No images? Click here
Young Lives Newsletter January 2023
We hope that 2023 is starting well and we wish you all the best for a happy year ahead.
We start this edition with a New Year message from our Deputy Director, Marta Favara:
2022 was a year of highs and lows for Young Lives. There was certainly much to celebrate and be proud of. Our ground-breaking research on the impact of the pandemic proved to be globally relevant and was featured in national and international media. Our publications and blogs provided invaluable insights on how early childhood poverty affects later life outcomes, and on the impact of combined global crises on young people as they grow up in poor communities around the world, further enabling us to inform policy in these challenging times. We were delighted to start preparing Round 7 of our long running survey, tracking 12,000 children from infancy to early adulthood in four countries. In one, Peru, we also began preparation for a fifth wave of qualitative research.
We reflect with sadness too, in that 2022 was the year we lost our colleague Gina Crivello who remains very much in our thoughts and whose work we continue to celebrate.
Looking to 2023, we are very excited by what this year holds for our unique study. Of course we are going to be very busy with Round 7 across our four study countries which will ultimately deliver a wealth of longitudinal, open access data, but look out too for exciting new research on the impact of shocks and the potential mitigating role of public programs on skills development, employment opportunities, and young people's physical and mental wellbeing.
We hope you’ll continue to follow our journey as we share our highlights over the coming year.
Best wishes,
Marta and the Young Lives Team
Young Lives Qualitative Research - Wave 5 in Peru
Late last year, alongside piloting Round 7 of our quantitative survey, the Young Lives Peru team also prepared for Wave 5 of qualitative data collection. Young Lives qualitative research has been following a sub-sample of over 200 children since 2007, across the four study countries and involving their caregivers, peers, service providers and other community members. We are delighted to be returning this year, to the same sample in Peru, to follow up on changes in their lives and circumstances. To prepare for this, the team carried out a pilot study in both urban and rural areas trialing in-depth individual interview and group methods that will be used to collect information about young people's well-being in the current and challenging post-pandemic era.
Round 7: Pre - Piloting the Survey in India
Preparations for Round 7 of our quantitative survey continued with initial training and pre-piloting in December in India. A team from India, together with colleagues from Oxford and Peru trained the data collection supervisors on the main questionnaire, a self-administered audio questionnaire and potential new survey modules. The trainees then went on to pilot each component of the survey.
The team will analyse the test responses and use this information to make final changes to the survey later this month.
Young Lives plans to start fieldwork in Peru in June, India in August, Ethiopia in October, and finally Vietnam in November. Watch this space for more news over coming months.
The Impact of Climate Shocks on Education - Young Lives evidence profiled.
In December, Young Lives Deputy Director, Marta Favara was invited to present at the Ministerial launch of the FCDO’s Position Paper on Education, Climate and the Environment. Young Lives research and policy outputs are directly referenced in this important new policy paper which sets out the UK’s ambition across this critical area.
The paper calls for immediate action to mitigate the negative effects caused by climate shocks and suggests a new framework with integrated solutions for maximum impact to deliver the quality education that is essential for reducing vulnerability and improving resilience.
Young Lives will continue to engage with FCDO in supporting further work in this area, including in the run up to COP28 in November 2023
Our research evidence and policy advice on this vital topic was also picked up by Australian Educator magazine which is published by the Australian Education Union. Young Lives Director Dr Catherine Porter was interviewed for the article which you can read in full from page 18 here.
New publications on young Ethiopians' Sexual and Reproductive Health
In December, we published a report about young Ethiopians' sexual and reproductive health (SRH), bringing together Young Lives’ qualitative and quantitative evidence on the topic, followed this month by an accompanying Policy Brief.
Young Lives research shows that despite young Ethiopian’s SRH improving over the last two decades, adolescent girls and young women continue to be disadvantaged by persistent inequality and patriarchal norms.
The Policy Brief calls for a coordinated and regionally tailored approach to improve young people’s SRH, including to prioritise the accessibility of SRH services for all as the country rebuilds after drought, conflict and COVID-19.
Spotlight on 2022 publications and blogs
The Young Lives team is proud to have published over 900 papers investigating many aspects of childhood and youth since the start of our study over 20 years ago. In 2022 we added to this impressive body of work with new publications on topics ranging from parenthood to mental health, as well a series of high-profile blogs. You can access all our publications on our website and click the button below to catch up on all 2022 blogs.
Young Lives at Events
World Bank Group Retreat, Ethiopia
In November, Young Lives Country Director in Ethiopia, Alula Pankhurst presented study findings from the first five Young Lives surveys, the COVID-19 Phone survey (Round 6) and plans for Round 7 to over 100 participants at a World Bank Group staff retreat.
Shaping law on early marriage and teen pregnancy in Peru
Vanessa Rojas and Alan Sánchez shared Young Lives evidence on early marriage and teen pregnancy with Congresswoman Flor Pablo. The event was organised by the Congress of the Republic to inform a Justice Commission discussion of a new Bill that seeks to eliminate marriage between minors. Read more here (use Google Chrome browser to translate from Spanish) and watch a video recording of the discussion (in Spanish) here.
Presenting Young Lives findings to the Mekong sub region
In December, Vu Thi Thu Thu presented Young Lives evidence at a regional forum “The impact of Covid-19 on the Mekong Subregion: An Emphasis on social protection and economics inclusion”. The audience included key policymakers from Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, and Myanmar.
Young Lives findings presented at ASSA AGM.
Young Lives, together with CLOSER and Lancaster University Management School, conducted a sub study between 2018-2021 in Peru on education, skills and work, funded by the ESRC. Study findings were presented at the ASSA conference held by the American Economic Association (AEA) in January.
Photographing Young Lives
Our photographs are a vital tool to convey the daily reality of life for the children and young people in our study. To protect our study participants’ anonymity, we photograph subjects whose lives are similar to those of our participants. We have just completed a new photograph assignment in India, and in coming months will follow up in Peru and Vietnam - we look forward to sharing these new images in coming months.
You can view a selection of current photos on our website - click below.
If you have any questions or comments about this newsletter please contact Young Lives Communications Manager - julia.tilford@qeh.ox.ac.uk.
All images © Young Lives
