Youth Employment Programs - Independent Evaluation Group

a microfinance institute in Peru entrepreneurship training in addition toweekly or monthly banking meetings. The group that got entrepreneurshiptraining improved business practices and revenues and had greater repaymentrates, suggesting that client outcomes can be improved by combiningentrepreneurial training and coaching with access to credit.The Bank supported entrepreneurship training in a number of countries.Early results from impact evaluations suggest negligible effects in Tunisiaand positive effects for young entrepreneurs in rural areas in Uganda andColombia. The Tunisia “Turning Thesis into Enterprise” program offersbusiness training and coaching to undergraduate students who graduate witha business plan and submit their plan to a competition. Participants reporta 3 percentage point increase in their probability to be self-employed (about24 additional self-employed) from a low baseline of 4 percent. The resultwas stronger for men than for women. The training did not affect students’probability of finding a job or increasing their earnings (Premand and others2012). In Colombia, the Social Development Policy Loan (DPL) (P106708)supported the Young Rural Entrepreneurs training programs (Jóvenes RuralesEmprendedores), which increased participants’ employment rate by 13–14percent (Castañeda and others 2010). In Uganda, the Bank NUSAF1 projectused a $2.6 million Japanese Social Development Grant to do a pilot test ofyouth employment opportunities in collaboration with World Vision. Findingsfrom an impact evaluation (box F.2 and table F.1) led to the scale-up of theYouth Opportunity Program and continuous support to young entrepreneursunder the follow-up Bank project, the Second Northern Uganda Social ActionFund (NUSAF2).Box F.2Midterm Evaluation of Uganda Youth Opportunities Program FindsIncreased Earnings and Employment from an Unconditional Cash-Transfer to Finance Non-Formal Skills TrainingUganda’s Youth Opportunity Program provides unconditional cash grants to youth groups forinvestment in training or self-employment. Groups of 20 to 30 youth are asked to submit aproposal for purchasing skills training, tools, and other materials required to start an enterprise.Nearly 80 percent of participants enrolled in training (mainly tailoring and carpentry),and 13 percent re-enrolled in secondary school. Two years after the cash transfer, two-thirdsof the participants are engaged in skilled work, mainly self-employed, compared to just onethirdof the control group. The program doubled hours of employment and increased earningsand savings for youth by nearly 50 percent relative to the control group, with similar resultsfor male and female youth. Participants rated the value of their business assets at $390—morethan twice as high than that of the control group. The rate of return of project investment was35 percent per year, which compares favorably with commercial lending rates to small firms.Findings suggest limited access to credit is a major constraint to participation in training andemployment.Source: Blattman and others 2011.Appendix F: Lessons from Impact Evaluations and World Bank Group Operations 141