Monitoring and Evaluation Plan for the Technical Vocational Education and Training Strengthening for At-Risk Youth Project (TVET SAY)

The project supports a cadre of at-risk youth with job-focused training and soft skills, building resilient and capable youth with access to licit livelihoods that contribute to improved safety and competitiveness. The project works through directly strengthening eight private TVET centers that are committed to assisting the project to achieve Intermediate Result (IR) 2.2, Work Force and Life Skills Increased, and IR 2.3 Community Engagement in Creating a Positive Environment for At-Risk Children and Youth Increased. The project's private sector alliances will assist TVET centers to better align course offerings to meet youth labor demand, offer scholarship funding, and job opportunities, breaking the barriers to access to livelihoods for youth at risk. The project's Results Framework is presented in Figure 1, which shows the link between the Results Frameworks of USAID/Nicaragua CDCS DO2 and the TVET SAY project. The project addresses two IRs - IR 2.2 Work Force and Life Skills Increased and IR 2.3 Community Engagement in Creating a Positive Environment for At-Risk Children and Youth Increased. The project's purpose is to improve the quality and access to TVET for at-risk youth, increasing alignment between supply and demand in the labor market and promoting safer environments where youth can thrive. The project's indicators include the number of vulnerable persons benefitting from USG-supported social services, the number of individuals with new or better employment following completion of USG-assisted workforce development programs, and the percentage of target population that views Gender-Based Violence (GBV) as less acceptable after participating in or being exposed to USG programming. The project also aims to increase the proportion of youth who report increased self-efficacy at the conclusion of USG-supported programs and reduce the risk factors of targeted youth. The project's Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Plan was completed with USAID/Nicaragua guidance and incorporates inputs from the FY16 work plan, Gender Assessment, and Baseline Study. The M&E Plan is organized in five sections: Section I serves as an Introduction; Section II presents the Results Framework; Section III describes results management; Section IV provides reference sheets for all indicators, and a summary of Performance M&E Data Table; and Section V elaborates an M&E Task Schedule. The project's M&E Plan includes several evaluations and studies, including a Gender Analysis Study, Baseline Study, Assessment of Organizational Capacity (OCA) of target TVETs, Survey on Public Perception of TVETs, Identifying Risk Level of Targeted Beneficiaries (COMPAS-T), Learning throughout the Project, and Final or Summative Evaluation. The project also includes procedures for assessing data quality, reviewing and updating the M&E Plan, and reporting performance information. The project's private sector alliances will assist TVET centers to better align course offerings to meet youth labor demand, offer scholarship funding, and job opportunities, breaking the barriers to access to livelihoods for youth at risk. The project's M&E Plan is designed to ensure that the project is meeting its objectives and making progress towards its goals.