Funded by Irish Aid, ODI Global/GAGE in partnership with Quest Research, Training and Consultancy and researchers from Addis Ababa and Jijiga Universities and Asayita Teachers’ College, is undertaking a longitudinal study from 2021-2026 on changes in gender attitudes, norms and practices regarding child marriage and FGM in Afar and Somali regions. Although both regions are characterized by very high rates of these human rights violations, the evidence base needed to inform policy and programming is very limited and thus this project aims to address this gap and contribute to generating critical insights in line with Ethiopia’s National Roadmap to End Child Marriage and FGM.  

As part of the project, ODI Global/GAGE are also carrying out a nested multi-year quasi-experimental evaluation of the ‘Supporting Women and Girls in Ethiopia's lowlands to realize their rights, and live healthy and productive lives free from violence and abuse’ programme implemented by Save the Children and regional government sector partners. The overall aims of the multi-year evaluation is to strengthen the Save the Children programming relating to the reduction and prevention of FGM/C and child marriage through the application of evidence-informed recommendations; to provide evidence for the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs (MOWSA) and the National Alliance to End FGM and Child Marriage to strengthen the roll out and application of the Roadmap to end Child Marriage and FGM/C and to provide broader learnings on these issues within the Horn of Africa region.

The evaluation approach includes a mixed methods longitudinal study with a sample of 2042 households (both adolescents and caregivers), and a participatory research workstream to complement the mixed methods findings and understand the role that climate shocks and climate play in contributing to changes in discriminatory gender norms and practices. A series of briefing papers, reports and peer-reviewed journal articles will be published and will be supported by regular learning and outreach stakeholder workshops at national and regional levels on the findings throughout the research and evaluation process. The study commenced with a formative research stage and there will be three rounds of mixed methods data collection (2022, 2024 and 2026), and two rounds of participatory research (2023 and 2025).