These days Ethiopia is functioning on the Home-Grown Economic Reform Agenda that aims to sustain the current fast economic-growth and create more and better jobs, particularly for the youth, building on the gains of the past and reflecting on the interconnectivity of politics, economics, and technology.
The result of the Home-Grown Economic Reform Agenda is the prosperity of the Ethiopian people with peaceful coexistence and democratic governance. Dr. Eyob Tekalign, State Minister of Finance, when he was asked the measurability of the Home Grown Economic Reform at a stakeholders meeting on October 8,2019 at a hall of the Ministry, he boldly responded that the measurability of the reform should rely on the achievement of the well to do life of the people than other indicators.
Thus, if we go towards the achievement of this, more expressed in the human development index than other indicators, we must invest in the future particularly by focusing on children. So, let’s talk about the Early Years Agenda which is also in the World Bank’s Country Partnership Framework for Ethiopia.
Investing in children is one of the best mechanisms that Ethiopia can make to eliminate poverty, boost shared prosperity, and create a human capital, needed for the economy to continue to diversify and grow. Growing evidence demonstrates that returns on Early Years investments are substantial especially during the first 1,000 days when compared to investments made later in life. The term “Early Years” refers to a child’s growth and development-starting from a women’s pregnancy through the child’s entry into primary school (0-6 years).
The Agenda is a focus area in the World Bank Country Partnership Framework and many existing operations already contribute to the Early Years Agenda. It has objectives of identifying practical ways to leverage current GOE/WB (Government of Ethiopia and the World bank) investments to move forward the Early Years Agenda in Ethiopia.
Pillars of investing in the Early Years Agenda
The main purpose of investing in the Early Years Agenda is building human capital by making sure children reach their full development potential.
The three pillars of Investing in the Early Years Agenda are:
Pillar 1: Well-nourished children, especially in the first 1,000 days
Pillar 2: Children receiving early stimulation and learning opportunities, from birth onwards
Pillar 3: Children receiving nurturing care and protection from stress
In short, the pillars can be expressed as: Health/ nutrition, stimulation / education and child protection.
Early childhood is a highly sensitive period for brain development. The first 1,000 days lay a lifelong foundation for human capital. Early nutrition supports healthy brain development. It is very important for higher cognitive function and sensory pathways (vision and hearing).
Investments in nutrition
Investments in nutrition build human capital and boost shared prosperity. Investment in nutrition has diverse benefits namely:
- Schooling – Early nutrition programs can increase school completion by one year
- Earnings – Early nutrition programs can raise adult wages by 5-50%
- Poverty – Children who escape stunting are 33% more likely to escape poverty as adults
- Economy – Reductions in stunting can increase GDP by 4 -11 in Asia & Africa
Stunting in Ethiopia
Stunting is the best marker we have to assess a child’s development potential. Childhood stunting remains a significant public health problem in Ethiopia, despite a decline in stunting prevalence from 58 to 38 percent over the past 15 years.
Key risk factors for stunting in Ethiopia are poor maternal nutrition during pregnancy (maternal thinness), low dietary diversity during complementary feeding (especially in rural areas) and poor water, sanitation, and hygiene practices leading to infection (e.g. diarrhea).
It also shows variations according to the geography of the country. Six out of 11 regions in Ethiopia have stunting rates higher than the national rate of 38%. These are namely 46% in Amhara, 43% in Benishangul-Gumuz, 41% in Afar, 40% in Dire Dawa, and 39% in SNNPR and Tigray (compared to 15% in Addis). And the regions that show the highest variation in the share of children stunting per woreda include Amhara, Tigray, Benishangul-Gumuz, and SNNP.
A key challenge in this regard will be to address inequalities (across and within regions). It will be important to gather best practices from “well-performing” woredas and identify factors hindering “worse-performing” woredas. Also, it will be critical to improving geographic targeting and delivery of effective and timely Early Years interventions in “worse-performing” woredas.
Investing in the Early Years Agenda and MDGs
Ethiopia achieved the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for the reduction of child mortality. Between 1990 and 2015, under-five mortality decreased by two thirds. Stunting reduction contributed to 44% of child lives saved. Despite remarkable progress, more needs to be done to reduce inequalities, improve the delivery of effective Early Years interventions, and strengthen multi-sector partnerships to improve child development outcomes.
Investing in the Early Years Agenda and SDGs
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) go beyond “child survival” to “child thriving”. Sustainable Development Goals and targets provide an umbrella under which the Early Years Agenda can move forward. Many of the SDGs have a direct influence on the essential services and enabling an environment that young children need to reach their full development potential.
Early childhood development is critical to reaching many of the SDGs because investing in the Early Years builds human capital and boosts shared prosperity.
Sustainable Development Goals provide a multi-sector platform to advance the Early Years Agenda. Out of 17 SDGs goals, investing in the Early Years Agenda goes in line with eight of Sustainable Development Goals.
The objective of the Home Grown Economic Reform Agenda is to sustain the current fast economic-growth and create more and better jobs, particularly for the youth ultimately resulted in human development. In this regard, it is aligned with investing in the Early Years Agenda which crowned with the well-being of the society at the initial level.
The Agenda is a focus area both to the World Bank Country Partnership Framework and to the government of Ethiopia. Many existing operations already contribute to the Early Years Agenda to improve the quality of nutrition services for mothers and young children.
(The author is public relations officer at the Ministry of Finance)
The Ethiopian Herald Friday 20 December 2019
BY GIRMA KEBEDE
