The Impacts of Eritrea's Open-Ended National Service (Warsai Yikealo Development Campaign) on Household Livelihoods

This systematic literature review examines how Eritrea's open-ended National Service, formalised since 2002 as the Warsai Yikealo Development Campaign (WYDC), affects household livelihoods. Using a narrative synthesis guided by PRISMA reporting principles, the review draws on seven core sources: two works by Gaim Kibreab, Goitom Gebreab Weldetsion's 2023 SOAS thesis on self-reliance and food and water security, a critical review of youth migration by Mac- Ikemenjima and Gebregiorgis, and three recent articles on diaspora–state relations by Belloni, Müller and Belloni, and Hirt. The evidence is organized in four domains: labour and human capital; remittances and diaspora financial flows; rural livelihoods and food security; and critical research gaps. The sources agree that service removes prime-age labour from households that rely on family labour, that remittances have become a central but politically entangled source of household income, and that rural food security is shaped by labour shortages as well as by rainfall and state investment in water infrastructure. They differ in emphasis: the state-aligned self-reliance literature highlights dams and water access, while field-based work highlights household costs. Independent, household-level and longitudinal evidence remains scarce, and most available data pre-date 2018. The review closes with recommendations for future micro-level research.