Youth Employment and Business Start-Up (YouLead) Project – Sri Lanka Annual Report - Year Four

The program seeks to align the skills demanded by a competitive economy with the skills possessed by its youth. Key objectives of the program include increasing youth employability skills in targeted sectors, improving quality, relevance, and delivery of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), and increasing prospects of successful self-employment. The program's regional focus is in the districts with the highest unemployment among young women and men, including Jaffna, Galle, Kandy, Mannar, Kegalle, Badulla, Kilinochchi, Hambantota, Nuwara Eliya, Monaragala, Matara, and Matale. Priority sectors selected for the project are tourism and hospitality, construction, information and communications technology (ICT), and healthcare. In Year 4 of the project (ending September 2021), YouLead continued to build on its success in 2020 by moving many activities online and taking advantage of the few windows of opportunity where infection rates dropped to achieve results in areas such as career guidance and entrepreneurship. The YouLead team also continued to lay the groundwork for new activities that would deliver accelerated results once training restrictions are lifted. Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, YouLead accomplished a number of programmatic activities and targets in partnership with its stakeholders. Highlights of YouLead's work in 2021 include meeting or exceeding the annual target for 18 indicators, more than 10,000 youth with new or better jobs, and the release of a Sinhala language career guidance film, Agni Siragugal (Wings of Fire). The program's digital initiatives accounted for more than 12 million individuals being exposed to YouLead-developed digital content and outreach materials. YouLead's Career Bus provided in-person career guidance to more than 10,000 youth, and the program delivered more than 35 new trainings after Sri Lanka's April holidays. YouLead's partnership with its stakeholders has been crucial to its success. The program has collaborated with local partners such as the American Chamber of Commerce, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Skills for Life, and Verité Research, as well as international partners like Global Communities. The Ministry of Skills Development, Employment and Labour Relations (MSDVT) has also been a key government counterpart for the program. The program's financial management has been overseen by the International Executive Service Corps (IESC), the prime implementing partner. IESC has managed the program's budget expenditures, cost share, and leverage, as well as the status of required audit processes. The program's financial management has been critical to its success, ensuring that resources are allocated effectively to achieve its objectives. YouLead's success has been recognized through various indicators, including the number of youth with new or better jobs, the number of individuals exposed to digital content and outreach materials, and the number of trainings delivered. The program's ability to adapt to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic has been a key factor in its success, demonstrating its resilience and commitment to achieving its objectives.