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 program's objectives 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 January – March 2012, IYF staff focused on start-up activities, including the submission of the Branding & Marking Plan, Implementation Plan, and M&E Plan. IYF submitted the Branding & Marking Plan on January 28 and the Implementation and M&E Plans on February 15, 2012. The IYF team also met with key stakeholders from the public, private, and civil society/NGO sectors in Maputo and Pemba to review the M&E plan, provide clarifications, and obtain feedback on required updates. IYF initiated the recruitment process for the in-country Technical Advisor in January by developing the job description and advertising the position. IYF received 35 applications and selected several candidates to be interviewed. The interviews were conducted over the telephone in early February, and IYF identified the top candidate and conducted the necessary reference checks. As of this writing, IYF is in negotiation with the top candidate. The IYF Assessment visit to Mozambique took place from February 17 – March 2, during which the team met with key stakeholders from the public, private, and civil society/NGO sectors in Maputo and Pemba. The team also initiated work on a dual-client assessment and was joined by IYF Program Director, who was in Mozambique to oversee a youth assessment in selected provinces under YouthMap. Meetings were also held with USAID staff, including the Tourism and Biodiversity Manager, OVC Manager and AOTR, Project Management Specialist, Supervisory Acquisition Specialist, Outreach Coordinator, and Community Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist. The IYF team debriefed USAID on the assessment visit to Pemba on March 1st, presenting a SWOT analysis and recommendations from the team. The SWOT analysis highlighted the economic environment in Cabo Delgado, which has shifted significantly in the past couple of years with the expansion of the oil and gas sector, creating employment opportunities in related areas such as construction and ancillary services. However, the private sector representatives noted that there is a lack of qualified labor with the necessary technical skills, life skills, and basic educational level to perform successfully, offering opportunities for the program to provide quality training, place trainees in jobs, and meet the needs of the labor market.