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Life skills in non-formal contexts for adolescent girls in developing countries
Abstract and Figures
Since the advent of the Education for All initiative in 1990, the international community has recognized that in addition to academic knowledge like basic literacy and mathematics skills, young people need to learn so-called “life skills” (UNESCO 2004 & 2012; UNICEF 2012). Life skills are the combination of skills (what one has), knowledge (what one knows), and attitudes (what one believes and values) that constitute a set of competencies (what one can do) that enable youth to adapt to, function and thrive in society. They enable individuals to translate knowledge, skills, and attitudes into specific behaviors to cope with, navigate, or transform life’s challenges (Kwauk and Braga 2017). To successfully function as adults in society and to navigate the social, economic, and political challenges of the 21st century, young people must be able to think critically, participate politically, live peaceful and healthy lives, create and pursue economic opportunities, navigate and use new technologies, and process information in ways that translate into positive individual and societal development.
While there are quite a few non-formal life skills programs in existence benefiting young women in developing countries, there are relatively few studies that can say something comprehensive about the scope of non-formal life skills programs for girls, including how many there are, what they teach and how, and what skills they teach and what skills girls prioritize. In this study we aim to improve understanding of the current state of non-formal life skills education and training programs that serve adolescent girls in developing countries. We conducted a comprehensive literature review and carried out surveys in Lebanon, Tanzania and Ethiopia. For the case studies, we mapped 103 non-formal life skills programs benefiting young women in the three countries, surveyed 779 adolescent female program participants and 54 project managers, and asked follow-up qualitative questions with 30 participants.
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... Policy statements and documents from the World Bank, blogs by Washington think tanks such as the Brookings Institution, and commissioned research programs such as DFID's EdQual or the Raising Learning Outcomes in Education Systems (RLO) attempt to grapple with how to improve teaching and learning in formal schools. Against this backdrop, international education actors including philanthropic foundations, bilateral and multilateral donors, and local and international non-governmental organizations have launched what is likely to be thousands of non-formal education programs that focus on life skills (a review of programs in just three countries identified 103 programs for adolescent girls) (Dupuy et al., 2018). These programs are intended to fill the void that is left by poor quality schools by serving children and adolescents who are enrolled in school with afterschool or summer programs. ...
... These same categories are often included in conceptualizations of life skills for adolescent girls. In addition to our Table 2.1 above, Kwauk and Braga (2017) and Dupuy et al. (2018) list organizations and their life skills definitions -common are an emphasis on critical thinking (sometimes called cognitive skills), personal skills, and interpersonal skills (including community living). However, as Kwauk and Braga (2017) point out, at the level of life skills education programming for girls, practitioners have often limited their scope to quite specific outcomes, such as sexual and reproductive health, gender-based violence, or labor market outcomes (and our identification of these as distinct discourse communities clarifies why this is the case). ...
... An earlier review of life skills education programs found that, while there are a very small number of rigorous evaluations of life skills programs benefitting adolescents, they "generally positively influence psycho-social and attitudinal outcomes, health and relationships. They can help to prevent early marriage and they help to develop important economic and cognitive skills" (Dupuy et al., 2018). ...
Drawing from a review of theoretical, methodological, and empirical literature on life skills from the fields of education, public health, psychology, economics, and international development, this paper attempts to clarify basic definitional and conceptual issues that relate to life skills education. It addresses the questions: (1) What are life skills, and how has the term emerged in academic and donor agency literature? And (2) What bodies of practice and research evidence converge in the rise of ‘life skills’ programming and increased interest in ‘life skills’ among thought leaders and donors in the field of international education? The paper identifies implications from this analysis to be considered in research and interventions that focus on life skills for adolescents, particularly in light of global efforts to improve the quality of education.
... Programmes tailored to benefit young women have been found to have a positive influence on their attitudinal outcomes, psycho-social, economic and cognitive skills (Dupuy et al., 2018). The survey by Dupuy et al. (2018) confirmed that the life skill programmes on girls scarcely served the most vulnerable girls and that the commonly taught skills included social and interpersonal skills. ...
... Programmes tailored to benefit young women have been found to have a positive influence on their attitudinal outcomes, psycho-social, economic and cognitive skills (Dupuy et al., 2018). The survey by Dupuy et al. (2018) confirmed that the life skill programmes on girls scarcely served the most vulnerable girls and that the commonly taught skills included social and interpersonal skills. ...
Purpose
This study evaluated a programme, CAP Youth Empowerment Institute (CAPYEI) that uses Basic Employability Skills Training (BEST) model to contribute the evidence and generate lessons on the type of skills needed to enhance women economic empowerment. The purpose of the study is to generate evidence of what works in women skill acquisition and employability in Kenya.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopted a mixed research design incorporating both quantitative and qualitative approaches to conduct an impact evaluation of the CAP YEI training programme on the employability and entrepreneurship of women and girls in Kenya. The design allows for the consideration of two groups: treatment and control groups thus allowing for a clear comparison of outcomes between those who received the training (treatment group) and those who did not (control group). Project evaluation data were collected from both primary and secondary sources. Given that the study was conducted post evaluation, it did not have baseline survey data, therefore an ex post baseline evaluation using a retrospective approach was computed. In the absence of a true baseline, the questionnaire was tailored to allow beneficiary recall. A key design consideration of impact evaluation study was the identification of a valid control group that could generate a suitable counterfactual outcome.
Findings
The results indicate positive self-evaluation on most of the selected soft skills. For instance, over 80% of both the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries indicated that they possessed communication, teamwork, interpersonal, decision-making, prioritization, assertiveness and negotiation skills, whereas 58 % and 63 % of the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries, respectively, indicating that they possessed information and communication technology (ICT) skills. Results indicate that skills development improves chances of employment among the target group and especially women. The results indicate that addressing gender inequality requires targeted interventions. The targeted interventions could be aimed at ensuring that women and girls are empowered to compete favourable with men and boys in the labour market.
Research limitations/implications
This study was an evaluative study of the impact of an intervention in a single case study. This means while the findings of the study are relevant to policy and practice, they cannot be generalized to a broader populace. The absence of base-line data rendered the use of comparative data impossible. Data generated through self-reported assessment of intervention impacts are prone to responder biases, which may raise questions about the validity of the findings.
Practical implications
This study recommends integration of transferable skills training in teaching and training institutions to enhance competitiveness, employability and entrepreneurship chances of the graduates in the labour market. The study is significant in informing policy direction in Kenya.
Originality/value
This study evaluated a model of integrating transferable skills into a young women training programme and evaluated its impacts with a view of documenting what works for women employability. This case is a unique one in the country specific context.
... Life skills have become increasingly important to include in education as the world is constantly changing and children and adolescents must prepare for the challenges of the 21st century [1]. There are different conceptions about what life skills encompass, and the phenomenon has been studied through various approaches on an international scale. ...
... Previous reviews highlight that life skills is a complex concept [7,29]. Although different life skills programs aiming at specific outcomes have been studied internationally, little is known about the overarching understanding of life skills as a concept and how it is defined [1]; moreover, a clarification of this complex concept is, therefore, called for, both in an international and Norwegian context. Research on a topic without a clear definition might hinder the potential for future research to fully utilize the existing knowledge, which in turn could compromise scientific knowledge development [30]. ...
The significance of life skills within educational settings has grown; however, there remains a gap regarding a comprehensive understanding of the overarching concept. This systematic scoping review addresses that need, with the aim to identify and map empirical research published between 2013 and 2023 focused on life skills in compulsory education (grade 1–10). In addition to mapping the studies according to their characteristics, how life skills are defined is also examined, with a specific focus on collectivistic and individualistic perspectives. Through a rigorous search process, 50 studies were identified. The studies are mainly concerned with evaluating the efficacy of life skills programs or interventions for adolescents. They define life skills by both the type of skill and what it achieves. Key trends include an emphasis on an individualistic understanding of the term, lacking collectivistic perspectives. The implications focus on life skills education connected to lifelong learning, Bildung, and holistic growth from a collectivistic perspective, suggesting that future research could include life skills education for younger children for more sustainable effects favorable for desired societal outcomes.
... In today's academic, cultural, and economic context, the term 'life skills' appears frequently and is used in a variety of contexts, including workplace, school, and college curricula, clinical interventions, personality development programs, lifestyle magazines, websites, newspapers, and self-help books. This is supported by the observation that the total number of life skill definitions equals the total number of thought leaders and educators worldwide (Dupuy et al., 2018) (2) . ...
... In today's academic, cultural, and economic context, the term 'life skills' appears frequently and is used in a variety of contexts, including workplace, school, and college curricula, clinical interventions, personality development programs, lifestyle magazines, websites, newspapers, and self-help books. This is supported by the observation that the total number of life skill definitions equals the total number of thought leaders and educators worldwide (Dupuy et al., 2018) (2) . ...
Objective: The main aim of this paper was to examine the relationship between life skills and the socioeconomic status of the students enrolled in different disciplines of study in universities and colleges of Punjab State. Method: 600 students who were majoring in science, the arts, or business programs in the universities and colleges of Punjab State, India served as the sample. Modified Kuppuswamy (2022) Socio-economic scale (SES) was used. As per scale- families are placed into one of five categories: upper class, upper middle class, lower middle class, upper lower class, and lower class. A family’s total score can range anywhere from three to twenty-nine points, and it can only be determined by combining information about the members of the family’s education level, occupation level, and income level. Life skills were measured by self-developed tools. This test measures 10 life skills, including critical thinking, self-awareness, creativity, decision-making, problem-solving, effective communication, interpersonal relationships, empathy, stress management, and dealing with emotions. Each dimension has five statements, and a 5-point scale is used to rate each. Findings: It has been found in the present study that students of science disciplines have higher life skills in comparison to Commerce and Social science Streams. Similarly, students from higher SES backgrounds tend to have better Life Skills compared to those from lower SES backgrounds. Novelty: This research uniquely compares socio-economic status, academic discipline, and students' life skills within the NEP-2020 framework. It stands out by examining how these variables collectively impact life skills development, providing a nuanced understanding of their interdependence. By focusing on the diverse socio-economic backgrounds and varied academic disciplines, the study offers novel insights into tailoring educational strategies that foster essential life skills. In this research paper, an analytical approach has been applied to analyze the data as per NEP-2020's holistic and inclusive vision, aiming to bridge educational disparities and enhance student outcomes in a comprehensive manner. Keywords: Life Skills, Socio-Economic Status, Science, Social Science and Commerce Disciplines of study, NEP 2020
... Bezu, Dupuy, Halvorsen and Knudsen (2018), in a study on life skills in non-formal contexts for adolescent girls in developing countries, reports that in Ethiopia, majority of the programs use teachers to provide life skills training. These life skills are the combination of skills (what one has), knowledge (what one knows) and attitudes (what one believes and values) that constitute a set of abilities (what one can do) that enable a learner with EBD to adapt to, function and thrive in society lucidly (Bezu et al., 2018). Bezu et al. (2018) did not elaborate on the relevancy of various life skills in assisting one to thrive in society lucidly. ...
... These life skills are the combination of skills (what one has), knowledge (what one knows) and attitudes (what one believes and values) that constitute a set of abilities (what one can do) that enable a learner with EBD to adapt to, function and thrive in society lucidly (Bezu et al., 2018). Bezu et al. (2018) did not elaborate on the relevancy of various life skills in assisting one to thrive in society lucidly. This was despite the objective of their study being the scope, number, and curricula of training in non-formal contexts. ...
Learners with Emotional and Behaviour disorders are included in the category of learners with Special Needs Education. However in Kenyan perspective, there is a challenge as to how these children are guided in achieving their best in life. This study assessed skills taught for behaviour change among learners with EBD in Juvenile rehabilitation schools in Kenya. The Social learning theory and cross sectional descriptive research design were used to guide the study. The targeted population comprised of all the learners in Rehabilitations schools and the managers in Kenya. The learners were 466 boys, 160 girls and 20 managers. There were a total of 646 respondents. The population was sampled using probabilistic sampling techniques. Stratified random sampling technique was considered to sample the gender and duration of interaction with the rehabilitation programme. Questionnaires, interview schedules, focus group discussion, document analysis and observation schedules were used for data collection. Quantitative data collected was entered, coded and analyzed using descriptive statistics and presented graphically. Qualitative data was coded, reviewed for patterns and emerging themes and finally reported narrative. On study findings, skills taught (academic and vocational), were not adapted to cater for learners with EBD. That enriched academic and skills competency lacked among staff (teaching, specialized and support) to address today's challenges of learners with EBD. The study recommended the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) should develop guidelines for adaptation of the skills taught in RS to cater for each learner's special needs.
... Evidence emphasizes the importance of life skills for improving a range of outcomes for adolescent girls, including psychosocial and mental health, SRH, social relationships, and economic assets and opportunities 24,29,[47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55] . Life skills can also be linked to improved self-efficacy and agency among adolescent girls 48,56 . ...
In 2021, the Adolescents 360 (A360) project pursued a human-centered design (HCD) process to layer complementary economic empowerment components on top of its existing sexual and reproductive health (SRH) interventions targeting adolescent girls aged 15 to 19. Given the volume of evidence informing successful approaches for improving economic and empowerment outcomes for adolescents, we pursued an intentionally evidence-informed and gender-intentional design process, while trying to also respond directly to user insights. In this open letter, we share how we utilized and validated the evidence-base while applying the core tenets of HCD (empathy and user insights) to design holistic, layered programming for girls. We describe three overarching categories which depict how we used the existing evidence and new user insights to strengthen our design process. Often the evidence base allowed us to expedite finding a solution that worked for our users. However, at times there was a disconnect between what we knew worked in the evidence base and what our users said they wanted. New insights also allowed us to build a greater understanding of our users’ lived experiences where there were existing evidence gaps. We were aided by the engagement of a technical partner, BRAC, who synthesized evidence for our design teams and functioned as an ‘on demand’ support mechanism as questions and challenges arose. Yet, the volume of information to absorb almost guaranteed that we would miss out on the opportunity to apply certain evidence-based practices. We encourage researchers to consider how to make evidence more easily digestible to practitioners and for the whole community of practice to work together to identify what questions need to be asked to effectively operationalize evidence in a local context.
Introduction
In South Asia, younger women have high rates of unmet need for family planning and low empowerment. Life skills interventions can equip young women with agency, but the effectiveness of these interventions in reproductive and sexual autonomy and contraception has not been examined.
Methods and analysis
A two-arm, parallel, cluster randomised controlled trial will evaluate the impact of TARANG (Transforming Actions for Reaching and Nurturing Gender Equity and Empowerment), a life skills and reproductive health empowerment group-based intervention for newly married women, compared with usual services in the community in rural and tribal Rajasthan, India. TARANG will also provide light-touch sessions to husbands and mothers-in-law of newly married women. We will test the impact of TARANG in 80 village clusters among 800 eligible households comprising newly married women aged 18–25 years who are at risk of pregnancy but do not want a pregnancy within 1 year at the time of enrolment, their husbands and mothers-in-law who consent to participate. Women in the intervention villages will receive 14 sessions over a 6-month period, while husbands and mothers-in-law will receive 1 and 4 sessions (respectively) each. Three rounds of surveys will be collected over 18 months. Control villages will receive the intervention after the endline surveys. Primary outcomes include rate of unintended pregnancy and modern contraceptive use. We plan to start recruitment of participants and data collection in April 2024. We will estimate unadjusted and adjusted intention-to-treat effects using survival analysis and mixed models.
Ethics and dissemination
Study protocols have been reviewed and approved by the human subjects review boards at the University of California, San Francisco, and the Centre for Media Studies, India (IRB00006230) and ACE Independent Ethics Committee, Bangalore (NET0062022). Results will be disseminated in international peer-reviewed journals and conferences, to stakeholders including local government and non-governmental organisations, and directly to the communities and individuals that participated in the intervention.
Trial registration number
NCT06024616 .
Climate change threatens hard won progress in the education and life outcomes of adolescent girls in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) by compounding the harmful effects of gender inequality and poverty. In recent years, there has been a rise in global advocacy for gender transformative education for climate justice that addresses the underlying gender inequalities driving climate vulnerability for adolescent girls in LMICs. But, has the international development and education community responded to this call? This paper seeks to establish a baseline for answering this question through a landscape analysis of actors working on issues of gender and climate change with youth, especially girls, as well as a landscape analysis of publicly available curricular materials on climate justice and gender equality. We find that although there are many nongovernmental efforts focused on different entry points into the nexus of gender, education, leadership, and climate change, there is much more room for aligning gender equality and climate justice programming for girls. This paper highlights the gaps and opportunities for doing so and offers a taxonomy of programming approaches to guide actors and their collaborators toward more intersectional educational programming.
Resultados de la aplicación del Programa de Prevención Familiar PCF-U en la Comunidad de las Islas Baleares y de Castilla y León
The present study reports about the relationship between parental influence and life skills among high school students. Totally 300 students were taken for the study of which 80 students from Government schools, 100 students from Government Aided schools, 80 students from Private schools and 40 students from corporation schools. The tools used in this study are a questionnaire on Parental Influence and Life Skills constructed by the investigator. The result indicates that there is a significant positive relationship between parental influence and life skills and most of the independent variables exert a significant on parental influence and life skills among high school students.
This Campbell systematic review examines the impact of youth employment interventions on the labour market outcomes of young people and business performance. The review summarises findings from 113 reports of 107 interventions in 31 countries.
Included studies had to: (1) evaluate an active labour market programme (ALMP) which was designed for ‐ or targeted primarily ‐ young women and men aged between 15 and 35; (2) have an experimental and quasi‐experimental design; and (3) report at least one eligible outcome variable measuring employment, earnings, or business performance.
The evidence base covers 107 interventions in 31 countries, including 55 using skills training, 15 with entrepreneurship promotion, ten using employment services and 21 using subsidized employment.
Overall, youth employment interventions increase the employment and earnings of those youth who participate in them. But the effect is small with a lot of variation between programmes. There are significant effects for entrepreneurship promotion and skills training, but not for employment services and subsidised employment.
Impacts on earnings were also positive but small and highly variable across programmes. Entrepreneurship promotion and skills training were effective in increasing earnings, while effects of employment services and subsidised employment were negligible or statistically insignificant. There is limited evidence of the effects of youth employment programmes on business performance outcomes, and the effect size was not statistically significant.
In addition to the variation in impact across different types of programmes, some variation can be explained by country context, intervention design, and profile and characteristics of programme beneficiaries. The impacts of ALMPs are greater in magnitude in low‐ or middle‐income countries than in high‐income countries. Programmes targeting the most disadvantaged youth were associated with bigger programme effects, particularly for earnings outcomes, and effects were slightly larger for women than for men.
Plain language summary
Active labour market programmes for youth increase employment and earnings. Effects vary between programmes and context
The evidence suggests that investing in youth through active labour market measures, such as offering skills training and entrepreneurship promotion, may pay off with higher earnings.
The review in brief
Youth are disproportionately victims of unemployment and low‐quality jobs. Active labour market programmes increase earnings and employment. But the effects vary greatly between programmes’ type, design and context.
What is this review about?
Youth unemployment is much greater than the average unemployment rate for adults, in some cases over three times as high. Today, over 73 million young people are unemployed worldwide. Moreover, two out of five young people in the labour force are either working but poor or are unemployed. The youth employment challenge is not only about job creation, but especially about enhancing the quality of jobs for youth.
This systematic review assesses the impact of youth employment interventions on the labour market outcomes of young people. The included interventions are training and skills development, entrepreneurship promotion, employment services and subsidized employment. Outcomes of interest include employment, earnings and business performance outcomes.
What is the aim of this review?
This Campbell systematic review examines the impact of youth employment interventions on the labour market outcomes of young people and business performance. The review summarises findings from 113 reports of 107 interventions in 31 countries.
What are the main findings of this review?
Included studies had to: (1) evaluate an active labour market programme (ALMP) which was designed for – or targeted primarily – young women and men aged between 15 and 35; (2) have an experimental and quasi‐experimental design; and (3) report at least one eligible outcome variable measuring employment, earnings, or business performance.
The evidence base covers 107 interventions in 31 countries, including 55 using skills training, 15 with entrepreneurship promotion, ten using employment services and 21 using subsidized employment.
Overall, youth employment interventions increase the employment and earnings of those youth who participate in them. But the effect is small with a lot of variation between programmes. There are significant effects for entrepreneurship promotion and skills training, but not for employment services and subsidised employment.
Impacts on earnings were also positive but small and highly variable across programmes. Entrepreneurship promotion and skills training were effective in increasing earnings, while effects of employment services and subsidised employment were negligible or statistically insignificant. There is limited evidence of the effects of youth employment programmes on business performance outcomes, and the effect size was not statistically significant.
In addition to the variation in impact across different types of programmes, some variation can be explained by country context, intervention design, and profile and characteristics of programme beneficiaries. The impacts of ALMPs are greater in magnitude in low‐ or middle‐income countries than in high‐income countries. Programmes targeting the most disadvantaged youth were associated with bigger programme effects, particularly for earnings outcomes, and effects were slightly larger for women than for men.
What do the findings of this review mean?
The evidence suggests that investing in youth through active labour market measures may pay off. Skills training and entrepreneurship promotion interventions appear to yield positive results on average. So, there are potential benefits from combining supply‐ and demand‐side interventions to support youth in the labour market.
The evidence indicates the need for careful design of youth employment interventions. The “how” seems to be more important than the “what” and, in this regard, targeting disadvantaged youth may act as a key factor for success.
There is a need to strengthen the evidence base with more studies of promising programmes, especially in sub‐Saharan Africa. Further research should investigate intermediate outcomes and soft skills, and should collect cost data.
How up‐to‐date is this review?
The review authors searched for studies published up to January 2015. This Campbell systematic review was published in November 2017.
Abstract
Background – Today's labour market is a challenging arena for young people. Over 73 million youth are currently unemployed and many more are affected by vulnerable employment and working poverty. Youth remain highly susceptible to changing patterns in the world of work and experience slow and difficult transitions to stable jobs. What works to support them in the labour market? This is one of the most common and pressing questions posed by policymakers and practitioners today.
Methods – This systematic review addresses this question by synthesizing empirical evidence on the labour market outcomes of active labour market programmes (ALMPs) targeting youth worldwide. Eligible interventions comprised skills training such as technical and business skills, entrepreneurship promotion providing access to finance, employment services providing job‐placement and job‐search assistance, and subsized employment providing wage subsidies or public employment. Outcomes of interest included employment, earnings and business performance. Eligible studies included counterfactual‐based impact evaluations conducted in low‐, middle‐ or high‐income countries. A comprehensive systematic search for relevant evidence across more than 70 sources, using search terms in English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish, identified over 30,000 records that were screened. The search process was completed in January 2015. For the selected studies that met the review's inclusion criteria, data were coded and effect sizes calculated. The analysis explores the interventions’ overall effectiveness and the roles that context, evaluation and programme design and implementation play in moderating impact.
Results – A total of 113 eligible impact evaluations were identified, encompassing a unique set of evaluation methods, interventions and geographical coverage. Meta‐analysis methods were employed to synthesize the evidence, based on 2,259 imputed effect sizes. Overall, empirical results indicated positive effects of entrepreneurship promotion and skills training on employment and earnings. Effects of employment services and subsidised employment were generally small and non‐significant. We estimated bigger programme effects in low‐ and middle‐income countries than in high‐income countries, and in programmes targeting disadvantaged youth.
Implications – Active measures to support the (re) integration of young women and men into the labour market may succeed in enhancing employment and earnings outcomes and have potential to increase human capital and employment prospects in the long‐term. The evidence suggested that programmes targeting disadvantaged youth are particularly effective. Entrepreneurship promotion and skills training programmes appear to be a particularly promising intervention for improving employment, earnings and business performance, but the evidence base is still relatively small. More rigorous impact evidence is needed for particular employment programmes more generally, including employment services, subsidised employment and entrepreneurship promotion.
Executive summary
Background
The youth of today represent a vast potential for inclusive growth and development. If youth are given the opportunity to build appropriate skills and access decent employment, they can help to accelerate progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and engage in meaningful work that benefits them, their families and society as a whole.
Unfortunately, decent jobs are not a feasible prospect for all young women and men. Today, over 73 million young people are unemployed worldwide. Youth unemployment stands at a much higher level than the average unemployment rate for adults, in some cases over three times as high. Moreover, two out of five young people in the labour force are either working but poor or unemployed. The youth employment challenge is therefore not only about job creation, but also – and especially – about enhancing the quality of jobs for youth.
Youth's gloomy prospects in the labour market embody a massive waste of potential and a threat to social cohesion. Understanding what works to improve their labour market outcomes is therefore of paramount importance and a development priority for all countries and regions.
Objectives
The aim of this systematic review was to investigate the impact of youth employment interventions on the labour market outcomes of young people. The interventions under review comprised training and skills development, entrepreneurship promotion, employment services and subsidized employment. Outcomes of interest included employment, earnings and business performance outcomes.
Search Methods
The review relied on a comprehensive systematic search across more than 70 sources, including literature databases and a large number of websites, which allowed the identification of both published and unpublished studies . The search process included both a primary search (i.e., searching of a wide range of general and specialized databases) and a complementary search (i.e., hand‐searching of relevant websites, searching of dissertations, theses and grey literature databases, citation tracking, screening of reference lists and contacting authors and experts). The in‐depth complementary search allowed the identification of several unpublished studies. The process included search terms in English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish. The search process was completed in January 2015.
Selection Criteria
Eligible studies are those that:
• 1 evaluated an active labour market programme (ALMP) that included at least one of the following categories of interventions: training and skills development (such as technical and non‐technical skills), entrepreneurship promotion (providing access to capital, from financing to entrepreneurial skills that would enhance human capital), employment services (providing job‐placement and job‐search assistance, among other services) and/or subsidized employment (providing wage subsidies or public employment programmes);
• 2 investigated programmes that were designed for – or targeted primarily – young women and men aged between 15 and 35;
• 3 reflected completed experimental and quasi‐experimental evaluations measuring impacts on eligible labour market outcomes; and
• 4 reported at least one eligible outcome variable measuring employment (e.g., probability of employment, hours worked, duration in unemployment), earnings (e.g., reported earnings, wages, consumption) or business performance (e.g., profits, sales).
In addition to the above inclusion criteria, the review focused on studies with a publication date between 1990 and 2014. No language restrictions were applied.
Data Collection and Analysis
A coding tool and manual were developed in order to guide a harmonised data extraction process. Treatment effect estimates were coded across all studies that met the inclusion criteria, along with other parameters and intervention characteristics deemed relevant for the analysis. Additional, non‐reported information was retrieved from authors of the primary studies, supporting the computation of standardized mean differences (SMDs) effect sizes. The SMDs captured the relative magnitude of the treatment effect in a dimensionless way, which was therefore comparable across outcomes and studies. Effect sizes were summarized within and across reports to one effect size per outcome for each study.
Random‐effects meta‐analysis methods were employed to synthesize and compare effect sizes reported in the primary studies. Subsequently, multivariate meta‐regression models were estimated and information about intervention‐level, study‐level and country‐level characteristics were included to assess factors associated with the magnitude of reported effect size estimates.
Results
The primary and complementary searches identified 32,117 records, of which a total of 1,141 records were selected for full text screening. The subsequent selection process led to a sample of 113 reports, which were considered to be of adequate content and methodological rigour for inclusion in the meta‐analysis.
The 113 reports represented 107 interventions. The evidence base spanned 31 countries and covered 55 skills training interventions, 15 entrepreneurship promotion interventions, ten employment services interventions and 21 subsidized employment interventions. There were six interventions for which no clear main category of intervention could be established. A large share of the evidence derived from recent publications, with nearly half of the sample produced after 2010. Evaluation designs varied, with 47 per cent of reports relying on experimental designs, 10 per cent on natural experiments and 44 per cent on quasi‐experimental evaluations. Many of the most recent studies were experimental evaluations of interventions implemented in low‐ and middle‐income countries, Not ably from Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Intervention characteristics and research designs differed significantly between evaluations implemented in high‐income and low‐ or middle‐income countries. A large proportion of the evidence from high‐income countries derived from quasi‐experimental studies of national programmes, implemented in collaboration with government organizations. In contrast, the evidence from low‐ and middle‐income countries was predominantly based on experimental impact evaluations of rather small‐scale, targeted interventions, which were often implemented by Non‐governmental Organizations (NGOs) or international organizations.
The comprehensive systematic search led to the identification and coding of a total of 3,629 treatment effect estimates. These estimates, along with further information reported and/or retrieved from authors of the primary studies and imputation of missing information, allowed the computation of 2,259 SMDs.
The following are some of the key results from the meta‐analysis of SMD effect sizes. These findings appear robust to the different study designs employed, as similar results were found for a restricted sample of the most rigorous designs (experimental impact evaluations). However, there was also statistical evidence for small study effects for all outcomes, suggesting the presence of publication bias in the literature.
• 1 Youth employment interventions may lead to positive outcomes, increasing employment and earnings of participating youth. The positive effect on employment was captured by an overall SMD effect size of 0.04 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.03, 0.06) across 105 interventions, demonstrating that young people who were exposed to a youth employment intervention on average had better employment outcomes than those who were not. Effects across studies were, however, heterogeneous (I‐squared=64%). Sub‐group analysis by intervention category indicated that entrepreneurship promotion (SMD=0.16; 95% CI=0.06, 0.26; I‐sq=71%; evidence from seven interventions) and skills training (SMD=0.05, 95% CI=0.02, 0.07; I‐sq=65%; 67 interventions) on average improved employment outcomes. Effects were small and not statistically significant for employment services (SMD=0.01; 95% CI=‐0.02, 0.04; I‐sq=0%; 10 interventions) and subsidised employment (SMD=0.02; 95% CI=‐0.01, 0.06; I‐sq=50%; 16 interventions). The residual inconsistency in subsidized employment estimates suggested further moderator and sub‐group analyses were needed.
• 2 Impacts on earnings were positive and statistically significant on average, with an effect size of 0.05 SMD (95% CI = 0.03, 0.06) across 92 interventions. Findings exhibit again high heterogeneity, i.e. were highly inconsistent across programmes (I‐squared=82%). Further analysis by intervention categories again indicated that entrepreneurship promotion (SMD=0.09; 95% CI=0.01, 0.18; I‐sq=64%; 12 interventions) and skills training (SMD=0.07; 95% CI=0.05, 0.08; I‐sq=86%; 60 interventions) were effective in raising earnings, while effects of employment services (SMD=0.01; 95% CI=0.00, 0.02; I‐sq=0%; eight interventions) and subsidised employment (SMD=‐0.01; 95% CI=‐0.05, 0.03; I‐sq=61%; nine interventions) were negligible and/or statistically insignificant. The residual inconsistency in subsidized employment estimates again suggested more analysis by moderator variables and sub‐groups.
• 3 Evidence of youth employment programme effects on business performance outcomes was limited and the effect size was not statistically significant (SMD = 0.03; 95% CI = ‐0.05, 0.12; I‐sq=49%) across 14 interventions. When entrepreneurship promotion interventions were considered in isolation, the impact was larger and significant, at 0.10 SMD (95% CI = 0, 0.19; I‐sq=39%; 10 interventions). Evidence from the small number of evaluations of skills training did not suggest positive or significant effects on business performance outcomes (SMD=‐0.09; 95% CI=‐0.19, 0.01; I‐sq=0; 4 interventions).
• 4 The high degree of inconsistency across interventions suggested programme impacts concealed major contextual differences. The meta‐analysis showed important differences in the magnitudes of impact across outcomes and interventions. Despite the strong similarities across included studies, the differences in impact were not always driven by chance. Tests for heterogeneity demonstrated substantial variation in the effect size magnitude due to: country context, intervention design, and profile and characteristics of programme beneficiaries.
• 5 The underlying evidence base varies by country income level. Results suggest impacts of ALMPs are greater in magnitude in low‐ or middle‐income countries than in high‐income countries. In low‐ and middle‐income countries, skills training (SMD=0.06; 95% CI=0.02, 0.10; I‐sq=76%; 38 interventions), entrepreneurship promotion (SMD=0.18; 95% CI=0.06, 0.29; I‐sq=12%; 5 interventions) and subsidised employment (SMD=0.11; 95% CI=0.04, 0.18; I‐sq=11%; 5 interventions) were effective in increasing employment on average. Skills training (SMD=0.12; 95% CI=0.08, 0.16; I‐sq=77%; 39 interventions) and entrepreneurship promotion (SMD=0.14; 95% CI=0.06, 0.22; I‐sq=15%; 10 interventions) also yielded positive results, on average, in terms of income gains.
• 6 In high‐income countries, the overall effects of ALMPs on employment (SMD=0.04; 95% CI=0.01, 0.07; I‐sq=57%; 52 interventions) and earnings (SMD=0.01; 95% CI=‐0.01, 0.02; I‐sq=70%; 31 interventions) were small. In sub‐group analysis by intervention type, only skills training appeared to effectuate some (albeit small) impact average on employment (SMD=0.04; 95% CI=0.01, 0.07; I‐sq=58%).
• 7 Programmes targeting the most disadvantaged youth were associated with bigger programme effects, particularly for earnings outcomes. Across measures of targeting, a focus on low‐income youth, those with low levels of education or exhibiting strong disadvantages in the labour market was associated with marginally higher employment (SMD=0.06; 95% CI=0.02, 0.09; I‐sq=66%) and significantly higher earnings gains (SMD=0.13; 95% CI=0.09, 0.18; I‐sq=82%) for youth across all country income levels than employment (SMD=0.03; 95% CI=0.01, 0.06; I‐sq=56%) and earnings (SMD=0.02; 95% CI=0.00, 0.03; I‐sq=73%) for less disadvantaged youth.
• 8 Looking at differences in effects by gender, the findings suggested that employment and earnings outcomes for women were marginally larger than those for men.
• 9 The systematic review captured information about the type of skills delivered to young people and found no particular connection between soft skills and better labour market outcomes. Similarly, there was no systematic evidence about the role of public, private or civil entities in the implementation of a youth employment programme.
Conclusions
The extent and urgency of the youth employment challenge and the level of global attention currently being given to this topic calls for more and better evidence‐based action. Accordingly, this systematic review sought to examine the empirical evidence in order to understand what drives the success (or failure) of youth employment interventions. Investments in youth employment will continue, and even increase, as countries embark on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; therefore, this review focused on identifying “what works” and, as far as possible, “how”.
This systematic review builds on a growing base of studies measuring the impact of youth employment interventions and offers a rigorous synthesis and overall balance of empirical evidence taking into account the quality of the underlying research. The review is systematic through a clearly defined and transparent inclusion and exclusion criteria, an objective and extensive search, a punctual data extraction process, a standardized statistical testing and analysis, and a thorough reporting of findings. These elements and underlying methods and tools were laid out and reviewed in the protocol (Kluve et al., 2014).
The evidence suggests that investing in youth through active labour market measures may pay off. The evidence also shows a significant impact gap across country income levels. Being unemployed or unskilled in a high‐income country – where labour demand is skill intensive – puts youth at a distinct disadvantage in comparison to a cohort that is, on average, well educated. While ALMPs in high‐income countries can integrate disadvantaged young people into the labour market, they are not able to fully compensate for a lack of skills or other areas where youth failed to gain sufficient benefit from the education system. On the other hand, in lower income countries, with large cohorts of disadvantaged youth, marginal investments in skills and employment opportunities are likely to lead to larger changes in outcomes. Youth‐targeted ALMPs in low‐ and middle‐income countries do lead to impacts on both employment and earnings outcomes. Specifically, skills training and entrepreneurship promotion interventions appear to yield positive results on average. This is an important finding, which points to the potential benefits of combining supply‐ and demand‐side interventions to support youth in the labour market.
The evidence also calls for careful design of youth employment interventions. The “how” seems to be more important than the “what” and, in this regard, targeting disadvantaged youth may act as key factors of success.
The findings from this review need to be discussed vis‐à‐vis the local and national context and should be complemented by a long‐term and holistic commitment towards youth development.
Achieving an understanding of the “how” element is not an easy task. Although the systematic review excluded studies that only reported relative effects, it is also the case that, frequently, impact evaluations do not assess relative effectiveness. Even more often, reports and papers fail to describe the underlying theory of change and observed transmission mechanisms behind an intervention. In some other cases, there is limited information about the characteristics of programme participants in the evaluation sample and their comparison group. Much remains to be done to improve reporting standards and advocate for more and better evidence examining the impact of youth employment interventions. The quality of the primary studies determines the quality of the systematic review and any subsequent synthesis of the evidence.
The review supported the identification of important evidence gaps:
• • It is important to note that despite the large and significant magnitude of effect of entrepreneurship promotion interventions in low‐ and middle‐income countries, the evidence base is still limited and exhibits high variance, calling for more primary studies on this promising intervention type. Similarly, more and better evidence is needed on employment services, wage subsidies and public employment programmes for youth, particularly in low‐ and middle‐income countries.
• • While the review highlighted a growing evaluation evidence from youth employment programmes implemented in Sub‐Saharan Africa, it also reported very limited information from the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia and East Asia and the Pacific. These are regions were more targeted action to expand the evidence base should be considered.
• • Similarly, more research is needed on intermediate outcomes in primary studies and evidence synthesis work. This is linked to the importance of improving research‐reporting standards and expanding the scope of outcomes of interest in order to better synthesize evidence about how interventions affect knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviours. More and better information on these intermediate outcomes will improve overall understanding about the causality and pathways of change between the intervention and the final outcomes.
• • Soft skills are highly demanded by employers today. Their role in generating better outcomes is yet to be corroborated and more inquiry is required to understand their role in the causal chain as well as their interaction with more technical skills sets.
• • Lastly, future primary studies and evidence syntheses should engage with cost information. The applicability of the evidence hinges not only on its internal and external validity but also on its feasibility. More information is needed on programme costs as well as systematic comparisons against programme effects. What may look highly effective may in fact be too expensive to replicate or scale up.
Women in developing countries are disempowered: high youth unemployment, early mar- riage and childbearing interact to limit their investments into human capital and enforce dependence on men. We evaluate a multifaceted policy intervention attempting to jump- start adolescent women’s empowerment in Uganda, a context in which 60% of the popula- tion are aged below twenty. The intervention aims to relax human capital constraints that adolescent girls face by simultaneously providing them vocational training and information on sex, reproduction and marriage. We ...nd that four years post-intervention, adolescent girls in treated communities are 49pp more likely to engage in income generating activities, corresponding to a 48% increase over baseline levels, and an impact almost entirely driven by their greater engagement in self-employment. Teen pregnancy falls by a third, and early entry into marriage/cohabitation also falls rapidly. Strikingly, the share of girls reporting sex against their will drops by close to a third and aspired ages at which to marry and start childbearing move forward. The results highlight the potential of a multifaceted program that provides skills transfers as a viable and cost e¤ective policy intervention to improve the economic and social empowerment of adolescent girls over a four year horizon.
I combine household surveys, national accounts and unique personal income tax records to produce the first estimates of the national income distribution in an Arab country, Lebanon. I find that income is extremely concentrated over the 2005-2014 period: The top 1 and 10 percent of the adult population received almost 25 and 55 percent of national income on average, placing Lebanon among the countries with the highest levels of income inequality in the world. These results challenge a long lasting narrative according to which inequality levels are not that high in the Middle East. They also confirm results from a large literature that emphasizes how the Lebanese sectarian-based mode of governance has allowed the ruling elite to extract large rents for decades and at the expense of the majority of citizens.
The academic achievement is correlates of Psychological variables. This research work was conducted on a sample of 350 tribal and 350 non-tribal students studying in secondary schools in PANCHMAHALS district with a view to finding out the effect of the intelligence and academic motivation on their academic achievement of the pupils in tribal secondary schools in Gujarat, India. The sample was collected from the students of non-government high schools of tribal area district who significantly differ in their intelligence and academic motivation. Desai’s verbal-non verbal group test of intelligence was administrated to the students. Academic motivation test was developed by researcher and administrated to the students. The students’ academic achievement tool is last preliminary examination score in March, 2011. The mean value analysis of significance of the mean difference and the values were calculated, other calculated is mean value analysis of variable and F-test. The findings show that there is no significant difference in the IQ and academic motivation of standard: X students in the secondary schools of tribal area of the PANCHMAHALS district, Gujarat-India.
Two pilot studies demonstrate that a comprehensive multimodality intervention of Transformative Life Skills (TLS) consisting of Yoga poses (asana), breathing techniques (pranayama), and meditation (dhyana) can reduce perceived stress and increase self-control and self-awareness in at-risk and incarcerated youth. As part of a countywide violence prevention effort, Niroga Institute conducted daily 60-minute TLS programs at Alameda County Juvenile Justice Center (ACJJC). Additionally, a condensed 15-minute TLS protocol was implemented at El Cerrito High School, a large urban public high school. The effectiveness of TLS was evaluated using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) and Tangney's Self-Control Scale (TSCS-13). Statistical analyses indicate a significant improvement in stress resilience, self-control, and self-awareness among the youth exposed to Niroga's TLS protocols. These results have substantial relevance to education and community-wide violence prevention.