youth entrepreneurship development program annual …

YED Annual Report FY 2014: October 1, 2013 – September 30, 2014

USAID Associate Cooperative Agreement

No. 294-A-00-10-00209-00

Under Leader with Associates Cooperative Agreement

No. EPP-A-00-08-00006-00

YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

Annual Progress Report FY 2014

October 1, 2013 –September 30, 2014

International Youth Foundation

32 South Street

Baltimore, MD 21202

University staff participating in Career

Guidance Introductory Workshop


TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................................... 4

I. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 8

II. YED’S PROGRESS TOWARDS STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES AND CROSS CUTTING ACTIVITIES ........................... 9

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 1: UNIVERSITY CAREER GUIDANCE CENTERS .............................................................................. 9 STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 2: CAREER GUIDANCE FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS ..................................................................... 11 CROSS-CUTTING ACTIVITIES: YED’S CAPACITY STRENGTHENING SUPPORT FOR PARTNERYSIS .......................................... 13 CHALLENEGES & LESSONS LEARNED ...................................................................................................................... 15 NEXT STEPS ..................................................................................................................................................... 17

ANNEX 1 – SUMMARY OF YED PROGRAM GOALS, IMMEDIATE RESULTS, SUB-INTERMEDIATE RESULTS, AND RELATED ACTIVITIES....................................................................................................................................... 18

ANNEX 2 – YED’S PROGRESS TOWARDS INTERMEDIATE RESULTS IN YEAR FOUR ......................................... 19

ANNEX 3 – STATUS OF YED’S YEAR FOUR WORKPLAN KEY MILESTONES ........................................................ 24

ANNEX 4 – ANNUAL EXPENDITURE FOR YEAR FOUR ...................................................................................... 26


LIST OF ACRONYMS

AAUJ Arab-American University – Jenin

AIP Annual Implementation Plan

AOR Area Officer’s Representative

BYB Build Your Business curriculum

CAB Curriculum Advisory Board

CBO Community-based Organization

CDCE-I Community Development and Continuing Education Institute - PAUC

CECD Center for Entrepreneurship and Career Development – PPU

CSP Capacity Strengthening Process

EOI Expression of Interest

FY Fiscal Year

IR Intermediate Result

IYF International Youth Foundation

M&E Monitoring and Evaluation

MoEHE Ministry of Education and Higher Education

MoL Ministry of Labor

MOU Memorandum of Understanding

NGO Non-Governmental Organization

PA Palestinian Authority

PAUC Palestine Ahliya University College

PCBS Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics

PMP Performance Monitoring Plan

PICTI Palestine Information and Communications Technology Incubator

PPU Palestine Polytechnic University

PSD Partners for Sustainable Development

PTS Passport to Success®

PTUK Palestine Technical University - Khadoury

QoU Al Quds Open University

SL Service Learning

StC School to Career project – YED

STEP Support for Services and Training for Employment Participation - Sharek

ToT Training of Trainers

TVET The League of Vocational Education & Training Institutions

UNRWA United Nations Relief and Works Agency

USAID/WBG United States Agency for International Development/West Bank & Gaza office

USD U.S. Dollar

WA Welfare Association

YDRC Youth Development Resource Center

YED Youth Entrepreneurship Development program

YMCA-EJ Young Men’s Christian Association – East Jerusalem

YSI Youth-Serving Institution


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This annual progress report of the USAID-funded Youth Entrepreneurship Development (YED) program provides an overview of YED’s activities undertaken in Year Four of implementation, covering the period from October 1, 2013 until September 30, 2014. This annual report presents major accomplishments in Year Four and cumulatively for the four years of implementation, discusses challenges and lessons learned from these experiences, and identifies next steps for YED in the coming year.

DURING YEAR FOUR, YED ACHIEVED THE FOLLOWING MILESTONES:

Supported 472 youth to find a job this year, for a total of 1,006 youth who were supported to find jobs since the program’s inception. Of the YED beneficiaries who found work this year, 69% were young women, which is better than double the national average female labor force participation rate. In addition, YED facilitated placement of 240 youth (57 males, 183 females) in internship opportunities this year, and a total of 1,172 (456 males, 716 females) over the past four years.

Trained more than 5,670 youth this year, 59% of whom are women, reaching more than 13,849 youth in the first four years of implementation. This achievement exceeds the Year Four target by more than 2,670 beneficiaries.

Provided Career Guidance support services for more than 6,276 youth this year: 2,347 youth through the active engagement of university career centers and 3,929 students through the activities undertaken in partnership with the MoEHE in the School to Career program.

Expanded partnerships with private, public and NGO sectors: IYF actively engaged a number of new partners and alliances to support YED grants and initiatives. By the end of Year Four, YED has worked with more than 785 external partner organizations, including private sector companies like PADICO Holding and National Insurance, public sector institutions such as the MoEHE and MoL, universities and vocational training centers, MoEHE secondary schools, and the YDRCs.

Secured a total of $827,998 in leverage funding this year for a total of approximately $3.6 million during the first four years of program implementation.YED is surpassing the projected one-to-one grant to leverage ratio.

Organized a large number of learning events and outreach activities: YED and YSI partners organized 35 major learning events for youth and their families this year, including business plan competitions, social enterprise plan competitions, job fairs, site visits to universities and vocational training centers, and parents’ workshops to raise awareness about the value of career guidance.

Made available and provided support on three core quality youth training programs, Passport to Success, Build Your Business, and Tamheed, which have enabled YED partners to test new models and approaches and integrate best practice content into their programs and services for youth.


YED’S GENERAL LESSONS LEARNED FOR YEAR FOUR

Reflecting upon the experiences of the past year of program implementation as well as the feedback from partners, donors, and beneficiaries, YED has identified the following lessons learned:

University career guidance centers are effective and welcomed vehicles for supporting post-secondary students and graduates to make informed career decisions in the latter stages of their education. Projects that are implemented through YSIs are used to strengthen this capacity of the universities and provide quality services on campus in order to make resources more readily accessible to youth.

Career education and guidance activities are in high demand and there is a growing awareness in the general Palestinian community about the value of these services. The MoEHE is eager to expand their provision of career guidance and has been a strong partner in developing and implementing these materials.

Internships and job fairs are effective activities to build youth’s employability skills and facilitate permanent employment opportunities.

Strengthening YSI partners’ capacity to facilitate effective internships also requires a high level of oversight in terms of sharing monitoring and reporting tools to ensure that both the intern and the internship provider have a clear understanding of their respective roles and responsibilities in regards to the internship activities.

The engagement of private sector, public sector, NGOs and universities is critical albeit a time-consuming effort that produces significant benefits for youth livelihood programs.

Ongoing economic challenges on a national level increase unemployment in general and among youth in particular, reduce the number of job and internship opportunities available to YED beneficiaries, as well as the ability of private sector companies to provide leverage contributions to YSI partners’ projects.

Supporting youth to become more employable is a long-term commitment that requires long-term investment and continuous support beyond training or even internships.

The process of starting a new company or social enterprise is a very complicated and demanding undertaking for youth and recent college graduates who are being introduced to these concepts for the first time and are expected to make career choices that potentially impact the rest of their lives.

Media in general, and social media in particular, plays a key role in empowering youth to make more timely and informed decisions about their lives and career choices.

There is a strong need for improved coordination between various actors, both local and international, who are involved in supporting youth employability and entrepreneurship.

LESSONS LEARNED FROM INTERNSHIP CASE STUDY

Internships are effective in improving youth’s employability with nearly 40% of YED interns securing work six months to one year after participating in the internship, compared to the general employment rate for all YED trainees of around 17%.

Formalized internship agreements facilitate effective learning experiences. Internship facilitation processes should include defined roles and responsibilities for all invested parties (interns,


providers, project implementers) to ensure the internship functions smoothly, that all parties understand and adhere to their commitments, and that the experience is continuously monitored in order to address any issues that may arise, to maximize the benefit for all stakeholders.

Outcomes varied based on the type of training and internship. Internships focused on a particular sector had greater impact in youth’s transition to a permanent job. While specialized projects are more expensive, tend to reach a smaller number of beneficiaries, and organize a smaller number of internships within an established range of providers, job placement rates were approximately double that of general LSE projects, and four times the employment rate for trainees who did not complete an internship.

YED’s Standards of Excellence support the development of quality internships.YED confirmed that its Standards of Excellence are valid and internships were enhanced by partners’ adoption of international best practice standards. However, based on stakeholders’ feedback, stipends to offset associated costs should be added as a standard to facilitate the most productive internship experience for all parties.

LESSONS LEARNED FROM STC CASE STUDY

The case study confirmed the utility of the StC program and suggested improvements for future StC programming:

Expand program activities with parents in recognition of their essential role in helping to plan their children’s futures.

Work more with classroom teachers to strengthen their capacity to advise students on career guidance decisions.

Extend program offerings to younger students, before they are tracked into particular specializations and become immersed in Tawjihi preparation.

Enhance linkages between school activities and university programs to influence university policies and admission procedures.

Schedule more StC activities during summer vacation when students have more time.

Train more counselors so that the program can expand to a greater number of schools and students.

NEXT STEPS FOR YEAR FIVE

In Year Five, YED will build on its key milestones. Activities for Year Five include:

Support at least five universities’ Career Guidance Units (CGUs) by providing technical and administrative support, monitoring and evaluation and reporting feedback based on individual needs. Specific technical assistance under consideration includes:

o Strategic planning for career guidance units.

o Data collection and analysis for career guidance beneficiaries.

o Differences between career counseling and academic counseling.

o Various staff roles in career guidance centers.


Launch the employability portal (Ta3mal) and conduct ToT sessions for interested partners to equip them to train and support students in using the Ta3mal portal in partnership with Microsoft and Silatech.

Provide trainings to partner YSIs and CGUs in order to maximize likelihood of sustainability and scalability of the youth services they offer through the following activities:

o Run BYB ToT for up to 14 university staff.

o Organize two BYB ToT refresher courses for 24 previously certified BYB trainers from universities and partner YSIs.

o Conduct PTS refresher training for 16 previously certified trainers to update them on the final adapted version of the PTS curriculum.

o Hold I-Serve refresher training for 10 previously certified trainers to introduce adjustments to the social entrepreneurship curriculum.

o Qualify a new group of Tamheed advisors from nine universities.

o Conduct a refresher Tamheed workshop for up to 32 active certified Tamheed advisors.

o Assist at least five university career centers in developing work plans and diversifying activities for first year students based on individual needs and outcomes.

Continue to support YSIs to implement projects that integrate Standards of Excellence in youth programming, including those partners completing the implementation of training and applied learning activities funded through grants awarded in FY 2013.

Continue to expand career guidance services to secondary school students through the School to Career project by assisting the MoEHE in developing their plans for sustaining the curriculum and taking it to scale.

Successful closeout of YED program and all its sub-grants with partner YSIs, ensuring that targets have been met, documentation has been made, and modules have been adapted per YED’s Standards of Excellence.


I. INTRODUCTION

This annual progress report of the USAID-funded Youth Entrepreneurship Development (YED) program covers the fourth year of implementation, from October 1, 2013 until September 30, 2014. YED is a five-year, USD $15 million youth-focused program implemented by the International Youth Foundation (IYF) in collaboration with Palestinian Youth-Serving Institutions (YSIs). YED’s main purpose is to improve employability, entrepreneurship, and social entrepreneurship opportunities for young Palestinians by strengthening the capacity of and providing necessary resources to local Palestinian YSIs to design and deliver high-quality, results-oriented, and sustainable livelihood initiatives to address the needs of Palestinian youth.

YED’s performance management framework is structured under three Intermediate Results, corresponding to YED’s three original project components:

IR1: Expanded capacity of youth-serving organizations (Component 1)

IR2: Enhanced employment and entrepreneurship education (Component 2)

IR3: Increased access for youth to practical on-the-job training (Component 3)

Based on USAID’S strategic planning advice, its intended legacy, lessons learned, and the outcomes of YED’s midterm evaluation, YED’s work is structured around two main strategic objectives:

Objective 1: Strengthen the capacity of career guidance units at local universities to enable them to carry out credible career guidance and counseling support for students and alumni.

Objective 2: Expand career guidance services to secondary school students through School to Career in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE).

This report provides an overview of YED’s work in these strategic areas over the past year, and for the program to date, followed by sections profiling IYF’s cross-cutting capacity strengthening process work, and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) functions, as well as summaries of the program’s work in operational issues. Additional details, including YED’s progress towards PMP targets are provided in the attached annexes.


II. YED’S PROGRESS TOWARDS STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES AND CROSS CUTTING ACTIVITIES

Strategic Objective 1: Strengthening University Career Guidance Centers YED’s Strategic Objective 1 focuses on establishing or enhancing the capacity of at least four well-functioning career guidance centers within universities. Since the program’s inception, YED has supported the establishment or development of career guidance and alumni services at nine major universities in the West Bank. YED is reaching 1,800 university students per year with career guidance services and nearly 3,000 students and alumni per year with employability and entrepreneurship training. To support these projects, YED has also certified 12 university staff as Tamheed career counselors and qualified 21 university staff to facilitate PTS and BYB curricula. YED has expanded its partnerships with and offerings for universities progressively since 2011. In Year Four, YED supported career guidance services at all nine major West Bank universities. YED began working with Birzeit University this year in addition to continuing to support PPU, PAUC, Bethlehem University and Hebron University. Through the second phase of its work with YED, Sharek also expanded its services to the career guidance centers at AAUJ in Jenin and PTUK in Tulkarem, and YED continues to support the centers at Al Quds Abu Deis and An-Najah Universities which were funded through Sharek during Year Three. This year was the most active yet in YED’s work with university career guidance centers. 38 career guidance counselors and staff took advantage of professional development opportunities from YED. As a result of YED’s support, these staff reached 2,261 university students this year. They also organized a range of career guidance activities: career awareness workshops, job fairs, and guest speakers, to name a few. As a result, YED has reached 3,999 university students to date through such career guidance services. YED bridges the gap between Palestinian youth and potential employers by facilitating, though partner YSIs, a variety of events bringing the two together. During Year Four, 1,357 youth benefited from Open Days, Job Fairs, Smart Days and Matching and Recruitment events that were conducted throughout the West Bank. Overall, 3,067 youth have been served in the past four years of implementation. As they build connections with local employers and training providers, the university centers and YSIs have assisted youth in pursuing employment, entrepreneurship, and advanced training opportunities. This was supported by partnerships with over 785 companies over the past four years from private and public sector, educational institutions and NGO/CBO/COS organizations. For example, PPU alone facilitated connections between graduates and approximately 79 companies over the past four years, and assisted 472 students in securing internships, of which 118 took place in FY2014.

PPU’s Passport to Success life skills training

Students preparing business ideas during the Smart Days event at AAUJ


Altogether, partner YSIs and universities facilitated internships for 240 youth this year, of whom 183 are young women. Over the past four years, YED partners facilitated 1,172 internships, which supported 1,006 youth to find a permanent job.

MODEL CAREER CENTER STUDY AND RELATED FOLLOW-UP To verify that its support is having the desired impact and strengthening career centers’ capacity to offer credible and comprehensive career guidance and counseling for students and alumni, YED assessed the current level of career guidance services at Palestinian universities and what services and tools are still needed. All nine YED partner universities participated in the assessment and endorsed its results. The universities expressed interest in exploring what a model university career center should look like and creating plans to further develop a model for their structure, services and management. IYF convened a workshop to facilitate this cross-institutional conversation. At the workshop, 20 participants created a foundation for a Model Career Center for a university context that includes strengthened counseling skills, M&E skills, planning skills and management skills of career counselors. In addition, the counselors in attendance developed plans of action for services they should be offering to different segments of students. As noted by one of the participants, the workshop was very beneficial especially by learning “how to tailor activities according to beneficiary characteristics as well as strengthened skills in monitoring beneficiaries and evaluating impact of activities.” Another participant expressed satisfaction from the career planning section of the workshop which helped “understand how to better organize the Career Guidance Unit’s activities.”

The workshop was very well received, and YED looks forward to following up with universities in Year Five on their plans and the additional coaching and technical support they will need in order to develop their Model Career Centers.

During the University Career Guidance Introductory

Workshop


Strategic Objective 2: Career Guidance for Secondary Schools

Strategic Objective 2 focuses on developing and providing career guidance services to secondary students, including the School to Career program that is implemented in PA schools in West Bank governorates. This component builds on the curriculum previously developed through the USAID-funded program developed and implemented by Save the Children in cooperation with the MoEHE in 2011. The StC program scaled up successfully this year from reaching 1,300 youth in 10 schools in Year Three to providing services to over 3,000 students in 34 schools by the end of Year Four. Capacity building efforts have enabled YED to reach 6% of all MoEHE students in grades 10 - 12 through StC and train some 14% of all MoEHE staff providing career counseling. The program’s interventions include career education toolkit training, Tamheed career guidance sessions, note speakers, and field visits, and it receives high marks from students and school staff alike. Career awareness activities such as job shadowing programs and “post-secondary institution” fairs give students direct contact with people working in their fields of interest. To ensure strong support within schools and the MoEHE for StC activities, YED’s partner CDCE-I facilitates professional development for ministry counselors and administrators and includes them in the development of new program materials. Seven major workshops were held this year for MoEHE counselors, administrators, and Heads of Counseling to orient them on the StC toolkit content and methodology, and the M&E systems that have been developed to support the program’s implementation. Through these sessions, 143 MoEHE staff members were trained, bringing the total number of MoEHE staff trained through YED’s StC program to 194. To further contribute to the sustainability and scalability potential of this program, YED qualified 19 MoEHE counselors as Trainers of Trainers to other counselors that have not benefited from YED so far. In addition, in response to MoEHE’s request, YED facilitated a special Tamheed certification training for 16 MoEHE counselors so that the MoEHE to pilot this service next academic year, potentially followed by summer internships for high school students. If successful, the MoEHE intends to work with YED and Silatech to train other counselors.

FIELD VISITS AND JOB SHADOWING In addition to the career orientation elements of the StC program described above, YED facilitated two types of experiential learning this year for StC students: field visits to workplaces and training centers and job shadowing opportunities. Over 1,402 students visited various locations around their home governorate, including Chambers of Commerce, vocational training centers and universities, employment offices, and private sector companies in order to see for themselves what the environments are like, make personal contacts and ask questions. A more select group of 96 youth were placed in a two-day job shadowing activity at 26 private and public sector entities. These young people were nominated based on the results of their Tamheed assessment and their preferred career path. Based on the StC case study, 32% of students surveyed listed field visits as the most useful activity in the StC program. One student was quoted saying: “I was thrilled to participate in the field visit activity, which provided me with abundant information on universities and other academic and educational institutions.”


CASE STUDY CONFIRMS THE EFFICACY OF STC PROGRAM During the fourth quarter, YED produced a case study focusing on the impact and lessons learned from the StC program. According to the study, all stakeholders agree that the program has a strong impact on students’ ability to make informed decisions when planning their academic and professional futures and encourages them to explore a range of options like entrepreneurship and vocational professions. The program gave students a wider understanding of the available options for career paths, and how they fit with their personalities and skills. In focus groups, 86% of students expressed appreciation of the program and stated that it expanded their understanding of the career choices available to them. They benefited greatly from field visits and guests speakers who shared their expertise and experiences with them. The study also shows that eight out of ten StC students had chosen a career path by the end of the program. Two thirds of them said StC helped them make this decision. 80% of these students planned to attend a university, 7% planned to undertake vocational training and 7% planned to join the labor force, i.e., start working, join a family business, or establish a new business. The remaining 6% indicated other plans. Another aspect of the study focused on counselors’ benefit from the StC program. They reported benefiting greatly in professional development. Specifically, 91% of counselors who expressed satisfaction with the program felt the training enhanced their skills in various areas leading to strengthening their abilities overall. Finally, through the case study, the MoEHE expressed satisfaction with the program, stating it achieved key results and provided effective support in strengthening both its capacity to provide quality career guidance and in delivering that improvement to students This endorsement of the program model, in addition to the MoEHE’s willingness to continue to expand it, gives YED confidence that it will continue into the future after YED’s activities end.


Cross-Cutting Activities

Through the guided development of quality project proposals, a competitive grants award process, and close support for the implementation of these projects, IYF continued to mentor YSI partners to apply YED’s Standards of Excellence in youth programming, providing tools and services to the various universities, NGOs, and other educational institutions to strengthen their capacity.

EMPLOYABILITY PORTAL (TA3MAL)

A major activity of the second half of Year Four was engaging with relevant internal, regional and international stakeholders to start the process of developing the Ta3mal online employability portal, a website to provide training, employability, entrepreneurship, and career guidance tools for youth in Palestine. The initial plans were developed in discussions with a variety of partners including USAID, IREX, Silatech, the MoL, jobs.ps and Microsoft. Partner YSIs, including nine West Bank universities, public and private sector entities were consulted in a round table discussion in April and subsequent follow-up meetings. To ensure that Ta3mal fills a need among existing online employability resources rather than duplicating their efforts, YED worked with the managers of the two main job search web sites, 3amal and Jobs.ps, to develop collaboration strategies. IYF and the MoL agreed that 3amal, the MoL’s existing online portal, will remain functioning independently of Ta3mal, but the two portals will be linked so that users can move easily from one to the other. And Jobs.ps, a registered Palestinian company with the largest online job posting database in Palestine, will partner with the Ta3mal portal by providing available jobs in the market in exchange for online content. YED has sent letters of intent to both partners (MoL and Jobs.ps) and is currently developing two MOUs, in collaboration with Silatech and Microsoft, to be signed with both partners early in Year Five. In Q4, YED hired a full-time staff member to drive the project forward. YED and Silatech held a virtual workshop which included an overview of the new Ta3mal portal, discussion of roles and responsibilities of partners, and general guidelines for portal rollout and related outreach activities. Next, YED, Silatech and Microsoft, the core Ta3mal partners, outlined the broad implementation strategy for the Ta3mal initiative in Palestine. YED continues to hold regular meetings with Silatech and Microsoft to further refine the roll-out strategy. Finally, YED submitted an application for a grant offered by Microsoft Corporate Citizenship. The purpose of this potential grant is to support the tasks and activities related the launch and roll-out of the Ta3mal portal in Palestine, including a PR campaign, portal integration and several other tasks. A response about this grant is expected early next year.

CAPACITY STRENGTHENING

In addition to IYF’s direct service provision to partners developing and implementing projects, YED supports the provision of quality training materials, including leveraging more than $650,000 in curricula such as Build Your Business, I-Serve, Tamheed, and Passport to Success® to enhance the quality of YED’s training curricula. Each of these materials is described in more detail below.


Build Your Business (BYB) is an interactive Micro- and Small-Scale Business Development training package developed in partnership with Microsoft for current and aspiring young entrepreneurs from both urban and rural communities that IYF is working to translate into Arabic and adapt to the local context. YED facilitated a ToT in Q2 for 15 individuals representing YED’s YSI partners, including staff of seven partner universities. Subsequently, PICTI incorporated BYB training into Intilaq, its entrepreneur development project. In addition, YED’s BYB Master Trainer provided virtual coaching sessions for trainers from Tomorrow’s Youth Organization (TYO) and an Entrepreneurship and Innovation lecturer at the German Jordanian University and founder of IBTECAR. This support helped the trainers to design BYB trainings within their entrepreneurship support programs that are responsive to youth’s needs in their target areas. Based on the strong demand for BYB in Palestine YED has trained 172 youth during the four years of implementation. Passport to Success®, IYF’s flagship life skills curriculum, equips vulnerable youth with a range of skills that helps them acquire the employment readiness and confidence they need to succeed in the workplace, including personal development, problem solving, healthy lifestyles, and workplace success strategies. Its interactive learning methodology empowers youth and encourages them to take ownership of their learning process. YED currently has eight partner YSIs utilizing PTS in their YED-funded projects, and has certified 18 PTS trainers (including one PTS Master Trainer) to support this effort. In Year Four, IYF gathered feedback from both YSIs and PTS beneficiaries, refining the materials to meet the needs of local communities, and completed a Palestinian adaptation of the PTS curriculum. YED continued to train new PTS trainers and accompany them through the coaching and certification process. In April, YED and YSI partners attended a life skills conference in Amman, Jordan where they discussed strategies to utilize life skills training to address youth unemployment issues in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. YED Director and PTS Master Trainer were among the presenters, as well as representatives from the World Bank, USAID, UNICEF, and numerous public and private sector organizations. Tamheed™ YED is supporting the capacity of Palestinian YSIs to provide quality career advising through provision of the online psychometric assessment, Tamheed™. Through IYF’s strategic partnership with the Qatari-based social enterprise, Silatech, YSI partners have access to a high quality Arabic-language career guidance tool for youth using that provides an analysis of youth and job seekers’ personalities and matching career paths.

In the past year, YED has seen increasing demand from various partners to access and expand provision of

Tamheed, including requests from MoEHE, PalVision, and university partners. In response, YED’s Tamheed

Master Trainer delivered three ToTs to certify 31 advisors from 11 partners this year alone. Programs like

PalVision’s “Tahfeez” are calling upon IYF’s support in implementing this project using the quality career

education materials that YED is known to provide.

SUPPORT FOR MARGINALIZED COMMUNITIES

All YED-funded projects include a component to provide services to marginalized and rural communities. Based on the results of the midterm evaluation and with USAID’s advice, YED provided support for YSIs to expand their outreach services to a greater number of marginalized rural communities, including meeting the employability needs of rural women. Through the StC program, YED was able to expand its services to a larger number of MoEHE schools throughout the West Bank and as a result was able to reach students in marginalized communities. In


addition, YSIs implementing activities such as job fairs, matching and recruitment and open days were able to reach Palestinian youth in marginalized areas. YED’s partnership with over 785 private and public sector companies, NGOs, YDRCs, CBOs and universities, local councils and Chambers of Commerce, provides youth beneficiaries especially those in marginalized areas, a better opportunity for participating in internships and a stronger chance for permanent job placement.

Challenges & Lessons Learned

YED’S LESSONS LEARNED FOR YEAR FOUR

Reflecting upon the experiences of the past year of program implementation as well as the feedback from partners, donors, and beneficiaries, YED has identified the following lessons learned:

University career guidance centers are effective and welcomed vehicles for supporting post-secondary students and graduates to make informed career decisions in the latter stages of their education. Projects that are implemented through YSIs are used to strengthen this capacity of the universities and provide quality services on campus in order to make resources more readily accessible to youth.

Career education and guidance activities are in high demand and there is a growing awareness in the general Palestinian community about the value of these services. The MoEHE is eager to expand their provision of career guidance and has been a strong partner in developing and implementing these materials.

Internships and job fairs are effective activities to build youth’s employability skills and facilitate permanent employment opportunities.

Strengthening YSI partners’ capacity to facilitate effective internships also requires a high level of oversight in terms of sharing monitoring and reporting tools to ensure that both the intern and the internship provider have a clear understanding of their respective roles and responsibilities in regards to the internship activities.

The engagement of private sector, public sector, NGOs and universities is critical albeit a time-consuming effort that produces significant benefits for youth livelihood programs.

Ongoing economic challenges on a national level increase unemployment in general and among youth in particular, reduce the number of job and internship opportunities available to YED beneficiaries, as well as the ability of private sector companies to provide leverage contributions to YSI partners’ projects.

Supporting youth to become more employable is a long-term commitment that requires long-term investment and continuous support beyond training or even internships.

The process of starting a new company or social enterprise is a very complicated and demanding undertaking for youth and recent college graduates who are being introduced to these concepts for the first time and are expected to make career choices that potentially impact the rest of their lives.

Media in general, and social media in particular, plays a key role in empowering youth to make more timely and informed decisions about their lives and career choices.


There is a strong need for improved coordination between various actors, both local and international, who are involved in supporting youth employability and entrepreneurship.

LESSONS LEARNED FROM INTERNSHIP CASE STUDY

Internships are effective in building improving youth’s employability with nearly 40% of YED interns securing work six months to one year after participating in the internship, compared to the general employment rate for all YED trainees of around 17%.

Formalized internship agreements facilitate effective learning experiences. Internship facilitation processes should include defined roles and responsibilities for all invested parties (interns, providers, project implementers) to ensure the internship functions smoothly, that all parties understand and adhere to their commitments, and that the experience is continuously monitored in order to address any issues that may arise, to maximize the benefit for all stakeholders.

Outcomes varied based on the type of training and internship. Internships focused on a particular sector had greater impact in youth’s transition to a permanent job. While specialized projects are more expensive, tend to reach a smaller number of beneficiaries, and organize a smaller number of internships within an established range of providers, job placement rates were approximately double that of general LSE projects, and four times the employment rate for trainees who did not complete an internship.

YED’s Standards of Excellence support the development of quality internships. YED confirmed that its Standards of Excellence are valid and internships were enhanced by partners’ adoption of international best practice standards. However, based on stakeholders’ feedback, stipends to offset associated costs should be added as a standard to facilitate the most productive internship experience for all parties.

LESSONS LEARNED FROM STC CASE STUDY

The case study yielded suggested improvements for future StC programming which could also be helpful for secondary-level career guidance programs in general:

Expand program activities with parents in recognition of their essential role in helping to plan their children’s futures.

Work more with classroom teachers to strengthen their capacity to advise students on career guidance decisions.

Extend program offerings to younger students, before they are tracked into particular specializations and become immersed in Tawjihi preparation.

Enhance linkages between school activities and university programs to influence university policies and admission procedures.

Schedule more StC activities during summer vacation when students have more time.

Train more counselors so that the program can expand to a greater number of schools and students.


Next Steps

In Year Five, building on lessons learned listed above, and given the limited available resources, YED will build on its key milestones and focus its efforts on implementing the following main activities:

Support at least five universities’ Career Guidance Units (CGUs) by providing technical and administrative support, monitoring and evaluation and reporting feedback based on individual needs. Specific technical assistance under consideration includes:

o Strategic planning for career guidance units

o Data collection and analysis for career guidance beneficiaries

o Differences between career counseling and academic counseling

o Various staff roles in career guidance centers

Launch the employability portal (Ta3mal) and conduct ToT sessions for interested partners to equip them to train and support students in using the Ta3mal portal in partnership with Microsoft and Silatech.

Provide trainings to partner YSIs and CGUs in order to maximize likelihood of sustainability and scalability of the youth services they offer through the following activities:

o Run BYB ToT for up to 14 university staff.

o Organize two BYB ToT refresher courses for 24 previously certified BYB trainers from universities and partner YSIs.

o Conduct PTS refresher training for 16 previously certified trainers to update them on the final adapted version of the PTS curriculum.

o Hold I-Serve refresher training for 10 previously certified trainers to introduce adjustments to the social entrepreneurship curriculum.

o Qualify a new group of Tamheed advisors from nine universities.

o Conduct a refresher Tamheed workshop for up to 32 active certified Tamheed advisors.

o Assist at least five university career centers in developing work plans and diversifying activities for first year students based on individual needs and outcomes.

Continue to support YSIs to implement projects that integrate Standards of Excellence in youth programming, including those partners completing the implementation of training and applied learning activities funded through grants awarded in FY 2013.

Continue to expand career guidance services to secondary school students through the School to Career project by assisting the MoEHE in developing their plans for sustaining the curriculum and taking it to scale.

Successful closeout of YED program and all its sub-grants with partner YSIs, ensuring that targets have been met, documentation has been made, and modules have been adapted per YED’s Standards of Excellence.


ANNEX 1 – SUMMARY OF YED PROGRAM GOALS, IMMEDIATE RESULTS, SUB-INTERMEDIATE RESULTS, AND RELATED ACTIVITIES

YED Program Goal: Creating an enabling environment to prepare young Palestinian men and women (ages 14-29) for the job market, and providing them with the skills necessary to help them find employment opportunities with the public or private sector or to start their own enterprises.

IR1:Strengthened capacity of Youth Serving Institutions

IR2:Enhanced employment and entrepreneurship education for

targeted youth

IR3:Increased access for youth to practical on-the-job training

Sub-IR 1.1YSIs demonstrate improved ability to deliver high-quality employability, entrepreneurship and service learning programming

Sub-IR 2.1Increased access for youth to market-driven life, employability and entrepreneurial skills training

Sub-IR 3.1Facilitating youth internship and apprenticeship opportunities by YSIs

Associated Activities

Training and technical assistance to YSIs in employment, entrepreneurship and community service programming best practices

Capacity building support for YSIs to develop or improve training modules


Sub-grants to YSIs to provide training in employment, entrepreneurship and community service

Online access for youth to employability and entrepreneurship support

Job fairs and open days to link youth with future employers


Development of internship and apprenticeship opportunities for in-school and out-of-school youth

Sub-IR 1.2Establishment of formal linkages between YSIs and public and private sector institutions

Sub-IR 2.2Improved skills of career counselors in best practice career counseling methods and job support services to youth

Sub-IR3.2Youth with enhanced skills in community service, and leadership


Events and partnerships to support active engagement of public, private and civil society sector institutions to better serve youth


Development of career counseling units in YSIs, including universities

Technical Assistance to enhance counselors’ skills in career counseling and job placement


Service Learning and leadership training programs

Youth-led community service initiatives to enhance employability and entrepreneurship skills

Sub IR 3.3 Youth with newly acquired skills to develop business plans, financial plans, market their products, and manage loans and capital


Entrepreneurship and business plan training provided for youth

Technical assistance for on-going support to youth starting new enterprises


ANNEX 2 – YED’S PROGRESS TOWARDS INTERMEDIATE RESULTS IN YEAR FOUR

YED’s progress towards PMP Milestones for Year Four, as well as the program’s progress towards cumulative program targets, is summarized below.

Indicators for Intermediate Result 1

Year 4 Outputs

Year 4 Annual Target

Cumulative Progress to Date

Cumulative Target for

Year 4

Progress towards

PMP target

IR 1 % of YSIs capable of implementing minimum standards in effective programming in employment, entrepreneurship and community services

69% 80% 69% -- --

1.1.1 # of training sessions delivered for YSIs addressing employability models, best practices and policies

12 0 33 20 Exceeded

target

1.1.2 # of YSIs completing CSP as an organization

0 0 14 16 88% of target

achieved

1.1.3 # of YSIs gaining improved capacity to support in a sustainable manner best practice programs in employment, entrepreneurship, community service and internships

1 1 17 16 Exceeded

target

1.1.4 % of YSIs expressing satisfaction with training received 0 95% -- 95%

Two trainings in FY15

1.1.5 # of YSIs developing new training modules or improving existing modules 1 2 14 12

Exceeded target

1.1.6 % of YSIs reporting that CSP allowed them to incorporate or consider new ideas and approaches

0 95% -- 95% CSP

workshops have ended

1.1.7 % of YSIs that found CSP to be effective in developing their professional skills

0 95% -- 95% CSP

workshops have ended

1.2.1 # of formal events organized by YSIs that involve partners from public, private and civil society sectors

136 4 473 11 Exceeded

target

1.2.2 # of YSIs developing strategic partnerships to serve youth

2 3 12 10 Exceeded

target

1.2.3 Amount of cash or in-kind resources leveraged by YSIs $827,998

$2 million

$3,594,091 $5 million 72% of target

achieved

The indicators under Intermediate Result 1 are focused on capacity of Palestinian youth-serving institutions served by YED. YED achieved 86% of its target for Year Four in the percentage of YSIs capable of implementing minimum standards in effective programming in employment, entrepreneurship and community services. While YED will continue to work with current partner YSIs during the next fiscal year to strengthen their capacity with the aim of supporting partners’ capacity to meet minimum standards, the process for measuring the YSIs’ progress towards meeting this standard is based on the grants-application process. As YED does not expect to have additional funds obligated to support additional grants, the


program will not report additional outcomes for this indicator and has requested USAID to remove this indicator from the PMP. YED facilitated 12 training workshops this fiscal year, to support YSI partners’ improved capacity and ability to meet the minimum standards of excellence, and improve their capacity to support best practice programs (1.1.3) and to develop new training modules (1.1.5). YED has exceeded its target for both indicators and plans to assist in developing one more module to be conducted in the next fiscal year. YED’s partners are working hard to establish the necessary number of strategic partnerships to facilitate internships and engage private sector companies in their project work. This year, YSIs organized 136 formal events with partners, including job fairs, keynote speakers, matching and recruiting days, Smart Days and other activities that engage external stakeholders in YED-funded activities. In all, YED has worked with more than 785 external partner organizations, including private sector companies like PADICO Holding, and National Insurance, public sector institutions including the MoEHE and MoL, universities and vocational training centers, MoEHE secondary schools, and the YDRCs. For indicators 1.1.4, 1.1.6, and 1.1.7, YED completed its CSP workshops, which were the basis for these indicators, in FY 13. In the modified PMP submitted to USAID, YED requested approval to remove these indicators from the PMP as they are not part of the current work plan. As for indicator 1.2.2, YED has achieved 67% of the target set for Year Four but exceeded the cumulative target of 10 YSIs developing strategic partnerships. No additional partnerships are expected and thus this indicator will not be reported on and a request was made to remove it from the modified PMP submitted to USAID. Finally, for indicator 1.2.3, the amount of USAID funds leveraged, this target was set based on a 1:1 match with USAID funds obligated to the program. While YED has consistently met this ratio, because of reduced USAID funding this fiscal year, YED has not been able to fund the necessary number of programs to contribute the $2 million in leverage funds that were targeted for FY14. On the other hand, YED’s cumulative contribution of $3.6 million since the beginning of the program exceeds USAID’s $2.7 million in grants to YSIs. This explanation was included in the revised PMP that was submitted to USAID for approval.

Indicators for Component 2/Activity 1

Year 4 Outputs

Year 4 Cumulative

Target



Year 4

Progress towards

PMP target

IR 2 # of youth taking part in training and gaining improved life skills, employability, technical, service learning, career guidance and enterprise development skills

5,670 3,000 13,849 10,000 Exceeded

target

2.1.1 # of sub-grants awarded to YSIs to address improving access for youth to market skills, employability and entrepreneurship training

3 3 21 22 95% of target

achieved

2.1.2 # of trainings held on life skills and employability

6 1 18 9 Exceeded

target

2.1.3 # of trainings held on life skills and entrepreneurship 3 1 15 8

Exceeded target


2.1.4 # of trainings held on life skills and service learning 0 4 5 8

Activity stopped by

USAID

2.1.5 # of youth participating in job fairs/open days organized by YSIs

1,152 400 2,980 2,400 Exceeded

target

2.1.6 # of youth provided online access to information on job opportunities and entrepreneurship resources

52,172 100 71,854 500 Exceeded

target

2.1.7 % of youth participants satisfied with YED-funded training and/or career guidance services provided

93% 90% 93% 87% Exceeded

target

2.1.8 % of youth trainees reporting their leadership skills were strengthened through YED training

84% 85% 84% 82% 99% of target

achieved

2.2.1 # of training programs provided to improve skills of youth career counselors 8 3 16 6

Exceeded target

2.2.2 # of counselors and supervisors in schools, colleges, or YSIs completing training in career counseling methods

144 90 251 150 Exceeded

target

2.2.3 # of schools, colleges, universities, or YSIs providing career counseling services to youth 39 42 74 65

Exceeded target

2.2.4 # of teachers/educators/teaching assistants who successfully completed in-service training or received intensive coaching and mentoring with USG support

159 0 262 22 Activity

stopped by USAID

2.2.5 # of youth receiving career guidance services

6,276 300 10,286 900 Exceeded

target

YED’s progress towards PMP targets for Component 2 has been very strong, with nearly all goals met or exceeded as of this report. YED has trained 5,670 youth this fiscal year, which is almost double the Year Four target of 3,000.YED also provided career guidance to 6,276 youth, far exceeding the original annual target of 300 (this overachievement was largely due to the strategic decision to increase YED’s focus on career guidance in universities and secondary schools, per USAID’s request and beneficiaries’ demand for these services). In support of this work, YED trained 144 career counselors this fiscal year (160% of the 90 targeted) and facilitated nearly three times the targeted number of training programs to develop these counselors (three were projected, and eight were ultimately implemented). YED will provide training to 16 additional counselors in the coming fiscal year. In addition, YED-funded training continues to receive strong feedback from participants, with 93% of participants expressing satisfaction with the quality of the training provided and 84% of trainees reporting strengthened leadership skills as a result of their experience. These ratings have gotten stronger with each program year and YED looks forward to further gains in Year Five.


Indicators for Component 3/Activity 1

YED Year 4

Outputs

YED Year 4 Cumulative

Target



Year 4

Progress towards

PMP target

IR 3-1 # of youth engaged in meaningful internships or apprenticeships 240 250 1,182 640

Exceeded target

IR 3-2 # of youth participating in YED that find a job, start an enterprise or decide to continue education

680 100 1,777 400 Exceeded

target

3.1.1 # of internships and apprenticeships created for youth that are in school or university 123 110 229 310

74% of target

achieved

3.1.2 # of internships or apprenticeships that are created for youth that are out of school or university

117 140 942 340 Exceeded

target

3.1.3 % of youth who found internships relevant to their needs 83% 80% 83% 80%

90% of target

achieved

3.1.4 % of youth interns satisfied with their YED-facilitated internship experience

92% 80% 92% 80% Exceeded

target

3.1.5 % of youth interns reporting strengthened employability skills

92% 80% 92% 80% Exceeded

target

3.2.1 # of training programs organized to enhance the capacity of youth to lead community service projects

0 0 4 4 Activity

stopped by USAID

3.2.2 # of youth completing training on youth-led community service projects and acquiring employability skills

54 300 366 1,000

36% of target

achieved. Activity

stopped by USAID

3.2.3 # of youth-led community service projects 8 30 33 80

41% of target

achieved

3.3.1 # of trainings held to increase youth entrepreneurship skills 0 1 6 8

75% of target

achieved

3.3.2 # of youth entrepreneurs developing business plans

35 50 380 200 Exceeded

target

3.3.3 # of YSIs providing on-going support services to youth entrepreneurs post-training

1 2 5 4 Exceeded

target

In Year Four, YED supported 472 youth to find a job, for a total of 1,006 youth who were supported to find jobs since the program’s inception. Of the YED beneficiaries who found work this year, 69% were young women, which is better than double the national average female labor force participation rate. In addition, YED facilitated placement of 240 youth (57 males, 183 females) in internship opportunities this year reaching a total of 1,172 (456 males, 716 females) over the past four years.

YED’s focus on job placement and internships this year contributed to its results in Component 3. Despite the 90% output for internships in Year Four (IR 3-1), the program is still well ahead of its cumulative goals. Whereas during the first three years of the program, YED provided nearly three times as many internships


for out-of-school youth (indicator 3.1.2) as projected, this year’s focus was on universities and internships for in-school youth, which has helped close the previous gap on the cumulative target for indicator 3.1.1.Going forward, YED will continue to work with partners to balance the number of in-school and out-of-school youth participating in internships. The quality of internships also continues to exceed expectations: 92% of interns were satisfied with the internship experience and felt the opportunity strengthened their employability skills. In addition, 83% of interns felt the opportunity was relevant to their professional interests, which exceeds the target of 80% for that indicator. For entrepreneurship-related targets, YED is generally on track to meet few of its annual goals, with 70% of the targeted number of youth developing business plans and 50% of the targeted YSIs providing on-going support for young entrepreneurs. Because of the limited resources that were made available to YED this year, less resources were made available to support entrepreneurship activities and hence YED could not meet two of these targets. As two of YED’s current projects conducted entrepreneurship-related training this year, YED has already exceeded the target for indicators 3.3.2 and 3.3.3. Although YED expects to conduct one additional training in FY 15 under indicator 3.3.1, it will not reach the initial target for this indicator. The one area in which YED has not made significant contributions this year, and does not expect to meet its annual targets, is in the facilitation of service learning activities. Based on USAID guidance and strategic planning decisions, YED has not funded social entrepreneurship activities this year, and thus has requested for relevant indicators to be removed from the modified PMP submitted to USAID.


ANNEX 3– STATUS OF YED’S YEAR FOUR WORKPLAN KEY MILESTONES

Milestone Timeline Status as of

30 Sept. 2014

Hire an M&E/Learning Officer December 2013

Complete

Continue to support smooth functioning of YED program assets Ongoing Ongoing

Solidify YED’s reputation as the “go-to” program for organizations interested in supporting youth employability and/or entrepreneurship activities

Ongoing Ongoing

Produce communications materials to enhance YED's visibility and inform key stakeholders about YED activities

Ongoing Ongoing

Utilize social media tools to communicate YED's achievements to a wider audience

Ongoing Ongoing

Foster productive relationships with media outlets, including supporting YSIs to issue press releases and disseminate program information

Ongoing Ongoing

Continue to provide support to YSI partners to apply USAID and YED branding standards to media and print materials

Ongoing Ongoing

Conduct regular formal and/or informal stakeholder consultations to ensure greater support for YED program locally, regionally and internationally

Ongoing Ongoing

Continue to provide one-on-one coaching and mentoring to YSI partners implementing YED grants

Ongoing Ongoing

Facilitate peer to peer learning experiences for all YSI partners in employability, entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, and career guidance programs

Ongoing Ongoing

Award up to ten new grants for employability, entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, and career guidance projects to start implementation in Year Four

December 2013

Complete

If additional USAID funding is made available, explore opportunities to scale up projects with proven track record of success based on lessons learned to date

September 2014

N/A due to funding

limitations

Complete the current social entrepreneurship grants December 2013

Complete

Issue at least one social entrepreneurship grant to CSP I and II partners with existing funds March 2014

N/A due to funding

limitations

Continue to support the adaptation and use of employability, entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship curricula and materials that are identified as useful to YSI partners’ programs

Ongoing Ongoing

Continue to support implementation of job fair/open day events with current YSI partners

February 2014

Ongoing

Facilitate job fair/open day opportunities for YED beneficiaries through new employability and entrepreneurship grants

September 2014

Ongoing


Continue to support development of PPU’s employability and entrepreneurship portal

Ongoing Ongoing

Award at least one grant to implement activities for School to Career project in FY 2014

December 2013

Complete

Continue to support all YSI partners, particularly universities and MoEHE, to implement projects that include career guidance components

Ongoing Ongoing

Award at least 3 new grants through existing funds that include internship opportunities for youth

December 2013

Complete

Support current programs that include internship opportunities for YED beneficiaries

February 2014

Ongoing

Continue to establish and support partnerships that provide experiential learning opportunities for YED beneficiaries

Ongoing Ongoing

Continue to the development of start-ups established through current and previous grants

Ongoing Ongoing

Award at least one additional entrepreneurship grant with current funding

December 2013

Complete

Complete the implementation of the activities of the two current social entrepreneurship grants

October 2013

Complete

Continue to develop and adapt new social entrepreneurship tools June 2014 Complete

Award one new social entrepreneurship grant with current funding December

2013

N/A due to funding

limitations

Implementation in Gaza- To be determined in coordination with USAID N/A N/A

Continue to explore opportunities for YSI partners to cooperate with and support YDRCs during project implementations

Ongoing Ongoing

Continue to work with YSI partners to implement quality M&E systems and report valid data to USAID

Ongoing Ongoing

Complete the current internship case-study to study impact of YSIs’ internship projects on supporting youth employability

December 2013

Complete

Develop two additional case studies to document the impact of YED’s work on strengthening youth employability, entrepreneurship, and social entrepreneurship skills

September 2014

Complete


ANNEX 4– ANNUAL EXPENDITURES FOR YEAR FOUR

Description FY14 Expenditures

Oct. 1, 2013 – Sep. 2014

Personnel $671,496

Benefits $106,010

Travel $18,314

Equipment $0

Supplies $11,485

Consultants $11,502

Sub-grants $1,049,586

Other $135,790

Basic education earmark $15,000

Total Direct Expenses $2,019,184

Indirect $350,493

Total $2,369,677

youth entrepreneurship development program annual …

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