STATE OF THE FIELD IN YOUTH ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES

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
Chapter 1: Workforce Development
1.4.2.4 Practical Tips: EFE Foundation’s Lessons Learned in Scaling-Up
from Across the Middle East Region
EFE Foundation offered the following principles
for designing scalable interventions, based on a
synthesis of project experience in Egypt, Palestine,
Yemen and Morocco:
• Start small and then grow after you have
established credibility. Proof of concept is a
crucial step, particularly in the MENA. Starting
small, launching initial pilot programs, and
documenting the success, communicating
it to partners and stakeholders, allows the
organization to expand its programming and
funding having gained the support of local
community and business leaders.
• Don’t try to start-up everywhere at once. Establish
programs “market-by-market” (regionally) with
local partners at each step. Although country
dynamics and laws differ between neighboring
countries, many challenges faced by startups are
similar across the MENA region. So starting in one
country, building some knowledge and expertise
in setting up and launching programming, allows
for a certain degree of anticipation of obstacles
that may be faced in the next country expansion.
Additionally, proximity between the two countries
may allow for cross border transfer of knowledge,
expertise, and refinement and adaptation of
1.5 Where Do We Go from Here
previous programming based on monitoring and
evaluation results and findings.
• Use technology strategically to automate costly
and time-consuming processes like applications
and matching, and to gather feedback from
partners. As the numbers trained and placed in
jobs grow, it becomes imperative to automate
student application, selection, monitoring and
evaluation and job placement mechanisms.
This frees up staff members to focus on other
capacity building and program implementation
goals rather than spending large amounts of time
calling applicants and partners to collect data and
enter it into excel sheets. Establish private sector
partnerships that lower program costs. Through
in kind contributions and job commitments, the
private sector can play a big role in reducing
the costs of implementation and other costs
associated with outreach and job placements
for youth. Invest heavily in communications
and public relations. Success needs to be
communicated. This does not need to be on a
large scale with big budgets, but ensuring you
know who your audience is, how to reach them
and what to say is key. In countries where word
of mouth plays a big role, ensuring that you are
communicating clearly and effectively can be a
huge success driver.
The prior State of the Field’s workforce development chapter defined five key areas of focus that had emerged
from Making Cents’ 2010 GYEOC discussions and from key thinkers and practitioners. These were: (1)
tools for assessing labor market demand; (2) anticipating future skills needs; (3) connecting practice and
policy to achieve greater scale; (4) getting the incentives right for public and private investment in workforce
development; and (5) more effectively measuring impact. While significant progress was made in the first two
areas, much work remains to consolidate and standardize the tools and methods for understanding the demand
side of the labor market. Some progress is also apparent in stimulating greater private sector involvement
in workforce development, and excellent practical examples of how to make the business case for employer
involvement were also showcased at the 2011 GYEOC.
Yet, while the youth employment crisis has elevated youth employment and skills on the development
agenda, neither analysis of the field as a whole, nor the program examples presented at the 2011 Conference
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