Social Innovation and Impact Institute (Si3)
Early Exposure to AI Training and Students’ Educational Trajectories in Ethiopia: Pilot RCT Study. Ongoing.
This pilot project explores the impact of early exposure to AI-powered learning tools and teacher training on students’ educational outcomes in Ethiopia. Focused on primary schools in Benishangul-Gumuz, the study employs a randomized controlled trial to assess improvements in student engagement, learning outcomes, and teacher retention. Insights from this work will inform the design of a larger randomized evaluation to assess the long-term impacts of AI integration in education, guiding future policies for enhancing digital literacy and educational quality in East Africa.
Leveraging Digital Finance In Ethiopia: Pilot Study. Completed.
This project explores how digital financial services can be made more inclusive for marginalized groups in Ethiopia, particularly women and beneficiaries of the Urban Productive Safety Net program. Despite growing access to mobile money, adoption among low-income users remains limited due to low trust, limited financial literacy, and perceived transaction costs. The research tests two strategies, financial training and monetary incentives, to encourage mobile money use and examines how these approaches influence financial behavior and inclusion. Insights from this work will inform the design of a larger randomized evaluation to assess the long-term impacts of digital finance on economic empowerment and household welfare.
Nowadays over 200 million girls and women have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM). Girls and women who have undergone FGM live predominately in sub-Saharan Africa and Arab countries. FGM is mostly carried out on young girls between the age of 1 and 15. According to the United Nations Population Fund, between 2015 and 2030, an estimated 68 million girls will be cut in 25 countries where FGM is routinely practiced.
FGM is a violation of women’s and girls’ basic human rights. The risks of FGM practice to sexual and reproductive health would be long-lasting. Women undergoing FGM cutting can experience both short-and long-term complications including hemorrhage, infection, urinary dysfunction, shock, or even death (short-term), as well as long-term complications including urinary complications, scarring, pain, infection and infertility, besides the physical and emotional trauma for the girls (Young et al. 2020).
Our project in Ethiopia aims to evaluate the existing policy and practices before and after the enactment of the FGM law in 2004/05 against the FGM practice. The study provides policymakers with advice on adopting policies and practices in the education and health curriculum to have a greater impact on reducing the practice of FGM- as changes starts with an educated society. The study will be instructive to other African societies and other countries where FGM is routinely practiced.
