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OAS Program Information

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

I. PROGRAM INFORMATION
Introduction
OAS Unit for Social Development and Education
OAS Strategy for Youth Enterprise and Employment Development
Background

II. THE OAS AND YOUTH ENTERPRISE & EMPLOYMENT

III. PROJECT OBJECTIVES

IV. PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Young Entrepreneur / Employment Network - System Design: Key Features Program 10 steps

PROFILES OF OAS TECHNICAL COOPERATION ON YOUTH EMPLOYMENT AND MICROENTERPRISE

IV. Project Description

4.1 Strategy:The Organization of American States and the Member States propose to develop a comprehensive series of national projects, linked together in a coordinated regional strategy focusing on entrepreneurship, technological education, and employment creation in small businesses. This project will start with identifying and documenting model programs and young entrepreneurs case studies, increase training and technical assistance to individual member states, and create a program and entrepreneur network. To implement this strategy the OAS Unit for Social Development and Education and other participating organizations will:

  1. Identify exemplary model elements of a successful youth enterprise/employment development system.
  2. Assist Member States in strengthening their existing service delivery network.
  3. Develop regional technical cooperation networks to further promote youth enterprise/employment development
  4. Secure increased financial support to support regional and national efforts

4.2 Identification and documentation of exemplary program models:

The OAS will assess the effectiveness and key elements of existing OAS and CDB youth employment, skill training and entrepreneurship projects, and from this assessment, identify exemplary program elements and the full array of services (training, follow-up, and finance) needed to provide comprehensive youth enterprise and employment services. In addition, the OAS will survey Member States to identify additional exemplary programs to further develop a comprehensive model for youth enterprise/employment development. Written case studies will be developed documenting most of the elements of a comprehensive service system. These case studies will provide technical guidance for other organizations seeking to replicate these successful program models. This will enable local programs to benefit from the successful experiences of other program operators and international institutions within the region.

4.3 Identification of gaps in national program services systems:

The OAS has created a template (see Annex I) of services that defines a comprehensive youth enterprise/employment service delivery system and is seeking seed funding from the OAS Inter-American Council for Integral Development and other international donor organizations to support the creation of action plans for each Member State to strengthen its service delivery system. Each Member State would develop a working group to promote the development of the national plan and collaborate with working groups of other Member States.

4.4 National and regional collaboration on technological education, employment skills training and entrepreneurial development:

The OAS is developing mechanisms to share technical information among organizations in Member States to assist them in developing and refining their national plans. From this regional technical cooperation networks will develop to collaborate on infrastructure and enterprise/employment development; eliminate barriers for youth entrepreneurs and youth employment; and share successes/solutions among member nations on common challenges. This Internet web site includes information on the model template, the case studies and national plans to facilitate regional collaboration and identify sources of support.

4.5 Based on the input received during regional meetings, program research, and individual consultations, a program of technical assistance and training will be devised to address specific activities proposed and the needs of program operators. This training will be aimed at expanding the capabilities of existing program operators and improving the design of the service delivery system in each Member State to provide the maximum benefit to youth. The training could include: ways to implement more effective program models, specific practical business skills training curricula, and models for financing youth business ventures. Other possible follow-up activities could include: technical exchanges among the participating countries, short-term secondment of staff and volunteers, and national partnership development workshops.

4.6 Increased national and regional capacity to plan and manage projects through strengthened: management practices, program planning, and program evaluation.

On-going training and technical cooperation will be undertaken via the Internet web site and on-site consultation and training to strengthen the long-term management capabilities of these organizations at both the regional and national levels. Specific topics to be addressed include: strategic planning, fund-raising, project / organizational development and management, building program partnerships, board development, and designing effective program evaluation. These training and management development exercises will be aimed at improving the working linkages between private sector donors and youth programs, as well as the overall operations of youth organizations. An increased funding base and stronger management will enable them to reach additional numbers of young persons and extend their programs into under-served areas.

4.7 Market research to identify sectors with the greatest potential for business success:

Since a major focus of the project is to create private sector employment opportunities for youth through entrepreneurial development and self-employment, the project will also focus on market research to determine which areas offer the greatest potential for youth business project development. Profiles from this market research will be prepared and distributed to assist young entrepreneurs in developing these enterprises.

4.8Technical and financial resource mobilization:

The OAS and other co-sponsors will work to secure additional resources to support pilot projects and technical assistance in individual Member States. This will include working with high level private sector leaders to explore effective short term and long term strategies for increasing support among corporations, banks and businesses for youth development initiatives within the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR/ EMPLOYMENT NETWORK
System Design: Key Features

Target GroupThis program is designed for all youth ages 14 to 30, with priority going to those who are in the labor market (school leavers who have completed or left school). There will be a varied mix of services for individual youth, depending on individual needs.

Youth Enterprise / Employment Services Network: Each country could establish an integrated network of youth enterprise/employment services throughout the country, which will link existing local service providers to more efficiently deliver the training and support services described below. Network members will cross reference youth to support a comprehensive approach to meeting youth's needs, without each agency needing to provide a full range of comprehensive services. Where there are no appropriate services, or where they are inadequate to meet the expected demand, the network members will work to encourage existing agencies to develop these services. A national group could meet to coordinate activities and make recommendations for national service delivery standards. Agencies affiliated with the network would agree to provide training and other services that meet these standards.

Comprehensive, Targeted Services: The network will offer a graduated, step by step program of services to youth with little or no work or business experience. Youth with some training or experience would be able to skip some of the initial steps. As youth complete each step, they can move on to the next one. Effective initial assessment is key to placing a young person on the right step.

Preliminary Data Collection - Nation-Wide:

Labor market analysis: Where this information currently exists, it will be disseminated to network members. Where it does not exist, the network will arrange to have it collected and updated on a periodic basis. This work will be done by a labor market oriented agency, data collection organization or others with skills in this area. The findings will be given to all participating members to assist them with career planning for youth. They will also be shared with vocational training institutions to help them target their training to actual labor market needs.

In conducting the labor market analysis, some additional outputs will include job development for program participants, including identifying sites for work experience and on the job training opportunities. An additional result will be to identify potential mentors who can work with the entrepreneurs.

Small Business Opportunity Analysis: Also conducted on a periodic basis, this will be done by a market oriented/marketing agency, or others with skills in this area. The findings will include specific sectoral analyses. The findings will be given to all participating network members to assist them with career/enterprise planning for youth. It will also be given to entrepreneurs to help them target markets they may want to explore and services/products they want to provide.

Parallel Tracks

Entrepreneurial and Wage Employment Development:

The Youth Enterprise/Employment System is composed of two parallel sets of program activities: one for entrepreneurial development and one on wage employment. Based on individualized assessments, youth may choose either the self-employment or wage employment path. Both share common elements of recruitment, intake and assessment. Some of the preparatory training will also be the same for both paths. More advanced training and initial work world experiences will be different for youth on the two different paths.

The following outlines the paths a young person could pursue through the graduated steps of the Youth Enterprise system or the Youth Employment system.

Description of Specific Service Components:

The specific steps each youth needs to participate in to complete the program will be determined at the intake/assessment entry point (Step 1).

THE TEN STEPS

1. Recruitment, Intake, Assessment and Referral: All youth who contact any of the service delivery agencies affiliated with the Youth Enterprise/Employment Network will be given a standardized referral form to refer them to an appropriate provider. Outreach efforts will promote broad youth interest in the program through schools, community leaders, churches, youth programs, the media and graduates of Youth Enterprise/Employment Network programs and their families. At intake, staff will talk with the youth to determine their enterprise/employment readiness and need for additional services; and to develop an individual service plan for each eligible youth based on the results of this assessment.

This individual service plan will vary based on the methodology adopted by each national network. It should, in general, describe the youth's current status in the areas assessed and what the development goals will be for the youth in the Youth Enterprise/Employment Network program. The plan will be drawn from an inventory of services available and jobs or business opportunities with the greatest potential for success. This inventory will be based on the labor market and market demand research described above. The intake staff will provide career guidance and job counseling as part of the initial assessment process, to help the youth decide whether to focus on the entrepreneurial or wage employment sectors.

Given the current limitations of the labor market and the educational system, most youth will be encouraged to pursue an entrepreneurial plan. Those youth who wish to pursue wage employment instead of entrepreneurship will be provided assistance with training, job search and job placement.

Assessment - Areas to be assessed include:

  • Attitudinal readiness/personal development
  • Career interests/aptitudes
  • Academic and vocational skills

Coordinated referrals: Youth needing services not provided by the intake agency will be referred to other Youth Enterprise/Employment Network agencies that can provide the needed services. The plan for these referrals will be part of the individual service plan developed at intake. The person who makes the referral will follow up on all referrals within two weeks to insure the appropriate connections were made.

In order to promote the effectiveness of referrals, representative staff in member agencies will get together periodically to share ideas, discuss current capacities and solve problems. All trainers and counselors of Youth Enterprise/Employment Network affiliated agencies will attend a Youth Enterprise/Employment Network orientation so they are familiar with the entire network of services and get to know their counterparts in other service agencies.

It is helpful for agencies who initiate a referral to track the youth all the way through the program. This will give the agency data on how well they have prepared the youth and will provide on-going support to individual young people. It would also be helpful for the Network, overall, to develop a central tracking system to keep track of referrals, successes and failures to help improve the system. Individual young people could also be given a log book in which they record all the services they have received as a way of building a portfolio or resume.
2. Personal development and enterprise education, to include:
  • Motivation and building character, community-building and civic education
  • Developing enterprising attitudes and innovative thinking
  • Social competency skills and personal health
  • Business communication skills (literacy)
  • Working with numbers and finances (numeracy)

All youth in the program, especially those with limited education, will be encouraged to upgrade their literacy and numeracy skills within the context of employment and entrepreneurship training. The advantages of improved educational skills will be promoted in the context of skills needed to plan and manage a business. In this context, youth who were formerly uninterested in further pursuing their education may become more motivated. However, remedial education will not become a requirement for participation in this program nor for securing a loan.
3. Business and economic education to include:
  • Information and orientation to wage or self-employment markets
  • Understanding business practices/business ethics, attitudes
  • Personal financial management
  • Good business and work ethics
  • Time management
4. Vocational skills training: This will be targeted to skill areas that have been identified through labor market and community demand analysis as having adequate, local employment/enterprise opportunities. The curriculum will include a focus on developing an attitude and behavior pattern that will help insure success (good business, work ethics and technical skills).
5. Training to prepare an individual for general wage employment or for managing their own business will involve two separate tracks.
  1. Small business and entrepreneurial training: - Self-employment/enterprise training will include:
    • Business planning/feasibility assessment for small business
    • Principles of management for small business
    • Fundamentals of marketing for small business
    • Basics of business law
    • Small business accounting
    • Employing others
    • Access to financial and non-financial services
  2. Wage employment readiness training including:
    • Job seeking skills: applications, resumes, interviewing, job hunting
    • Understanding world of work expectations and the standards of businesses and employers
    • Career awareness - shadowing (following an employee in a career of interest), and other activities to broaden career information/expectations
    • Learning effective on-the-job work habits and behaviors
6. Individualized support which includes (for both tracks):

Each youth will be followed through the program by their intake worker and/or training staff. Unless the initial intake worker agrees to follow the youth through the entire program, each service provider will be required to follow the youth through the next service (the activity the youth moves to immediately following the youth's involvement with their agency) to ensure continuity of service.

For entrepreneurs especially, individualized support will also include:

  • Involvement of a mentor to work individually with the entrepreneur through the planning and implementation phase and at least until the loan is paid off
  • Opportunities for shadowing the mentor or other on the job business experiences
  • Seminars for parents/family members to help them understand and play a supporting role in the entrepreneurial development process
  • Development of a peer support network of successful youth entrepreneurs to provide encouragement, orientation and support to new youth entrepreneurs, for example, a young entrepreneurs association
  • Personal support by a youth services agency if family support is lacking
7. Work Attachment / Internship / Career Exploration

This will provide an opportunity for an entrepreneurial candidate to work for a short time in a small business to get a more direct feel for what the life of an entrepreneur involves. For youth interested in the wage sector, this will involve a short term job to give them a hands-on experience in a job to help them firm up their career direction.

The first seven steps are essentially the same for each of the two tracks. The last three steps branch into different, parallel activities, each appropriate for wage sector employment or for self-employment / entrepreneurial development. These steps include:

For entrepreneurs establishing new enterprises:

8. Project testing includes small conditional grants as a form of a business development scholarship to test market or prototype the product or service being planned. This would be offered to participants where it appeared to be useful, upon completion of their training program and the development of their business plan. The training agency and mentor will help the youth write a brief proposal for such a grant. The proposal will be submitted to the local Youth Enterprise Network financial agent/ Youth Business Trust for review and approval based on the national Youth Enterprise/Employment Network guidelines and policies. The youth will be required to write a short report summarizing the results of the project test. Another option is to use this grant as a small scale business grant in the Trickle Up model, to test both the viability of the project idea and the ability of the entrepreneur.
9. The loan scheme will provide ready access for youth to small start up loans for a business enterprise. The Youth Enterprise/Employment Network will include a range of financial institutions to provide loans to program graduates to help them start and expand a business. Loans will be made available to program graduates who have developed a well thought out business plan, have completed sufficient training, and have been connected to a mentor. A Youth Enterprise/Employment Network training provider will certify this before the youth could be referred for a loan.
10.Post loan support services will be provided to youth entrepreneurs by the mentor, the enterprise training program and the on-lending institution. The specific role of each party will be agreed upon when the loan application is prepared. On-going market analysis data will be available and joint marketing services with other entrepreneurs will also be encouraged. Those interested in establishing their enterprise in an incubator environment will be referred to organizations that provide such a service. This could be arranged as part of the business planning process. Specific support for entrepreneurs could include:
  • Guidance in implementing and monitoring the business plan
  • Problem solving/trouble shooting
  • Money management
  • Supplemental training workshops
  • Moral support (coaching)
  • Marketing advice
  • Business incubator or assistance in obtaining space for their business
  • Networking for information sharing with other entrepreneurs.

For youth interested in wage employment:

8.Supported work experience will provide a subsidized work placement to provide young people experience in maintaining satisfactory job performance. This will be an entry level position that is short term in nature (3-6 months) where youth would learn what was expected of them as employees and gain effective work habits prior to securing a more permanent job. Employers wishing to offer these subsidized jobs would need to offer additional support and supervision to youth placed in the job. A Youth Enterprise/Employment Network staff person (the intake worker or staff from the most recent training the youth participated in) would closely monitor the youth's performance in the work experience.
9.On-the-job training would offer an opportunity for more long term and higher skilled work. It would be the final step in securing employment. This could take the form of an apprenticeship, or a less formal arrangement where a youth would be offered a job and initial on-the-job training to prepare them for more skilled work. The employer would hire the youth on a permanent basis, prior to the on-the-job training. Some government subsidies will be made available to help offset some of the training expenses.
10.Post employment services would be provided by the intake agency and/or training agencies with which the youth has worked. Specific support includes:
  • Moral support (coaching)
  • Problem solving/trouble shooting
  • On-going career guidance
  • Supplemental training workshops

 

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