Young Lives Ethiopia has built a comprehensive picture of the lives of 3,000 children living in 20 sites across Addis Ababa and five other regions in Ethiopia – Amhara, Oromia, the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR), Sidama, and Tigray.

Our mission is to deliver ground-breaking research on how intersecting inequalities and new vulnerabilities affect the lives of disadvantaged children and young people and what can be done to improve their life outcomes. 

The Young Lives Theory of Change provides a framework to maximise the contribution of all our research projects in delivering our mission. We have learnt from our track record of success over 20 years, what outputs and outcomes are effective.  We have analysed the assumptions underlying our activities to determine that they will have the desired effects, alongside analysis of the key external risks that may need to be navigated in these times of unprecedented change and uncertainty. We have been involved in policy engagement in the following ways: 

• Young Lives Ethiopia found that despite community members and service providers being aware of the benefits of pre-primary school provision and improved access in recent years, there is a lack of appropriate teaching aids, suitable classroom infrastructure and play equipment and materials. The findings helped for the amendment of the National Early Childhood Care and Education Policy Framework in 2010 and the subsequent rollout of the pre-primary O-class school readiness programme.
• Building knowledge on how early childhood experiences impact later life outcomes, according to a range of structural factors (wealth, location, gender, age, and ethnicity), and alongside significant external shocks including the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change. 
• Directing policies and strategies that improve the lives of disadvantaged children, women, and young people, in collaboration with the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs, UNICEF and others to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Young Lives Ethiopia has been asked to give comments on policy issues from different governmental ministries notably the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs.