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Ethiopia

El Niño in Ethiopia: Impacts of drought on young rural women in Amhara National Regional State

Attachments

Subject/Objective:

In January 2016 the AKLDP produced a set of Field Notes that documented the early impact of the El Niño on smallholder farmers in selected drought-affected areas of Amhara National Regional State (ANRS). As a follow up, in March 2016 the AKLDP commissioned two women researchers1 to undertake an impact assessment of the El Niño on the lives and livelihoods of young rural women in North and South Gondar.

Methodology:

The assessment methodology was based on eight focus group discussions comprising 87 young rural female youth and young women between the ages of 15 and 25 years2. The focus group discussions were organized in severely affected woredas – including Dabat, Debark and Wegera in North Gondar and Tach Gaint and Lay Gaint in South Gondar3.The focus group discussions were structured around key questions including the impact of drought, household coping strategies, and interventions that might help address priority needs. While the researchers did not profile the interviewees by wealth group, every effort was made to interview poorer young rural women including those living in remote locations who, it could be expected, had suffered the worst impacts of the drought. Field work was done between the last week of March and the first week of April 2016

Key findings:

The 2015 El Niño drought was having a profound impact on lives and livelihoods on young rural women in these areas, exacerbated by physical remoteness. Female youth and young women identified and explained a range of problems related to workload, health and diet, home and community life and education and training.

Sample size: 87