The report One year on: Findings from the Freedom Fund’s Ethiopia Hotspot presents findings from data collected in Amhara and Addis Ketema sub-city during 2017. The evaluation, commissioned to the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, used in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and data comparisons between program and non-program areas to assess feasibility, coverage, and emerging effectiveness. Respondents in both Dessie and Kombolcha gave favourable reviews of the vocational training, business grants, community awareness activities, and school programs. They noted high local enthusiasm for addressing migration and praised the involvement of students and returnees in community education. There were suggestions to increase the frequency of training and extend it to more community members, especially young men.
Women participating in the business development support expressed high satisfaction with the training and start-up grants, finding the experience morale-boosting and rewarding. Community sessions highlighted the Hotspot’s goal to reduce unsafe migration rather than prevent all migration, which was well-received but sometimes misunderstood regarding the safety of legal migration routes. Implementing partners (IPs) initially faced challenges in gaining community trust but ultimately built strong partnerships with local authorities. Despite these successes, the lack of clarity around the legal status of labour out-migration in Ethiopia remained a barrier to disseminating nuanced messages about migration safety.
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