Ethiopia: Cash Transfer & Youth Led Procurement Assessment Report YOUTH in ACTION PROGRAM-ETHIOPIA OCTOBER 2015 Acknowledgment This field assessment report is a result of a significant commitment by a number of individuals. In particular, the study team would like to express heartfelt thanks to all our informants namely youth, parents, procurement committee, partner staff and product suppliers who answered questions and offered valuable support during field research in Gidan, Guba Lafto, Habru and Raya Kobo. Among the many who have shared their insights and experience, we want to mention a few names of people whom without their cooperation and active support the study would not have been possible. Notable among them Mr Melkam Wudassie (PADet Woldiya Office MEAL Officer) and Mr- Kassahun Hailemariam (Save The Children Woldiya YIA Acting Project Coordinator) for their part in the study, especially in taking part in FGD (Focus Group Discussions), organizing field events, scheduling program with partner staff, youth, parents, other stakeholders and providing relevant information for the study. Invaluable gratitude should also go to Hana Haile, Woldiya Field Office Manager, and Mengiste Baye PADet Woldiya Office Program Coordinator for providing oversight, and unwavering encouragement which gave the much-needed context of the study. We would also wish to thank Eneyew Asmamaw for his diligence and tireless support in driving team members to desired destination. Last but not least, a word of thanks should also reach to Seble Seleshi (Save Data Entry Officer) for taking lead in typing the Amharic version of the individual /focus group questionnaire and photocopying the desired copy of the same. Yosef Gebrehiwot Angaw Nurilegn YIA-MEAL ADVISOR YIA-ETHIOPIA SENIOR PROGRAM MANAGER Content 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 1 2. METHODOLOGY AND LIMITATIONS .................................................................................... 2 2.1. RESEARCH QUESTIONS .................................................................................................................. 2 2.2. ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................... 2 2.3. DATA COLLECTION ........................................................................................................................ 3 2.4 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS ........................................................................................................ 4 2.5. LIMITATION OF THE STUDY ......................................................................................................... 4 3. CASH TRANSFER MODALITY & YOUTH PATHWAY CHOICES ....................... 5 3.1. INSTITUTIONAL SET UP AND PROCESSES IN CASH TRANSFER & YLP ........................ 5 3.2. STAKEHOLDERS’ INVOLVEMENT AND COMMUNITY/ PARENTAL CONTRIBUTION IN THE YLP................................................................................................................ 9 3.3 AN OVERVIEW ON CASH TRANSFER TO DATE ................................................................. 10 3.4 YOUTH RESPONDENT PROFILE AND PATHWAY CHOICES .......................................... 11 4. VIEWS AND PERCEPTION OF RESPONDENTS ON CASH TRANSFER MODALITY AND YLP ........................................................................................................................... 13 4.1 VIEWS AND OPINION OF YOUTH ........................................................................................... 13 4.2. VIEW AND OPINION FROM FGD/GROUP RESPONDENTS ............................................ 20 5. SUMMARY of MAIN ISSUES & FINDINGS ........................................................................... 24 6. RECOMMENDATION AND SUGGESTED ACTIONS .................................................... 27 1. Introduction Youth in Action Ethiopia is a six-year project implemented by Save the Children in partnership with the MasterCard Foundation. The program aims at improving the socioeconomic status of 9050 out of school youth between the ages of 14 and 18. The project is implemented by Save the Children in collaboration with local partner PADet (Professional Alliance for Development) in 78 kebeles in four woredas in the North Wollo Zone namely Habru, Gubalafto, Raya kobo and Gidan. The program started in October 2012 with anticipated end date in September 2018. The overarching aim of the program is to support youth to build foundational skills in literacy and numeracy, financial literacy, and social assets that will help them to succeed in livelihoods activities. Upon completion of the five-month learning cycle, youth will be supported to map out and select viable pathways to return to school and or choose a career in the agricultural sector which may include vocational training, apprenticeship, employment or start-up of a small enterprise project that would give them real work experience. The enterprise pathway opportunity involves establishment of agri-focused individual enterprises that include: input provision, production, processing, and retailing of agricultural products. Since the inception of the program, 1821 boys and 1329 Girls (42%) have been enrolled in the learning and nearly 1569 (954 boys and 665 girls) of these youth from cohort 1, 2, 3 and 4 have selected individual/group project and have received cash. Individual/Group enterprise project is highly preferred option by youth and is anticipated that this pathway take a lead over the years encompassing over 80% (7240) of youth targeted for the program. Following the choice of individual/group project, youth were provided cash worth 184 USD1 and focused training to enable them start their preferred pathway option. In line with the above, YLP (Youth Led Procurement) MEAL guideline was developed to capture important lessons and insights with regards to process and outcomes of Youth Led Procurement and market behavior. The objective of the assessment follows the same and aims to uncover three important aspects with regards to the process and outcomes of YLP. These are: To document the key process involved in cash transfer /YLP and hear the views and opinion of participating youth and stakeholders on the appropriateness of the modality of transfer 1 Each youth were entitled for 4200 birr and equivalent of 205 USD. They were provided 184 USD to implement their pathway and USD 21 kept in their account as saving. 1 Ethiopia Cash Transfer/YLP Study To identify challenges and best practices that were observed in cash transfer, youth led procurement and market behaviour To draw important conclusion and identify list of action that will be necessary to inform the modality of transfer, and redesign existing practices for better program performance. Based on the objectives outlined above, field assessment was conducted from September 21-26, 2015 in four districts of Habru, Raya Kobo, Gubalafto and Gidan. All data was collected through one to one interview with youth and through focus group discussions (FGDs) with parents, potential suppliers, procurement committee, master trainers/lead facilitators, partner district coordinators and community mobilization officers. This report summarizes the finding of the field assessment and documents the experiences and key lessons on cash transfer and YLP from Ethiopia. The organization of this report is as follows: After this brief introduction section, Chapter 2 provides a description of the methodology of data collection outlining the steps taken and challenges encountered; Chapter 3 provides a brief description on the institutional set-up and the process involved in the cash transfer; Chapter 4 explores the views of youth and other stakeholders on the overall performance of the cash transfer and YLP; Chapter 5 summarizes the main issues and key findings from so far implemented activities. Finally, the report concludes in Chapter 6 by providing a summary of key recommendations worth considering in improving performance of cash transfer and YLP implementation. 2. Methodology and Limitations 2.1. Research Questions The study seeks to address the following research questions: What are the institutional setup and process steps involved in the cash transfer and YLP? What roles did stakeholders play in the implementation and realization of cash transfer and YLP? What are the performance and challenges of the various pathways? What actions and strategies help improve the overall program and in particular the cash transfer modality and YLP? 2.2. Assessment Methodology The study adopted a qualitative and quantitative approach in order to provide acceptable answers to the stated research questions. This approach is employed to arrive at a more holistic understanding of the processes and strategies employed in the cash transfer and YLP. The study focuses on multi-pronged method to understand what youth and 2 Ethiopia Cash Transfer/YLP Study stakeholders perceive (parents, procurement committee; suppliers and partner staff) and how youth view the so far progress and describe what is happening by listening and interpreting their responses. 2.3. Data Collection The study used structured questionnaire and FGD guideline checklist to collect information from different primary sources. Primary data was collected from 113 youth (47% girls) participants who received cash transfer to implement their pathway options in the four study districts. Data from all