Ethiopia has seen significant progress across development indicators at a much more accelerated rate than other countries in the region. The government is committed to increasing the country’s recent economic growth trajectory. Simultaneously, the government has embarked on a range of socio-economic development programmes to achieve lowmiddle-income country status by 2025. Social protection has been at the centre of Ethiopia’s development policy and has been instrumental in reducing poverty and increasing the resilience of the population. 

However, despite the progress, the rate of economic growth has slowed slightly in recent years. The slow growth and the lack of public finance for children also affects the achievement of child-sensitive Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which has implications for approximately 50 per cent of the population – 47.8 million youth – who are under the age of 19.