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Young Lives Newsletter
March 2025
Young Lives launches Round 7 headline findings
We’re delighted that headline findings from Round 7 are now out and available from the Young Lives website!
Young Lives Director Marta Favara: 'I cannot believe the day has finally arrived! We have been looking forward to this moment for such a long time. I am very excited we can share the headlines emerging from a first look into the new data'
Our nine short factsheets summarise findings on young people's Education and Skills, Health, Nutrition and Well-being and Work and Family Lives in Ethiopia, India and Peru. They reveal how early life inequalities affect later outcomes, and show the impact of multiple crises - climate shocks, COVID-19 and conflict on young people's lives. For more on the launch of Round 7 just scroll down.
Young Lives wins University of Oxford Impact Award!
We are thrilled that Young Lives colleagues have been awarded the 2025 Social Sciences Impact Award in the Developing Impact category, for ‘Young Lives Evidence Directly Informing Legislative Change to Prohibit Child Marriage in Peru’.
Congratulations to Dr Alan Sánchez Jiménez, Dr Marta Favara, Kath Ford and Julia Tilford (Oxford Department of International Development), Vanessa Rojas Arangoitia, Santiago Cueto Caballero, Gisela Chacaltana (Niños del Milenio, GRADE), and Gina Crivello (In Memoriam).
The Award recognises work done over many years by Young Lives to provide the evidence base for informed policy making to change lives.
We thank the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, The Old Dart Foundation and International Development Research Centre (IDRC) for supporting this work.
We dedicate this Award to our much missed colleague and friend Gina Crivello.
Photo credit: John Cairns
Round 7 - catch up on the launch highlights
The University of Oxford featured a story about Round 7 on their main news page. It was also covered by Phys.org and local media.
For a snapshot of the headlines watch our short video '7 Findings from Round 7'.
For a deeper dive, tune into our latest podcast. Young Lives Director, Marta Favara talks to Julia Tilford about the important innovations introduced in Round 7 to capture the experiences of young adults navigating multiple crises, her summary of the key findings, and what is next for Young Lives.
In a fascinating programme 'The Covid Generation Revisited', being broadcast by BBC World Service on 29th March, Marta Favara discusses the impact of the pandemic and Round 7 findings. The programme will be available on the BBC World Service website shortly after broadcast. Marta also gave a short interview to That's TV about Young Lives research to policy impact - click here for a clip.
ETHIOPIA
Young Lives Ethiopia secured media coverage of the headline findings in some of Ethiopia’s most widely read newspapers as well as on Tirita Radio and Ahadu Radio.
The Reporter news article
The Reporter feature article
The Ethiopian Herald news article
Watch Young Lives Ethiopia Country Director Alula Pankhurst outline the Round 7 headline findings from Ethiopia.
On 2nd April, the team will hold a dissemination event in Addis Ababa, inviting government officials and representatives from national and international organisations. H.E. Dr. Ergogie Tesfaye, Minister of Women and Social Affairs will deliver the opening remarks.
PERU
Niños del Milenio presented Round 7 headline findings from Peru at an event in Lima on 11th March. More than 50 people attended, including researchers and representatives from NGOs, international organisations and JUNTOS.
Peru's Round 7 headline findings also featured widely in the media. Country Director Santiago Cueto appeared on the news channel Epicentro TV to discuss the results. Researchers Antonio Campos and Vanessa Rojas each published articles in Ojo Público: 'Millennium Children': A generation marked by inequality and Invisible traps: gender gaps that shape the future of young Peruvian women respectively. And the Instituto Peruano de Economía featured Young Lives findings in an article on the gender pay gap published by RPP.
INDIA
The Young Lives India launch took place in New Delhi on 20th March, with guest speaker Dr Shamika Ravi, Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister.
Round 7 findings also featured in an article in the Deccan Herald with Country Director Dr Renu Singh quoted '...we hope the data will help draw attention to vulnerable populations that need policy attention.'
Vice-Chancellor's Award Nomination
Out of 160 entries across 11 categories and 1,300 individuals, we’re thrilled that Young Lives has been shortlisted for the University of Oxford 2025 Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research Engagement!
Our nomination highlights Young Lives impact in shaping policy - particularly our role in influencing Peru’s Right to Education Bill and legislation to end child marriage.
We can’t wait for the awards ceremony on Thursday 15th May! But before that, if you are in Oxford, we'll be at the Awards Showcase in Blackwell Hall, Weston Library, on Tuesday 13th May. Do drop by!
Qualitative 6 fieldwork begins in Ethiopia
To prepare for the sixth wave of qualitative longitudinal interviewing, Young Lives Ethiopia ran a training session for its data collectors, supported by our Deputy Director, Kath Ford.
The team then began to interview young people from across Ethiopia's regions: Addis Ababa, Amhara, Oromia, Sidama, and Tigray. They reconvened earlier this month to debrief and share insights from their respective research sites. Findings will be published in December.
Young Lives Ethiopia celebrates 15 Years of the Children, Youth, & Women - Research & Practice Forum (CYW-RPF)
The CYW-RPF has just celebrated its 15th anniversary with a workshop in Addis Ababa. The Forum, organised by Young Lives Ethiopia, has grown into a dynamic network bridging research and practice to address critical issues impacting children, youth, and women in the country. HE Dr Ergogie Tesfaye, Ethiopian Minister for Women and Social Affairs said: 'By fostering strategic partnerships and data-driven policy making, the Forum will play an even greater role in shaping sustainable solutions for years to come'.
Peru methods workshop
Over three days in February, Niños del Milenio held a methods workshop for researchers and academics. The team explained the study's qualitative methodology and used its databases to advise the 29 participants on how best to analyse its longitudinal quantitative data.
Latest publications
Young Lives Attrition Report: Round 7
Our latest Technical Note on Round 7 Attrition shows an average 81% of our participants remain part of the study across all three countries!
Blog: Following in the Footsteps of the Young Lives Participants: Challenges and opportunities after two decades in the field
In this insightful blog Alan Sánchez, Marta Favara, Amanda Woodman, and María de los Ángeles Molina discuss some of the challenges locating our participants during Round 7, strategies used to overcome these, and the exciting research opportunities coming up.
Interaction between genetic risk score and dietary carbohydrate intake on high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels: Findings from the study of obesity, nutrition, genes and social factors (SONGS)
This paper looks at how genetic risk factors and lifestyle factors - in particular, a person’s diet - interact to affect various health traits related to heart disease and diabetes, such as cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and blood sugar. Results are based on data from urban participants from the Young Lives study in Peru, collected in 2022.
The long shadow of conflict on human capital: Inter-generational evidence from Peru
This paper estimates the inter-generational impacts of mothers’ exposure to the 1980–2000 Peruvian civil conflict on their children’s socio-emotional skills development. Researchers combined Young Lives longitudinal data, tracking children’s skills development over time with historical records of where the conflict happened.
Coming up
The team continues to be very busy. Look out for events and publications coming up - and for a round up read our next newsletter, out in June.
Right Here Right Now, 6 June 2025 - Save the Date
Young Lives will be taking part in the University of Oxford's three-day Right Here Right Now Global Climate Summit, a global dialogue on climate change and human rights. On Friday 6 June we will be hosting a public panel discussion at St Cross College, Oxford and taking part in a late-night event at the Pitt Rivers Museum. Follow us on social media for booking details.
New Policy Briefs out soon:
- Lightening the Load: New Evidence on the Impacts of Unpaid Care Work on Women and Girls
- Building Fairer Futures: Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Face of Climate Change.
And finally, don't forget to keep up to date with our news by following us on our other social media accounts; you can find the links below.
If you have any questions or comments about this newsletter please contact Young Lives Head of Communications, Julia Tilford at julia.tilford@qeh.ox.ac.uk.
