In March 2022, The United States Agency for International Development Mission to Ethiopia (USAID/Ethiopia) formally launched the Integrated Youth Activity (IYA) Kefeta. Led by Amref Health Africa (AMREF), Kefeta comprises a consortium of local agencies working collaboratively to empower Ethiopian youth to increase their economic opportunities, create self-reliant organizations, and strengthen their voice in local, regional, and national policy dialogues, as well as expand access to essential services that are more youth-friendly. Additionally, Kefeta will improve the ability of Ethiopian higher education institutions, youth-serving organizations, and health and financial service providers to support economic and social opportunities for Ethiopian youth.

USAID’s YouthPower2: Learning and Evaluation (YP2LE) is conducting an impact evaluation of the Kefeta Activity to establish the Activity’s causal impacts on youth outcomes. To provide evidence that is as rigorous as possible in this context, we have created a difference-in-difference quasi-experimental design to compare the changes in outcomes of youth who were exposed to Kefeta activities in intervention areas with the changes in outcomes of a comparison group of youth in similar, non-intervention areas.

This report describes the conditions in Kefeta intervention areas at the outset of the Activity life cycle (baseline), as well as the conditions in similar areas that will serve as a comparison group. The baseline report describes the socioeconomic status of survey participants and their knowledge, attitudes, and practices that relate to the key domains of the Activity. It also seeks to demonstrate the comparability of intervention and comparison groups at baseline, allowing for further analysis of the Activity’s impact at the midterm and final evaluation stages.