Promising Youth Development Strategies

This paper examines four approaches to technical and vocational education and training (TVET) used by USAID in South Africa, Indonesia, Georgia, and Morocco between 2007 and 2012 and is based on a 2010 desk review. This review examines how the four programs perform according to nine elements of highly effective workforce development and TVET systems. These nine elements were found to be a part of effective workforce development systems in a 20‐country study conducted by USAID in 1997. This paper begins with a brief background and history of TVET, followed by four project briefs that describe each program’s purpose, policy framework, content, organization, staffing, partnerships, impact, and sustainability. The programs are so recent that there is little evidence of sustainability or impact to date.

The Conclusions and Recommendations sections provide an analysis of what is missing and recommendations on how sustainability could be improved so that USAID investments in TVET are more likely to be sustained, replicated, and scaled up. It appears that each of the programs is designed, organized, and managed so as to respond to challenging skill and capacity gaps in its country. However, it is hard to know if the innovations developed with USAID funding will be sustained once USAID ceases to invest. At the end of the document you will find annexes listing recommended resources and references/bibliography.