Youth Employment Programs - Independent Evaluation Group

Report to the Board from the Committeeon Development EffectivenessThe Committee on Development Effectiveness (CODE) met to discuss the IEGEvaluation on World Bank and IFC Support for Youth Employment Programs(CODE 2012-0030).Summary 1The Committee welcomed the IEG evaluation and broadly supported IEG’ s majorrecommendations for the World Bank Group’s work in youth and employmentprograms in client countries. The Committee agreed that although theevaluation was only able to look at a small portfolio of work—with a focuson the investment climate, labor market, and education—it was valuable inhighlighting the urgency of youth employment issues. Members appreciatedthat Bank and IFC management welcomed the evaluation and its findings, andthey agreed with the broad conclusions of the review. Members also viewedthe discussion as a good primer for the forthcoming meeting on the 2013World Development Report (WDR) on Jobs.Members underscored the need for the World Bank Group to improve its analyticalcapacity on youth employment, develop diagnostic tools and strengthenevidence-based approaches. Members also agreed that the Bank and IFCshould be more strategic in comprehensively addressing youth employmentissues. A number of members urged management to undertake a more systematicapproach to data collection, including data disaggregated by age and bygender, that is, youth versus the broader working population.Several members observed that despite the depth of youth employment problems,over the past decade there had been little country demand for operations.It was noted that while it was not a priority issue for clients in thepast, given competing development demands, events in the Middle East havesince brought the issue to the forefront. Accordingly, it will be important forthe Bank to modify its approach to client engagement to ensure that youthunemployment receives more attention and is mainstreamed appropriately inCountry Assistance and Poverty Reduction Strategies. It was further noted,however, that the magnitude of the problem is so large—including withrespect to statistical capacities in client countries—that the Bank Group willnot be able to address it singlehandedly. The quest to find appropriate solutionsand remedies is thus a challenge not just for the World Bank Group butfor the entire global community. In this sense, a number of members emphasizedthat the World Bank Group could play a catalytic role, spur collectiveaction and coordinate partnerships on a global level—vis-à-vis donors, trustfunds, multilateral organizations, and in particular national governments(over and above existing alliances with the United Nations [UN] and the In-Committee on Development Effectiveness xxxi