STATE OF THE FIELD IN YOUTH ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES

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Table of Contents Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Annexes 2012 State of the Field in Youth Economic Opportunities 9.4.1 New Tools: Youth Business International’s Operations Management System Chapter 9: Monitoring, Evaluation, & Impact Evaluation Youth Business International (YBI) is a global network of independent non-profit initiatives helping young people to start and grow their own business and create employment. YBI was founded in 2000, and HRH The Prince of Wales is YBI’s President. YBI members assist under-served young entrepreneurs with a combination of training, access to capital, mentoring and other business development services. They adapt this common approach to their local context, working in partnership with governments, businesses and multilateral and civil society organizations. In 2010 YBI helped 6,346 young people to start their own business. YBI estimates that these businesses will go on to create nearly 20,000 additional jobs within three years. Through YBI, members exchange resources and act collectively to increase the efficiency and scale of support to young people seeking to start their own business. A network team coordinates and leads this activity, with additional responsibilities for driving network growth, quality and performance. YBI members have helped over 100,000 young people to create their own business and generate employment. YBI is committed to growing an evidence-led global youth entrepreneurship network. Developing a robust evidence base will drive efficient operations and impactful policy. YBI is building an Operations Management System (OMS) on the Salesforce.com platform as a tool for YBI members to track and analyze key performance indicators and for the YBI network team to aggregate and benchmark global trends. At the local level, members can closely monitor their operational performance. At the global level, this cloud-based system means YBI has cost-effective access to an expanding repository of data that will drive rigorous impact assessment. The OMS went live in March 2011, and it has been adopted in seven countries so far. YBI’s objective is for at least 30 members to be using the system over the next three years. Critical success factors for the project include: • In-country management teams who acknowledge that strong systems are crucial for their organizations to achieve their goals and evidence their work; • Local operational experts who have the availability to feed system design and ensure business processes are integrated; • User adoption champions who support users and provide feedback that influences continuous improvements to the system. The centrality of the OMS means YBI can take the operational best practices learnt from working with each member and apply them to the system for the benefit of all. With responsive design, this global infrastructure will become a valuable research tool to understand the most effective interventions to support youth entrepreneurship. With survey writing, it is important to take an approach that demonstrates an understanding of the audience and the ultimate learning objectives of the initiatives. The following text box shares guidance from YouthSave on how to develop effective surveys. 120
Table of Contents Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Annexes 2012 State of the Field in Youth Economic Opportunities 9.4.2 Practical Tips: YouthSave On How to Write Good Survey Questions Knowledge tests and/or youth’s self-reported changes in knowledge, skills and behavior are often used to evaluate financial capability. Answers to tests and surveys can act as indicators for our outcome objectives until conducting an impact assessment. Standardized surveys (questionnaires or interview forms that are tested for and found to be reliable and valid) are ideal. However, if no culturally valid (i.e., tested in the same region or country) or developmentally valid (i.e. tested with a similar age group) are available, Despard shared these simple rules for developing survey questions: • Test the questions with a group of youth who represent the youth you are targeting (by age, geographic location, gender, etc.). Ask them, “What do you think this question means” and “Why did you give the response that you did” Their answers will tell you if you are measuring what you think you are measuring. • Make the questions relevant to the project. If your project did not target youth’s knowledge about managing debt, don’t ask debt management questions. • Word questions at the reading and comprehension level of the youth you serve. Limit use of or avoid abstract concepts. • Use words, terms, and phrasing that is familiar to youth and their day to day experiences, like referring to what Ghanaian youth do with “chop” money they receive from their parents rather than calling it a “food allowance”. • Keep questions clear, brief and simple. Fewer words are better. • Define important words. Don’t assume that youth know what you mean by “save”. Define it for them – “Putting aside money in a safe place to be used later”. • Ask follow-up questions. A youth may say that she usually saves, but you may also want to know: a) what a typical amount saved is; b) the purposes for which they save; and c) how long they typically hold onto savings. • Ask open-ended questions too. Like with focus or discussion groups, it’s very important to get responses in youth’s own words by asking questions that require youth to offer description and explanation. For example, “What helps you save What gets in the way Why Can you tell me more” • Avoid yes/no questions. If you ask a youth “Do you save money” A youth who sometimes saves may find this difficult to answer. Either way, the yes or no response you get is not accurate. It is better to use 3- (“Never/Sometimes/Always”) or 5-point (Poor/Fair/Good/Very Good/Excellent) scales. • Avoid “leading the witness.” Don’t ask, “You save money so you can have a better future, right” Avoid any questions that might elicit a socially desirable response–when youth tell us what they think we want to hear. • Avoid “double barreled” questions. This is when you ask more than one question at the same time, like: “How often do you make yourself wait to buy something you want and make a savings deposit in a bank” (These are two separate questions!) Chapter 9: Monitoring, Evaluation, & Impact Evaluation There are two basic ways to ask survey questions: using questionnaires that youth complete by themselves OR interviewing youth by asking them the survey questions and recording their responses. The Population Council’s experience, highlighted below, shares how tools cannot operate in vacuums and organizations need to pay particular attention to who will be using them and who will be managing next steps following the use of them. 121
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Making Cents International is a dyn
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