Papers by Tassew Woldehanna
Ethiopian Journal of Economics, 2015
The Ethiopian education system has been very dynamic over recent years, with a series of large-sc... more The Ethiopian education system has been very dynamic over recent years, with a series of large-scale education program interventions, such as the Second Phase of General Education Quality Improvement Project (GEQIP-II) that aimed to improve student learning outcomes. Despite the large-scale programs, empirical studies assessing how such interventions have worked and who benefited from the reforms are limited. This study aims to understand the impact of the reform on Grade 4 students’ maths learning outcomes over a school year using two comparable Grade 4 cohort students from 33 common schools in the Young Lives (YL, 2012-13) and RISE (2018-19) surveys. We employ matching techniques to estimate the effects of the reform by accounting for baseline observable characteristics of the two cohorts matched within the same schools. Results show that the RISE cohort started the school year with a lower average test score than the YL cohort. At the start of Grade 4, the Average Treatment Effec...
Diseases of The Colon & Rectum, 2013
Das Konzept und die Prinzipien der nachhaltigen Entwicklung werden seit mehreren Jahrzehnten allg... more Das Konzept und die Prinzipien der nachhaltigen Entwicklung werden seit mehreren Jahrzehnten allgemein als zentrales Element des gesellschaftlichen Fortschritts anerkannt. Dennoch ist uns die Umstellung auf ein wirklich nachhaltiges Entwicklungsmodell noch immer nicht gelungen. Dieses Kapitel berichtet uber nachhaltige Entwicklung in der Praxis anhand des Beispiels eines Projekts zur integrierten Bewirtschaftung von Wassereinzugsgebieten in Athiopien, an dem die Autoren selbst beteiligt waren. Durch dieses Projekt wurden naturliche Ressourcen regeneriert und aufgewertet, die Einkommenssituation und die Ernahrungssicherheit der Bevolkerung verbessert sowie vielerlei soziale Nutzeffekte erzielt. Zudem hat es die Widerstandskraft der Bevolkerung gegenuber dem Klimawandel gestarkt und zur Bindung von Kohlendioxid beigetragen. Der Erfolg dieses Konzepts der Einzugsgebietsbewirtschaftung ruhrt daher, dass es sich nicht um einen rein technischen Ansatz handelte. Von grundlegender Bedeutung war vielmehr die volle Einbindung der Ressourcennutzer vor Ort, erganzt durch Sozialkapital und ein gunstiges institutionelles Umfeld. Der Projektansatz wurde inzwischen auf die nationale Ebene ausgedehnt, womit er entscheidende Bereiche der nationalen Politik beeinflusst, insbesondere das „Productive Safety Net Programme“ und Athiopiens Strategie fur eine grune Wirtschaft. Allzu haufig kommen Konzepte der nachhaltigen Entwicklung nie uber das Pilotprojektstadium hinaus; umso wichtiger ist daher die Erkenntnis, die sich aus dieser Erfahrung ziehen lasst, namlich dass ein erfolgreicher Ansatz zwar auf nationaler Ebene angewandt werden kann – und auch angewandt werden sollte –, dass es dazu aber institutionellen und politischen Engagements von Seiten der staatlichen Stellen und der Zivilgesellschaft bedarf sowie ausreichender Investitionen, um eine solche Ausweitung moglich zu machen. Insofern dieses Projekt ursprunglich durch ahnliche Arbeiten in Indien angeregt wurde, zeigt sich an ihm zudem die Bedeutung des Erfahrungsaustauschs.
Social Science Research Network, 2008
This paper examines growth, poverty and chronic poverty in 15 Ethiopian villages between 1994 and... more This paper examines growth, poverty and chronic poverty in 15 Ethiopian villages between 1994 and 2004. Growth and poverty reduction in these communities was substantial; headcount poverty fell from 48 to 35 percent. However, there is also movement in and out of poverty over this period and a significant proportion of the sample was chronically poor. Chronic poverty is associated with several characteristics: lack of physical assets, education, and 'remoteness' in terms of distance to towns or poor roads. The chronically poor appear to be benefit from roads or extension services in much the same way that the non-chronically poor benefit. However, their 'initial' conditions, as captured in estimated latent growth related to time-invariant characteristics suggests that they face a considerable growth handicap. This 'fixed' growth effect is correlated with the characteristics of the chronic poor during the sample period. Chronic poverty, as reflected in poor initial assets and remoteness, appears to be correlated with a divergence in living standards over the sample period.
Social Science Research Network, 2007
This paper studies the process of growth, poverty and poverty persistence in a panel data set cov... more This paper studies the process of growth, poverty and poverty persistence in a panel data set covering 15 communities across rural Ethiopia 1994-2004. It describes growth and the evolution of poverty, illustrating both considerable growth and poverty reduction. It highlights the presence of 'chronic' poverty, people that appear poor relatively persistently in the data. Using a statistical dynamic fixed effect growth model, we find that road infrastructure and the (slow) spread of extension services has contributed to this growth, even though a high sensitivity of consumption to rainfall shocks is noted as well. We show that changes in poverty are affected by the same factors. There is no clear evidence that chronically poor are differently affected by these factors in the sample period. However, we can show that there is a 'fixed' latent growth effect that is highly correlated with chronic poverty. It suggests a serious growth handicap for the chronically poor. We also find that chronic poverty and this latent growth effect correlates highly with initial physical assets (such as land or livestock), education and remoteness.
2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy, 2015
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2002
There is some confusion in the literature on the consumption behaviour of farmers. We try to clea... more There is some confusion in the literature on the consumption behaviour of farmers. We try to clear up some of the issues surrounding this confusion by elaborating and testing a model. Euler equations have been derived from a constant relative risk aversion utility function for total consumption expenditure, household expenditure and other expenditure, which includes durable goods. According to a test of Euler equations, farm households are not simply optimising lifetime utility. Rather, these households follow simple consumption rules, strongly influenced by habit formation. In line with most of the literature, we find that farm households are not borrowing constrained in their consumption expenditures.
Abstract UNDP International Poverty Centre Focus March COUNTRY FOCUS Stunted Lives Child Poverty ... more Abstract UNDP International Poverty Centre Focus March COUNTRY FOCUS Stunted Lives Child Poverty Ethiopia Peru and Vietnam Ethiopia With its population living absolute poverty Ethiopia ranks among the world poorest countries Health and education indicators are low ...
About Young Lives Young Lives is an international study of childhood poverty, following the lives... more About Young Lives Young Lives is an international study of childhood poverty, following the lives of 12,000 children in 4 countries (Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam) over 15 years. www.younglives.org.uk
Ethiopian Journal of Economics, Sep 11, 2008
This fact sheet presents findings from the fifth round of the Young Lives survey of children in E... more This fact sheet presents findings from the fifth round of the Young Lives survey of children in Ethiopia.The data show that indicators of nutrition have improved with decreased levels of stunting, thinness, and household food insecurity, which are probably related to better access to sanitation and drinking water. However, overall rates of stunting and thinness still remain high, and some households moved from being food secure to mildly food insecure, probably as a result of the recent El Niño-driven drought, so that nutrition interventions continue to be important
Designed constitutionally, the Ethiopian education sector has been one of the most important pro-... more Designed constitutionally, the Ethiopian education sector has been one of the most important pro-poor sectors over recent years, with a percentage of public education spending to total government spending of 21 per cent, and to GDP 4 per cent in 2012/13. As the result of this, school enrolment (Grades 1-12) doubled from about 10 million students in 2002/3 to over 20 million in 2013/14. Coupled with the public educational expenditure, the government has also made a number of policy changes in different areas of the sector. Examples include the introduction of the “O” class programme and non-formal preschool service called the Child‐to‐Child delivery system aiming to address marginalised children who have little or no access to preschool education. Additionally, targeting better access, equity, efficiency and quality, some other reforms were introduced in line with the latest two Education Sector Development Programmes (2005/6-2009/10 and 2010/11- 2014/15). Of note is the General Education Quality Improvement Program, designed to support quality improvements for all primary and secondary schools, and the expansion of higher education, particularly at university level, where the number of public universities increased from eight in 2008/9 to 31, with more than 0.62 million students, in 2013/14. Yet, in spite of the unprecedented enrolment at all levels, the education sector still resembles a pyramid, with varying degrees of access for different groups, where nine out of ten children of appropriate age are enrolled in primary education, two out of ten in secondary education and only one out of ten at university. There could be several reasons that explain the pyramid shape of the sector, and the disparity among various groups of individuals in particular. This paper analyses the educational inequalities that may exist among different groups of children and young people in Ethiopia using Young Lives longitudinal data collected over four rounds of surveys, for two cohorts of children born in 2001-02 (the ‘Younger Cohort’) and in 1994-95 (‘Older Cohort’).</p
This fact sheet presents findings from the fifth round of data collection carried out by Young Li... more This fact sheet presents findings from the fifth round of data collection carried out by Young Lives in Ethiopia in 2016. Young Lives has followed two cohorts of children born seven years apart since 2002. This fact sheet focuses on our Older Cohort (22-year-olds in 2016) to explore issues related to education, labour market skills, employment and marriage, and how young people’s opportunities in life are influenced by their gender, their family’s wealth level, and background circumstances. This fact sheet looks at the proportion of the Older Cohort who were still in school, were working full-time, or were neither studying nor working, and the imbalance in relation to poorer groups and those from rural areas. It also looks at the proportion of the young people in our sample who were married or already had a child of their own. Finally, it identifies differences between urban and rural areas in the use of digital devices.
This paper assesses how the needs of children are incorporated in to Ethiopia’s Poverty Reduction... more This paper assesses how the needs of children are incorporated in to Ethiopia’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP)—known as the Ethiopian Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Programme 2002-2005 (SDRDP) – and develops policy recommendations for the second PRSP based on a comparative content analysis with other countries’ PRSPs. The paper begins by identifying the key ingredients of a child-centred PRSP, including: consideration of childhood poverty in the document’s poverty analysis; spaces for consultation with children; child-specific policies and programmes as well as child-sensitive macro-development policies; institutionalized mechanisms to coordinate these policy approaches and the inclusion of child-related progress indicators. The second section uses a content analysis methodology to consider the extent to which the Ethiopian PRSP is pro-poor and pro-child and contrasts this to more child-sensitive approaches in other PRSPs. The paper then analyses the SDPRP����s policies, programmes and indicators using a rights-based framework. It assesses the extent to which both direct and indirect policies are keeping with the Convention on the Rights of the Child principles of child survival, development, protection, equal treatment and participation. The paper concludes by drawing on the best practices of PRSPs in other countries and outlining how a child-focused PRSP could more effectively address the multi-dimensionality of childhood poverty in Ethiopia
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Papers by Tassew Woldehanna