Great expectations or failed aspirations? Findings from 10 years of Young Lives. By Virginia Morrow, Deputy Director. Presented at Cambridge International Development Cnference 2015 

1. Great expectations or failed aspirations?
Findings from 10 years of Young Lives
Virginia Morrow,
Deputy Director
Cambridge International Development Conference 2015

2. YOUNG LIVES LONGITUDINAL DESIGN
• 12,000 children in Ethiopia, India (former Andhra Pradesh), Peru,
Vietnam
• Two age cohorts in each country:
- 2,000 children born in 2000-01
- 1,000 children born in 1994-95
• Pro-poor sample: 20 sites in each country selected to reflect country
diversity, rural-urban, livelihoods, ethnicity, gender
• 4 major household survey rounds: in 2002; 2006/7; 2009; 2013 - Final
round 2016
• Qualitative research; School study and other studies
• Comprehensive focus – nutrition, development, education, social
protection
• Partnership of government and independent research institutes
• Commissioned by UK Dept for International Development
• Tracking progress of the Millennium Development Goals
• Informing post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals agenda
YOUNG LIVES STUDY

3. AGES: 1 5 8 12 15
YOUNGERCOHORT
Following 2,000 children
OLDERCOHORT
Following 1,000 children
AGES: 8 12 15 19 22
Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5
2002 2006 2009 2013 2016
VISUALISING THIS
Same age children at
different time points
Qualitative nested sample
1 2 3 4
Linked
school surveys

4. • Focus on the daily lives and wellbeing of
children and young people in a selection of
YL communities – rapid social change and
modernity/globalization
• Capture important changes during
childhood and children’s trajectories - a
life course approach
• Understand how policies and services
are experienced by children (and
caregivers) - inequalities - and who is ‘left
behind’
Qualitative researchQUALITATIVE RESEARCH

5. TEN YEARS IN CHILDREN’S LIVES
• Economies of all four countries grew rapidly in the first decade of the 21st
Century
• Growth was accompanied by infrastructural improvements and increased
service access (associated with the MDGs) e.g.
- primary school enrolment = near universal across the sample in 3 of our
countries and rapidly increasing in Ethiopia
- in Peru access to safe water increased by 50% between 2002 and 2009
- internet access is now widespread in Vietnam
- increased external investment, road & communications infrastructure in
Ethiopia
Social protection:
– MGNREGA, India; Juntos, Peru; PSNP, Ethiopia
– Health insurance in Vietnam, Peru and in India. Health Extension Workers
in Ethiopia

6. ASPIRATIONS ARE HIGH
• In 2006 between 75 and 90% of 12 year olds aspired to vocational
training or university – this mostly persists at 19 years
• They want better jobs than their parents
- We’re not going to suffer like this in the mud ...it’s better that I
go and study. (Marta, 15 years, Peru)
- If one can learn and study hard, they will always have a good
job at the end that can change their family’s life. (Fatuma, 15
years, Ethiopia)
- We see our parents working, they work in the fields, and work
hard daily… and we feel that we should not be like that…. (Harika,
16 years old, rural Telangana)
• They said the best age for marriage and childbearing is mid-20s
(varies by country and gender)

7. What were they doing at age 19?
• Ethiopia – 59%; AP India 49%; Peru 45%; Vietnam 48% -
were still studying, often combined with paid work.
• The least poor, those whose parents had higher levels of
education, and those in urban areas stay longer in
school.
• Gender differences: Young men are more likely to be
studying in AP, India; young women in Ethiopia and
Vietnam.
Young women - married Given birth
• 37% – AP India 24% - Peru
• 25% - Peru 21% - AP India
• 19% - Vietnam 12% - Vietnam
• 13% - Ethiopia 9% - Ethiopia

8. Whose values? Qualitative research
• Emphasis on school enrollment in MDGS
• ‘Successful and unsuccessful transitions’
• ‘Left behind’ in development – individualised
• Burden of expectation placed on children
• How is this experienced by children, and how do they
manage demands on their time?
• How do they value different dimensions of their lives?

9. Ranadeep
• In 2007 was missing school to work, but was optimistic.
• 2008 - wanting to migrate, open a shop. Wanted to
continue his schooling, but complained about working.
• 2010 had failed Grade 10 - ‘I will be a waste’
• Can’t ask his family for support - ‘I know they are
struggling’; crop failure because of drought;
indebtedness.
• Wants to support his mother/family
• 2013 – had returned to College BUT by 2014, was
working on the land.

10. Santhi, in Patna, remote tribal AP
• 2007 and 2008, Santhi wanted to be a doctor
• Did well at school, but during 10th grade, fell behind
due to ill health
• 2010, was in Intermediate College, studying Maths
• Indebted to her parents, and under pressure –
• ‘I am frightened whether I will reach the
expectations for the support they gave me. … the only
way to repay their support is to study well and score
good marks and achieve a good position in society about
which my parents feel proud...’
• Fearful of marriage and by 2014, was still studying

11. Discussion
• Sense of obligation to parents – especially boys who
want to care for parents/mothers
• Patriarchal conventions mean that girls will leave family
of origin - but these affect boys too – wanting to marry a
girl ‘less educated’ than themselves
• Poverty/indebtedness constrain children’s capacity to
study but they risk blaming themselves or being blamed
for ‘failure’
• Contradict dominant approaches to youth in
international policy discourses

12. REFERENCES
•Boyden, J. (2013) ‘We’re not going to suffer like this in the mud”: educational
aspirations, social mobility and independent child migration among populations
living in poverty. Compare, 43, 4, 580-600
•Crivello, G. (2011) ‘Becoming Somebody’: Youth Transitions through Education and
Migration in Peru', Journal of Youth Studies 14,4, 395-411.
•Crivello, G., Morrow, V., Wilson, E. (2013) Young Lives Longitudinal Qualitative
Research: a guide for researchers. Young Lives Technical Note 26, Young Lives,
Oxford. www.younglives.org.uk
•Morrow, V. (2013) Whose values? Young People's Aspirations and Experiences of
Schooling in Andhra Pradesh, India', Children & Society 27, 258-69
References

13. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS & THANK YOU
• Young Lives children, parents/caregivers as well as
community leaders, teachers, health workers and others in
communities.
• Fieldworkers, data-managers, survey enumerators and
supervisors, principal investigators and country directors in
each country
• Oxford team
• Funders: DFID, DGIS, IrishAid, Oak Foundation, Bernard
Van Leer Foundation.
Thanks to...

14. FINDING OUT MORE…
www.younglives.org.uk
• methods and research papers
• datasets (UK Data Archive)
• publications
• child profiles and photos
• e-newsletter
FINDING OUT MORE