My Skills, My Money, My Brighter Future in Rwanda: An assessment of economic strengthening interventions for adolescent girls

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Document

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															My Skills, My Money, My Brighter Future in Rwanda:  An assessment of economic strengthening interventions for adolescent girls
													

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Experts from many international, regional and national agencies generously share their views, experiences and findings on skills, helping policy-makers among other stakeholders to understand the linkages between education, training and the world of work, and how to integrate skills into national development planning to promote employment and economic growth.

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skpOSource

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other-sources

Topics:

Youth employability

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Globally, nearly 68 million young women and men are looking for and available for work, and an estimated 123 million young people are working but living in poverty. The number who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) stands at 267 million, a majority of whom are young women. Significantly, young people are three times as likely as adults (25 years and older) to be unemployed.

Skills development is a primary means of enabling young people to make a smooth transition to work. A comprehensive approach is required to integrate young women and men in the labour market, including relevant and quality skills training, labour market information, career guidance and employment services, recognition of prior learning, incorporating entrepreneurship with training and effective skills forecasting. Improved basic education and core work skills are particularly important to enable youth to engage in lifelong learning as well as transition to the labour market.

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skpYoEmp

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youth-employability

Knowledge Products:

Research papers

Working papers, reports, and other publications from international organizations, academic institutions and bilateral agencies. Research findings to stimulate informed debate on skills, employment and productivity issues.

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research-papers

Publication Date:

20 Apr 2015

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wcmstest4_139857.pdf

To respond to the orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) crisis in Rwanda, Catholic Relief Services and Caritas partners implemented a five-year program from 2004 to 2010 that provided caregivers and children a range of services: education support, healthcare and HIV education, protection, psychosocial support, food security and nutrition assistance, and economic strengthening. The program—implemented through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Track 1—targeted OVC boys and girls 17 years old and younger. Most participants were adolescents. For this assessment, CRS chose to more closely examine the effects of economic strengthening interventions on the wellbeing of adolescent girls participating in the OVC program.

The reasons are twofold: programs that address the needs of vulnerable girls often have benefits that reach far beyond the girls themselves and affect the wellbeing of their entire household as well as that of their future children. In addition, interventions that directly address the economic situation of girls are of primary concern because many adolescent girls either contribute to the household income or are the sole earner. Interventions examined here include vocational training, savings and internal lending communities (SILC), and bio intensive gardens and small-animal husbandry.

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