Evaluation Learnings Search

Learning Description

In the course of this evaluation, the team met close to 100 youth in Busia County who indicated that many trained youths were stuck in the informal sector yards where they had trained. This called for a clear understanding of factors hindering trained youth from transitioning to decent jobs; these findings should inform the work of the BUSY project.

Learning Description

Multiple training providers meant the presence of diverse interests in developing the National Skills Development Policy (NSDP). Efforts to coordinate actors in the policy development process, therefore, needed adequate and effective engagement of all skills development stakeholders through a neutral forum, which the State Department of Post Training and Skills Development (SDPTSD) seemed to offer. Technical support to the nascent State Department toward this objective would directly contribute to achieving Outcome 1.

Learning Description

Opportunities are emerging in county governments and in the state departments for the project to support activities under Outcome 1, and the project was already taking advantage of these or could take advantage of them. They include developing countylevel policies on youth and developing National Industrial Training Authority (NITA) training schemes.

Learning Description

The informal sector had no adequate working space. Across the three counties, working spaces for the informal sector were limited, and therefore congested. Reclaiming public and private land and road reserves where informal sector workers are based, has over time, led to the concentration of artisans in designated spaces that were too small for the number of workers using them.

Learning Description

Master craftspeople (MCPs) across the counties indicated having high expectations of being involved in the project, and expressed particular concern about the cost of training materials. These expectations will need to be properly handled and moderated, with beneficiaries’ involvement clearly explained prior to engaging them. This is true especially in Kilifi and Kitui, where most MCPs have already had unsustainable engagements with other skills development programs.

Learning Description

Research-based programming: The project had invested widely in undertaking studies to inform its interventions. These include the Pre-situation Analysis (PSAs) and the policy and laws gap analysis, which will ensure that interventions are targeted toward addressing specific challenges that the studies identified.

Learning Description

The involvement of a wider spectrum of stakeholders in the project was viewed as good for the project. It not only forges a sense of ownership, but it also pulls together invaluable experiences and knowledge; if well harnessed, these could contribute greatly to project results

Learning Description

Role of municipal governments: The project design should include a specific strategy for increasing the role of municipal governments in the initial stages and throughout implementing the demonstration experience. This will increase understanding by municipalities of the model’s feasibility and benefits and will facilitate and accelerate model implementation and integration into municipal employment training programs

Learning Description

Key government alliances: Establishing alliances with governmental institutions at the local level is often impossible without first cooperatively agreeing with national level officials. With the National Insistute of Learning [Insituto Nacional de Aprendizaje] (INA) office in Limón, local representatives expressed an interest in participating in the Youth Pathways Costa Rica (YPCR) demonstration experience; however, this proved infeasible because a cooperative agreement had not been established between YPCR and the national INA office. The decision to not follow up with INA officials during the current administration resulted in a missed opportunity to collaborate with a key institution and effectively strengthen the country’s capacity to implement quality WBT programs inclusive of vulnerable youth. However, the availability of local results provides important information to promote the establishment of future cooperative agreements since discussions with national officials are often more effective once the results from a local experience are available.

Learning Description

Technical assistance during the transfer process: The development of the Youth Pathways Costa Rica (YPCR) Model Blueprint and related Toolkit will facilitate the methodological transfer of the quality Workplace-based Training (WBT) model to public and private institutions or programs; however, the transfer process could be strengthened if it came with technical assistance from project staff during the initial rollout period. The project did not have opportunity to accompany a transfer process during the project timeline, mostly due to the impact of the pandemic