Impact assessment for ILO components under ERRY project – Upgrading Informal Apprenticeship and Business Development Services.

The two components of Upgrading Informal Apprenticeship and Business Development Services were evaluated and the impact assessment was concluded with the the following objectives:

• Conduct a study on the beneficiaries of the upgraded informal apprenticeship and comprehensively analyze empirical data regarding the beneficiaries and present the findings and recommendations in a clear and logical report.
• Conduct an assessment on the end-user beneficiaries of the Business Development Services (BDS) and document the impact of the training provided to the end-users and the correlation between training provided and business start-up, business plan development and survival rate and present the findings and recommendations in a clear and logical report.

Enhanced Rural Resilience in Yemen (ERRY) is a Joint Programme funded by the EU and implemented by FAO, ILO, UNDP and the WFP. ERRY’s main goal is to enhance the resilience and self-reliance of crisis affected rural communities through support to livelihoods stabilization and recovery, local governance and improved access to sustainable energy. Implemented in four governorates (Hajjah, Hodeidah, Lahj, and Abyan) and targeting the most vulnerable groups affected by the crisis (young people, the unemployed, women, minority groups, IDP’s and host communities), the three-year programme started in March 2016.

The study findings revealed several lessons learned and good practices that can improve future implementation of the project. The study methodology applied coverage of beneficiaries and documented success stories related to the intervention.

The ILO components work towards Output 2.2. which focuses on “increased capacity of local actors and strengthened partnership of private sector to enhance economic recovery.” The ILO is currently implementing ERRY program. The main components of the project are upgrading informal apprenticeship and business development services. The upgraded informal apprenticeship model is based on a dual training delivery i.e., practical on-the-job training in industry/enterprises for a specified number of weeks and classroom training (off the job) in a training center. A minimum of two thirds of the entire training time is devoted to practical training at the workplace while the remaining training period is conducted at suitable training institutes in the targeted governorates. So far, the project has trained 240 apprentices in the four target governorates in five priority occupations.

Furthermore, the ILO delivered under business development services subcomponent two Training of Trainers (ToT)s for both business training packages My First Business (MFB) and semiliterate business package “I too have a small business” for 52 trainers. Those trainers delivered the training for the up to 2,693 final beneficiaries. In light of the above, the ILO conducted an impact assessment on Upgrading Informal Apprenticeship (UIA) and Business Development Services (BDS) Under ERRY project.