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Semi-structured interview data from current and former Young Lives staff who were invited to share their knowledge and experience as a contribution to the collective Young Lives methodological learning and lessons. The objective of this work was to help build a community of practice around policy-focused longitudinal observational research in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The aim was to strengthen capacity and effectiveness in the conduct of such research among GCRF delivery partners, and other researchers running large-scale international development studies in LMICs through an innovative programme of methodological and operational reflection and learning amplified through an integrated communications strategy.

We investigate the causes of the gender disparity in labour market participation in Ethiopia using iterative quantitative and qualitative longitudinal analysis through the whole childhood of the individual into early adulthood, from age 8 up to age 25. Multilevel survival analysis shows that girls have higher probability of remaining in school at all grades, and by age 22 significantly more women than men have completed high school or tertiary education. From an early age, both women and men undertake a lot of unpaid labour for their households that tends to be highly gendered, and women's work is uncounted in the current System of National Accounts definition of labour. However, women still undertake less paid work than men. Decent work for young women in rural areas remains especially limited; female job-seekers complain of poor working conditions and low pay or a mismatch with what they were trained to do in college or university. The role of social and migration networks in young people's transitions was less discernible in the quantitative findings but emerged as crucial in the qualitative analysis. Opportunities for young women in the labour market remain constrained compared with those for young men. This leads to less pressure on girls to drop out of school, and they have higher educational achievements; however, these do not translate into labour market participation. Marriage at a younger age also remains a key driver of women leaving the labour force in Ethiopia.

In this paper we report on a long-term study of child poverty being carried out by Young Lives in Peru and examine how poverty mediates a multitude of other risks in children’s lives. We offer three main arguments in relation to children’s experiences of risk in our sample. The first is that risk is not simply a feature of ‘extraordinary’ childhoods and ‘extraordinary’ circumstances but also an integral part of everyday, ‘ordinary’ lives in which the young negotiate multiple, interacting challenges. The second concerns the importance for children of the social and moral dimensions of risk and how these shape their responses to adversity. The third makes the case that in situations of high levels of interdependence between generations children can play an essential part in household risk reduction. Our findings suggest that while current approaches to ‘risk’ tend to focus on individualised risks which are singled out according to so-called ‘objective’ criteria these often fail to account for children’s own priorities, perceptions and subjective experiences within the context of their daily lives.

En este documento, informamos sobre un estudio a largo plazo sobre la pobreza infantil que está llevando a cabo Young Lives en Perú y examinamos cómo la pobreza interviene en una multitud de otros riesgos en la vida de los niños. Ofrecemos tres argumentos principales en relación con las experiencias de riesgo de los niños en nuestra muestra. El primero es que el riesgo no es simplemente una característica de la infancia 'extraordinaria' y 'extraordinaria' circunstancias, sino también una parte integral de la vida cotidiana, "ordinaria" en la que los jóvenes negociar desafíos múltiples e interactivos. El segundo se refiere a la importancia para los niños de las dimensiones sociales y morales del riesgo y cómo estos moldean sus respuestas a la adversidad. El tercero sostiene que en situaciones de altos niveles de interdependencia entre generaciones, los niños pueden jugar un papel esencial en la reducción del riesgo familiar. Nuestros hallazgos sugieren que, si bien los enfoques actuales del "riesgo" tienden a centrarse en los riesgos individualizados que son señalados de acuerdo con los llamados criterios "objetivos", estos a menudo no tienen en cuenta el propias prioridades, percepciones y experiencias subjetivas en el contexto de su vida cotidiana.