Evaluation Learnings Search

Learning Description

Career Connect Club Offerings: In El Salvador, Glasswing and Fe y Alegria discovered that some of the Career Connect Clubs being offered were not popular and, consequently, had low enrollment rates.

Learning Description

To address the high attrition rate of Career Connect club volunteers, the project started to recruit teachers, parents, and other community members because they have stable jobs and live near the schools. It appears that high attrition rates have started to decrease in many schools, which is be largely attributed to using teachers and parents._x000D_

Learning Description

The results in YouthBuild show that providing vocational training is not always enough for a program that seeks to improve employability in young people from vulnerable settings, particularly if they are stigmatized. It is important to acknowledge the contributions of other elements: First, strengthening soft skills is extremely important in that it enhances participant self esteem, and participant conviction that they can get ahead. Program post-graduation support for participants helps them return to school and get work, but in the participants' view, it also encourages them to pursue their own growth. In addition to facilitating access to formal employment for youth, participating in the program acts as a type of collateral that makes it possible to overcome the stigma associated with certain territories that are considered hot spots for violence.

Learning Description

Motivation is not, in and of itself, enough to reduce desertion.

Learning Description

Youth Pathways - Central America's (YPCA’s) effective start date was October 2015, but development of the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) systems and plans, as main parts of theComprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation Plan (CMEP), took about a year and caused important activity delays. During the first year, a cohort study to complement the CMEP and its performance monitoring plan was also designed. The project was not fully operational until early 2017, when all activities were initiated. A shorter period of time devoted to planning purposes on the M&E subject matter would allow additional time for activity implementation and improve actual project outputs and outcomes.

Learning Description

When selecting program sites for project offices in the field, conduct a thorough situational diagnostic to assess the existence of enough children and youths who meet selection criteria and ensure that there are no restrictions to mobility of potential participants (due to gang disputes or territories). This was not a concern for Fe y Alegría, which has had a long presence in the municipalities targeted by the program but was a factor for the others. There were cases in El Salvador and to some extent in Honduras where implementing partners faced low registration rates and therefore had to look for other sites better suited to program operations. As the selection of new program sites within boundaries of a “neutral zone” took time and delayed delivery of services, it is highly probable that a diagnostic of the geographic zones at the beginning of the project may have assisted in the achievement of results.

Learning Description

Most participants of Youth Build (YB) component do not have any work experience and are looking for their first job. Additionally, they have not reached the academic level required for many positions in formal businesses. The program has proven that a successful way to insert most youths with no work experience in local labor markets is to target jobs that do not fall under the category “decent” jobs—namely, informal jobs. The longitudinal study provides evidence that after gaining some experience and demonstrating their skills and abilities, graduated youth scale up to better jobs, including decent work positions. Youth Pathways - Central Amefica (YPCA) should be credited for soliciting the United States Department of Labor (USDOL) to include the informal sector in the definition of access to employment jobs created.

Learning Description

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) brought with it the support of their Home Office and Latin America and the Caribbean regional office (LACRO). LACRO supplied various specialists that provided support on topics as methodologies or strategies for employability, the design of the Comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation Plan (CMEP) and the cohort study, administrative and financial procedures, and methodologies and strategies to create security protocols within the project. Getting this type of higher-level staff involvement and support was key for the project’s implementation, and the Team considers that it positively influenced efficiency in both administrative and technical execution.

Learning Description

Youth Pathways - Central America's (YPCA’s) approach of having a municipality from Honduras implement the Youth Build (YB) component while piloting the same component with a government agency in EI Salvador was reportedly successful. This pilot activity is built around working with youth with detention penalties and has secured replication of such component. Both entities stated to the Team that they will continue carrying out the corresponding services side by side.

Learning Description

Sufficient staffing and the provision of adequate oversight are critical. Maintaining a field presence in countries is essential to building and sustaining relationships with key stakeholders and addressing issues that arise during the course of a project in a timely manner. Most technical cooperation projects rely on external consultants; the quality of research, training and technical assistance depends primarily on the experience and expertise of the particular individuals assigned to the task. While recruitment of qualified consultants is very important, good technical backstopping from regional offices is still needed to ensure quality and maintain consistency across International Labor Organization (ILO) projects.