Quarterly Report for Cooperative Agreement AID-523A-16-0001

The report highlights the organization's achievements in meeting the targets of the Global Development Alliance (GDA) across its three program goals. The program's second year of the GDA saw significant progress in serving youth in target communities. By the end of the second year, the program had worked with 6,266 youth across all program components and communities, exceeding the target to serve 5,460 youth. Of these youth, 1,204 participated in primary prevention, 4,696 in secondary prevention, and 366 in tertiary prevention. The program successfully consolidated and customized the JcR model, incorporating key innovations to make it more relevant for youth at higher risk. The new design of the program model includes an orientation phase based on YouthBuild's mental toughness process, a comprehensive follow-up process, and a longer, more intensive education/intervention phase. Additionally, the program finalized the first review of the youth targeting tool and piloted its use in the field for a year. External evaluation results indicate that JcR youth improve key soft skills for employment. The Center for Education and Social Studies (CEES) delivered intermediate results, showing that youth who participated in the program demonstrated increased competence in soft skills such as leadership, coping with conflict, self-esteem, relationships with others, organization, empathy, and communication skills. Furthermore, JcR youth members showed a greater capacity to maintain their determination and motivation for long periods of time despite experiences with failure and adversity. The program also consolidated its private sector partner network through the comprehensive corporate social responsibility strategy "Synergies with Youth." In the first two years of the GDA, JcR developed the SwY initiative to engage private sector partners in an innovative corporate responsibility strategy. The network includes 61 companies that have directly participated in the internship and mentorship programs, leveraging 2.7 million dollars from private sector partners, which accounts for over 84% of the necessary funds to meet the 1:1 required by the GDA.