Quarterly Performance Report: Youth:Work Mozambique

Initiated in January 2012, this three-year US $1.2 million project aims to improve livelihood opportunities for highly vulnerable in- and out-of-school youth and members of their household in the province of Cabo Delgado. The objectives of the program are to strengthen the employability and entrepreneurship skills of youth, ensure that these skills are aligned with market demands in the tourism and other high-growth sectors, and improve collaboration and build local capacity through alliances, partnerships, and exchanges among training institutes, youth-serving organizations, and the private sector. The target group includes orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) between the ages of 15 and 18, youth under 24 years of age living with HIV and receiving anti-retroviral treatment (ART), and their household members, under the age of 24, who are caregivers or provide economic support. The program will be implemented in two phases. Phase 1 will focus on establishing and piloting a model by identifying partners, assessing their capacity, reviewing existing training programs, conducting a labor market assessment, developing a comprehensive training model, and piloting training activities in Pemba. Phase 2 will focus on expanding the pilot activities, integrating entrepreneurship activities, operationalizing the stakeholder alliance, sharing lessons learned, documenting the Y:W Moz model, and evaluating activities. During the period of July-September 2012, IYF staff focused on partner identification and proposal development. IYF's Technical Advisor evaluated the capacities and potential of SOS and IICP, two institutions that submitted proposals in response to the RFP process. SOS was found to have limited capacity to implement the project, while IICP was deemed the most plausible entity to discuss a partnership on the project. IICP's initial proposal did not address most of the main elements of the program, and further elaboration was needed to move forward. IYF organized five working sessions to assist IICP in the proposal development and build their capacity to respond to future requests for proposals. The process involved online collaboration and the write-up of the proposal, which proposed to train 600 students in four career areas within an 18-month period. The proposal addressed collaboration with local government and NGOs to reach the target population, including a partnership with the local Language Institute to provide English classes. The proposal also allotted for 80 hours of Life Skills. IYF shared best practices and learning with IICP regarding program design, including integrated programming. IICP adapted these best practices in their proposed programming, and the proposal is mostly elaborated, with some issues remaining to be fleshed out. The program aims to create partnerships among public, private, and non-profit sectors to involve them in the project, maximize resources, and add value to youth employability interventions in Cabo Delgado. The official start date of the program was January 1, 2012, and the project is expected to have a positive impact on the lives of vulnerable youth in Mozambique.