•Systems strengthening
•School supplies or hygiene
supplies or combination given
to participants 3x
Act with Her curriculum only
•Gender-equality focused
programming with girls
•Gender-equality focused
programming with boys

Act with Her Ethiopia-Design
RCT will take place in approximately 175 Kebeles in South Gondar in rural Amhara, East Haraghe in rural
Oromia, and Zone 5 in Afar. (much larger scale up outside the research infrastructure)
Block randomized based on Woreda/Marginalization
Sample of 10-12 year olds adolescents (in 10/2017), 13 girls and 10 boys per kebele (powered to detect
medium effect sizes.). Total sample size approximately 4500
Sample combines census style listing exercise and purposeful sampling of vulnerable adolescents (e.g.
disability, child marriage)

The GAGE Consortium: a global partnership of researchers,
policy designers, programme implementers
International / Regional Research
Institutes and Universities
• Aga Khan University, Pakistan
• George Washington University
• Economic Development Initiatives
• Emory University
• Institute of Development Studies
• International Center for Research on
Women
• ITAD
• London School of Economics
• Overseas Development Institute
• University College London
• University of East Anglia
INGOs / NGO Partners
• ActionAid
• Care International
• EngageMedia
• Girls Not Brides
• International Rescue Committee UK
• GirlSparks (Mercy Corps)
• Leonard Cheshire
• Pathfinder
• Plan UK
• Save the Children
• World Association of Girl Guides and Girl
Scouts
• World Vision
National Research Partners
Ethiopia:
• Ethiopian Development Research Institute
• Center for Human Rights, Addis Ababa University
• Quest Research, Training and Consultancy
Bangladesh:
• James P. Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University
• BRAC University Institute of Governance (BIGD)
• Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA)
Gaza and West Bank
• Al Quds University
• Jerusalem Community Advocacy Network
Jordan
• Information and Research Centre: King Hussein Foundation
• Mindset
• WANA Institute
Lebanon:
• Search for Common Ground
Nepal:
• Center for Research on Environment Health and Population
Activities
• Nepal Institute for Social and Environmental Research
• Social Science Baha
Rwanda:
• FATE Consulting Ltd
UN Agency Partners
• UNICEF HQ
• UNICEF Jordan
• UNICEF Ethiopia (TBC)

Ethiopiabaselinepublications2019
https://www.gage.odi.org/publications/

Dr Nicola Jones
GAGE Director
ODI Principal Research Fellow

Overview of GAGE Ethiopia
headline findings across capability
areas

GAGE Ethiopia Key Baseline Findings:
Adolescent Capabilities
Dr Nicola Jones, Addis Ababa, May 2019
GAGE Baseline Dissemination Workshop
Adolescent girl with a hearing impairment in Debre Tabor, Ethiopia. © Nathalie Bertrams/GAGE/2019

Adolescent and parent aspirations are high, but…
‘If I don’t attend school, I will become like a blind person’.
(10 year old girl, E. Hararghe)
 95% of GAGE adolescents aspire to attend secondary school
 Aspirations are higher in urban areas than in rural areas
 Aspirations vary by region
Adolescent aspirations for post-secondary education
61% South Gondar 59% East Hararghe 37% Zone 5
 Adolescents and parents have only limited understanding of the practical steps
required to realise aspirations.

Access to school varies by location, gender, and age
 Adolescents in Afar (Zone 5) have extremely limited access
Enrolment rates
92% South Gondar 78% East Hararghe 63% Zone 5
Mean grade attainment
4.5 South Gondar 4.8 East Hararghe 2.4 Zone 5
 In S. Gondar, girls are relatively advantaged—in E. Hararghe, boys are advantaged
• In S. Gondar, girls have completed 4.8 years vs. 4.3 for boys
• In E. Hararghe, 86% of boys vs 69% of girls are enrolled
‘When we go to their homes to bring students to school, there are some mothers who
throw stones at us. They think the girls should help them in the house because they have no
other support.’ (Principal, E. Hararghe)
 Early adolescence is a crucial transition; only ½ of students survive to grade 5 nationally

Barriers to quality education are many
 Learning outcomes are low—especially in rural areas.
 Poverty forces many adolescents out of school—secondary costs are esp. high.
‘Costs are high for food, stationery materials, house rent and others.’
(Teacher, S. Gondar)
 Gender norms keep adolescent girls from learning.
‘One of the major challenges is girls’ workload at home, which results in them arriving
late as well as school absenteeism, which in turn affects their educational performance.’
(Principal, E. Hararghe)
 Special needs classrooms change lives, but need scaling up and extending.
• Adolescents with disabilities are less likely to be enrolled (64% vs. 85%)
• Adolescents with disabilities have completed a year less schooling (3.5 vs. 4.6 years)

Policy implications
1
• Support adolescent aspirations by investing in mentors and role models who can
demonstrate HOW to reach goals
2
• Investing in parenting classes that help parents learn how to practically support their
adolescents’ (esp. girls’) education
3
• Focus on learning outcomes and ensure that schools are adequately staffed and
provisioned
4
• End corporal punishments by supporting positive disciplinary approaches
5
• Support secondary education at scale by building more schools and providing economic
and logistical support

Bodily integrity and freedom from violence

Corporal punishment is common
 2/3 of GAGE adolescents have experienced or witnessed violence at home.
• Boys are more likely to experience violent discipline than girls.
• Girls are more likely to be punished for violating gender norms—boys for
misbehaving.
‘They have beaten me because I broke the container which we use for carrying
lunch for workers in the field.’ (10-year-old girl, E. Hararghe)
 ¾ of GAGE adolescents have experienced corporal punishment at school.
• Boys are more likely to be punished than girls (78% vs 66%).
• Girls are more likely to be punished for things beyond their control.
‘They only hit us [with a whip] when we couldn’t answer a question’.
(11-year-old girl, S. Gondar)

The risk of violence varies
 Boys are more likely to experience peer violence—due to gender norms.
‘They [other children] love me but they fear me at the same time because I beat them
when they send their cattle to eat our harvest. I win against them.’ (12 year old boy, S. Gondar)
 Violence is especially valorised in Afar—adolescents do not even think to report.
‘I need to be a boy. Boys are brave. I will be very happy if I get the chance of being a boy.
It is because boys can fight with others using their gille and win.’ (younger girl, Zone 5)
 Adolescents with disabilities are 72% more likely to have experienced violence
from peers outside of school those than those without.

Girls face multiple gendered risks
 Child marriage remains common—40% of girls marry as children. Progress is uneven:
• The age of marriage is increasing in S. Gondar.
• Adolescent-driven marriage appears to be becoming more common in E. Hararghe.
• Girls have no input into marriage timing and partners in Zone 5, due to the absuma system.
 FGM/C is slowly shifting form but in E. Hararghe and Zone 5 remains the norm.
‘My sister in grade 6… cried that her friends are circumcised and she
too has to get circumcised.’ (10-year-old girl, E. Hararghe)
 Verbal, physical, and sexual violence are linked and endemic.
‘We are all sorry when we grow older.’ (older girl, Dire Dawa)
 Girls are blamed for sexual violence.
‘No girls are unwilling. No one forces them to have a sexual relationship.’ (man, Debre Tabor)

Policy implications
1
• Raise awareness about and shift underlying gendered social norms that lead to age- and
gender-based violence—with adolescents and adults
2
• Work with schools to end corporal punishment, backed up by anonymous reporting options
for students
3
• Expand discussion of the risks of child marriage and FGM/C and how to tackle these in
school-based student clubs
4
• Strengthen formal justice mechanisms by investing in gender- and age-sensitivity training
for police and justice personnel
5
• Use the new cadre of social workers to identify and support adolescents survivors of
violence

Adolescents are healthy, but…
 Most adolescents (88%) report good health.
 Poverty related disease remains common
 Substance abuse is increasing—especially amongst boys.
‘These days, addictive behaviours are increasing and becoming a common practice by
adolescents. It is really a major threat to the country at large.’ (Key informant, Dire Dawa)]
 Food insecurity remains the norm—and is significantly worse in rural areas, especially in E.
Hararghe due to drought.
‘The issue of food worries me as the sorghum we have on our farm is about to end.
If it is over, we will get hungry as it is the only crop we have.’ (10 year old boy, E. Haraghe)
 Overall, girls are less well nourished than boys—but in Afar boys are most at risk.
‘I live only on drinking camels’ milk and I don’t get any other food. Since there is shortage
of pasture in such dry season, the camels don’t produce sufficient milk.’ (12 year old boy, Zone 5)

Adolescents’ SRH knowledge is limited
 Only 50% of rural younger adolescents had a source of information about puberty.
 Amongst urban younger adolescents, more boys had a source than girls (70% vs. 60%).
 Due to stigma, knowledge about menstruation is especially limited.
‘When my first menstruation came, I was screaming, holding my ears. My
cousin said “what happened to you?” I said “I don’t know when but they
raped me”. She laughed.’ (12 year girl, Dire Dawa)
 Adolescents knowledge about contraception is limited and highly varied.
• Of younger adolescents, those in urban areas were more likely to be able to name a form than
their rural peers: 31% versus 24%
• Of younger, rural adolescents, those in South Gondar (40%) did far better than those in
East Haraghe (14%) or Zone 5, Afar (7%)

Experiences with sexual activity and contraception vary
 In S. Gondar, pre-marital sex is stigmatised, but contraception is accepted—even for
unmarried girls.
‘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)
 In E. Hararghe, premarital sex is limited, but adolescent-led child marriages common
‘I am not using [family planning] now – before I have one child. If you stay without a child for a
longer time, they will tell you, you are barren.’ (14 year old married girl, E. Hararghe)
 In Zone 5, sex and contraception are hidden from parents-- but sometimes supported by
boyfriends.
‘If she got pregnant, he would be penalised to pay throughout her lifetime. He would pay
separately for the victim and for the newborn baby.’ (older boy, Zone 5)
 Across sites, migration is leading to the spread of HIV.

Health and disability
• Many permanent disabilities could be prevented with better nutrition and more
timely health care.
• 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)
 Adolescents with disabilities are:
 63% more likely to have stunted height
 half as likely to report good health (44% vs 89%)
 Adolescents with disabilities have limited access to health care—esp in rural areas.
‘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)

Policy implications
1
• Strengthen health awareness and outreach services for adolescents, including through
school-based platforms.
2
• Expand household and school-based nutritional support as a core pillar of social protection
3
• Invest in puberty education, including the importance of access to SRH services, and
promote its social acceptance among parents and community leaders.
4
• Scale up accessible and affordable menstrual hygiene support through in-school and out-
of-school girls’ clubs.
5
• Expand access to and improve the quality of adolescent-friendly SRH services

Adolescents have many sources of stress
 Poverty and concerns about affording school
 Educational pressure and the risk of exam failure
‘She always fears failing at school.’ (mother of a 16 year old girl, Debre Tabor)
• Unemployment
‘I worry about the scarcity of job opportunity after I graduate because
there are many adolescents who sit idle after graduation.’
(11 year old boy, Debre Tabor)
 Violence---personal and political
‘I am scared of the unrest in our country.’ (16 year old boy, Batu)
 Urban adolescents are generally disadvantaged compared to their rural peers, but
adolescents from rural Afar report higher levels of distress.
 Young adolescents with disabilities report levels of distress 50% higher than their
peers; older adolescents in urban areas report 300% higher

Girls are at higher risk than boys
Older girls report levels of mental distress 28% higher than older boys.
 Less input into decision-making
‘Girls are widely perceived as more obedient than boys, and have little say in their
families. I do everything my mother tells me to.’ (12 year old girl, Community F, S. Gondar
 Child marriage and FGM/C
‘We feel fear, when our body changes. We feel fear since we are afraid of getting married.’
(11 year old girl, Zone 5)
 Sexual violence
‘After rape, you will not have an option. Rather, you may want to commit suicide because
you care for your family, for yourself and your friends. It is really shameful for a girl to live
after getting raped.’ (15 year old girl, Dire Dawa)
 Limited mobility and social isolation
‘I have no one to talk to so I usually cry.’ (12 year old married girl, S. Gondar)

Policy implications
1
• Provide guidance to parents and teachers to better support them to guide young people in
transitions through puberty into adulthood
2
• Develop and maintain spaces where adolescents can safely spend time with peers and
contribute to their communities.
3
• Provide outreach to the most disadvantaged adolescents
4
• Continue to develop and expand a cadre of social workers trained to support young
people’s mental health needs
5
• Invest in hotlines for young people with psychosocial ill-being/ mental ill-health.

Adolescents’ roles in the household are shifting
 Opportunities for decision-making are still limited by age.
‘I will accept what my family say because I can’t do anything without them’.
(older boy, Zone 5)
 Adolescents are allowed to make more decisions now than they were in the past.
‘Before, our family would have made us herd goats without thinking about our interests ...
Nowadays, if we don’t like it, we don’t have to. Our parents read our facial expressions and
understand.’ (older girl, Zone 5)
 Urban adolescents generally have more input than their rural peers.
 South Gondar allows the most adolescent input, Zone 5 the least.
 Girls have far more limited input than boys.
 Poverty limits the support parents can provide to their adolescents.

Mobility and access to peer support varies
 Nearly all (94%) younger adolescents need permission to go at least one place.
• Gender differences are minimal.
• Afar adolescents have the most freedom (75%).
• Urban adolescents have more restrictions on mobility than their rural peers.
 Amongst older adolescents, girls are 39% more likely to need permission than boys.
• 72% of younger adolescents and 81% of older adolescents have a friend they trust
• Only 21% of Afar adolescents have a friend they trust.
 Older girls are 35% less likely to be members of broader peer networks than boys.
‘It is not cultural and not common to send female children to sport … For the time being, all
the club members are boys.’ (KI, S. Gondar)

Role models can inspire change
 Only 1/3 of rural adolescents have a role model.
 2/3 of urban adolescents have a role model.
‘There is a doctor I look up to … He got medicine for bilharzia (schistosomiasis) from the fruit
of a plant … I would ask him how he did his studies, how he chose that specific fruit, and the
things that initiated his research. This way I will also be initiated to do my own research.’
(17 year old girl, Batu)
 Girls are less likely to have a role model than boys.
‘I have no one whom I see as a model or want to be like.’
(10 year old girl, E. Hararghe)
 Not all role models are positive.
‘Both males and females drop out of school … The majority
are motivated by looking at earlier migrants who dressed
well and had a mobile phone.’ (KI, S. Gondar)

Access to technology varies by age, gender, locality
 Access is limited in rural areas and for younger adolescents.
• In urban areas—5% of younger adolescents have a phone vs 3% in rural areas
 Access is better for older urban adolescents-- 48% have a phone.
 Girls’ access to ICT is more limited than boys’.
• 44% of older, urban girls vs. 53% of older, urban boys have a phone
‘Girls who use technology in improper ways do not focus on their
education.’ (teacher, Batu)
 Technology is a source of information.
‘I go to the public library … I download books like the dictionary, reference books
and religious book.’ (16 year old boy, Dire Dawa)
 Technology is a source of distraction—and exposure to pornography.
‘Due to easy access to technology and internet, some adolescents are now downloading
porn videos that are shared to other.’ (KI, Batu)

Policy implications
1
• Expose young people to aspirational yet actionable ideas for their future pathways
2
• Develop school- and district-level alumni associations with linkages to local schools to
provide role models and mentors
3
• Support adolescents to gain safe access to online information
4
• Develop libraries and computer labs in all government schools
5
• Expand clubs and extra-curricular activities

Economic aspirations are high and highly varied
‘We do not want to be involved in the same activities as our parents … Our parents are doing
daily labour, it makes them tired. We want to be government employees.’
(15 year old girl, Zone 5)
‘I wish to become a medical doctor and I want to serve the Ethiopian people.’
(11 year old boy, Dire Dawa)
 Aspirations vary by gender:
e.g. in South Gondar 38% and 48% of girls aspire to teach
 Parental aspirations for their adolescents vary significantly by location:
e.g. 35% of female caregivers of 10-12 year old girls in East Hararghe aspire for their
daughters to be doctors vs. only 5% in Afar

Access to skills and assets is limited
TVET
 Access is limited by exam failure.
 Access is limited by cost.
‘Those who are financially in a better
situation teach their children further when
they fail 10th grade.‘ (Mother, S. Gondar)
 Uptake is limited by interest.
 Enrolment is higher in urban areas.
‘Most children attend TVET after they
complete grade 10. Children who attend
TVET have a better chance to get a job.’ (17
year old boy, Dire Dawa)
 Course enrolment remains gendered.
Assets and resources
 12% of younger adolescents—and 29% of
older adolescents-- have any control over
cash.
 Adolescents have little access to formal
banking or credit.
‘One government group loan programme
required participants to be at least 20
years old.’ (18 year old boy, Debre Tabor)
 Older boys are twice as likely to have
control over cash as girls (39% vs. 21%).

Adolescent employment
 Younger adolescents are unlikely to work for pay (5%).
 Of older adolescents, boys are twice as likely to work for pay as girls (30% vs. 15%).
 The types of work that adolescents undertake is highly gendered.
(e.g. girls do domestic work and boys agriculture and construction)
 Independent adolescent migration is increasingly common.
 Migrants regularly face economic exploitation.
 The risk of violence is high and gendered.
(girls are at risk of sexual violence, boys of peer and ethnic violence)
 Urban factories are ignoring labour laws and exposing adolescents to new risks.
• ‘I was just a kid. I lied that I was 15 when I first applied for the job.’ (15 year old girl, Batu)
• ‘I fear that the chemicals may affect my health.’ (17 year old girl, Batu)

PSNP is having mixed impacts
 Improving food security.
‘It has helped me in fulfilling the food demand of my household.’ (father, Debre Tabor)
• Supporting adolescents to stay in school.
‘I can learn without worrying about school materials. I will also be able to afford
clothes like my friends.’ (16 year old girl, Dire Dawa)
 Sometimes encouraging child labour.
‘Of course they told us not to involve our children
who are attending school in public works. But I
could not manage to do all the … work, which took
at least three hours per working day since I am an old woman.’ (mother, S. Gondar)
 Frozen beneficiary lists are shutting out younger couples in South Gondar.
 In Afar, six-monthly transfers of grain are insufficient.

Policy implications
1
• Raise awareness about and enforce safe and nonexploitative labour practices
2
• Improve anonymous reporting chains to report cases of labour exploitation and abuse
3
• Improve adolescents’ numeracy and financial literacy
4
• Improve awareness and uptake of TVET
5
• Scale up adolescents’ access (especially girls’) to savings opportunities
6
• Adapt Ethiopia’s social protection policy framework to take better account of age-and gender- needs

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 18,000 adolescents in six
focal countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

Q&A: Sarah Baird, Nicola Jones & Workneh Yadete

Dr Vincenzo Vinci
Social Policy Specialist
UNICEF Ethiopia

The Leave No One Behind Agenda and its
relevance for adolescents

Session 1: Child Marriage
71
11:35 –
12:30
 Chair: Ms. Tsehay Gette, Programme Officer, UNFPA Ethiopia
 GAGE Presenter – Dr Guday Emirie, Dept of Social Anthropology, Addis
Ababa University
 Discussant: Bezawit Bekele, UN Women Programme Officer seconded
to MOWCY
 Discussants: Kidist Mirtnesh, Child Protection Specialist, and
Adem Alo, Child Marriage Campaign and Mobilisation Expert, Save the
Children

Child marriage in Ethiopia: GAGE
baseline findings
Dr Guday Emirie, Addis Ababa, May 2019
GAGE Baseline Dissemination Workshop
17 year old girl with her child, Afar © Nathalie Bertrams / GAGE 2019

Child
marriage
‘Above the age of 13 years old is considered to
be the age limit for girls to get into marriage.’
(12-year-old girl, South Gondar)

Contextualising our research on child marriage
5.7
14.1
40.3
5
0
10
20
30
40
50
girls married by age 15 girls married by 18 boys married by 18
15-19 20-24
16.7
14.4
17.1
16.8
15.1
17.4
16.4 16.2
17.4
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Afar Amhara Oromia
Ageinyears
Region
2005
2011
2016
Percent married by exact age (2016 EDHS)
Trends in age at first marriage, by region, by year (2005, 2011, 2016 EDHS)
 Child marriage almost always
involves girls—few boys marry
before 18.
 Rate of child marriage by 15 is
dropping quickly.
 Rate of marriage by 18 may or
may not be dropping,
depending on how the data is
captured.
 Age at first marriage is
climbing rapidly in Amhara,
but is effectively unchanged in
Afar and Oromia.

South Gondar: Rapid progress, with limits
 There is increasing—but limited space for
input.
‘How can I get married without their
permission? My family asked me if I
want to get married, I said yes and they
got me married to him. I know that he
is from our area but I don’t know him
in-depth.’
(Married mid-adolescent girl, South Gondar)
‘From 12 to 18 years old, because they
are afraid that she would be ruined.’
(Girl, South Gondar)
 Girls are married to protect their sexual
purity.
An adolescent girl, Ethiopia © Nathalie Bertrams /GAGE 2019

South Gondar: youngest adolescents at risk of forced marriage
 Girls who are to be married to priests are
made to marry especially early.
‘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.’
(Boy, 12-year-old, South Gondar)
‘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. So I got married not to disobey my
parents.’ (Married 12-year-old, South Gondar)
 The youngest girls are the most likely to be
forced to marry.
A girl selling coffee, Ethiopia © Nathalie Bertrams / GAGE 2019

East Hararghe: Complicated and shifting patterns
Some respondents report that marriage
is increasingly adolescent-driven.
‘They get married because it is
in their interest. You can’t
enforce them not to marry if
they want to marry.’
(12-year-old girl, East Hararghe)
Others noted that child marriage has
always been common.
‘If a girl is able to carry a 20
litre jerry can, they (the
parents) think she is ready for
marriage. They assume she can
also manage a man if she is
capable of lifting and carrying a
20 litre jerry can’.
(Key informant, East Hararghe)

Girls’ choices are not free
Girls “choose” to marry because they have few other
options—and are tricked by brokers.
 ‘I got married because they [referring to friends] got married’.
(Married girl, East Hararghe)
 ‘Girls prefer marriage than to simply sit idle.’
(Father, East Hararghe)
 ‘The reality of what is being done in shegoye place is that the boy gives
1,000 birr for a person who plays a role of mediating between the girl and
the boy. Girls can be easily deceived by the money. The boy gives another
1,000 birr for the girl and takes her home from shegoye place’.
(Teacher, East Hararghe)

Zone 5 (Afar): Absuma marriages remain the norm
 Boys have some space for input.
‘I have many absuma. I chose my
absuma by my own. I chose her for her
beauty.’
(Boy, Zone 5, Afar)
‘If my daughter married to someone
outside of our kinship, our family line
would discontinue.’
(Father, Zone 5, Afar)
 The absuma marriage system is preventing
progress on child marriage.
An adolescent boy working on the farm, Ethiopia © Nathalie
Bertrams / GAGE 2019

Girls are trapped
‘Unless we die, it is our absuma that we
are going to marry.’ (Girl, Zone 5, Afar)
‘Especially if she is going to get married to
an adult who is older than her; she hates
him, since he is going to beat her when
they get married’.
(15-year-od girl, Zone 5, Afar)
‘She drunk a poison because… she
disliked the person whom she was forced
to marry…they (the clan leaders) told her
to stick to her marriage and to respect
absuma.’ (Older adolescent boy, Zone 5, Afar)An adolescent girl, Ethiopia © Nathalie Bertrams / GAGE 2019

Zone 5 (Afar): Absuma marriage system is entrenched
‘Most of the families arrange and
marry their daughter before grade 8.
This is because after grade 8, girls
also start to refuse their families’
marriage arrangement’.
(Key informant, Zone 5, Afar)
 Families and clans are actively working to
maintain tradition.
An adolescent girl, Ethiopia © Nathalie Bertrams / GAGE 2019

Change strategies I: Working with adolescents
• Civics and biology classes teach about child marriage.
‘We learned that a girl shouldn’t get married below the age of 18.’
(Younger girl, South Gondar)
Empowering girls in school
• Girls in South Gondar are more likely to be enrolled in school and the area has stronger 1:5 groups.
Girls’ clubs reinforce these messages—especially in South Gondar
• Efforts to engage boys and young men are very rare.
• In Amhara, some schools have gender clubs, but none of the boys we interviewed were members.
Engaging with boys and young men

Change strategies II: Working with Parents & Communities
South Gondar
‘The government has been creating
awareness for a long time, they teach
us that it creates bad complication
during childbirth.’
(Fathers’ FGD, South Gondar)
East Hararghe
‘The girls’ club is working with religious
leaders to stop brokers from using shegoye
as a venue for trapping girls.’
(Teacher, East Hararghe)
Zone 5
‘If we teach them directly to stop early
marriage and cross-cousin marriage, we
will provoke conflict.’
(Teacher, Zone 5)
Parents of adolescents are not targeted.
Community engagement is varied and variably successful.
 Messages are framed around girls’ health, the importance of education, and economics.
 Messengers include Health Extension Workers, I:5 groups, religious leaders, and NGOs.

Change strategies III: Working with Systems and Services
• ‘When we hear anything, we tell our teachers. They tell us bring our parents. Then teachers tell
them not to force their children to get married at an early age.’ (12 year old girl, South Gondar)
Schools increasingly serve as a venue for reporting
• In South Gondar, some parents are punished for forcing their daughters to marry.
• In Oromia, officials are working to stop and punish brokers and to make sure girls are ‘old
enough’.
• In Afar, justice officials use a less punitive approach that emphasises girls’ risk of suicide.
Formal justice approaches are rare, but can work

Policy implications
Work with adolescents
• Use classroom content, school- and community-based clubs, and mass and social messaging.
• Ensure that adolescents know their rights and how and where to report violations.
• Encourage adolescents to protect each other.
Work with adults
• Target the parents of adolescent girls more directly.
• Tailor messengers and messages to fit local need—include religious leaders.
• Help parents learn how to set boundaries around their children.
• Encourage parents to protect other adolescents, not only their own.
Improve justice responses
• Engage with traditional justice mechanisms.
• Develop reporting chains.
• Verify girls’ ages.
• Prosecute adults (parents and husbands) who violate the law.

Session Name Timings
TRACK A
Session 2: Adolescent Experiences of Age- and Gender-based
Violence
13:15 – 14:05
Session 4: Adolescents at Risk of HIV 14:10 – 15:00
Session 6: Adolescent Education 15:05 – 15:55
TRACK B
Session 3: Internally Displaced Adolescents 13:15 – 14:05
Session 5: Adolescents with Disability 14:10 – 15:00
Session 7: Adolescent Migrants and Vulnerable Urban
Adolescents
15:05 – 15:55
Sessions

Ms Fasika Waltengus
Social Development Advisor, DFID Ethiopia

Dr Nicola Jones
Director of Strategic Management, Ministry of Women,
Children and Youth Affairs

Coordination
across sectors;
GBV, PSNP as
entrypoints.
Expand adolescent
friendly services to
rural areas and
esp. for out of
school adolescents
Engaging with faith
leaders – but also
supporting them in
change processes Stepping up focus
on reaching out of
school adolescents
– faith
communities,
fiema in Afar,
youth centres in
urban areas
Advocate for better
indicators on
adolescents and
gender in SDGs, and
improve monitoring
Way forward
Highly
contextualised
approaches are key
Investing in
parenting
guidance for
parents of
adolescents.
Taking stock
regularly of
evolving cultural
practices
Linking to
mentors and
role models
Need to step up
engagement with
media and social
media to reach
adolescents and
support safe use
Link with other
researchers in
similar thematic
areas to weave in
specific insights
Engaging in
forthcoming
consultation
processes –
multiple law
reforms, UN AIDS
strategic review,
migration profile

The Global Leave No One Behind agenda: what it means for Ethiopian adolescents (part one)

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