Abdiboru Project Improving Adolescent Reproductive Health and Nutrition through Structural Solutions inWest HarargheZone, Oromia, Ethiopia Mini-Assessment Report March 2016 Abdiboru Project: Mini-assessment report Contents 1. The Abdiboru Project – Improving adolescent reproductive health and nutrition through structural solutions ........................................................................................................................2 2. Methods .................................................................................................................................3 3. Key Findings............................................................................................................................5 3.1 Participants of the mini-assessment ......................................................................................5 3.2 Theme #1: Major activities and events in the lives of young girls and boys in the community 5 3.3 Theme #2: The general pattern and community’s attitude regarding young girls’ education ..6 3.4 Theme #3: The condition of marriage for young boys and girls .............................................9 3.5 Theme #4: Women’s and men’s roles related to food production, purchases and consumption in the community .................................................................................................... 12 4. Effect of Drought on Social Events and Activities .................................................................... 14 5. Field Observations ................................................................................................................ 15 6. Limitations of the study ........................................................................................................ 16 7. Recommendations ................................................................................................................ 16 8. Annex I: study Guide ............................................................................................................ 17 9. Annex II: Framework for the analysis: .................................................................................... 19 1 February 2016 (draft) Abdiboru Project: Mini-assessment report 1. The Abdiboru Project – Improving adolescent reproductive health and nutrition through structural solutions Improving adolescent reproductive health and nutrition through structural solutions is a project to be implemented in West Hararghe zone, Oromia, Ethiopia. The project is implemented in four selected woredas of West Hararghe Zone: Chiro, Boke, Mesela and Anchar. It is a five-year project running from October 2015 to September 2020. Abdiboru project seeks to test a set of interventions, including social norms and structural issues, aimed at improving the reproductive health and nutritional status of adolescent girls; specifically reduction of early marriage, improving educational attainment, gender equitable food allocation, contraception use and empowerment. The intervention target are adolescent girls in the age group 10-14 year. However, adolescent boys, adult male and female community members, parents, husbands, in-laws, school environment, governmental structure, religious leaders and other influential people in their area are also important stakeholders of the project. The project interventions will be implemented by CARE Ethiopia. The assessment of the impact of the intervention and the overall monitoring and evaluation of the project will be undertaken by Addis Continental Institute of Public Health (ACIPH). The evaluation of this program has several components including qualitative studies, quantitative studies, routine monitoring and evaluation as well as assessing the quality of the intervention. This assessment, ‘mini assessment’, is the first activity of the project conducted with the aim of understandingthe context of the project implementation area and specifically to identifykey social norms affecting the desired program outcomes, decision makers and their reference groups, the extent of agency adolescent girls have on matters of their concern, and the social sanctions or pressures for deviating from the social norms.This information will thenbe used to inform the design of the baseline main qualitative and quantitative data collection instruments. 2 February 2016 (draft) Abdiboru Project: Mini-assessment report 2. Methods The mini-assessment used a qualitative approach. We conducted Focus Groups Discussions(FGDs) and key informant interviews(KIIs)to collect relevant information to address the purpose of the project. Thesewereconducted February 1, 2016 to February 4, 2016. Respondents include adolescent girls and boys aged between 10-19 years and adult women and men over age30. They were residents in the project implementation woredas; namely Mesela, Chiro, Anchar and BokeWoreda. Respondents for FGDs were selected with the help of the woreda health office and health extension workers. The proposed selection criteria included being a permanent resident (at least 6 months) of the locality, ability to communicate comfortably, and willingness to participate in the FGDs. The FGD participants were 9-10 in each group. In as much as possible each group was homogeneous in at least one main respect such as age and gender. Key informants were also selected in the same manner. Representativeness of the respondents was not taken into consideration, as the main purpose was to learn about the context from individuals who are more informative. FGD and key informant interview guides were first prepared in English. Experts from ACIPH, CARE and BMGF reviewed and provided feedback on the English version. Once consensus was reached,the mini assessment tool was translated into the local language ‘Oromifa’. The translation was done by research assistants who were competent in both English and Oromifa languages. Two independent experts were engaged in the translation and back translation. The experts, apart from being competent in both languages, had Master’sdegree in public health and a good understanding of the concepts and issues to be discussed. FGDs were conducted either in the compound of the health center or health post as appropriate for the locality. Each FGD was conducted by two research assistants who had Master’s level education and trained for two days. The training included orientation about the project, qualitative data collection methods and understanding the research instruments including a brief overview of the social norms concept. One of the research assistants served as moderator and the other as note taker. To ensure privacy, neither the staff of the health center nor the health post were allowed to sit in the FGD. The necessary precautions were also taken to avoid intruders and trespassers during sessions. FGD sessions lasted 45-95 minutes; the longest discussions were those conducted with 3 February 2016 (draft) Abdiboru Project: Mini-assessment report male adolescents. The same location and procedure was followed for the key informant interviews. The KII sessions lasted for 25 to 50 minutes. Data were processed in two steps. First, the FGD and KII facilitators prepared a summary of each session immediately after it was conducted and developed these later based on the notes taken during the session and the audio records. Second, key findings were extracted based on the summary of each session, notes taken during the field work, and observations made during the field work. 4 February 2016 (draft) Abdiboru Project: Mini-assessment report 3. Key Findings 3.1 Participants of the mini-assessment A total of eight focus groups were conducted during the mini-assessment, two in each woreda (Table 1); two with adolescent girls, two with adolescent boys, two with adult women, and two with adult men. There were a total of 39 female and 38 male FGD participants. In addition, four KIIs (two women, one adolescent girland one man) were conducted with individuals who had a goodunderstandingof community norms.None of the individuals invited to participate in the focus group discussionsand key informant interviewsrefused to participate. Table 1: Description of the Focus group Discussion and Key Informant Name of Number of Types of groups Number of Number of Key woreda groups participant per informant group Chiro 02 01 Adult Women 10 Adult Men 09 01 Mesela 02 01 Adult Women 10 Adult Men 10 Boke 02 Adolescent Boy 09 Adolescent Girl 10 01 Anchar 02 - Adolescent Boy 10 Adolescent Girl 09 3.2 Theme #1: Major activities and events in the lives of young girls and boys in the community The major reported activities in the lives of adolescent girls and boys include attending school, helping parents in household chores such as fetching water, farming activities such as rearing and feeding cattle, participation in income generation and trading activities, and participation in social activities such as mutual development initiatives, such as participation in small scale bridges and weddings. These activities appear to have gender differences. While males are expected to 5 February 2016 (draft) Abdiboru Project: Mini-assessment report participate more in activities outside the home, girls are expected to have roles linked to household activities. Often parents decide on the type of activities and events adolescents participate in when the event is of economic importance and essential for livelihood. The participation of both adolescent girls and boys in farming and trading activities is important as most households are subsistence