Skills for Success – Training activities ended in Jordan and Morocco with high percentages of job placement, and are currently underway in Lebanon.
After the completion of the training activities in Jordan and Morocco which have benefited more than 180 young disadvantaged women, the project has undertaken an impact assessment to evaluate its impact on increasing employment options for beneficiaries. In addition to job placement, the data collected focused on the different types of programme impact on the women’s decisions and paths linked to increasing their work opportunities in the near and more distant future and even continuing their education to more significantly increase their employment opportunities in the future. It is critical to note that as high-school graduates without a university degree, the vast majority of participants began Skills for Success without ever having done a job search, completed a job application (including a CV and cover letter) or experienced a job interview. Only 5% had held jobs before the programme, with most of these being in the informal sector.
In Jordan, of the programme’s 99 graduates 13% were placed in formal jobs and 2% placed in internships. 32% decided to return to school because of the programme, and the other beneficiaries continue actively looking for a job. In Morocco, of the programme’s 82 graduates, 32% were placed in formal jobs and 6% placed in internships and 31% decided to return to school because of the programme. In fact, an “unintended outcome” of Skills for Success was the very high number of participants who decided to pursue a university degree or short-term diploma once they assessed their own potential and goals within the programme. Such outcomes contributed to a broader analysis of programme impact by the project as well as to several recommendations for similar initiatives in the future. The job placement percentage among the total number of job seekers in Jordan and Morocco (115 graduates) is estimated at 49%. The percentage is estimated at 6% of participants placed in internships out of the total number of job seekers.
In Lebanon, the training programme is currently being implemented in four governorates: Bakleen, Chouf (southern mountain area), Tripoli and in the north. The programme which targets 103 young women will be ended in June 2016.
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