USAID and the Government of Ethiopia are increasingly interested in investing in the early years. Through the Together for Early Childhood Evidence consortium in Africa, early childhood education stakeholders in Ethiopia collaborate on the country’s early childhood data and measurement issues.
The Ethiopia country team has been meeting since 2019 to discuss data and measurement issues in Ethiopia. In 2019, the team completed the T4ECE Diagnostic Toolkit to prioritize key questions that data can answer in Ethiopia, summarize existing data sources, and start to identify how data can inform the Ministry’s new ECD Policy Framework.
The country team identified inaccessible and fragmented data as a core challenge in Ethiopia. In 2021, the Together for Early Childhood Evidence country team launched a research project with the Ethiopian School Readiness Initiative (ESRI) to create a repository for early childhood data and resources. Under ESRI’s leadership, the local research team consulted with early childhood stakeholders to compile existing resources and data to create a knowledge hub for exemplary early childhood education development practices. The team then established an ECDE Knowledge Hub, hosted on the Addis Ababa University (AAU) website, where more than 450 materials and resources can easily be retrieved and are publicly available. The ECDE Knowledge Hub is hosted on the Addis Ababa University (AAU) website, where the materials and resources can easily be retrieved and are publicly available. The team hopes the hub will create opportunities for improved coordination among institutions, organizations, and individual professionals to collaborate to advance early childhood development and education in Ethiopia. Learn more about the 2021/2022 T4ECE Ethiopia project.
In 2024, the Ethiopian T4ECE Task Force team expressed interest in expanding the Knowledge Hub to accompany the renewed commitment from the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Women and Social Affairs, and partner organizations to scale up preprimary services and develop new resources nationwide. The project is led by the Ethiopia School Readiness Initiative in partnership with Addis Ababa University and the Educational Assessment and Examination Service (EAES). In the first phase of development, the Knowledge Hub focused on collecting resources primarily from organizations in Addis Ababa City. This year, the research team will focus on strengthening and scaling up the existing Knowledge Hub, as it will broaden its reach to organizations and resources available nationwide to build the collective knowledge base of ECE throughout Ethiopia. Further, the team will work on building capacity and knowledge exchange efforts through synthesizing resources, enhancing the knowledge hub interface, and hosting several workshops to strengthen knowledge around early childhood data and measurement in Ethiopia. For more information, please read ECCE Knowledge Hub Strengthening and Capacity Building in Ethiopia.
To learn more, please read about Together for Early Childhood Evidence in Ethiopia (PDF).
Additional Information
The Ethiopia country team was established in 2019, and is co-chaired by USAID Ethiopia and the Ministry of Education.
Key Indicators from Ethiopia
| Poverty headcount ratio at $2.15 a day (2017 PPP) (% of population) | 27% |
| GDP per capita (current US$) | $925 |
| School enrollment, preprimary (% gross) | 30% |
| Prevalence of stunting, height for age (% of children under 5) | 37% |
| Mortality rate, under-5 (per 1,000 live births) | 47 |
Data from the World Bank
Country Team Members
| Name | Title | Organization |
| Frehiwot Wubishet (Focal Point) | Reading Specialist | USAID |
| Ketema Kewy | Senior Expert | Ministry of Education |
| Demelash Mesegana | Expert | Ministry of Education |
| Gebere Fekadu | Expert | Ministry of Education |
| Dr. Effa Gurmu | Executive Director of Education, Evaluation, and Research | National Education Assessment and Examinations Agency |
| Yilikal Wondimeneh | Director | National Educational Assessment and Examinations Agency |
| Asefa Leta Emana | Assessment Expert | National Educational Assessment and Examinations Agency |
| Abiy Kefyalew | Assessment Expert | National Educational Assessment and Examinations Agency |
| Fantahun Admas | Head, Early Childhood Care and Education Center | Addis Ababa University |
| Belay Hagos Hailu | Associate Professor of Education; Director of the Institute of Educational Research | Addis Ababa University |
| Fiseha Teklu | Assistant Professor | Addis Ababa University |
| Belay Tefera Kibret | Professor of Psychology | Addis Ababa University |
| Menelik Desta | Executive Director | School Readiness Initiative |
| Fitsum Asfaw | Economist | World Bank |
| Tina Asnake Belaynehe | Early Years Fellow | World Bank |
| Demeke Fekadu | Early Childhood Development Specialist | UNICEF |
| Tilahun Wolie | Education Specialist | Plan International |
This website is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the Office of Education, Bureau for Africa, U.S Agency for International Development (USAID) under the terms of contract No. 7200AA19C00080, subcontract CATALYZE-Edu-CR-2023-0352. The contents of this website are developed by the ECD Measure group hosted at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.