This policy brief draws on qualitative research relating to young people and their caregivers in five communities (both rural and urban) who are part of the Young Lives longitudinal study of 3,000 children and young people in Ethiopia. The analysis reveals the challenges young people face in their transition from education to paid work, and the differential impacts of location, economic background and gender, as well as examining the role of government and institutions.

This brief is based on the following working paper: Tafere, Y. and N. Chuta (2020) The Unrealised Promises of Education: The Challenges of School to Work Transition in Ethiopia, Young Lives Working Paper 190. Oxford: Young Lives and is one of a set of eight briefs summarising key findings and policy implications from eight corresponding working papers based on the research for the Young Lives fifth-wave qualitative survey in 2019.