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Young Lives Newsletter December 2023
A message from Young Lives Director, Professor Cath Porter
This year has seen deepening crises in the world, and while Ukraine and now Israel/Gaza dominate the news, the team at Young Lives have spent much careful time and effort this year preparing to document the effects of the underreported conflict in Ethiopia. The findings from our pilot survey were extremely concerning (see more). With fieldwork for Round 7 now underway we are especially proud of having developed an audio based self-administered questionnaire that allows us to ask sensitive questions, even to those who are not able to read, so that we can understand and document young Ethiopians' experiences of conflict and interpersonal violence.
Fieldwork is also ongoing in Peru and India, and from both of these countries we have had very encouraging news on laws being passed to end child and early marriage. Congratulations to the teams in India and Peru for their tireless work on this topic over many years and their success at using Young Lives' evidence to really achieve policy influence. There is more to be done as we know that legislation is necessary, but not sufficient for change, but we are there to continue the work in this positive direction.
You will see in the newsletter below that the global team continues to produce high quality research and engage actively in policy, not least on the impact of climate change on young people's lives. Some of our recent research has a positive message though - in the face of climate shocks in early life, social protection has mitigated the detrimental effects on cognitive skills (see below for the recently published article in WBER). The new FCDO White Paper commitments to social protection are therefore highly welcome, though progress on slowing climate change at COP28 is of course crucial.
Finally, a highlight of the year for me was the BBC "Beating the Odds" Film featuring evidence from Young Lives and Lemn Sissay's narration and personal reflections. It has such a positive message, and is a tribute to our impressive body of knowledge on children's trajectories, as well as to our dearly missed colleague and friend Gina Crivello, whose research features heavily in the film.
Wishing everyone a peaceful end to the year 2023, and thank you for your support and interest in Young Lives.
Influencing legal change to Peru's marriage law.
Young Lives has a strong record of delivering research to achieve policy change and we're delighted to share this latest example of how our high-quality longitudinal mixed methods research can directly influence national policies to improve young lives.
Over the last decade, more than 4000 child marriages involving girls between the ages of 11 and 17 years have been registered in Peru. 98% of these marriages result in young girls being married to adult men. Young Lives has engaged in research and advocacy over many years to highlight the impacts of early marriage and parenthood, including through the collaborative YMAPS project.
On 25th November 2023, a new law to prohibit and eliminate marriage with minors under the age of 18 came into force in Peru. Young Lives directly informed this legislative change; our research evidence was cited in the Parliamentary Bill presented to Congress on 29 September 2022, and the Young Lives Peru team presented findings at the Congressional roundtable on 6 December 2022. Our evidence has also featured in many national media stories including in La Republica and El Comercio. Peruvian Congresswoman Flor Pablo, a key political driver in this case, commends Young Lives:
Young Lives' longitudinal evidence on the causes and consequences of child marriage in Peru has been pivotal for driving this important legislative change. By giving voice to the lived experiences of girls and young women, the study has enabled a much more in-depth understanding of how poverty and entrenched gender norms continue to drive child marriage, particularly among remote and indigenous communities.
Legislative change is an important step, but wider societal change is needed - read Vanessa Rojas' article in El Comercio. For more on Young Lives influencing role, read our Impact Case Study.
Round 7 nearing completion!
The main part of the fieldwork operation is about to be completed in Peru and India and is well underway in Ethiopia! Early next year our teams will continue looking for participants that migrated within each country. This fantastic progress is down to an incredible team effort across the Oxford and Country teams, led by Research Director Marta Favara.
In each country, there has been an increase in the numbers of our study sample who have migrated from their community. So there is final work underway to track these young people alongside completion of the main fieldwork in Ethiopia.
The Oxford team will continue to support this and in the New Year will start work cleaning the data, identifying patterns in the data and organising the research plan. The data collected will shed light on young peoples' living circumstances, their health, education, nutrition, work, and mental health, and enable us to better understand how they are navigating complex, multiple crises, such as Covid, conflict and climate change. We'll continue to share progress on this exciting work in the New Year.
COP28 and Young Lives
COP28 is a critical moment to highlight the impact of climate shocks on children's and young peoples' lives. We were delighted therefore to collaborate with the Global Coalition to End Child Poverty in publishing a report on the impact of climate change on children's basic needs, which featured Young Lives' evidence.
We also published our latest Young Lives Policy Brief, in which authors Kath Ford and Sophie von Russdorf draw together Young Lives' longitudinal evidence on the impact of early climate shocks on children’s basic skills and learning. They spotlight evidence showing that these impacts are not irreversible or inevitable, and share our ground breaking new finding that social protection can mitigate these negative effects.
Supporting skills and education - new publications
We're delighted that Young Lives research into the association between social protection and foundational cognitive skills has been published in the World Bank Economic Review. In the article, the authors explore the role of Ethiopia's Public Safety Net Programme (PSNP), and find that children who grew up in poverty, but received PSNP support developed stronger foundational cognitive skills.
What is needed to meet SDG4? Young Lives Director Cath Porter calls for action beyond the education sector in an article published in the International Journal of Education Development
Young Lives' evidence shows early life circumstances matter even before children go to school and that a coordinated approach across different sectors, including education, is critical in order to support children's learning, and enable children to stay in education at crisis points.
India has seen a huge increase in higher education enrolment in recent years. But Young Lives' data shows that young women are less likely to complete higher education than young men with potential long-term consequences for their empowerment and job opportunities. In this Policy Brief the authors argue for supportive and enabling environments for all girls and young women to stay in education, with sufficient resources and time to study being key.
Events snapshot
Young Lives Ethiopia Director, Alula Pankhurst was invited to speak at the 50th celebration of EECMY-DASSC and 'Kindernothilfe' working together for the rights and welfare of Ethiopian children. He highlighted Young Lives research on the impact of undernutrition on physical and cognitive growth - and that later interventions, such as school meals can support catch-up growth and recovery beyond the first 1000 days. Click below for more on Young Lives in Ethiopia.
Young Lives India Country Director Renu Singh spoke recently at two education related events, presenting Young Lives evidence:
- NITI Aayog workshop on early learning interventions
- UNGEI, UN Women and UNICEF "Feminist Network for Gender Transformative Education" event
Click below for more on Young Lives in India, including publications, news and events
Catch up over the holidays!
Missed some of our blogs and publications this year? Go to our website to catch up over the holidays!
Looking ahead to 2024
Young Lives will be taking a break over the holidays, but we're looking forward to more exciting projects in 2024, kicking off in January with our new podcast on children's skills - watch this space!
If you have any questions or comments about this newsletter please contact Young Lives Communications Manager - julia.tilford@qeh.ox.ac.uk.
