Improving Adolescent Outcomes in Conflict Settings: Evidence from Ethiopia

Gender-based violence (GBV) not only violates fundamental human rights, but also has numerous long-lasting adverse impacts on women and girls, including poor physical, mental, and sexual and reproductive health, as well as economic and social disadvantage. While there is growing consensus on effective strategies to reduce GBV and improve outcomes for survivors in non-conflict settings, there has been limited research in conflict settings, where GBV is more pervasive and both formal and informal support systems are impaired. Through a partnership with a local non-governmental organization (NGO) that implements a range of GBV-focused interventions for women and girls in conflict-affected communities in northern Ethiopia, the proposed pilot research will lay the groundwork for a rigorous randomized evaluation of timely and policy-informed multi-level, multi-faceted programming aimed at the reduction of GBV and support for GBV survivors in conflict-affected settings. The eventual full evaluation will fill existing evidence gaps on the effectiveness of combinations of policies shown to work in other settings but not proven in regions affected by conflict.