Understanding Children’s Experiences of Violence in Ethiopia

Abstract

This paper is part of a series of working papers produced by UNICEF's Office of Research-Innocenti in collaboration with the University of Oxford's Young Lives research programme. Under its multi-country study on The Drivers of Violence Affecting Children, the Office of Research has undertaken research in Italy, Peru, Viet Nam and Zimbabwe which examines how structural, institutional, community and individual factors interact to affect violence in children's lives, with a particular focus on the risks and experiences of violence by gender and age. Complementing UNICEF's multi-country study, a number of papers have been produced using the longitudinal quantitative and qualitative data produced by the Young Lives research initiative. Young Lives is an international study of childhood poverty, initiated in 2000, which has followed 12,000 children in Ethiopia, India (in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana), Peru and Viet Nam. This set of papers aims to understand various aspects of children's experiences of violence, and the impacts of violence on children's lives over time, across different settings. Two papers use the quantitative data from the four Young Lives study sites to examine the issues of corporal punishment and bullying, their prevalence, impacts on children and the social support available to them.

Education and Work: Children’s Lives in Rural Sub‑Saharan Africa

“…In addition, double-shift schooling, which is common in rural areas, offers slightly more flexibility as the half-day timetable gives children more time to contribute to their households' livelihoods (Orkin 2012;Wambiri 2014;Pankhurst et al 2016).…”

“…In general terms, boys tend to experience more corporal punishment at school. Younger boys tend to be beaten more than older boys, whereas girls and older boys may receive more verbal reprimands, which are often insulting and denigrating (Tafa 2002;Dunne et al 2005;Soneson 2005aSoneson , 2005bHumphreys 2012;Bakari 2013;Pankhurst et al 2016). Evidence from several countries in SSA also suggests that corporal punishment is generally experienced more often and more severely in schools in poorer communities and in rural areas (Soneson 2005a(Soneson , 2005bHumphreys 2008;Adzahlie-Mensah 2014), where teachers work in more challenging conditions and more often find themselves unable to cope (Sherry 2008).…”

“…School violence can also affect students' concentration and learning, resulting in poor attainment (Talwar, Carlson and Lee 2011;Stein et al 2019). It can lead to truancy, absenteeism, and eventual dropout (Soneson 2005a(Soneson , 2005bAnanga 2011;Dunne et al 2013b;Acquah, Wilson and Doku 2014;Kibriya, Xu and Zhang 2015;Pankhurst et al 2016). In addition, two studies in Ghana have associated school bullying at secondary school level with suicidal tendencies (Asante et al 2017;Baiden et al 2019).…”

“…Children's contribution to household labour is part of an intergenerational social contract which both adults and children value (Abebe 2011), but is under constant negotiation and in tension as children grow up and try to balance collective responsibilities and obligations with individual needs and desires in a changing environment (Hashim 2004;Tafere 2013;Kassa 2016). By helping parents and carers with various types of domestic work, including sibling care, children also free up the adults to undertake more paid employment (Pankhurst et al 2016).…”

“…Archambault 2009;Frankenberg et al 2010;Twum-Danso Imoh 2013;Chuta et al 2019). If children return home late from school, or insist on going to school rather than doing chores, they may be beaten in the home (Hashim 2004;Soneson 2005aSoneson , 2005bMurphy et al 2020) or deprived of food (Pankhurst et al 2016;Adonteng-Kissi 2018). As part of this socialisation, as the children get older they, in turn, physically discipline their younger siblings for similar misdemeanours (Twum-Danso Imoh 2013; Nevertheless, as with corporal punishment at school, although many children (especially younger ones) are accepting of such punishment (Pankhurst et al 2016), some children may be bitter, resentful and angry when punishments are seen to be excessive and/or undeserved (Frankenberg et al 2010; Twum-Danso Imoh 2013) and they may run away from home temporarily (ACPF 2014), or may migrate permanently to escape relationships that they consider to be abusive (Hashim 2004;Murphy et al 2020).…”