Quarterly Progress Report April 01, to June 30, 2019

YouLead – Youth Employment and Business Start-Up Program Sri Lanka Quarterly Progress Report April 01, to June 30, 2019

Submission Date: July 30, 2019

Agreement Number: AID-383-LA-17-000 Agreement Period: June 02, 2017 to June 21, 2021 AOR Name: Nihani Riza

Submitted by: International Executive Service Corps (IESC) 1900 M Street NW, Suite 500 Washington, DC 20036

This quarterly report is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the sole responsibility of IESC and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.

Prepared under Cooperative Agreement No. AID-383-LA-17-00001 The Youth Employment and Business Start-up Project (YouLead)

IESC Contact: Andrea Patrick Associate Vice President International Executive Service Corps (IESC) 1900 M Street, NW Suite 500 Washington, DC 20036 Tel: (202) 589 2600 Email: [email protected]

CONTENTS

List of Acronyms ...... 1

1. Activity Overview ...... 5 1.1 Program Introduction ...... 5

2. Activity Implementation Milestones and Progress ...... 6 2.1.1 Program Operations and Administration ...... 9 2.1.2 Technical activities ...... 11 Component 1: Increase youth employability skills in targeted sectors ...... 11 Component 2: Improved Quality, Relevance, and Delivery of TVET ...... 22 Component 3: Increase Prospects for Successful Self-Employment ...... 25 Outreach ...... 29 2.1.3 Status of Subawards and Subcontracts ...... 30 2.1.4 Volunteer Assignments ...... 30 2.2 Implementation Challenges and Lessons Learned ...... 31 2.3 Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Update ...... 32

3. Integration of Cross Cutting Issues and USAID Forward Priorities ...... 33 3.1 Gender Equality and Female Empowerment ...... 33

4. Planned Interventions for the Next Quarter (FY19 Q4) ...... 33

5. Financial Management ...... 36

6. Cost Share and Leverage...... 36

Annex A: AMELP Progress Summary ...... 38

Annex B: TraiNet Report ...... 41

Annex C: Success Story ...... 42

Annex D: Success Story ...... 44

Annex E: Success Story ...... 46

List of Acronyms

ADB Asian Development Bank

AO Agreement Officer A2F Access to finance AmCham American Chamber of Commerce AMELP Activity Monitoring Evaluation Plan AMHELP Annual Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning Plan ASAP Accelerated Skills Acquisition Project (USAID) ASSET Advancing Specialized Skills for Economic Transformation project ASU Arizona State University AVP Associate Vice President BDC Business Development Center BEC Berendina Employment Center BIZ+ VEGA/Biz Plus Program (USAID) CBT Competency Based Training CCC Ceylon Chamber of Commerce

CCI Chamber of Construction Industry CDD Career Development Director

CEPA Centre for Poverty Analysis CEO Chief Executive Officer

CIDA Construction Industry Development Authority CILT Chartered Institute of Transport and Logistics CISC Construction Industry Skills Council COO Chief Operating Officer

COP Chief of Party COYLE Chamber of Young Lanka Entrepreneurs CPCCI Central Province Chamber of Commerce & Industry CSR Corporate Social Responsibility CV Curriculum Vitae DCA Development Credit Authority DCLK Diversity Collective Sri Lanka

DME Department of Man Power and Employment

DQA Data Quality Assurance DTET Department of Technical Education and Training (part of MSDVT) DVPT Development EAFD Entrepreneurship and Access to Finance Director ED Entrepreneurship Development

EG Economic Growth ETD Extension and Training Division (Department of Agriculture) F&B Food & Beverage FEG Facilitating Economic Growth GC Global Communities

GCExILE Global Center of Excellence for Innovation in Learning and Education GIZ German Aid (Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) GoSL Government of Sri Lanka GPW Great Place to Work HO Home Office HR Human Resources

HRDO Human Resource Development Officer HRM Human Resource Management ICE Innovate, Creativity & Entrepreneurship ICT Information and communications technology ICTA Information and Communications Technology Agency ICTISC ICT Industry Skills Council IESC International Executive Service Corps

IFC International Finance Corporation IIT Informatics Institute of Technology ILO International Labor Organization

INGO International Non-Governmental Organization ISO International Organization of Standardization ISSCs Industry Sector Skills Councils IT Information Technology JAFF Joint Apparel Association Forum

JK John Keells JKH John Keells Holdings

KRA-O Keells Retail Online LIM Lebanon Investment in Microfinance LMS Learning Management System

LOP Life of Project M&E Monitoring and evaluation MDCCI Matara District Chamber of Commerce and Industry MEL Monitoring, evaluation, and learning MOE Ministry of Education MOU Memorandum of Understanding MSDVT Ministry of Skills Development and Vocational Training MSME Micro, small, and medium enterprises NAITA National Apprentice and Industrial Training Authority NCS National Competency Standards

NEDA National Enterprise Development Authority NOFO Notice of funding opportunity NVQ National Vocational Qualification NYC National Youth Corps (part of the Ministry of National Policies) NYSC National Youth Services Council OJT On the Job Training PD Project Director PIRS Performance Indicator Reference Sheet PLC Private Limited Company PM-VOTEC The PM’s Committee on Vocational and Technical Education PPD Public Private Dialogue PPP Public Private Partnership PRD Partnership Relationship Director PWC Price Waterhouse Coopers RDB Regional Development Bank RFA Request for applications RPL Recognition of Prior Learning S4IG Skills for Inclusive Growth (Australian project) S4YE Solutions for Youth Employment SFL Skills for Life SLF Sri Lanka Foundation

SLASSCOM Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies SLITHM Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management

SLTDA Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority SME Small and medium enterprise SOLID Supporting Opportunities in Livelihood Development SOW Scope of Work SSDP Sector Skills Development Project (funded by ADB) TCP The Competitiveness Project (USAID) TDA Tourism Development Authority THASL The Hotel Association of Sri Lanka TITP Training Institute for Technology Professionals TNA Training Need Assessment TOT Training of trainers TSC Tourism Skills Council TVEC Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission TVET Technical Vocational Education and Training UA Union Assurance PLC

UNIVOTEC University of Vocational Training USA United States of America USAID United States Agency for International Development

USG United States Government VAT Value Added Tax Verité Verité Research VPT Vocational Personality Test VT Vocational Training VTA Vocational Training Authority (Part of MSDVT) WCF Women in Construction Forum WDF Women's Development Federation (Hambantota, Sri Lanka) WDS Workforce Development Specialist

WiLAT Women in Logistics and Transport WUSC World University Service of Canada YBSL Youth Business Sri Lanka

YTAI Young Tourism Ambassador Initiative YPF Young Professionals Forum

1. Activity Overview

YouLead - Youth Employment and Business Start- Activity Name: up Program Sri Lanka (YouLead) Activity Start Date and June 02, 2017 – June 01, 2021 End Date: Name of Prime International Executive Service Corps (IESC) Implementing Partner: Agreement Number: AID-383-LA-17-0001 International partners: Arizona State University Name of (ASU), Global Communities (GC) Subcontractors/Sub- Local partners: American Chamber of Commerce awardees: (AmCham), Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC), Skills for Life (SFL), and Verité Research (Verité) The Ministry of National Policies, Economic Affairs, Resettlement and Rehabilitation, Northern Government Province Development, Vocational Training and Counterpart(s): Skills Development and Youth Affairs (referred to as MSDVT for consistency with earlier reporting) Geographic Coverage: Nationwide Reporting Period: From April 01 to June 30, 2019

1.1 Program Introduction

YouLead is a four-year program focused on enhancing employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for youth in Sri Lanka. YouLead’s key objectives are to: • Work with the public and private sectors to improve the quality and relevance of vocational and technical training;

• Link youth to productive employment opportunities; and,

• Support the development of youth-led start-up enterprises in Sri Lanka.

The Ministry of National Policies, Economic Affairs, Resettlement and Rehabilitation, Northern Province Development, Vocational Training and Skills Development and Youth Affairs (MSDVT) is the project’s counterpart ministry. YouLead coordinates across other government agencies that play a role in youth vocational education and employment, including the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Education, and the Prime Minister’s Office.

YouLead’s core activities are designed to leave behind institutional level capacity that will align public and private sector incentives, generate greater investment,

and improve competitiveness in sectors with high employment potential. YouLead’s regional focus is in the 12 districts with the highest youth unemployment as identified by the project’s market assessment—Jaffna, Galle, Kandy, Mannar, Kegalle, Badulla, Kilinochchi, Hambantota, Nuwara Eliya, Monaragala, Matara, Matale. Following the market assessment and review with local stakeholders, the priority sectors selected for the project are tourism and hospitality, construction, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) trades, and healthcare.

YouLead is committed to working with local public and private sector stakeholders to build the workforce they require to achieve long-term commercial success. YouLead works closely with public-sector stakeholders, as they provide the bulk of Sri Lanka’s vocational training and have unmatched outreach and infrastructure. YouLead activities are focused on collaborating with specific Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) authorities within MSDVT. These authorities are the Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission (TVEC) as well as the three largest training institutes—the National Apprentice and Industrial Training Authority (NAITA), the Vocational Training Authority (VTA), and the Department of Technical Education and Training (DTET). NAITA is a priority partner, as it has direct links with apprenticeship opportunities for youth employment.

The skills gap is a complex problem which requires immediate attention. Sri Lankan youth strive for a life of purpose, dignity, economic stability and flexibility, while businesses clamor for employees with the right skills and attitudes.

Sri Lanka is growing rapidly and has plenty of employment opportunities in high- growth sectors. The tourism and construction sectors alone estimated a need for approximately 700,000 new employees in the next several years. These estimates were made before the April attacks, but are largely still valid assuming the tourism industry recovers in the next 12 months. Yet youth unemployment still stands at over 20% in many places. Sri Lanka needs interventions to ensure a tight fit between the skills demanded in a competitive economy and the skills of its youth.

2. Activity Implementation Milestones and Progress

2.1 Progress and Implementation Status Summary

YouLead completed a number of important activities and achieved results against indicator targets for the quarter, despite the April 21 Easter Sunday attacks. The bombings happened at a time when YouLead was actively and successfully ramping up its trainings in all project areas. This was an intentional acceleration to lay a strong foundation on which results can be

built in the project’s latter years and to re-build momentum following the slow-down caused by the constitutional crisis in October 2018 and the lack of a formal activity budget in government agencies that limited some planned work with the public sector.

Recognizing the natural lag between direct interventions and outcomes in a train-the-trainer focused project, YouLead continued successfully to front load several activities this quarter or lay the foundation for future successes despite the Easter bombings:

• Developed or revised three curricula to ensure it is better aligned with industry needs. This brings the total number of curricula to 56—just one shy of the life of project target;

• Helped shepherd several of the new and revised curricula through the validation process, even though that is outside of YouLead’s control;

• Gained commitments via the YouLead-inspired career guidance working group to standardize and professionalize career guidance training;

• Exceeded FY 2019 training targets by training 141 trainers and 167 loan officers at financial institutions;

• Helped forestall the collapse of tourism industry employment by responding quickly to the need for crisis communications support, moving up the launch of the planned tourism portal, and undertaking training on soft skills for existing tourism employees to help them keep their jobs and upskill during the post-crisis lull;

• Successfully re-launched the career fairs two month after the attacks.

Other adjustments made in project interventions to recover quickly from the slow-down and maximize impacts are listed by project area below.

Career development (components 1 and 2): • Reduce dependency on international career development volunteer professionals and mentors; • Initiate a steering committee on career development that pulls together all institutions who have or intend to utilize career guidance professionals; • Develop a common career guidance curriculum; • Encourage all participating institutions to require formal training for career guidance professionals – most TVET institutions have agreed and the Ministry of Education is still considering how best to implement; • Reduce dependency on the planned joint career fairs with the Department of Manpower and Employment due to their lack of formal

budget, the public nature of their events, and the requirement for police permission for the events; • Introduce career fairs with the National Youth Services Corps; • Accelerate the introduction and promotion of online psychometric career testing and guidance – the online system is now active, but more promotion needs to happen outside of the career fairs that are now happening inconsistently; • Introduce career fairs in secondary schools that are not public in nature; and, • Recruit local career development mentors and advisors.

New employment (component 1) • Shift focus with some employers and industries to retaining employment through coordinated efforts and upskilling. The priority tourism industry (estimated 100,000 new jobs) is most impacted with many switching gears 180 degrees and now retrenching. Programs are being proposed to encourage employers to retain employees, many of which include training that YouLead can support. Tourism is most affected, but few industries will escape the likely economic downturn. Construction, the industry with the largest projected employment growth, is dealing with stop work orders on most tourism projects. This shift is necessitated by events, not cost share; • Create private sector master trainers. This adjustment is already in progress; and, • Intensify partnerships with private employers particularly those likely to recover fastest (e.g. retail grocery).

Curricula development (component 2) • Reduce dependency on international curriculum developers; and, • Hire local developers and train others to remove a bottleneck in the validation and endorsement process. This adjustment has been made.

Training of trainers (component 2) • Reduce dependency on volunteer trainers; • Train master trainers who can work directly with private training institutes; • Increase/accelerate the use of certified master trainers; and, • Institutionalize master trainers within the Department of Technical Education and Training.

Entrepreneurship (component 3) • Reduce dependency on international entrepreneurship mentors but retain target for long-term volunteer to initiate assignment when security profile in Sri Lanka improves; and, • Accelerate recruitment of local consultants and volunteer mentors but remove the requirement for volunteers to formally contract with IESC as the burden of registration to meet cost share requirements seems to be limiting recruitment success. This will result in local volunteers contributing time to the YouLead Project, but the value of their time may not be counted towards YouLead cost share requirement.

2.1.1 Program Operations and Administration

• During this quarter the following personnel changes took place: • Partnerships Director, Shehara de Silva, left the organization effective June 01, 2019. • Partnerships Manager, Vindya Silva, previously an AmCham employee, was promoted to the key personnel position of Partnerships Director. • A driver was hired after USAID assigned YouLead a double-cab vehicle. • Global Communities (GC) hired an Entrepreneurship Manager, Talal Rafi. • Recruitment for the Partnerships Manager/Associate position is in progress.

With the above changes, the total staff working on the YouLead project is now 32.

Revised YouLead Organization Chart

2.1.2 Technical activities

Component 1: Increase youth employability skills in targeted sectors

Overall Component Objective

The overarching objective of this component is to a) increase youth employability skills through the development of improved and relevant curricula driven by private sector demand, and b) improve career counseling that balances youth aspirations and capabilities with informed guidance on careers available in the marketplace. To achieve this, YouLead works closely with both the public and private sector to create stronger linkages and ensures that the vocational training provided to Sri Lanka’s youth is high quality and focused on the skills that employers most need. The project is also working closely with the institutions that provide career guidance to ensure counselors have the right tools, training, and information to effectively advise youth and their families.

Sub-Component 1.1: Provide Sufficient Awareness of Market Trends, Demands, and Opportunities

Activity 1.1.1: Market assessment

YouLead and Verité Research (Verité) held multiple discussions to finalize the revised Scope of Work (SOW) for smaller-sized research projects in year three, moving away from the original plan to repeat the annual youth and employer surveys. This decision was based on Verité’s experience, that consecutive large surveys are unlikely to deliver additional value, and that the inability of MSDVT to sustain detailed surveys.

Verité will focus its efforts on designing an assessment to develop practical insights to address issues identified in the Youth Labor Market Assessment 2018. This will partly be done by applying the findings from international research into a Sri Lankan context. The assessment will use existing research and analysis of a variety of data sets to collect data that will be useful for the design of new practical methods for improving labor force participation, and increasing employment and entrepreneurial success that YouLead can promote in Year 3 amongst its stakeholders and the government, including improvements to the delivery and outcome of the Enterprise Sri Lanka Initiative.

Activity 1.1.2 Analyze gender dynamics and challenges women face obtaining apprenticeships

ICT industry. YouLead held discussions during this quarter with Diversity Collective Sri Lanka (DCLK), an association of professional women in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) aiming to increase female representation in the industry. In light of the security situation following the Easter Sunday attacks on April 21, the Ministry of Education (MoE) has pushed back an ICT student/parent session to the coming fiscal year. However, YouLead is continuing discussions with the DCLK to form a partnership to increase awareness among girls and young women on career opportunities available in the ICT sector.

Activity 1.1.4. Facilitate, strengthen, and institutionalize public-private coordination for policy and vocational education development

A centerpiece of YouLead’s private sector activities is supporting and coordinating work with the private sector skills councils/committees in the project’s priority sectors. Our work with the ICT and construction sectors accelerated during this quarter, however, the tourism industry faced a major set-back caused by the Easter Sunday attacks on April 21.

Tourism industry. In the aftermath of the Easter Sunday attacks, the industry anticipates that hiring will not resume for another 12-18 months. Many hotels have had to scale back business and lay off staff. SLITHM and NAITA have reported that they have been asked to take back or reassign as many as 2,000 apprentices who were in on- the-job training programs. Furthermore, many SME hotels and guest houses have been severely affected with some ceasing operations entirely.

Young woman takes part in a team building exercise at the soft As a result of the negative impact on skills training tourism, industry priorities have shifted to focus on crisis management and recovery; priorities have shifted from creating new jobs to saving existing jobs and encouraging trainees to stay the course. The Tourism Skills Committee (TSC) and the roadmap developed with USAID support are the main vehicles for YouLead interventions. Rather than go into hibernation after the attacks, the TSC dramatically ramped up its activities and outreach. Shortly after the attacks, the TSC committed to take leadership in three

areas to reduce the impact and ensure a more rapid recovery of employment in the industry:

1. Managing communications to prospective travelers and the international tourism trade: As a small, agile, purely private body, the TSC realized that they could move more quickly and decisively than any other tourism institution;

2. Lead the development of a crisis recovery and resilience plan: Given that two of its members were directly impacted by the bombs, the TSC hopes to take advantage of the heightened attention and concern for the industry to develop and advocate for changes that will make the tourism both more resilient if effective overall; and,

3. Continue to take leadership on outreach to youth and professionalizing employment in the industry despite the setback.

The TSC was quick to react to the tragedy by forming a separate entity called the Sri Lanka Tourism Alliance (SLTA) comprised of TSC members and other private sector industry leaders. Its immediate priority was to provide accurate, unbiased information on the security situation and tourism activities within Sri Lanka to travelers, tour operators, and communities connected to the tourism industry.

SLTA launched the Love Sri Lanka website on May 10, followed by roll out to related social media channels the same week with YouLead assistance and USAID concurrence. A SOW for a web portal focused on encouraging employment in the tourism industry, which was already developed, was adapted to add vital capabilities to reach out to travelers and the international tourism trade in an effort to accelerate the recovery of the industry and employment. The campaign gained traction with 1,194 followers on Facebook, 1,096 on Instagram and 68 on Twitter by the end of this quarter. A Google ads www.lovesrilanka.org launched shortly after the Easter Sunday attacks campaign based on ‘is Sri Lanka safe’ searches delivered 21,824 impressions and covered approximately 80 percent of safety related searches for Sri Lanka. YouLead played a significant role in the digital campaign development and content management for the Love Sri Lanka campaign and contracted a Content Manager, Natasha Gooneratne. YouLead also initiated Google ads that diverted security minded travelers to accurate and timely information. An Australian-funded project will pick up the Google ads campaign in

July and the USAID-funded SAIL project is supporting SLTA with a resource that can act as its secretariat.

As the situation settles and the industry starts to pick up again, the Love Sri Lanka website will transform into a one-stop tourism and hospitality portal as originally planned under the Tourism and Hospitality Roadmap. The Expression of Interest (EOI) for the portal development was published during the last week of June, and proposals were pending at the time of reporting.

On the development of a private-sector led recovery and resilience plan, the TSC has highlighted the need for a crisis response team and recovery plan to deal with such emergencies in the future. Accordingly, YouLead and the Australian-funded Market Development Facility (MDF) Projects are engaging two international experts to design and develop a crisis response team and the crisis recovery plan. YouLead’s consultant, James MacGregor, is engaged to create the crisis response team plan while MDF’s consultant Katherine Droga will handle the recovery plan. The assignments will commence in July 2019 and the plans are expected to be finalized by the end of next quarter.

On the resumption of outreach and training activities, YouLead conducted a pilot soft skills program at the University College of Batangala for students of the Hospitality Management faculty from May 22-23, 2019. A total of 24 young women and 10 men received practical interactive training in communications, teamwork, interpersonal skills, assertiveness, and customer interaction. The training was conducted by local tourism consultant, Srilal Miththapala. The pilot was suggested by the TSC in a bid to shift the balance from formal training towards soft skills and problem solving as well as underscore the TSC’s determination to continue to strengthen and professionalize skills development in the industry despite the crisis.

Construction industry. YouLead signed an MOU with Siam City Cement (Lanka) Limited, popularly known as INSEE Cement, a leading cement manufacturer in Southeast Asia. The partnership will initiate a pioneering island-wide skills development program for masons and concrete craftsmen and will be supported by the Construction Industry Development Authority (CIDA) and NAITA. YouLead inks partnership with INSEE

ICT industry. YouLead, in partnership with private sector members of the Sri Lanka Association of Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM) and the ICT Skills Council, launched the pilot phase of the Future Bridge Program. The program is an initiative designed to draw school leavers into the ICT industry and bridge the prevailing skills gap. A total of 482 students have enrolled in the pilot as of July 15 – 41 percent of them are females and 61 percent come from vocational institutions. Within the pilot group, twenty percent (96) of the students reached the advanced level by the end of the quarter and are currently completing their final technical assessments. The pilot is expected to be completed in December 2019 with students receiving offers and internship opportunities in early 2020.

YouLead also facilitated two ICT instructor awareness sessions in April 5 and June 7 to create awareness on the ICT industry, career opportunities available to students, the Future Bridge program and the role of instructors in attracting students to ICT careers. A total of 48 ICT instructors from the TVET sector participated. Participating instructors showed commitment to follow through with the next step in encouraging and motivating students to enroll with the Future Bridge Program.

Bridge-CareerMe integration. YouLead facilitated discussions to integrate the CareerMe vocational personality test with the Future Bridge Program. The test will allow students to discover career avenues that match their skills, abilities and interests specific to the ICT industry. The test report will also help recruiters evaluate student profiles with a deeper understanding of their VTA students meet industry professionals through the Future Bridge program competencies.

Healthcare industry. During this quarter, discussions continued between YouLead and Kings Hospital, a modern, full-service hospital in Colombo, on providing technical assistance through a volunteer. The initiative was requested by Kings to conduct a training of trainers on soft skills for the hospital’s nursing students.

John Keells Holdings (JKH). YouLead partner Arizona State University’s (ASU) Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College completed the e-learning content for the Keells Retail Online (KRA-O) platform on 23 July 2018. John Keells Retail Online (JKR-O) lets employees access the platform at their respective retail outlets and allows the company to hire and train new employees and upskill current employees. This improves learning and job performance for youth and retention for the company. JKR-O is continuing its trainings and an additional 1,615 (759 females and 856

males) employees have benefited from new or improved employment through the e-learning system. This number will be validated and reported in the FY2019 annual report.

Cargills. Cargills buddy trainers have trained 1,508 new employees during this quarter. The buddy trainer system was put in place following the TOT by ASU’s Thunderbird School of Management last year. The training covered capacity development training programs in two employee tracks: executive and non- executive leadership. The programs supported the decentralization of training and included group activities designed to help integrate global best practices in training and delivery in the Sri Lankan context.

Activity 1.1.5 Coordinate with other USAID & workforce projects

YouLead continued to provide as needed support to the USAID DCA office this quarter on coordination and communication with Sampath and Hatton National Banks as well as coordination on training in the tourism industry with two Australian-funded projects. The project also initiated this quarter a potential partnership with the USAID youth power project called YouthLead on adding their youth empowerment and youth leadership functionality and content to the youlead.lk web portal.

In addition, YouLead took the lead on coordinating donor support for the tourism industry following the April 21 attacks which brings together four donor-funded projects with a common purpose.

1. YouLead is currently funding the tourism industry website, content manager, and a crisis management consultancy that will commence in July; 2. The USAID-funded SAIL project provided access to a crisis communications expert and is providing a person to run the SLTA secretariat; 3. The Australian-funded MDF project is funding a tourism expert to draft the recovery and resilience plan; and, 4. The Australian-funded Skills for Inclusive Growth (S4IG) project is funding crisis management and recovery training for SMEs in tourism.

Activity 1.1.6A. Conduct a marketing campaign to career guidance centers and schools

YouLead joins forces with Sri Lanka’s largest youth empowerment institution to revamp career guidance. The YouLead project launched a comprehensive five-day career guidance training on May 29 with leadership and career guidance officers from the National Youth Services Council (NYSC). NYSC is the largest public sector institution focused on building early stage work-readiness

and soft skills particularly among the rural poor. Most of its career guidance officers have no formal training and few, if any, tools at their disposal. Thirty career guidance officers representing every district in Sri Lanka participated. This training was inspired by a focus group discussion with more than 45 young women and men enrolled with NYSC. The discussion, organized by YouLead, identified a strong need for more information about in-demand and emerging careers and how to Two students of the German Technical College prepare effectively apply for job opportunities. the engine of the Career Bus YouLead will work closely with the NYSC to design the training. The trained officers are now mandated to develop proposals for how best to expand and improve career guidance in each of their districts within one month. The plan is to develop a set of sustainable youth volunteers with YouLead’s assistance who will reach out to their peers and promote the importance of career testing and guidance.

Activity 1.1.6B. Support and co-brand YouLead with employment and career fairs

YouLead draws more than 2,400 youth to its first career fairs held after the April 21 attacks. On the two consecutive Saturdays of June 22 and 29, YouLead, in coordination with the Department of Manpower and Employment (DME) and CareerMe, re-launched the popular career fairs in the priority districts of Matara and Galle in the Southern province. The selection of districts was based, in part, on the ability to bring together Buddhist and Muslim communities to promote intercommunal interaction. The Galle Career Fair was supported by 45 private companies and the event drew more than 800 participants, 58 percent of them were women. More than 240 youth took the psychometric career test localized by YouLead and received one-on-one career guidance from YouLead trained career development officers. The Matara career fair drew more than 1,600 women and men. During both events the participating private companies conducted on-the-spot interviews for youth seeking jobs and training. Seven training institutions promoted their courses and services in Young women do the online psychometric test in the first step vocational education. Several YouLead to receiving career guidance

trained inspectors from the National Apprentice and Industrial Training Agency (NAITA) were available to advise youth on apprenticeship opportunities in the region. These two fairs mark the re-launch of an activity which had been on hold for a variety of reasons; the constitutional crisis in October 2018, DME’s lack of program budget earlier in the year, and the April 21 attacks.

Activity 1.1.7 Improve information dissemination on training opportunities

YouLead signed an MOU on June 12 with the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute (SLFI), the country’s only awarding body for formal career guidance qualification and the lobbying agency for the Sri Lanka Career Guidance Association. YouLead was fortunate to be the first ever development project to partner with the SLFI to offer joint qualifications on a credit transferable agreement to nationally recognize the Diploma in Career Guidance and Counselling program. The SLFI was found in 1974 and began its Diploma in Career Guidance course a decade ago. YouLead will work with SLFI to disseminate information related to vocational education through the courses and connect TVEC with international vocational and academic institutions for course accreditation. SLFI will use YouLead developed vocational video materials in their digital kiosks. These are placed in auditorium premises that reach approximately 250 people on average per day.

Activity 1.1.8 Hold youth employment and career information forums

YouLead and multiple stakeholders in Bandarawela, Dikwella, Hambantota, Mannar, Matale, Galle, Matale and Polonnaruwa organized 10 career guidance and information forums during this quarter. The objective of these programs was to expose YouLead trained career counsellors to effectively organized career guidance sessions and provide youth with a novel experience of career guidance and vocational personality identification. Most of the sessions were organized with multiple vocational training institutes and private sector representatives to showcase the courses and industrial demands. The forums added value to intercommunal harmony after the tense situation in the country following the April 21 attacks. YouLead will continue to conduct similar programs in each district in the second year of the project.

Total No of Youth given # Program Name Dates Career Guidance YouLead and NAITA 1 19 Jun 2019 20 CG Program (Model I), Polonnaruwa YouLead and SLICG 2 04 May 2019 158 CG Program (Model I), Polonnaruwa YouLead and DME 3 22 Jun 2019 245 CG Program (Model I), Galle 4 YouLead and DME 29 Jun 2019 297

Total No of Youth given # Program Name Dates Career Guidance CG Program (Model I), Matara YouLead and District Secretariat 5 11 Jun 2019 142 CG Program (Model I), Mannar YouLead and CPCCI 6 14 Jun 2019 60 CG Program (Gem Awareness), Matale YouLead and NYSC 7 28 Jun 2019 73 CG Program (Model I), Bandarawela YouLead and ICEPMD 8 04 Apr 2019 126 CG Program (Model I), Dickwella YouLead and NAITA 9 24 Jul 2019 132 CG Program (Model I), Badulla YouLead and CCICP 10 14 Jun 2019 60 CG Program (Model I), Malate Total Youth impacted through Youth Employment and Career information forums this 1,313 quarter

Sub-Component 1.2 - Improve Career Guidance and Counseling

Activity 1.2.1 Establish sustainable, youth-friendly career counseling and train counselors

YouLead, in partnership with the SLFI and the DME, commenced a tailor made five- day residential training program on career guidance for DME Human Resource Development Officers (HRDO) on June 24. The HRDOs carry out regional human resource development by maintaining a divisional secretariat level job bank and connecting youth with employment opportunities. They organize regional career fairs, engage with school career awareness programs and provide one to one career guidance and parental career guidance at divisional secretariat level.

The training program is a result of a joint training needs analysis and gives priority to officers who had not received any formal career guidance training during the last 10 years. The goal of this intervention is to provide training and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) grading to HRDOs. This will accomplish the outcomes of the Training Need Assessment (TNA) identified curriculumwithin a span of six months and develop 25 district level master counsellors and nine provincial level chief master Training sessions begin for career guidance counsellors at the counsellors as a sustainable plan. SLFI

Career counselors/ practitioners training. Two trainings were conducted on June 24 and June 28 for DME HRDOs to introduce them to the psychometric test for vocational personality identification, career guidance theory and new career counseling practices. YouLead expects the participants to deliver career counseling services to the country’s youth, especially those in rural areas, during regional career fairs. A key implementation challenge identified was the work priorities of the officers. The officers are not full-time career counselors and career counseling is just one part of their work. YouLead found that the mechanism to assess the number of counselling services provided by the trainees needs to be strengthened through institutionalization. s

Activity 1.2.2 Provide comprehensive, evidence-based online resources

Microsoft Smart Schools initiative digitally empowered by YouLead content. YouLead and its private sector partners, HeadStart and CareerMe, launched a program in collaboration with Microsoft on the promotion of career guidance, entrepreneurship, apprenticeship and vocational career awareness in primary and secondary schools in Sri Lanka. The program will connect more than 235 schools, approximately 25,000 school children, and aims to train over 600 teachers through a digital course designed to enhance their general understanding about career guidance.

Young riggers achieving great heights in the construction industry

Sub-Component 1.3 - Provide Foundational Skills Critical to Finding and Maintaining a Job

Activity 1.3.1 Validate curriculum with the private sector

YouLead continues to work actively with NAITA and TVEC to accelerate the curricula validation and endorsement process. One curriculum, Guest Relations Officer, was formally validated during this quarter and endorsed by the TVEC commission along with the Rigger curriculum. These curricula are being prepared for implementation starting next quarter.

Activity 1.3.2 Identify and tailor work-readiness curricula to strengthen employment skills

The seven soft skills modules identified in the previous quarter continue to be incorporated into curricula revisions based on the NVQ levels required for each occupation.

Activity 1.3.3 Strengthen public-private partnerships and build new ones

With the re-launch of the career fairs in June, YouLead and the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce are taking a more proactive role in encouraging private companies to participate in the job fair/interviews portion of the events. More than 100 companies participated in the Galle and Matara career fairs in partnership with YouLead and the Department of Manpower and Employment.

Sub-Component 1.4 - Increase Work-Based Learning Opportunities

Activity 1.4.1 Assess the apprenticeship programs provided by TVET institutions

NAITA and SLITHM, two of the largest trainers of youth for tourism occupations, have had to withdraw their students from apprenticeship trainings at the request of the employers following the Easter Sunday attacks in April and the subsequent negative impact on the tourism and hospitality industry. NAITA estimates that about 2,000 trainees were withdrawn while SLITHM estimates 1,000 trainees have been withdrawn from the industry. Apprentices were the first to suffer in terms of job loss when the hotel industry scaled back their operations due the rapid decrease in tourist inflows. SLITHM has had to hold a batch of students back from proceeding to the next level due to this as well.

Activity 1.4.2 Increase the number of internship and apprenticeship opportunities

NAITA inspector training remained on pause during the quarter following the October constitutional crisis and the lack of an implementation budget during the first half of 2019.

Component 2: Improved Quality, Relevance, and Delivery of TVET

Overall Component Objective

The overall objective of this component is to work closely with the MSDVT and training institutes, both public and private, to improve the delivery of vocational education in Sri Lanka. To achieve this objective, YouLead is working to build the capacity of teachers and vocational institutions. Project activities are designed to ensure that the courses offered are those most in demand by the marketplace and that the instructors that deliver trainings that are of high quality both in the content and the delivery of instructional materials.

Sub-Component: 2.1: Improve Relevance of TVET Delivery

Activity 2.1.2 Identify and implement changes to TVET courses

YouLead identified the key changes required in previous quarters to be: 1) more skilled instructors; 2) lengthier practical and apprenticeship modules; 3) shorter overall training duration; and 4) more and better calibrated soft skills training. Changes 2 and 4 are being integrated in all new and revised curricula and Change 1 is being addressed through the master trainer activity. The project has only been able to shorten overall training times for private trainings (e.g. the youth tourism ambassador training program) thus far as the structure and employment models of the public sector institutes are more rigid and tend to require at least six-month course durations. The focus with public sector curricula is to reduce the classroom portion, add more soft skills training and improved pedagogy. Through the curricula development, validation and revision process, YouLead continues to make the courses more relevant to the evolving needs of business, stress more competency- based outcomes, add more tailored soft skills modules, encourage a larger proportion of on-the-job training, and remove elements of the training that can be more effectively learned on-the-job.

Activity 2.1.3a - Review existing curricula and align to industry demands

During the quarter, three curricula were revised based on industry feedback and submitted for validation and endorsement: 1. Guest Relation Officer 2. Housekeeping Supervisor

3. Laboratory Assistant The Automobile Mechanic curriculum was completely overhauled, and a new curriculum has been developed.

Activity 2.1.3b – Support new and better employment with high-growth private employers and private training institutes

YouLead strengthened its ties with the construction industry by signing an MOU with Siam City Cement (Lanka) Limited/INSEE Cement to initiate a pioneering skills development program for masons and concrete craftsmen. Similarly, YouLead developed scopes of work to deepen the partnerships with Access Engineering and Maga Construction focused on bringing new technologies and building techniques for scaffolding and concrete form work.

YouLead’s partnership activities with the Amrak Institute, a private education service provider, which was established to provide training and employment for youth in paramedical areas, were delayed this quarter. Amrak is currently facing the following challenges preventing them from starting operations.

▪ TVEC has advised Amrak to seek validation from the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) under of Ministry of Health. SLMC is a statutory body established to maintain academic and professional standards, discipline and ethical practice by health professionals who are registered in Sri Lanka. ▪ SLMC feedback has been slow due to many layers of internal protocol for approval process. ▪ SLMC rejected Amrak’s proposal to conduct courses of 12 months or less and has advised the institute to extend the courses to a minimum of 24 months including online modules.

YouLead will continue to monitor the progress of the approval process of MOH in order to initiate the curricula validation with TVEC, but a 24-month course duration does not encourage YouLead support since it is too long to be able to count employment from the training unless there is a paid internship component.

Sub-Component 2.2: Introduce New Demand-Driven Courses

Activity 2.2.1 Adapt and update market-based TVET courses

See Activity 2.1.3a

Activity 2.2.2 Train instructors on the new curricula

There are several new curricula going through the validation and endorsement process, but no fully new technical curricula have been endorsed by TVEC to date.

Trainings for curricula development, career guidance and entrepreneurship curricula, however, are currently being delivered in this quarter.

During this reporting period:

• 18 NAITA staff members were trained during the quarter on how to create national competency standards;

• 40 Human Resource Development Officers were trained on Career Counselling using the new career guidance curriculum developed together with DME, SLF and YouLead in June;

• 30 Career Guidance Officers of the NYSC were trained on career counselling using the new career guidance curriculum developed together with NYSC and YouLead career guidance consultant, Ajith Bopitiya;

• YouLead trained 141 entrepreneurship instructors and training institute managers in the new entrepreneurship development curricula.

Activity 2.2.4 Make use of technology to expand reach and assess progress

YouLead and TVEC developed an inter-institutional database of career guidance officers and shared it among all vocational education stakeholders through the National Vocational Career Guidance Steering Committee. Regional career guidance officers of multiple vocational training institutions can now work together organizing common career guidance activities in the regions with minimum repetition, maximum productivity and lucrative institutional investments. The database can be effectively used by district level vocational education committees for common career guidance operations within their districts. YouLead will evolve this simple database into an organized and informative web page with the second version of the YouLead portal scheduled to be launched in Q4.

Sub-Component 2.3: Improve Teaching Staff's Technical, Pedagogical and Presentation Skills

Activity: 2.3.1 Provide fast-track pedagogical training to improve trainers' teaching skills

Public and private TVET institutions that closed for several weeks following the Easter Sunday attacks have reopened and given priority to covering their syllabi. As instructors could not be released, no pedagogy trainings took place in this quarter.

Activity 2.3.2 Institutionalize pedagogical teacher training

Discussions resumed this quarter with DTET to turn its Training Institute for Technology Professionals (TITP) into a teacher training institute and home base for the master trainers for MSDVT. YouLead will follow up in the next quarter to help the unit develop a management plan to take over the master training program upon the end of the project.

Sub-Component 2.4: Upgrade Instructional Equipment & Teaching Materials

Activity 2.4.1 Perform a needs analysis on equipment and materials needed

A proposed equipment list for furniture, a mobile IT cart and other training materials was developed, but the implementation is reliant on MSDVT making the necessary building upgrades (largely removal of a few walls, painting, etc.). This activity awaits a new ministry budget or support from the Sector Skills Development Project (ADB-funded) to make the necessary upgrades. TITP is a unit of DTET and the upgrade proposal was prepared by ASU volunteers in 2018.

Component 3: Increase Prospects for Successful Self-Employment

Overall Component Objective

The overall objective of this component is to help young entrepreneurs establish new businesses and link them with financial institutions providing access to capital to grow their businesses. This will be done through improved entrepreneurship curricula, teaching, outreach and the channeling of students with the right characteristics into training. It will also provide better access to finance for youth as well as business mentoring and coaching services. To achieve this objective, the program includes working with public and private training institutions to improve entrepreneurship course content, financial institutions to address constraints faced by young entrepreneurs applying for loans, and business organizations to recruit and link business and peer mentors.

Sub-Component 3.1: Update Entrepreneurship Course Contents

Activity 3.1.1 Evaluate courses and revise content to better prepare for self-employment

YouLead translated and published the Tamil version of its newly developed ED curricula this quarter and began rolling it out with familiarization trainings for the Sinhala version. The development of the curricula directly responds to industry needs by providing standard training material to TVET institutions.

Activity 3.1.2 Develop and ensure the quality of sufficient entrepreneurship trainers

Bank officers/ financial institutions officers training. Four trainings were conducted during the quarter for staff of financial institutions to promote cash flow- based lending for youth and women. YouLead expects the trained bank officers to appraise loan applications based on cash-flow rather than the traditional collateral- based practice. This will make it easier for more women and youth get loans to start their own businesses. The changes in lending procedure are however governed by bank policy and Central Bank regulations leading to delays in implementation.

Entrepreneurship development curricula training of trainers. YouLead began rolling out the newly developed Entrepreneurship Development (ED) curricula this quarter. In five days of training sessions, 140 trainers from 10 TVETs were trained on delivering the curricula. The sessions took place in Colombo, Kandy, Trincomalee and Dickwella. The Business Development Center (BDC) conducted the five days of training. YouLead expects the curricula to be adopted at the individual institutions, many of which were involved in the actual development process. Time restrictions in delivery of the curricula have emerged as a key Participants are trained on the ED curricula that they helped develop challenge. The time presently allocated for ED courses ranges from two to 14 days. The new curricula however are designed to be delivered over the course of 44.5 days. Trainers are therefore unable to deliver the curricula effectively until they are institutionalized. Representatives of the participating institutions have suggested customization to counter this problem.

YouLead continues its partnership with the BDC to train TVET organizations with the developed ED curricula. YouLead supported 10 TVET institutions providing five training sessions for 129 nominated trainers. One training session in Trincomalee was held in Tamil to accommodate 35 Tamil speaking trainers. To have equal distribution of trainings, sessions were held in different districts. YouLead initially planned to have all TOTs completed by July, however many were rescheduled following the April 21 attacks.

Q3 Training of Trainers Date Session Location No of Participants 13th-18th May 1st ED ToT Colombo 24 27th -31st May 2nd ED ToT Dickwella 34 10th -14th June 03rd ED ToT (Tamil) Trincomalee 34 10th -14th June 04th ED ToT Trincomalee 13 24th -31st June 05th ED ToT Kandy 24 Total 129

On June 9, YouLead held a discussion on the progress of the ED curricula trainings with all 11 TVET organizations involved in its development and the Department of Samurdhi Authority. The objective was to discuss operational issues identified during the TOT programs and determine the best methods to implement the curricula at institutional level. The main takeaway from this meeting was the need to customize the duration of the training to the individual institute’s needs and determine the level of depth this required. Several institutes suggested a condensed version of training. There was also a suggestion to have the ED curricula nationally certified. This will be followed up in Q4.

Woment’s Dvelopment Federation (WDF). YouLead remains fully engaged with WDF, an organization based in Southern Sri Lanka operating with a membership of over 60,000. The WDF’s mandate is to help women uplift their standards of living through entrepreneurship with the help of their financial arm, the Janashaksthi Bank. Although they assist their members to start businesses, the mobilizers do not have a standard structured strategy to develop them as entrepreneurs. YouLead held the first of two two-day training sessions for 86 WDF mobilizers to WDF mobilizers make ‘wade’ as part of their training on develop Micro and SME entrepreneurship

entrepreneurs on May 23. The second session will take place in August and will include field work assignments. The training program seeks to improve the field officers’ technical skills enabling them to assess their clients, particularly youth, for entrepreneurship development.

Samurdhi. YouLead continues to engage the Department of Samurdhi to develop entrepreneurs within their target population. The Samurdhi field officers have begun engaging their communities in entrepreneurship development. YouLead focused on collecting accurate and timely data from the officials during the quarter. Under the current agreement, the Department submits data in hard copy which causes a lack in uniformity and long delays. YouLead is pursuing the possibility of developing an online database to collect data.

Sub-Component 3.2: Develop and provide business development & mentoring services

Activity 3.2.1 Establish business development and mentoring services

YouLead hired an Entrepreneurship Manager, Talal Rafi, this quarter to design and develop program initiatives aiming to provide mentoring services for young entrepreneurs. The Entrepreneurship Manager will establish and manage an extensive network of volunteer mentors for new and potential young entrepreneurs. The Entrepreneurship Manager has already established connection with organizations such as Kandy Women’s Chamber Megapolis, Kandy Chamber of Commerce, University of Peradeniya, Hatch, the Chamber of Young Lankan Entrepreneurs (COYLE), and the Ratnapura Chamber of Commerce in his first weeks of work. Sub-Component 3.3: Improve Access to Affordable Finance

Activity 3.3.1 Link entrepreneurs to financial institutions serving business start-up

Commercial banks and financial institutions in Sri Lanka are actively looking to expand business-lending within the country to businesses in the SME sector. This is however constrained by the fact that borrowers typically lack acceptable collateral. YouLead developed a program for credit officers to appraise entrepreneurs’ applications for loans based on working capital and cashflow analysis.

YouLead focused on training officers of three micro finance institutions during this quarter as the traditional banks were reluctant to schedule trainings during the holiday months of April and May. One hundred and sixty eight officers working on Micro and SME loans from Arthacharya Intermediary Ltd., Sarvodaya Development Finance and HNB Finance Ltd. were trained in cash flow credit application appraisal.

Dates Micro/ Finance Institute Location No of Participants 29th May 2019 Arthavida Credit Officer training Hambantota 22 4th June 2019 Arthavida Credit Officer training Nikaweratiya 47 5th - 6th June 2019 HNB Finance Credit Officer training Kurunegala 46 14th June Sarvoday Development Finance Colombo 51 Total 166

Activity 3.3.2 Support the development of a USAID DCA YouLead is also working closely with Hatton National Bank to use the USAID Development Credit Authority (DCA) to support youth entrepreneurs who are unable to offer collateral for their credit request with a part guarantee to cover their credit exposure.

Outreach

YouLead’s communications outreach activities continue through traditional and social media this quarter creating behavioral change and awareness campaigns on priority industries, career guidance, entrepreneurship and gender normalization. YouLead drafted its Communications Plan for June-December 2019 during this quarter.

YouLead took the lead in supporting the #loveSriLanka campaign initiated by the Sri Lanka Tourism Alliance, an initiative of the YouLead supported Sri Lanka Tourism Skills Committee following the April 21 attacks. YouLead created content for the campaign in the form of seven videos for the www.lovesrilanka.org website and associated social media platform. Two of these were shared on the Alliances’ social media during the quarter including interviews with Fiona Milicinski and Shaunagh Aluwihara, foreign nationals living and working in Sri Lanka.

The #IBuildSriLanka social media campaign was launched this quarter. The campaign primarily focuses on engaging youth in the construction industry but has a wider theme of unity and pulls together young men and women in all industries as builders of the nation. The main objective of the campaign is to encourage behavioral change by showing that there is dignity and prestige in YouLead’s priority industries.

YouLead collected short interviews from the construction, tourism and ICT industries this quarter with the intention of creating role model interviews for its social media outreach. YouLead filmed nine youth from the construction industry covering the occupations of mason, rigger, and electrician, four youth from the tourism industry, three of them women, covering front office operations, guest relations, kitchen staff and an environmentalist and, 11 youth from the ICT industry, five of them women, covering software engineering, UX development,

human resources and digital marketing. These will be edited and shared during coming quarters.

YouLead began the design and production of promotional material, posters and a career guidance booklet this quarter. The materials will be used at schools, VT institutes and career fairs and are designed pull youth towards YouLead’s social media and the youlead.lk platform where they can get more information on employment, careers, opportunities in priority industries and setting up their own businesses.

2.1.3 Status of Subawards and Subcontracts

Sub Sub Awardee/ Period of Expenses as of ## Award/ Currency LOP Budget % Contractor Performance March 31, 2019 Contract # Name June 06, 2017 to 01 175023 ASU US $ 704,518* 448,791 63.70% April 30, 2021 June 06, 2017 to 02 175019 GC US $ 661,166.09* 247,511 37.43% April 30, 2021 June 6, 2017 to 03 175020-30 Verité LKR 75,115,618 53,714,938 71.50% April 30, 2021 July 03, 2017 to 04 175022 SFL LKR 19,098,074* 5,850,238 30.63% April 30, 2021 June 20, 2017 to 05 175024 AmCham LKR 82,587,595 29,032,175 35.15% April 30, 2021 June 06, 2017 to 06 175021 CCC LKR 37,440,275 12,025,014 32.11% April 30, 2021 *Budget amount excludes cost share commitment.

2.1.4 Volunteer Assignments

International volunteers.

1. Consultant Bonnie Tam was scheduled to arrive in the country in April for the Junior Achievement (JA) Pilot Training Program however, the assignment was postponed following the April 21 attacks. Ms. Tam is now expected to arrive on July 29.

Short term technical assistance (STTA). The following consultants are continuing their short-term technical support to YouLead during this reporting period:

1. IESC hired Dr. Prabath Karunanayake for the period of January 14 to June 30 as a local consultant for technical curricula development for the construction trade. His work continues in this quarter. 2. YouLead hired local consultant Srilal Miththapala to contribute his expertise in the formation of the TSC comprising of industry leaders, representatives of the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (SLITHM), TVEC, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), CCC, and the Human Resources (HR) Advisory subcommittee. 3. IESC recruited local consultant Nihal Dias to work with YouLead in the curricula development process. Mr. Dias’ one-year engagement with YouLead which started in January 2018 was extended to December 2019. 4. Natasha Gooneratne was hired as a local consultant starting May 9 for a period of three months. She is responsible for developing content for the www.lovesrilanka.org website and associated social media platforms. 5. YouLead hired Shehara de Silva as Senior Partnerships and Outreach Consultant for the project. She will be working closely with the Partnerships Director and Partnerships Manager to develop new partnerships in key project areas. Her period of engagement is from June 3, 2019 to June 2, 2020.

2.2 Implementation Challenges and Lessons Learned

YouLead reported last quarter that it was still cautiously optimistic that results targets would be achieved despite the setbacks of the constitutional crisis and the government budget issues. The April 21 attacks, however, bring the ability to achieve some of those results into question.

In addition, the October 2018 and April 2019 travel advisories have impacted the project’s ability to recruit and field international volunteers which will likely make it impossible to meet current cost-share commitments.

Major constraints this quarter include:

1. The Easter Sunday Attacks on April 21 caused logistical challenges and the postponement of all trainings and career fairs for a few weeks. 2. Since the career fairs are multi-ethnic, multi-religious events, local authorities are still wary of holding them in large, public spaces. This has resulted in some fairs (e.g. Monaragala) being canceled, and others (e.g. Galle and Matara) being moved into smaller venues that can be better controlled. 3. A complication with Microsoft’s preferred provider for localization and maintenance for YouLead.lk that would have hindered sustainability of the platform was resolved late in the quarter but has impacted the ability to meet the indicator for the number of youth receiving career development services this quarter. 4. The indicator for number of youth trained in entrepreneurship continues to lag this quarter due to prioritization of upgrading the entrepreneurship curricula, but

with 13 institutions ready to start teaching the curricula—some starting next quarter—this should recover quickly. 5. Partner banks are reluctant to provide any details of the approved entrepreneur applications due to their customer privacy regulations. Conversations are still going on to obtain anonymous participant information for YouLead while banking officials retain the Personal Identifiable Information (PII) in their files. 6. The delay in identifying a suitable Entrepreneurship Manager and availability of volunteer experts has hindered progress on developing mentorship services.

YouLead is structured with sustainability as a key goal, and the approach, therefore involves reliance one a train-the-trainer model. The challenge with this model is that project activities for YouLead are dependent of the training schedules of counterparts.

The impact of activity delays is compounded when it comes to counting output results due to the fact that the main outcome indicators—employment, career counseling, start-ups—are one or more steps away from the direct project intervention. For instance, the development of a new curriculum for MSDVT must await: 1) the government’s validation and endorsement process; 2) the scheduling of a new course (which typically happens in August or December); 3) the identification and training of instructors; 4) the completion of a course (typically 6- 12 months); and 5) time for the student to find a job (1-6 months) before a new job can be counted in project indicators. Other interventions and work with different counterparts can result in speedier outcomes, but those outcomes are still a step or two away from the direct intervention.

2.3 Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Update

Annual Survey: YouLead hired an international consultant, Muaz Jalil, to develop the annual survey research design and provide remote and in-country support during the survey data collection and analysis and finalization of results. The survey will provide a ratio for the P1 indicator by using public TVET institution’s enrollment data. The consultant has completed the design and the approximate sample size for the survey during this quarter. YouLead is presently seeking a survey company to collect data from institutions and to conduct questionnaire/telephone survey. The results will be included in YouLead’s FY2019 annual report. The following diagram shows the impact channels relevant to the study and the usage of estimating multiplier.

AMELP Progress: The detailed AMELP progress by each indicator is shown in Annex A. Most of the indicators reported this quarter are showing progress. Training of trainers sessions on YouLead-developed Entrepreneurship Development training curricula commenced during the this quarter. However, a need for customization of curricula to fit with institutions’ requirements was identified as a key operationalization issue. Therefore, the progress under indicator 3.3: number of youth trained in entrepreneurship skills, remains low. Due to the delays in receiving supported business data from Samurdhi, this time progress of the indicator O3.1 is not reported.

3. Integration of Cross Cutting Issues and USAID Forward Priorities

3.1 Gender Equality and Female Empowerment

YouLead’s communications plan moves away from focusing on women in non- traditional jobs this quarter to the normalization of female participation in the priority sector industries. This is carried through all outreach materials covering both traditional and social media.

YouLead’s social media outreach continues creating awareness and promoting gender equality in the priority sectors jobs.

4. Planned Interventions for the Next Quarter (FY19 Q4)

ICT sector. Career guidance officer training. YouLead initiated discussions on conducting training for career guidance officers as ICT change agents. This program will be organized by YouLead in collaboration with SLASSCOM, ICTA, the ICT Sector

Skills Council, and TVEC. The program will train 50 career guidance officers interested in promoting careers in the ICT sector. Scheduled to begin in July, the pilot training hopes to create industry specific awareness among the participants. The program will be adapted to YouLead’s other priority sectors based on the success of the pilot.

Construction sector. YouLead is discussing a potential partnership with Maga Engineering Ltd. to support a proposed TOT program for Master Trainers of the Maga Training Institute.

Tourism industry. The success of the soft skills program at the University College of Batangala has prompted the industry to request similar programs. YouLead will conduct two to three programs for staff of member hotels of the Kandy Hoteliers Association and Negombo Hoteliers Association. This comes at a proper time considering the downturn in occupancy and availability of staff following the April 21 attacks.

YouLead will support the TSC with the development of the Tourism and Hospitality Portal. YouLead will work with the selected vendor to ensure the needs and expectations of the TSC are met in terms of site development and content generation. This portal will include data collected by the Research Unit once it is established.

YouLead will work in collaboration with the MDF and the CCC on establishing the Research Unit, one the initiatives of the Tourism and Hospitality Workforce Competitiveness Roadmap.

Entrepreneurship. YouLead will continue working with the BDC on TOTs for TVET institutes for the ED curriculum. Discussions will be held with senior officials from all 11 TVET institutes who partnered with YouLead to develop the ED curricula on findings and practical issues surfacing during the TOTs. Steps will be taken to customize the curricula for the individual TVET institutes.

Entrepreneurship awareness programs will continue as well as ED training with the BDC for potential youth and women entrepreneurs. An entrepreneurship video will be developed to use as part of the entrepreneurship outreach program. Data collection on financial assistance for micro/ SME startups will be collected. Trainings on micro and SME lending will be held for credit officers of seven banks. YouLead will support the Department of Samurdhi with entrepreneur development and the collection of data.

Curricula development. Pedagogical teacher training will continue. YouLead plans to include training on technical competencies for technical teacher training for the public sector.

The revision of existing curricula, development of new ones and the validation and endorsement process will continue.

Career counselor training. YouLead will organize an inter-institutional forum to discuss the achievements of career counsellor trainings held thus far and map out counsellors left to be trained to reach a common level of knowledge and skills in career guidance. This will include multi-model interventions such as module-based training, RPL and a series of workshops/ seminars to uplift the counsellors’ knowledge and skills in career guidance.

Effective career guidance for youth. YouLead will work with the district secretaries of the remaining priority districts to organize district level career guidance programs. The first pilot will begin with the support of the Kegalle District Office on International Youth Day.

Information dissemination. YouLead is in the process of designing the second version of the YouLead.lk portal with more dynamic and youth friendly content, courses and information. Registrations are scheduled for the next quarter. The improved interface will have regional information centers connected with the central portal for information sharing.

Creating awareness, promoting and mapping of apprenticeship opportunities. YouLead is piloting a model with the Industries Department of Jaffna to map out industries in Northern province willing to offer apprenticeship opportunities and on the job training. After a successful data collection initiative, YouLead will work together with NAITA and VTA to organize an apprenticeship awareness program for the selected organizations.

Inter-institutional partnerships for career guidance. YouLead is in the process of discussing formal partnerships and a structured workplan with the NYSC and MOE for the next two years on career guidance and information dissemination.

Apprenticeship awareness among youth. YouLead, NAITA and the NYSC wishes to launch a Career Bus dedicated to promoting career guidance and apprenticeship awareness at the regional level commencing from next quarter.

Communications. YouLead is in the process of selecting a new contractor to manage its traditional and social media. The contract with the new company will be inked early in the next quarter. YouLead plans to boost its media and outreach

campaigns during the next two quarters to push registrations to the www.youlead.lk portal with a focus on the dissemination of information as per the Communications Plan for the rest of the calendar year.

5. Financial Management

YouLead Project Spending* USD Budget Categories Budgeted Spent as of June 2019 Balance Remaining PERSONNEL 1,798,598.89 1,033,517.75 765,081.14 FRINGE BENEFITS 509,396.79 267,119.73 242,277.06 TRAVEL & PER DIEM 1,251,958.66 309,414.87 942,543.79 EQUIPMENT 7,500.00 69,486.68 (61,986.68) SUPPLIES 263,969.62 92,123.22 171,846.40 CONTRACTUAL/SUBAWARDS 3,687,276.22 1,437,252.49 2,250,023.73 OTHER DIRECT COSTS 1,851,487.68 845,446.47 1,006,041.21 IESC INDIRECT COSTS 2,629,673.43 1,505,664.19 817,126.72 VEGA INDIRECT COSTS 306,882.52 307,311.80 (429.28) TOTAL PROGRAM COSTS 11,999,861.23 5,867,337.20 6,132,524.09 COST SHARE* 1,863,199.95 536,728.48 1,326,471.47 TOTAL PROGRAM VALUE 13,863,061.24 6,404,065.68 7,458,995.56 *Includes sub partners cost-share as well.

6. Cost Share and Leverage

The cost share and leverage table below provides the value of cost share and leverage that YouLead was able to generate between June 2017 and June 30, 2019. The cumulative cost share generated by YouLead was USD 536,728 and leverage was USD 3,000,000. Cost share includes long-term and short-term volunteers from IESC, ASU, and GC, Project Director’s donated time to YouLead, and the value of donated services by local partners as listed below.

YouLead has requested that USAID Sri Lanka reduce the life of program cost share commitment of $1,863,200 by converting a total of $1,211,800 to leverage. The request was made following the constitutional crisis in 2018 coupled with the Easter Sunday bombing on April 21, 2019 in Sri Lanka, and the adverse impact of these events on mobilizing international volunteers. The approval is pending at the time of reporting.

Cost Share and Leverage USD Cost Share Leverage cumulative (cumulative) ## Sub Awardee/ Contractor/ Institution (June 2017 to (June 2017 to June 2019) June 2019) 01 Ceylon Chamber of Commerce $114.65 02 IESC, ASU, and GC Volunteers Cost Share $521,948.01 03 MSDVT $1,553.03 04 Hambantota Chamber of Commerce $2,847.86 05 Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Yarlpanam $2,880.08 06 Chamber of Commerce and Industry – Central Province $2,354.26 07 Kawantissa Vocational Training Center $65.10 08 Ednext Analytics Pvt Ltd $4,965.49 09 Microsoft YouthWorks Platform $3,000,000 Total 536,728.48 $3,000,000

Annex A: AMELP Progress Summary

Cumulat Cumulat % % Unit/ %

Target ive Target Actual ive progre Target Target Target Cumulative progre

## Indicator Reporting Disaggregation progres FY18 Actual FY19 FY19Q3 Actual ss FY20 FY21 LOP Actual LOP ss

USAID F USAID Frequency s FY18 Indicator # Indicator YouLead # YouLead FY18 FY19 FY19 LOP

Number of individuals with new Aggregate 478 786 164% 5,563 N/A N/A N/A 14,643 19,343 40,335 786 2% or better employment following N/A Number/ # of Female 72 414 575% 1,113 N/A N/A 3,661 5,163 10,351 414 4% 1 P1 participation of USG-assisted Annually N/A workforce development # of Male 406 372 92% 4,450 N/A N/A 10,982 14,180 29,984 372 1% programs Youth (16-35) N/A 758 N/A 5,330 N/A N/A N/A 14,043 18,556 38,687 758 2%

Number of individuals with new Aggregate N/A 705 N/A 3,931 N/A N/A N/A 9,814 12,971 27,421 705 3% employment following Number/ # of Female N/A 382 N/A 798 N/A N/A N/A 2,491 3,513 7,184 382 5% 2 O1.1 EG.6-4 completion of USG- assisted Annually workforce development # of Male N/A 323 N/A 3,133 N/A N/A N/A 7,323 9,458 20,237 323 2% programs Aggregate 2,125 1,676 79% 7,898 3,505 9,998 127% 15,035 19,424 44,033 11,674 27% Number of individuals who complete USG-assisted Number/ # of Female 319 742 233% 1,580 1,844 5,191 329% 3,759 5,185 11,266 5,933 53% 3 1.1 EG.6-3 workforce development Quarterly # of Male 1,806 934 52% 6,318 1,635 4,781 76% 11,276 14,239 32,767 5,715 17% programs Youth (16-35) N/A 1,243 N/A 5,858 3,095 8,328 142% 11,151 14,406 32,658 9,571 29%

Aggregate N/A 204 N/A 15,621 577 2,300 15% 29,100 52,100 97,025 2,504 3% Number of youth provided Number/ 4 1.2 # of Female N/A 141 N/A 3,124 389 1,545 49% 7,275 13,816 24,356 1,686 7% career and placement services Quarterly # of Male N/A 63 N/A 12,497 188 752 6% 21,825 38,284 72,669 815 1% Number of local businesses Number/ 5 O2.1 offering jobs to project Aggregate 189 118 62% 1,961 N/A N/A N/A 4,725 4,725 11,529 121 1% Annually beneficiaries

Percent of trainers/ counselors Percent/ 6 O2.2 Aggregate 80% 95% 119% 80% 62% 76% 95% 80% 80% 80% 86% 107% with improved knowledge/ skills Quarterly

Aggregate 17 30 176% 7 3 26 371% 20 0 57 56 98% Number of technical curricula Number/ 7 2.1 Improved 15 29 193% 1 2 10 1000% 3 0 33 39 118% developed or improved Quarterly Developed 2 1 50% 6 1 16 267% 17 0 24 17 71%

Aggregate 129 428 332% 121 141 362 299% 490 396 1,435 790 55% Number of trainers receiving Number/ 8 2.2 # of Female 19 188 989% 24 56 112 467% 123 106 441 300 68% training by YouLead Quarterly # of Male 110 240 218% 97 85 248 256% 367 290 994 488 49%

Cumulat Cumulat % % Unit/ %

Target ive Target Actual ive progre Target Target Target Cumulative progre

## Indicator Reporting Disaggregation progres FY18 Actual FY19 FY19Q3 Actual ss FY20 FY21 LOP Actual LOP ss

USAID F USAID Frequency s FY18 Indicator # Indicator YouLead # YouLead FY18 FY19 FY19 LOP

Aggregate 45 68 151% 473 118 428 90% 226 496 1,263 496 39% Number of counselors trained Number/ 9 2.3 to better match students to # of Female 7 28 400% 95 51 157 165% 57 153 333 185 56% Quarterly careers # of Male 38 40 105% 378 67 271 72% 169 343 930 311 33%

Aggregate N/A N/A N/A 600 0 0 0% 95 475 1,170 0 0%

Number of new businesses Number/ # of Female N/A N/A N/A 120 0 0 0% 24 127 271 0 0% 10 O3.1 setup following USG assistance Quarterly # of Male N/A N/A N/A 480 0 0 0% 71 348 899 0 0% Youth (16-35) N/A N/A N/A 400 0 0 0% 63 317 780 0 0%

Number of Financial Institution Aggregate N/A N/A N/A 500 167 736 147% 100 50 650 736 113% staff receiving training related Numbers/ 11 3.1 to increasing women and youth # of Female N/A N/A N/A 100 95 269 269% 25 13 138 269 195% Quarterly run enterprises access to financial services # of Male N/A N/A N/A 400 71 465 116% 75 37 512 465 91%

Number of financial Aggregate 3 8 267% 1 N/A N/A N/A 0 0 9 9 100% intermediaries increasing Numbers/ access to financial services for 12 3.2 Semi # Banks 6 N/A N/A N/A N/A 6 6 100% women and youth run Annually enterprises following USG # Others 2 N/A N/A N/A N/A 3 3 100% assistance.

Aggregate 260 0 0 1,060 0 13 1% 1,040 1,380 3,480 13 0%

Number of youth trained in Numbers/ 13 3.3 # of Female 39 0 0 212 0 11 5% 260 411 883 11 1% entrepreneurship skills Quarterly

# of Male 221 0 0 848 0 2 0% 780 969 2,597 2 0%

Aggregate 15% 49% 326% 20% 53% 53% 265% 25% 27% 25% 53% 208% Proportion of female participants in USG-assisted Number/ 14 CRS GNDR-2 # of Female 384 607 158% 2,131 1,718 4,872 229% 4,248 5,931 12,917 5,479 42% programs designed to increase Quarterly productive resources # of Participants 2559 1,241 48% 10,652 3,264 9,185 86% 16,986 22,221 51,100 10,426 20%

Cumulat Cumulat % % Unit/ %

Target ive Target Actual ive progre Target Target Target Cumulative progre

## Indicator Reporting Disaggregation progres FY18 Actual FY19 FY19Q3 Actual ss FY20 FY21 LOP Actual LOP ss

USAID F USAID Frequency s FY18 Indicator # Indicator YouLead # YouLead FY18 FY19 FY19 LOP

Aggregate 1,312 803 61% 5,046 1,815 6,936 137% 8,835 11,442 26,126 7,739 30%

# of Female 197 409 208% 695 885 3,676 529% 2,209 3,219 6,532 4,085 63%

# of Male 1,115 394 35% 4,351 930 3,260 75% 6,626 8,223 19,594 3,654 19%

# of females 15- 0 3 127 532 535 Number of youth at risk of 19 YOUTH- violence trained in social or Number/ # of females 20- 15 CRS 20 373 463 1,917 2,290 1 leadership skills through USG Quarterly 24 assisted programs # of females 25- 177 33 295 1,227 1,260 29 # of males 15- 0 86 174 531 617 19 # of males 20- 112 282 472 1,726 2,008 24 # of males 25- 1,003 26 284 1,003 1,029 29

Annex B: TraiNet Report

Annex C: Success Story

YouLead Catalyzes Rapid Response initiative to Uplift Sri Lanka’s Tourism Industry

Facilitating a rapid response private sector initiative, YouLead supported a 2 day workshop designed to strengthen the Tourism industry partnerships and sector coordination that grew from a response to the Easter Sunday attacks on April 21. On July 8 and 9, over 80 donor representatives and tourism and marketing experts from 12 different The Tourism Alliance's #loveSriLanka team organizations came together to agree on critical initiatives and an action plan.

The workshop leveraged the success of the Sri Lanka Tourism Alliance’s #LoveSriLanka campaign which was launched in the weeks after the attacks.

The USAID-created Tourism Skills Committee (TSC), a private sector body empowered by the YouLead project to increase employment for youth in the tourism industry, rose up to form the Alliance. Within days, www.lovesrilanka.org was launched with pro-bono website design and management.

The aim of the group is to provide unified messaging. The Alliance successfully rallied over 1,000 domestic and international tourism organizations behind a common cause to carry the momentum forward and develop an industry-led action plan for recovery and resilience.

“Without the website and its related social media feeds, potential tourists would have remained confused and the recovery process would drag out for many months and millions of dollars in additional losses.”

Malik Fernando, Managing Director of Resplendent Ceylon and Chairman of the Tourism Alliance’s Advisory Group

USAID also supported the Alliance with professional management and a crisis communications expert through the Supporting Accelerated Investment in Sri Lanka (SAIL) project. Two Australian-funded projects collaborated with USAID to fund the development of the recovery action plan.

The #loveSriLanka campaign had 1,194 followers on Facebook, 1,096 on Instagram and 68 on Twitter as of June 30, 2019 and continues to gain traction. The Google ads campaign based on ‘is Sri Lanka safe’ searches delivered 21,824 impressions and covered approximately 80% of safety related searches for Sri Lanka.

Annex D: Success Story

Over 2,400 youth participate in the first career fairs since the Easter Sunday attacks Over 2,400 young men and women flocked to the career fairs in Galle and Matara, the first to be held after the April 21 Easter Sunday attacks. The fairs were organized by YouLead in coordination with the Department of Manpower and Employment (DME) and CareerMe, Sri Lanka’s first dedicated career guidance website. YouLead staff member assists a visitor with the online career test The career fairs, which were postponed because of security issues after the attacks, have proven to be very popular with students and youth. YouLead has received many requests to hold more fairs in other parts of the country.

The fairs were relaunched in Galle and Matara on June 22. The Galle Career Fair was empowered with 45 private companies and the event drew more than 800 participants, 740 of whom were under the age of 35 and 58% were women. More than 240 youth took the CareerMe psychometric career test localized by YouLead and received one-on-one career guidance from YouLead trained career development officers. The Matara Career Fair drew more than 1,600 women and men.

“I never realized how many opportunities there are for young people. It was a great surprise to find I can do something that really interests me. I thought the only option was to work in a boring office somewhere. Now I have an idea to work on.” Nimnas Nazeem, 25, Job seeker

During both the events the participating private companies conducted on-the-spot interviews for youth seeking jobs and training and seven training institutions promoted their courses and services in vocational education.

Several YouLead trained inspectors from the National Apprenticeship and Industrial Training Authority (NAITA) were also available to advise youth on apprenticeship opportunities in the region.

YouLead and the DME are planning six more career fairs this year focusing on districts with the highest youth unemployment as identified by YouLead’s Youth and Labor Market Assessment.

Annex E: Success Story

Future Bridge links TVET students with the ICT industry YouLead in partnership with the Sri Lanka Association of Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM) and the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Skills Council held the second phase of the pilot Future Bridge Program on June 7.

Launched in April 2019, Bridge is an online learning and evaluation portal and was designed to draw school Bridge students meet industry professionals under leavers to the ICT industry bridging the phase two of the program existing skills gap.

Of the participants, 26 Vocational Training Authority (VTA) students, eight of them young women, took part in phase two. The main objective of this phase was to connect the students with mentors and industry professionals. The students had the opportunity to ask questions and receive guidance for the next step of the program.

L.H.A.I. Sajith, ICT instructor from VTA’s Veyangoda Center, said the exposure the students received under phase two was very important. He said the biggest issue vocational training faced was the lack of links between the institutions and the industry.

In addition to having fun, the students said the main advantages of the Bridge Program were that it was on-line and accessible at any time.

Since, the online portal was launched, 406 students have “This is the first time I’ve ever done an enrolled in the program, 41% of online course. Today’s program was them female and 61% students of TVET institutions. very important. We met people from the industry who shared their ideas About 79 students have and advised us”. progressed from the basic to the advanced level and are currently Ayoma Rathmali Bulathsinghala, 27, ICT completing the final level of NVQ Level 5 student technical assessments.

The pilot will be completed in December 2019 and selected students will be offered internships in the new year.