Technical/Vocational

What's the most effective way to reintegrate ex-combatants and reduce illegal activities? This policy note reviews an innovative program that had a big impact. In Liberia, where civil wars were fought on and off between 1989 and 2003, the non-profit organization, action on armed violence, the Government of Liberia, and the United Nations developed an innovative program to help ex-combatants move into full-time farm work by giving them training, counseling, and start-up capital. The evaluation found that the program successfully shifted high-risk men from criminal activities into farming.

[Impact Evaluation, SIEF] The evaluation found that the program successfully shifted high-risk men from criminal activities into farming. Graduates earned more money than their counterparts who weren?t enrolled in the program, spent less time in illegal work and were less likely to consider fighting as mercenaries in neighboring conflicts. The evaluation also showed that skills training isn?t always enough; men who received training but didn?t get their start-up capital didn?t do as well as those who did.

Youth unemployment and youth exclusion are among the main obstacles to development in Liberia, and gender and youth are positioned prominently in the Government of Liberia?s poverty reduction agenda. The country has a very young population; nearly 60 percent of the population is under the age of 24, many of whom grew up during the Liberian conflict (1989 to 2003). There are few opportunities to enter in wage employment; most of Liberia?s youth earn income on a day-to-day basis by trading on local markets or as day laborers in precarious conditions.

[Impact Evaluation] This brief summarizes the results of a gender impact evaluation study, entitled Vocational education voucher delivery and labor market returns: a randomized evaluation among Kenyan youth, conducted during the time period covered fees for a training course lasting up to two years in Kenya.

[Impact Evaluation] This study uses a randomized experiment to evaluate the impacts of the training and internship program piloted in Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu counties by the Kenya Private Sector Alliance and the Government of Kenya with support from the World Bank?s Kenya Youth Empowerment Project. The program provided three months of classroom-based technical training coupled with three months of internships in private firms to vulnerable youths between ages 15 and 29 years, with vulnerable being defined as those out of school and/or with no permanent job.

The STEP survey instruments include : (i) a background questionnaire developed by the WB STEP team; and (ii) a reading literacy assessment developed by Educational Testing Services (ETS). All countries adapted and translated both instruments following the STEP Technical Standards: two independent translators adapted and translated the Background Questionnaire and Reading Literacy Assessment, while reconciliation was carried out by a third translator. The survey instruments were both piloted as part of the survey pretest.

A growing number of countries are reforming how schools are managed and are working to involve parents and com?munities more directly into the school management process. The idea behind school-based man?agement reform is that devolving responsibility to schools and to those who use the schools will improve ac?countability, transparency and ensure that resources are allocated properly. In this way, the quality of education will improve and so will learning. However, evidence on the effective?ness of school-based management remains mixed and parental involve?ment is often weak.

Youth unemployment is a problem in many developing countries, where labor market opportunities may be further squeezed by rapid rural migration into big cities, the cost of higher education and job seekers' limited information about the best opportunities. Policymakers and aid organizations trying to reduce youth unemployment have a variety of approaches they can use, including vocational training programs to give job seekers necessary skills to be employed. But what works best is still not clear: should governments subsidize job training programs for young adults?

Youth account for approximately 60 percent of the unemployed population in Sub-Saharan Africa. Seventy two percent of adolescents in the region live below the $2/day poverty line. Vocational education has been identified as a promising avenue for young adults to acquire and develop marketable skills for employment. The Technical and Vocational Vouchers Program (TVVP) was launched in an attempt to fill key knowledge gaps in Kenya.

Ghana has a youthful population of 24 million and has shown impressive gains in economic growth and in poverty reduction over the last two decades. The necessary sustained growth requires three critical steps: (1) increase productivity in the strategic economic sectors, (2) diversify the economy, and (3) expand employment. Raising the level and range of skills in the country provides a key contribution to these core drivers of sustained growth.