Status of youth access to and participation in development interventions: Data from agro-pastoral areas of east and west hararghe zones, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

The rationale behind generating this dataset lies on the fact that there are limited data on the status of agro-pastoral youth participation in programs, projects and development interventions by the public sector, NGOs and other stakeholders. Moreover, the relationship between youth participation in interventions and changes in their livelihoods has not been properly investigated, documented and shared. Traditionally, field-based research has focused on household heads and excluded male and female youth in many contexts. The unavailability of such data severely limited the capability of various actors to make evidence-based and informed decision. It also hampered the design and implementation of youth-focused development interventions. To this end, a survey was conducted among agro-pastoral youth residing in four Woredas of East and West Hararghe Zones of Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia. A total of 398 male and female youth were randomly selected and interviewed using 12 enumerators and 5 supervisors. Participation was on a voluntary basis and informed consent was obtained from the respondents. The survey questionnaire contained information on basic socio-economic and demographic features, access to services and infrastructures, youth livelihood and income-generating activities (IGAs), and youth participation in programs, projects and development interventions, among others. The collected data were entered into a STATA software, cleaned and analysed through descriptive and inferential statistics. The outputs of the analyses were summarized in Tables, Charts and Graphs. Since the youth represent the majority of the working force in Ethiopia, they deserve a special attention. If handled properly, they can be a force for positive change. Therefore, such dataset is needed to help local level planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of youth livelihood transformation projects and programs. Since the data contained in this article are disaggregated by gender, Woreda and Zone, this can foster the promotion of specific projects and programs that can address expressed needs of male and female youth in agro-pastoral areas. It can also facilitate agro-ecological based implementation of development interventions. The dataset can also enable researchers, practitioners and other decision-makers to make comparative analysis on agro-pastoral youth employment, engagement in on-farm and non-/off-farm IGAs, determinants of youth participation in development programs and interventions, and impact of youth participation on livelihood transformation. The summarized dataset is provided in this article. A copy of the questionnaire is provided as a supplementary material.