In Ethiopia, GAGE research explores young people’s multidimensional capabilities and how the opportunities and risks they face as they move through adolescence and into young adulthood vary according to a number of characteristics, including gender, ethnicity, location, residence, and disability and marital status. GAGE research also focuses on the programming and services available to young people, and how their uptake impacts individuals’ trajectories over time.

GAGE has three distinct workstreams in Ethiopia, all of which are longitudinal and use mixed methods. The main GAGE research programme, funded by the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), follows more than 10,000 adolescents living in rural areas of three regions (Afar Zone 5, Amhara and Oromia) and three cities (Batu, Debre Tabor and Dire Dawa) over nine years (2016–2024). As part of this research, we are evaluating the impacts of the Act with Her (AwH) programme, implemented by Pathfinder International and Care Ethiopia, which aims to improve adolescent girls’ educational, health, psychosocial and economic outcomes.

GAGE’s second study, funded by Irish Aid through the Ireland Embassy in Ethiopia, follows more than 2,000 adolescents living in two pastoralist regions (Afar and Somali) over five years (2022–2026). As part of this research, we are evaluating the impacts of a programme implemented by Save the Children International that aims to reduce female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriage by empowering girls and women socially and economically.

GAGE’s third study, which began in 2024, explores the compounded effects of climate change and the recent conflict (2020–2022) on young people living in Afar (Zone 2) and Tigray. This sample consists of 2,250 individuals living in conflict-affected communities.

In Ethiopia, GAGE works in partnership with the Quest Research, Training and Consultancy firm, researchers from Addis Ababa University, Asyaita Teachers’ College and Jigjiga University, and freelance researchers from different regions of the country. GAGE has a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs and collaborates closely with the National Alliance to End Child Marriage and FGM.

GAGE employs a mixed-methods research and impact evaluation design in Ethiopia. Quantitative surveys – which explore young people’s education, health, bodily integrity and freedom from violence, psychosocial well-being, voice and agency, and economic empowerment – have been fielded with two cohorts of adolescents: a younger cohort aged 10–12 years at baseline, and an older cohort aged 15–17 at baseline. Caregivers have also been surveyed. Qualitative research—which includes a participatory strand— involves individual and group interviews (using tools carefully tailored for age and context) with adolescents, caregivers and diverse key informants. These include teachers and health care providers, community, traditional and religious leaders, and policy and programming experts.
 

In Ethiopia, across the three workstreams, GAGE follows more than 12,000 young people through quantitative surveys and approximately 1,500 through qualitative tools.

GAGE’s sample includes the most marginalised young people who are ‘hardest to reach’. This includes young people from remote communities, young people with disabilities, those who married as children, those who are out of school, those who are child migrants, and those who have been displaced due to violence.
 

While most Ethiopian young people understand that education is the best way to secure their future, access to secondary education remains limited and educational quality remains poor. Young people also face multiple threats to their health, bodily integrity, psychosocial well-being and (future) livelihoods. These threats include: recurrent and worsening food insecurity related to climate change; rampant age- and gender-based violence experienced at home, at school and in the community, and limited access to services, support and justice to address these experiences; and high youth unemployment alongside spiralling ethnic violence, which leaves many young people feeling afraid and hopeless. Ethiopian girls are also at high risk of child marriage and of undergoing FGM.

GAGE research suggests that young people could be best supported through stepped-up access to social protection aimed at facilitating their access to education, through tailored programming designed to support their adoption of climate-change resilient livelihood strategies, through empowerment programming that directly addresses gender norms and how these limit young people’s broader opportunities, and by initiatives to rebuild social cohesion in the aftermath of recent conflict.