Youth Savings Groups, Entrepreneurship and Employment
- Partner: Plan UK
- Publication Type: Report
- Date: May 2014
This report examines how youth savings groups can contribute to the fight against youth unemployment. It looks at key constraints to youth employability and entrepreneurship, including limited asset base and access to finance, lack of employability and entrepreneurship skills, limited social networks, household underinvestment in education and health, unfavorable cultural and social norms and non-conducive regulatory frameworks.
Read MoreLeveraging Apprenticeships to Reach and Benefit Vulnerable Youth: Lessons from STRIVE’s Afghan Secure Futures Program
- Partner: Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and FHI360
- Publication Type: Report
- Date: December 2013
STRIVE implemented four field projects in Africa and Asia between 2008 and 2013, ranging from savings-led finance to workforce development to value chain interventions. This report summarizes the findings of one of four STRIVE-funded initiatives, MEDA’s Afghan Secure Futures (ASF) project. ASF focused on benefiting youth apprentices working in workshops in the Afghan construction sector.
Read MoreMeasuring Results in Challenge Funds: Practical Guidelines for Implementing the DCED Standard
- Partner: Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED)
- Publication Type: Toolkit
- Date: October 2013
This paper provides guidance for results measurement in challenge funds using the DCED Standard, an eight-part framework for measuring and managing results of private sector development programs. It looks at each of the eight elements of the DECD Standard to present practical advice on how to implement them in a challenge fund context.
Read MorePractical Guidelines for Measuring Achievements in Private Sector Development in Conflict-Affected Environments: A Case Study of The Employment Promotion Programme in Sierra Leone
- Partner: Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED)
- Publication Type: Case Study
- Date: August 2013
This case study supplements the DCED Practical Guidelines for Measuring Achievements in Private Sector Development in Conflict-Affected Environments (CAEs), drawing lessons from the Employment Promotion Programme (EPP) in Sierra Leone. The case is structured around four elements of the DCED Standard: articulating the results chain, defining indicators, measuring indicators, and managing the system for results measurement.
Read MorePractical Guidelines for Measuring Achievements in Private Sector Development in Conflict-Affected Environments: A Case Study of the Sustainable Employment and Economic Development (SEED) Programme in Somalia
- Partner: Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED)
- Publication Type: Case Study
- Date: August 2013
This case study supplements the DCED Practical Guidelines for Measuring Achievements in Private Sector Development in Conflict-Affected Environments (CAEs). It examines the Sustainable Employment and Economic Development (SEED) programme in Somalia, which explicitly aims to reduce conflict through employment promotion, and develop a conflict sensitive results measurement system.
Read MoreIncorporating Supplementary Literacy and Numeracy Classes: Findings from STRIVE’s Afghan Secure Futures Program
- Partner: Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and FHI360
- Publication Type: Report
- Date: June 2013
STRIVE has implemented four field projects in Africa and Asia between 2008 and 2013. Each project has pursued a unique economic strengthening approach, ranging from savings-led finance to workforce development to value chain interventions. This report summarizes the findings of one of four STRIVE-funded initiatives, MEDA’s Afghan Secure Futures (ASF) project. ASF focused on benefiting youth apprentices working in workshops in the Afghan construction sector, in part by facilitating their access to supplementary literacy and numeracy training.
Read MoreMarkets and Poverty in Northern Kenya: Towards a Financial Graduation Model
- Partner: Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Kenya
- Publication Type: Report
- Date: September 2012
This preliminary scoping study presents the outcome of an analytical review of markets and poverty in northern Kenya. It begins with a definition of financial graduation models tracing the evolution of approaches and pathways out of poverty which have informed these models. The subsequent sections provide an analysis of poverty and different livelihoods in northern Kenya. Finally, the value chains approach is used to identify promising interventions for developing markets and enabling the very poor to engage in them.
Read MoreIntegrating Food Security and the Value Chain Approach
- Partner: United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
- Publication Type: Brief
- Date: March 2012
Food security is a common issue across many contexts where a value chain approach is employed. This briefing paper identifies challenges, solutions and emerging good practices in using the value chain approach to improve food security. It focuses on the synergies where the value chain approach can contribute towards food security objectives and vice versa.
Read MorePathways Out of Poverty: Tools for Value Chain Development Practitioners
- Partner: ACDI/VOCA and United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
- Publication Type: Toolkit
- Date: January 2012
This toolkit equips value chain development programmers with a set of tools that can be used for situation assessments, value chain selection and value chain analysis. The document presents an overview of each tool listed, including a brief description of its relevance to reaching the very poor in the context of a value chain development program. It also presents brief examples of how each tool can be applied and used to inform programming decisions.
Read MorePathways out of Poverty Case Study: Savings Groups on the Pathway to Graduation: PSNP Plus in Ethiopia
- Partner: ACDI/VOCA, United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
- Publication Type: Case Study
- Date: January 2012
This is one in a series of USAID-commissioned case studies that examined interventions and approaches to creating pathways out of poverty that “pushed” the very poor towards productive engagement in markets and/or “pulled” the poor into markets. This case study looks at how the PSNP Plus project in Ethiopia piloted interventions to sustainably graduate households from dependence on cash and food transfers.
Read More