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Synthesis of findings and lessons learned about workforce development and higher education programming

Wed, March 28, 1:15 to 2:45pm, Hilton Reforma, Floor: 2nd Floor, Don Diego 3

Proposal

In the 2011-2015 USAID Education Strategy, the Agency asserted its commitment to workforce development and higher education by setting the goal of improved ability of tertiary and workforce development programs to generate workforce skills relevant to a country’s development goals. This review synthesized the findings and lessons learned results of 26 performance evaluations and impact evaluations funded by USAID and published between 2013 and 2016 and which met minimum evaluation quality criteria for inclusion in the synthesis. The final pool of evaluations included 30 projects (several reports contained evaluations of multiple projects implemented in different countries) that were deemed as relevant to Goal 2 by the USAID Office of Education.
The first part of the synthesis addressed three broad questions, specifically the program modalities, the strength of the body of evidence based on the Building Evidence in Education (BE2) guidance note, and main findings in terms of program completion, employment, self-employment, and further education. The second part of the synthesis considered in-depth questions. Topics of interest were identified in collaboration with USAID’s Office of Education, namely programs’ responsiveness to labor market demands, entrepreneurship, access by marginalized groups, extension services offered by higher education (HE), policy, systems and institutional capacity-building and, responsiveness to needs and dynamics in conflict-affected regions.
This presentation will discuss the following results:
• For responsiveness to labor market demands, the review found that projects often conducted labor market assessments, consulting with local businesses, linking people to pre-identified internships or jobs, and establishing experiential learning for secondary and university students, while higher education programs partnered corporations and universities.
• For entrepreneurship, the review found that projects often promoted initiatives to train youth to write business plans and run a business, but a few offered coaching to start-ups, familiarization with agricultural inputs, counseling on the use of credit and leasing arrangements, and financing.
• For access by marginalized groups, the review found that at-risk youth were most commonly targeted, with some projects focusing on girls/women, conflict-affected youth and Internally displaced persons (IDPs). Although several HE programs focused on girls and women, only one scholarship program focused on disadvantaged young people.
• For extensions services offered by HE, the review found that these concentrated on agriculture by developing tools for farmers and fostering leadership and interest of women; education extension efforts promote girls’ education in local communities and train school administrators to manage financial and academic data.
• For policy, systems and institutional capacity-building, the review found that while nearly all projects included at least some institutional capacity-building and private sector partnership, there were few examples of diagnoses and well-defined theories of change for systemic inefficiencies, such as bottlenecks, information gaps, lack of coordination, or disincentives for a better functioning workforce or HE system.
• For responsiveness to needs and dynamics in conflict-affected regions, the review found that workforce development programs appear as significant components of projects focusing on violence prevention, post-conflict recovery, and countering violent extremism. They seek to prevent youth participation in violent activities as well as to mitigate some of the negative labor market and community conditions affecting young people as the result of conflict and crime. Although sustainable livelihoods and workforce participation are thought be promotive factors for stability and peace, few project designs made explicit linkages between workforce development components and violence prevention outcomes.

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