Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and political instability: UNICEF’s Integrated Skills Training Program and Lebanon’s ‘triple crises’

• In Event: Multiple approaches to teaching and learning in conflict-affected contexts

Proposal

Lebanon has been facing what people have referred to as the “triple crises”. Lebanon is experiencing a severe economic recession in which the Lebanese lira has continued to depreciate, with inflation in the triple digits. Banks have witnessed diminishing foreign exchange reserves and high import subsidies on items such as food, fuel, and medication, causing a breakdown in basic services. Policy responses to date have done little to address these crises and events such as the 2020 Beirut port explosion have sparked political unrest leading to a fragile democratic institution in peril. The COVID-19 pandemic worsened Lebanon’s economy by increasing rates of unemployment and underemployment. In this context, some of the most vulnerable populations in Lebanon, including 1.5 million Syrian refugees and approximately 250,00 Palestinian refugees, are struggling to find income generating activities. Given the current environment, youth face an uncertain job market and according to a recent survey, 1 in 5 young people in Lebanon said they felt depressed or have little interest in doing things.

Our team explored the effects of the crises on youth and their employment opportunities in our baseline study of UNICEF’s Skills Training program, a project implemented with funding from the Government of Germany, for implementation from 2020–2023. Youth participants in UNICEF’s skills training program receive a core package of mutually reinforcing interventions, including (1) basic literacy and numeracy (BLN); (2) competency-based training (CBT); (3) life skills training; and (4) employment support services or cash for work (C4W). The skills building project is divided into two phases: the training and the work-based learning. Thus, youth who successfully complete the trainings can benefit from an income generation opportunity where they can learn further, practice the acquired knowledge, and establish the link with the labor force/private sector. This facilitates the transition from training to formal employment. It includes on-the-job training, referral to employment, and the cash for work (CfW) component.

Through our mixed methods study, we surveyed 1,051 (549 treatment and 502 comparison) Lebanese and refugee youth in Lebanon to ask about their basic demographic and background information, followed by questions on key employment, employability, healthy lifestyles, and empowerment outcomes. Additionally, we conducted 9 focus group discussion with Lebanese and refugee youth and parents to explore how they are experiencing these crises and its effects on their job opportunities and 12 key informant interviews with program implementers and government respondents to explore their perceptions on the program, how they have adapted the program to respond to the crises, and what they believe is needed to continue to effectively respond to the needs of the youth in Lebanon.

Preliminary findings indicate that youth in Lebanon are in dire situations, with over 70% of surveyed youth reporting being unemployed. Furthermore, of the 26% of youth that were employed, only 16.8% of them report making enough money to cover their household and personal expenses. Qualitative data also revealed that youth are losing hope in their situation saying, “If the situation [in Lebanon] remains so, I don’t think we can achieve our dreams. Sometimes, I have hope, and other times, I lose hope totally.” In fact, 30% of youth surveyed report engaging in negative strategies to cope with these struggles such as considered marriage to ease household income issues or spending too much time online or watching TV. Furthermore, while no youth reported using drugs or alcohol, a UNICEF respondent also noted that drug use among youth has become an increasingly common issue that they are working to address. Youth, parents, and government officials believe that technical and vocational education and training (TVET) programs such as UNICEF’s Skills training program are needed to fill in the educational and labour gaps that the crises have created in Lebanon. For example, Lebanese nationals report that, even though they have university degrees, they need to participate in UNICEF’ Skills training project to gain the practical skills needed to meet the specific market demands as they relate to healthcare, construction, tailoring, and other needs. Refugee youth who have limited access to education in Lebanon also benefit from this program, which offers them an informal avenue to receive work certifications. Furthermore, while quantitative data show that there are minimal issues with social cohesion among youth, qualitative data reveal a need to encourage togetherness and compassion between the non-refugee and refugee youth.

These results offer a deeper look into the current state of Lebanon’s youth in the face of the triple crises and reveal the need for informal education opportunities to fill in the gap left by events that render the coveted university degree irrelevant. Furthermore, this study explores how these crises differentially affect the different populations in Lebanon, including the marginalized Palestinian and Syrian communities and women, who are often excluded from labor opportunities. UNICEF’s Skills Training program aims to reckon with the instability and the fragility of Lebanon’s government and infrastructure through offering informal training courses and we are using our research to identify the specific needs that exist among the population they aim to support.

Authors

• Yasmina Eugenia Haddad, American Institutes for Research

• Hannah Ring, American Institutes for Research