Uganda: Post-war youth vocational training (Chris Blattman)

To increase employment and reduce poverty, government and NGOs commonly train youth as carpenters, tailors, mechanics, welders, cooks and other vocations. Evidence is thin, however, on the worth and effectiveness of such spending.

We are working with Uganda’s Office of the Prime Minister and The World Bank to evaluate Uganda’s largest youth vocational training program. The evaluation will answer several key questions, including:

• How does the program impact the lives of beneficiaries?
  • How many start up and sustain a business?
  • What is the impact on income, employment, assets, and savings?
  • What are the determinants of success (and failure) in vocations and entrepreneurship?
• How do any economic gains spill over into other areas of life:
  • physical and psychological health;
  • risky behaviors;
  • social and political participation;
  • investments in children’s health and education; and
  • the transfer knowledge to neighbors and friends?

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