‘Children are future leaders of the country’: Ethiopian adolescents’ access to voice and agency

Ethiopia has undergone rapid transformation over the past two years. Soon after being appointed in 2018, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, an ethnic Oromo, effectively dissolved the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, the party that had wielded absolute power since 1991, promising a restoration of political freedoms and peace with neighbouring Eritrea that was recognised with a Nobel Peace Prize. That same year saw the appointment of Ethiopia’s first female president, Sahle-Work Zewde, and a cabinet in which half the positions are held by women. This new era has seen improvements in people’s rights to voice and association but has also been accompanied by increased insecurity and violence, which first erupted in 2015 and then spread throughout the country, leaving hundreds of people dead and millions displaced.

Suggested citation

Presler-Marshal, E.,Jones, N., Dutton, R., Baird, S. and Workneh, Y. (2020) ‘“Children are future leaders of the country”: Ethiopian adolescents’ access to voice and agency.’ Policy Brief. London: Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (https://www.gage.odi.org/publication/children-are-future-leaders-of-the-country-ethiopian-adolescents-access-to-voice-and-agency/)