Building a Foundation
The Building a Foundation track is focused on the unique combination of skills that young people need to be resilient and achieve long-term social and economic success in a changing world of work. This track is focused on effective models and approaches for supporting social and emotional learning in youth (e.g., online learning, hybrid online and face-to-face, integrated into formal education, stand-alone non-formal education, cross-sectoral, Positive Youth Development (PYD), work-based learning, other). Through four concurrent breakout sessions, this track will explored how approaches are being re-thought, accelerated, or applied in response to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people.
We took a deep dive into how program models, training, and approaches have been adapted for cultural norms and diverse youth populations (gender-sensitive, gender-inclusive, marginalized, trauma or conflicted-affected youth); tools and resiliency frameworks used by practitioners to select, train, and retain youth; training of other important figures, community stakeholders and mentors (parents, community members, front-line managers and employers, policymakers) to better support the development of critical skills in young people. The track incorporated a cross-cutting focus on youth engagement, gender, technology, systems-based approaches, and a healthy workforce.
Track Event Information and Session Recordings
On Thursday, October 8th from 9:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. EDT, the YEO Network convened the fourth in a series of at least seven online Global Youth Economic Opportunities (GYEO) Summit events that follow our technical tracks in skills development, workforce readiness, self-employment and entrepreneurship, and cross-cutting topics such as gender, conflict, systems change, policy, and more. Visit each track page learn more and watch track presentations.
Date & Time:
Thursday, October 8, 9:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. EDT
Format:
Two and a half hours, online.
Schedule of Events:
9:00 a.m. – 9:10 a.m. - Welcome & Opening
9:10 a.m. – 10:10 a.m. - Track Opening & Headline Speakers
10:10 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. - Transition to Breakout Sessions
10:15 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. - Four concurrent 60-minute breakout sessions
11:30 a.m. - Event Close
Opening Speakers
Breakout Sessions
Coronavirus: Impact on Financial Education for Girls
Information and Q&A
Aflatoun,
Credit Suisse,
Plan International UK, and
Room to Read
Through this session, we will discussed the importance of financial education for girls around the world with a specific focus on the challenges the pandemic has created for girls and why financial education is now more important than ever. The session focused on Credit Suisse’s Financial Education for girls programme and the audience was given the chance to hear from Credit Suisse as well as its implementing partners Plan UK, Room to Read and Aflatoun.
The session commenced with an overview of the Financial Education Initiative, why it was important to launch this effort, and what makes efforts of this nature even more important now during the pandemic. It was proceed by the presentation of examples from local organisations, the impact the virus has had on them and what measures they have taken to adapt to this new reality.
Additionally, implementing organisations will shared specific examples from the countries where the programme is currently being delivered including programme adaptations, lessons learned and thoughts for how the organizations view the long-term impact of the crisis.
Finally, an audience Q&A was conducted to share thoughts, comments as well as their own examples/ experiences.
Family Systems to Improve Psychosocial and Life-Skills Among ‘At Risk’ Youth; An Evidence-Based Approach
Creative Associates International,
Government of St. Kitts, and
Heru Consulting
In partnership with USAID, Creative has developed and applied an innovative family-centered model to help build a foundation of skills among ‘at risk’ youth (age 8–17) that supports their long-term social and economic success, as well as resilience. A rigorously validated assessment tool is used to identify youth who are most likely to engage in delinquent behaviors. Eligible youth and their families spend six to twelve months working with trained family counselors to decrease risk factors and build protective factors.
During the session, youth, technical experts, and a government partner representative shared perspectives on how working with families can contribute towards a range of positive outcomes for ‘at risk’ youth. Speakers also drew upon a robust body of qualitative and quantitative data gathered over six years of implementation in six different countries and across multiple USAID-funded programs to explore the impact, challenges, lessons learned, and outstanding research questions.
So You’ve Measured Youth’s Social-Emotional Skills...Now What?
Education Development Center, Inc,
International Youth Foundation, and
Save the Children
We know that social-emotional skills (SES) are foundational skills that are positively linked to several life outcomes for youth including academic achievement, employment, and civic responsibility. Much time and effort have been invested in developing measures for SES, both to improve programming and report progress on social-emotional skills gains. Multiple inventories of SES measurement tools exist, highlighting the progress that has been made to develop, test, and implement measurement tools. However, what is less clear is how SES measurement results are used. Youth may undergo SES assessments, but the results may not be shared back with youth or used to meaningfully signal to employers that youth are job-ready. This Group Problem Solving session invited participants to assume different stakeholder roles and identify ways to use SES measurement results to engage youth, implementers, employees, and other stakeholders, and to strengthen linkages between these skills and improved employment outcomes.
Youth Labor Bridging in the Context of Shocks
Banyan Global,
Mathematica,
USAID Bridges to Employment in El Salvador, DAI Global LLC, and USAID Puentes Project in Guatemala, World Vision
Even after completing training, youth, especially those most vulnerable to shocks, need labor bridging support to transition from training to employment. USAID currently funds six projects in Central America focused on increasing the workforce readiness and job insertion of at-risk or disadvantaged youth. WFD projects in Central America are consistently adjusting to different shocks. USAID’s Latin America and the Caribbean education team formed a community of practice made up of these projects to allow them to exchange information and learnings through a variety of activities. Mathematica has lead the learning agenda of this community of practice since 2017. In this session, projects from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, present case studies on how they are preparing youth for employment in the context of shocks. USAID and Mathematica will share their learnings around these case studies and from tracking the experiences of the six projects.
Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) Reading Evaluation Contract
Track Technical Content
Counting on Impact: Results-Based Financing for Youth Training and Employment - A Case Study from Ethiopia
Helvetas
Since 2015 in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, Helvetas has run the Skills and Knowledge for Youth (SKY) program to boost employability, create jobs, and encourage entrepreneurship for disadvantaged young people. The program works like this: SKY staff conduct labor market studies to identify occupations that are in high demand. In Amhara, these include hairdressing, tailoring and carpentry, as well as jobs in food processing, urban poultry farming and auto repair. Project staff then vet and select accredited training institutions within these fields, who in turn provide three-month courses for young trainees. What makes SKY unique, though, is its incentive model: institutions are not paid full fees for the training itself. Instead, the project withholds large portions of the total payment until trainees are able to find steady employment, or successfully establish businesses of their own. This Results-Based Financing Model (RBF) incentivizes toward the goal of helping trainees find gainful employment.
Youth Labor Bridging in the Context of Shocks
USAID AVANSA and Cardno
“What role do youth have in the nascent Timorese economy?” Lessons from Timor on how Money Talks. Talking money drove forward the project’s response to meet youth where they were, building the systems and capacity to launch youth into roles across the agriculture market system. Youth impacted by USAID’s Avansa Agrikultura Project, alongside training professionals from the Borlaug Institute will present on the importance of engaging youth and strengthening the system around them, and how the project adapted along the way. Lack of access to information, poor infrastructure, and lack of cash flows, combined with poor capacity both at the farmer and trader level, have created a market system that is inconsistent, opportunistic, and highly fragmented. Exploring the role that youth and youth focused services play in improved market linkages, increased productivity along key horticulture value chains, and increased access to quality agricultural inputs. In addition to actively engaging youth voice in farmer groups, the holistic approach focused on the capacity of technical and vocational institutions to build connections between youth and the agriculture market systems and provide agricultural skills and certifications.
Empowerment for Girls’ Education (EGE)
Opportunity International
Learn more about the social and business enterprise activities delivered through the Empowerment for Girls’ Education (EGE) project and how these have complemented other aspects of project delivery. Project partners have built up a wealth of knowledge and experience in delivering school clubs (providing financial and life skills training) and helping schools establish enterprises (through providing vocational and business schools). However, the Income Generating Activities (IGAs) at the household level were a new initiative, building on lessons from other project components. The aim was to support the most vulnerable girls through directly training them and a member of their household establishing a home-based enterprise; profits from which could be used to support the girl in education. This overview explores the outcomes of this program and seeks input from others who may be able to share alternative approaches or key challenges in implementing something similar, and to capture best practice.
Youth Engagement: Breaking Gender and Social Norm Barriers for Increased Economic Opportunity in a Post COVID-19 World
Care International and International Youth Foundation
This moderated session between CARE and International Youth Foundation (IYF) aims to a) share program lessons from working with and for young people, in response to COVID-19, and b) share recommendations for building more resilient systems for youth economic opportunity in a post-COVID-19 world. The session uniquely focuses on the importance of youth engagement; gender-specific needs for youth especially young women and adolescent girls; Self-employment and access to finance. The session draws lessons from initiatives implemented by CARE and IFY in Zimbabwe, Niger, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, and Tanzania to address systemic constraints for authentic youth participation and engagement in self-employment in a post-COVID-19 world.
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Scale2Save Webinar: Building a Foundation of Skills for Young People in Africa
WSBI - ESBG
This Scale2Save programme video explores research on young people and their livelihoods made through self-employment, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.
A Case Study
The 30-minute piece provides a case study of a young person in Nigeria who balances university studies with his quest to become a successful music producer.
Why the research matters
Digital channels matter during a pandemic like coronavirus, as young people in young people in Africa navigate the way their future, how they earn money, spend it, save and grow their business or form a household.
Participants
• Weselina Angelow, Programme Director, Scale2Save Programme
• Guy Stuart, Executive Director, Microfinance Opportunities
• Anne Marie van Swinderen, Managing Director, L-IFT
• Lise Paaskesen, Independent Consultant
• Stephen Peachey, Independent Consultant
• Ehiakhumen Destiny, University Student and Music Producer, Benin City, Nigeria
