Evidence for everyone who serves the region.
The Somali Region is one of the least studied places in Ethiopia. Many of the figures that guide decisions are several years old, and some questions have never been measured. SEED conducts and commissions research and publishes it openly.
Four questions, one region.
Our research follows our work. In each of our four areas we ask the same things: what is the true state of affairs on the ground today, what has been tried here and elsewhere, what does rigorous evidence say actually works, and what did our own programs achieve when measured honestly against an independent baseline.
Education
How children in the region learn, why they leave school, what reaches pastoralist and rural families, and which teaching methods and technologies raise learning in Somali-speaking classrooms.
Human capital
What skills the region’s employers need, how its universities and colleges can supply them, and what keeps talented graduates in the region.
Agriculture
Productivity and resilience in dryland farming and pastoralism, what extension and technology reach herders and farmers, and how households recover from drought.
Economic empowerment
How businesses in the region start, grow and finance themselves, what interest-free finance reaches, and what turns a trader into an employer.
Openly, for the public and for government.
Everything SEED learns is published in full and free of charge: reports, data and evaluations, in English and Somali. We share findings first with the regional and federal bureaus whose work they concern, so that evidence informs decisions rather than following them. Better evidence helps everyone who serves the region make better decisions, and we intend to make it available to all.
We hold our own work to the same standard. Every SEED program begins with a baseline, is evaluated against communities that have not yet received it, and is reported whether the result is good or bad.
SEED’s first research publications are in preparation. They will appear on this page as they are released.