Examining the Evidence: Topics of
interest to USAID in youth
development & education
Rachel Blum, USAID
and
Christy Olenik
Caroline Fawcett
Nancy Guerra
Valerie Haugen from
JBS International, Inc.
Purpose
• To provide USAID’s Office of Education with
information on the latest research regarding
youth workforce development, youth education in
conflict environments, and holistic or cross-sector
youth development.
• To provide USAID’s Office of Education with
support in setting priorities for a youth focused
research and evaluation agenda.
• Work supports USAID Education Strategy Goals
2 & 3, as well as the impending USAID Youth in
Development Policy.
Literature Scan
Topic
Youth Workforce Development
Number of Studies
Reviewed*
36
Youth Education in Conflict
Environments
27
Holistic, Cross-sector Youth
Development
43
*Numbers in each review overlap as some studies were considered evidence in
more than one topic area
Types of Studies
Topic
Experimental
QuasiPerformance
experimental Evaluations
6
17
Other
Youth
Workforce
Development*
6
Youth
Education in
Conflict
Environments
Holistic, Crosssector Youth
Development
2
4
19
2
5
13
23
2
4
*The youth workforce development scan also included 3 meta-analyses not listed
here.
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Workforce Development Initial Findings
Positive impacts on employment and earnings
Less clear about rural youth and university educated youth
Youth are gaining skills that foster outside employment
including interviewing, resume development, and job search
Entrepreneurship strategies seem to increase gaining
targeted knowledge and skills in customer service, marketing of
products, accounting, record-keeping, and understanding the
market
Youth are also acquiring life skills like positive work ethic,
financial literacy, and other developmental assets (e.g., honesty,
responsibility, decision-making)
Institutional capacity development trends include labor market
assessments, national-local partnerships, flexible short term
training and active participation of youth
Potential Research and Evaluation Topics
 Most essential, cost-effective components for youth in
general
 Most essential, cost-effective components for rural youth
 Most essential, cost-effective components for highly
educated youth
 Link between life/soft skills and employment
 How programs can reach scale and sustainability
 What strategies are effective at integrating youth into
value chains
Youth Education in Conflict Initial Findings
• Access to education including classrooms, community
centers, and non-formal learning groups.
• Positive impact reported in reading, writing and math skills
after access to basic education.
• Youth are gaining employability and life skills.
• Positive feelings and attitudes and also increased healthy
behaviors.
• Positive impact on the longer-term outcomes of less
violence and increased tolerance and feelings of belonging
and empowerment.
• Long-term outcomes achieved through multi-component
interventions: employment, psychosocial, peace-building,
and conflict mediation.
Potential Research and Evaluation Topics
 What works at increasing youth access to education
 Link between youth education and country stability/mitigation
of violence
 Link between youth employment and youth crime or violence
 What works to build youth-friendly systems
 What makes some youth more resilient than others
Holistic, Cross-sector Youth Development Initial Findings
• A broad set of academic and social-emotional skills predict
academic achievement, positive social behavior, and resilience
for youth across cultures and countries.
• As youth get older, these skills are complemented by specific
technical, vocational, and health knowledge and skills (often
called life skills) to facilitate the transition to adulthood.
• These skills and behaviors represent short-term
developmental outcomes of PYD interventions; these shortterm outcomes predict long-term, sector-based outcomes.
• These socio-emotional skills, academic skills, life skills, and
behaviors can be improved through a range of different
programs including school-based curricula, out-of-school
training, and engagement with youth organizations.
• Cross-agency and cross-sector collaborations, although
difficult to implement, produce the most enduring effects for
Potential Research and Evaluation Topics
 Should youth programming be universal or based on youth
needs/risk factors
 What short term outcomes serve as milestones for long term
outcomes
 What factors impact young people’s decision to engage in
risky behaviors
 What assets do youth need at (10-15 yrs.) vs. (16-19 yrs.),
vs. (20-29 yrs.)
 The impact of youth engagement in program design and
implementation
 What benefits can be gained from cross-system, cross-sector
collaborations
Questions & Answers
Thank You
Rachel Blum – rblum@usaid.gov
Christy Olenik – colenik@jbsinternational.com
http://www.jbsinternational.com/site/Pages/global-usaidyouth.aspx