A Youth Employability Initiative in Resettlement Colonies of Delhi by Plan Nederland

End term evaluation of Saksham Project â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A Youth Employability Initiative in Resettlement Colonies of Delhi Final Report

Submitted to Plan India

Acknowledgements This is the final external evaluation of Saksham – A Youth Employability Initiative in Resettlement Colonies of Delhi. Saksham- a flagship project of Plan India aimed to address the issue of youth unemployment through the enhancement of the youth’s accessibility to job oriented vocational skills. Kaarak, an external evaluation agency has conducted this evaluation with the support of several persons who continue to form an important part of this project. The evaluation team also appreciates the facilitation role played by the Plan India’s Saksham Project Team during primary data collection. The team is extremely grateful to Ms. Meena Narula and Mr. Asif Mohammed for supporting the entire evaluation exercise including finalisation of evaluation findings and report. We are especially thankful to Ms. Anamika Sharma, Project Coordinator, for making special efforts for coordinating the data collection at different vocational training centres. Mr. C.P. Arun, Technical Advisor, HES, provided an overall understanding of the organization and Saksham’s place in its HES and provided support while finalisation data collection tools. We want to express our appreciation to him for providing us with invaluable inputs and feedback. The evaluation team is grateful to Mr. Harshvardhan Sharma, Project Manager, for providing support to the evaluation exercise. We are also grateful to Plan India’s NGO partners, representatives of two technical partners (Empower Pragati and CAP Foundation) and employers (Reliance Trendz, Pantaloons, Grillz Coolz, More, etc) for sharing their insights and experiences with the evaluation team. The evaluation team expresses its appreciation for everyone who took out time to give their frank opinions and suggestions on the Saksham project and helped in the successful conduction of this exercise. Finally, this evaluation would not have been possible without the participation of youth and their families, to whom we are especially grateful. The Evaluation Team Kaarak Enterprise Development Services Private Limited, New Delhi

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CONTENTS Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. 2 CONTENTS................................................................................................................................ 3 List of Figures ................................................................................................................... 4 List of Tables .................................................................................................................... 4 Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................... 5 Executive Summary ................................................................................................................. 6 CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 15 Objectives and Scope of Evaluation .............................................................................. 15 Methodology and Approach .......................................................................................... 16 Limitations ..................................................................................................................... 20 Report layout.................................................................................................................. 20 CHAPTER 2: SAKSHAM PROJECT OVERVIEW ..................................................................... 21 About Plan ...................................................................................................................... 21 About Saksham Project.................................................................................................. 21 Specific Objectives ......................................................................................................... 22 Target beneficiaries and outreach ................................................................................ 23 Three Party Intervention Model ................................................................................... 23 Strategies and Activities ................................................................................................ 24 Project Management Structure ..................................................................................... 25 VT Process ...................................................................................................................... 26 Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting ......................................................................... 30 Achievements ................................................................................................................. 31 CHAPTER 3: EVALUATION FINDINGS.................................................................................. 33 I. Relevance................................................................................................................ 33 Relevance to national and state context ...................................................................... 34 Relevance to Plan Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s CSP-III .................................................................................. 34 Relevance to youth and their families .......................................................................... 35 II. Effectiveness........................................................................................................... 36 A. Effectiveness of VT Processes ............................................................................... 37 B. Effectiveness of Project Implementation Strategies ........................................... 48 III. Efficiency ............................................................................................................ 50 Project Management Structures ................................................................................... 50 Management Information System ................................................................................ 51 IV. Outcomes and Impact ........................................................................................ 52 Outcomes: Access to decent employment to poor and socially excluded youths ..... 52 Impact on income........................................................................................................... 53 Impact on quality of life ................................................................................................. 54 CHAPTER 4: GOOD PRACTICES AND LESSONS LEARNED ................................................. 56 Good practices ................................................................................................................ 56 Lesson learned ............................................................................................................... 56 CHAPTER 5: RECOMMENDATIONS ...................................................................................... 58

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List of Figures Figure 1: Project Strategies and Activities.................................................................................. 24 Figure 2: Project Organogram................................................................................................... 25 Figure 3: VT Process ................................................................................................................ 26 Figure 4: Batch details as per locations ................................................................................... 29 Figure 5: Reasons for Joining VT ........................................................................................... 35 Figure 6: Relevance of Soft Skill Module ............................................................................... 36 Figure 7: Community Mobilization ......................................................................................... 37 Figure 8: Youth Currently Pursuing Education ....................................................................... 38 Figure 9: Economic Category wise distribution of youth (%)................................................. 39 Figure 10: Youth who took Interest Inventory Test ................................................................ 40 Figure 11: VT Course reported by youth................................................................................. 40 Figure 12: Rating of Enrollment Process by Youth ................................................................ 41 Figure 13: Rating on Course Content ...................................................................................... 42 Figure 14: Rating on Faculty ................................................................................................... 42 Figure 15: Youthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rating of VT Centre infrastructure ............................................................... 43 Figure 16: Youths reported receiving certificates ....................................................................... 44 Figure 17: Job offered immediately after completion of VT ...................................................... 45 Figure 18: Reasons for not accepting or continuing with jobs ................................................ 45 Figure 19: Job Placement Support............................................................................................. 46 Figure 20: Received Follow-up Support on-job ...................................................................... 47 Figure 21: Nature of Follow-up Support ................................................................................. 47 Figure 22: Youth who ever attended Alumni Meeting (in percentage) ....................................... 49 Figure 23: Purpose of alumni group .......................................................................................... 50 Figure 24: Salary scale of employed youth ............................................................................. 53 Figure 25: Change in Income levels of the youths who have worked in past and currently working.................................................................................................................................... 54 Figure 26: Any impact on quality of life after VT ...................................................................... 54

List of Tables Table 1: Number of respondents covered in primary survey ..................................................... 17 Table 2 Samples covered-families of youth ............................................................................... 18 Table 3 Qualitative data collection plan..................................................................................... 18 Table 4: Project Details ............................................................................................................. 21 Table 5: Target Beneficiaries and Outreach Details ................................................................... 23 Table 6: Three Party Model ..................................................................................................... 24 Table 8: Batch size details ....................................................................................................... 29 Table 9: Project Achievements.................................................................................................. 31 Table 10: Income Details of Places Youth .............................................................................. 32 Table 11: Status of Objectives ................................................................................................... 33 Table 12: Assessments Periods ............................................................................................... 43 Table 13: Present Employment Status ..................................................................................... 45 Table 14: MIS Format Details ................................................................................................... 51

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Abbreviations APL

Above Poverty Line

BPL

Below Poverty Line

CCCD

Child Centered Community Development

CCCDP

Child Centered Community Development Programme

CRS

Customer Relation & Sales

CSP

Country Strategic Plan

Curriculum Vitae

DRA

Direct Recovery Agents

FGD

Focus Group Discussion

FNO

France National Office

GOI

Government of India

GRC

Gender Resource Centre

HES

Household Economic Security

IGNOU

Indira Gandhi National Open University

ITES

Information Technology & Electronic Services

JOVT

Job Oriented Vocational Training Program

KII

Key Informant Interview

MES

Modular Employability Scheme

MIS

Management Information System

NGO

Non-Government Organization

NLNO

Netherlands National Office

NPO

National Program Outline

NSDC

National Skill Development Council

RBM

Result Based Management

Scheduled Caste

SDI-MES

Skill Development institute- Modular Employability scheme

SGSY

Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana

Scheduled Tribe

ToR

Terms of Reference

Training Partner

TRA

Technical Resource Agency

Vocational Training

VTP

Vocational Training Program

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Executive Summary I.

Saksham – An Overview

Plan India’s Country Strategic Plan (2010-2015) is committed to programs that prepare young men and women to get decent and formal employment or self-employment through market oriented vocational, business and life skills training. Saksham-A Youth Employability Initiative in Resettlement Colonies of Delhi was launched in May 2010. It aims to train youth from disadvantaged and marginalized rural and urban communities in market demand driven Job Oriented Vocational Training (JOVT), thereby contributing to the Country Strategic Plan (III) commitments. The first phase of the project was implemented in seven resettlement colonies/slums of Delhi till July 2013. The target group comprised of youths in the age group of 18 to 25 years. Saksham’s specific objectives: 1. Enable nearly 3200 girls and boys from poor and socially excluded families in 5 urban resettlement / semi-rural colonies of Delhi to access dignified employment through vocational, life skills training and job placement support. 2. Develop a pilot strategy to facilitate employment of girls and boys from poor and socially excluded families in urban resettlement colonies through vocational and life skills trainings in order to influence government to take it up as an input to revise Modular Employability Scheme (MES). 3. Test the efficacy of 3-party model (Plan, technical expert agency and grassroots NGO partner). To achieve the above mentioned objectives, Plan India received funding support from FNO & NLNO, Accenture and Bombardier. The project followed a 3-party model, with Plan India taking a lead in the program design, program implementation activities, management of the project, technical support and monitoring and evaluation; on-field implementation of the project was through its Technical Partners (Empower Pragati and CAP foundation) with community mobilization support from NGO partners (AVBT, CASP-Plan, BVD, Alamb and Nav Shristi). In course of implementation, Saksham successfully achieved its target of enrolling and training around 3200 youth in JOVT and was able to place 63% of these youth in jobs immediately after the trainings. II. Final evaluation – An Overview As the project completed its three years, Plan India commissioned an external final evaluation through a Delhi based advisory firm ‘Kaarak’. The evaluation intends to help Plan India in development of future phase of the project while also contributing to its larger goal of promoting formal employment for young men and women. Specifically, the evaluation conducted review and assessment of the progress towards goal, objectives, key outputs and outcomes; project implementation structure, three party model of partnership, implementation processes, management information system. The evaluation objectives included assessment of project’s performance against the criteria of relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, and impact of the project on the lives of youth and their families. The evaluation also attempted to document lessons learned and made recommendations accordingly.

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The evaluation methodology comprised of both secondary and primary research. The primary research included quantitative survey with the trained youth and their families (parents). The qualitative methods included following respondent groups: Quantitative Survey  

Focus Group Discussions 566 youth (304  Youth (Male and Female & 262 Male) Female) 211 Parents  Parents

Personal Interviews/ In-depth Discussions  NGO Partners  Plan Staff  TPs  Youth (Male and Female)

The secondary research included review of project documents (i.e., proposals, periodic assessment reports, field reports, project process documents, annual reports), MIS data sheets and formats and other domain specific information. III. Key evaluation findings It is worthwhile to mention that the project has evolved in last three years in terms of its key objectives as well as the processes. The evaluation team has considered these changes while analysing the findings. A summary of the evaluation findings in terms of relevance, efficiency, effectiveness and outcomes is presented below. A. Relevance Overall, the project is highly relevant to the national and state context and is aligned to the government’s priority to skill development and youth employment. The significant emphasis and allocation of financial resources by the government as part of National Skills Mission has led to increased number of VT service providers which would demand attention in the second phase. The union budget (2012-13) has allocated around $200 million to National Skills development and it aims to train more than 7 million youth (FY-2012-13). Saksham project is very well aligned with the Plan India’s commitment under CSP III. The project contributes to the overall commitment made by Plan India on increasing employment opportunities for young women and men. It specifically contributes to the CSP III’s total target of training 50,000 female youth (3% of the target). Although project had a clear target (3.000 youth to be trained and placed) it does not have a results framework outlining outcome, outputs and indicators at different levels. The project proposal stated measures to be taken for enhancing efficiency and effectiveness, however does not elaborate this aspect in terms of strategy. Further, as Saksham was initiated in Plan communities, programmatic linkages with other Plan projects and Plan communities (being covered under CCDP) could have been stronger. The selection of resettlement locations or slums to reach out to youths was relevant and appropriate as youths belonging to poor or socially excluded groups stay in these localities. JOVT was highly relevant to these youth, especially since the project had an inbuilt component of job placements. Also, the emphasis on soft-skills1 within the course content made it more relevant to the target youth. However, under the technical2 aspects of the courses a clear expectation of diversification of courses (accounting, data entry, beautician, etc.) was highlighted by the respondent youth.

Soft-skill training includes Communicative English, Basic Computer Literacy and Life Skills (personality development, stress management, emotional intelligence, budget management, etc.) Training 2 Technical training includes, Customer Relations and Sales, Debt Recovery Agent, ITES and Hospitality 1

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B. Effectiveness i) Effectiveness of VT Processes Enrolment: The overall findings suggest that the project enrolment strategies were effective in covering youth of the targeted age 3 (96%) and educational level 4 (85%). However, not all youths belong to poor and socially excluded groups 5 . Among the project beneficiary youths, 50% are from General category and 25% of the youth from BPL category). 25% of the respondents had no card thus, their poverty level could not be ascertained. In absence of specific demographic data on community profile of the project location, a comparative analysis cannot be made. A more relaxed educational criterion in terms of targeting the dropouts (5th to 8th Std.) might have helped in reaching to the youth whose need for an immediate job and income is higher than who are still belonging to this category and in need of immediate jobs. This also has been one of the recommendations of project’s mid-term assessment. The findings also suggests that all components of the enrolment process (i.e., Screening, Socio-Economic Assessment, Parents Counselling as mentioned in the process guidelines) were not uniformly and consistently applied across all the centers which also indicates that these processes have evolved during the course of project’s execution. VT Delivery: Youths were highly satisfied with the VT delivery including faculty (96%), course content (91%) and methodology. 93% of the respondent youth were also satisfied with the infrastructure facilities at the VT centre. Youth reported that the trainers were very approachable and the methods used were participatory in nature. This led to enhanced participation of the youths and was able to create an enabling learning environment. The qualitative findings suggest that the course timings and VT center locations were appropriate. Some of the challenges and concerns noted during FGDs with the youth and in-depth discussion with NGO partners include high attrition rates of trainers leading to disruption of training delivery, absence of female trainers, inadequate computers and drinking water facilities, excessive work load of trainers/center managers, and lack of specialised trainers (as per modules). Assessment and Certification: The ‘Youth Enrollment in Vocational training Guideline’ recommends that every student should undergo assessment at different levels of course completion. Consultations with TPs reveal that assessments were conducted by TPs but the process followed was not uniform. Empower conducted internal assessment of the students while CAP Foundation conducted assessment through ‘Edexel’ and ‘NCVT’ for certification. The Youth Enrolment Guideline recommends certification for the students who clear the final assessment. The evaluation team have inadequate information with reference to the number of students who were eligible for certificates (i.e. who qualified the assessments) and the number of students who received certificates. During consultations with Plan India staff it was reported that certificates have been issued for all the trained youths, however, a large number of them have not collected them. As per quantitative findings, 45% of youths do not have certificates although they have completed the Targeted age group: 18-25 years Educational level: at least 10 std. pass 5 The Planning Commission of India in its11th Five Year Plan lists Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Minority as socially excluded groups, while also recognizing gender inequality as a factor of exclusion (http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/planrel/fiveyr/11th/11_v1/11v1_ch1.pdf) 3 4

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course. Some of the reasons cited by youth during FGDs for not collecting certificates include lack of time, centers being closed when visited, and their perception that there is no special requirement of these certificates, i.e. employers do not ask for certificate. Job Placements: Placement support was an integral part of the VT process; youths (who were offered a job) were highly appreciative of the placement support provided by the TP (86% rated as highly satisfactory or satisfactory). The placement support included preparation for job interview, information sharing on job openings and support in job application process. The evaluation survey found that 86% youth were offered a placement opportunity immediately after completion of VT course. Of these, about half of them (48%) accepted the job offer, 62 % of which is still employed. 8% of those provided placement opportunity could not clear the interview and the rest of them (44%) did not join despite the job offer. The project report shared to evaluation team states placement of 63% of trained youth. Overall, about one fourth (22%) of the total youth surveyed reported to be employed at least for the first six months after the course completion. Overall 38% (33% females and 44% males) of all surveyed youth reported to be employed at the time of survey. Those who were not currently employed (62% of all surveyed) cited various reasons6 for not taking up jobs or leaving jobs. These are:     

Pursuing education (36%) Job not being of interest or expectation (23%) Distance between work place and home (11%) Low salary levels (12%) Parents/elders disapproval (7%).

During discussions with the TPs (empower and CAP Foundation) challenges related to a competitive job market and a mismatch between the current offerings, youth’s qualification and their expectations were cited. The employers expressed their challenge of accommodating employees with work timing and other performance related issues. In the subsequent phase of the project, the project may consider incorporating a wellplanned mentoring and on-job support to youth to enhance their retention in jobs. Follow up support: Almost all the placed youths reported on-job support by TP. As per the ‘Youth Enrolment Process-guideline’, NGO partner was primarily responsible for the follow-up support, but the discussions with youth suggest that TP took the lead the process. Also, TPs are better positioned to provide this nature of support as they are primary provider of placements, placement support and understand the work places better. ii)

Effectiveness of Project Implementation Strategies

Three Party Model: The specific roles of Plan India and TP was found to be well defined (refer to the table below for brief description of roles and responsibilities of each partner).

Multiple response question

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ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES IN THE THREE PARTY MODEL Plan India

NGO Partner

Technical Partner

 Undertake overall coordination and management of the project.  Monitoring, reporting, documentation and review.  Avail Technical support from TA-HES and guide partners.  Capacity building on gender balanced programming

 Awareness generation and community mobilization through various activities such as street plays, meetings, announcements, etc.  Responsible for Alumni Groups, i.e., holding regular meetings  Sensitization on women empowerment and their financial independence.  IEC materials

 Conduct market Study to identify trades and employment opportunities  Develop/refine/customize VT course modules  Support NGO partners in community mobilization.  Establish and manage vocational centers  Provide awareness about job opportunities in the market.  Provide employment to trained youth and also follow-up support to those employed.  *Capacity building of Partner NGO in providing VT

(* specifically for Empower-as per MoU)

The NGO’s role in community mobilization and follow up support witnessed some overlap with TPs. As shared during consultations with NGOs and TPs, this overlapping led to duplication of efforts. The partners reported that Plan India was responsive and provided timely support and coordination which witnessed improvement over time. The targets at the level of Plan India and TPs were well defined and clear, however, this was absent at the level of NGO partners. Accordingly, NGO partners’ achievements in this project could not be quantified. While Plan India’s and TP’s ownership of the project results have been well defined, that was not the case with NGO partners. The stakes and roles of NGOs partners were quite less in comparison to other partners. The NGOs mainly looked at community mobilisation which acted as an important but support function in the context of overall VT process. Interaction with TPs and NGOs reflects that all communication was channelled through Plan India which resulted into challenges in real time coordination between the two implementing parties. Gender Sensitization of Communities and Employers: The project made special efforts on gender sensitization for communities and also for the employers. Special campaign drives, door to door counselling, and counselling of parents at the VT centres were carried out to encourage parents for sending their daughters VT. The project efforts were effective which is reflected in the current attitudes of the parents and number of female youths participating in the project. Also, as per project report 7, special efforts were made to negotiate terms with employers, for instance, recruiting small groups of girls rather than one and suitable work timings. Alumni Groups: The project envisaged to create and empower youth through collectives (alumni groups). The project envisaged that after the completion of first two years, 50% cost of training would be recovered8 through the repayment of fee by passedout trainees. The alumni group was conceptualize as a means to facilitate this repayment along with facilitating placements. The alumni groups have not been formed in the project location as the passed out students are not able to commit their regular presence. However the NGO partners (responsible for Alumni Group) made special efforts to hold informal alumni meetings. 7 8

Gender Mainstreaming in Saksham: A Process Guideline, November 2012 Saksham Proposal

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Around 58% of the surveyed youth reported to have attended at least one alumni meeting. However, these are one-off meetings with limited potential of any planned activity with alumni. The evaluation team observes that since TP is better connected with employers, aware of workplace issues and market trends, it is better positioned to coordinate alumni activities. Overall, the alumni groups could not play any role in building the sustainability model of the project which was initially visualised by the project. C. Efficiency i) Project Management Structures At the level of Plan India and NGO partners, the project management structure was found to be adequate. At the level of TPs, the project was managed by a point person along with a dedicated person taking care of placements which looked sufficient. At the vocational training center, trainers or Center manager’s responsibilities doubled up as centre management, training provision on main VT course, training provision of other courses (English, Computers, Life Skills), supervision of mobilizers and additional responsibility of local liasioning for exploring placement opportunities which was reported excessive during discussion with NGO Partners. Although there comprehensive data on trainers’ turnover is not available, it was noted as a challenge by youth and NGO partners. The TP had also staffed community mobilisers with similar roles (awareness generation and identification of youth for the VT) as the community mobilisers by NGOs. As shared by NGO Partners, TPs and Plan Project staff during consultation process, the project initially was not able to achieve its target in terms of enrolment. To fulfil the desired targets the TP recruited two mobilizers in each of its centers. They later continued with this practice despite NGOs’ support in mobilization as it facilitated meeting the enrolment targets. The evaluation team observes that currently there is a duplication of efforts for community mobilization and more clarity regarding roles and targets is required between the NGOs and TPs. ii)

Management Information System

The project made significant investments in collecting and storing data on youth being enrolled, trained and placed. The database was maintained at each center and compiled at the TP level before submission to Plan India. This investment played a key role in keeping the focus of the project on achieving the targets relating to enrolment and placements. The evaluation team understands that the MIS format underwent a change during the project. The evaluation team notes that despite this huge effort; this data was not used extensively during project period. The following gaps were observed in the project MIS:   

No unique IDs to the trainees leading to errors during analysis. Use of different formats which limited the scope of real time collation and overall analysis. Inability to capture some important data such as those related to the screening, drop outs, attendance, and time spent in the employment.

Plan India has further worked with Accenture to develop a detailed MIS system as per the three party system which will be implemented in the next phase. The team recommends development and use of comprehensive and standardized formats which 11 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

fulfils the information and analysis need at all levels and enhances its usage for management decisions. D. Outcomes and Impact i) Outcomes: Access to decent employment to poor and socially excluded youths As indicated earlier, the selection of project location was appropriate and played a positive contribution to this outcome. The project was able to cover youths from poor and socially excluded categories (24% of poor/BPL and 50% of SC/ST i.e., socially excluded categories9). Overall, 75% of the 566 surveyed youth found the VT very useful. The training positively impacted the youth’s personalities and has led to enhanced self-confidence, as reported by 79 % of the surveyed youth. The FGDs reflect that VT has given these youth an exposure to good quality training programme and an insight into the opportunities available in service sectors like retail, ITES, etc. While the project has enhanced the youth’s choices and access to employment in formal sectors, it is also noted that significant number of youths did not opt for immediate jobs and are not currently employed (38% currently employed). Of the currently employed youth (n=217) one fifth reported earning more than Rs. 7,000 per month. Four fifths of the employed youth (217) were earning Rs. 2000 to 7000 per month. Even though a common practice in India, the evaluation team concludes that the jobs offered to the youths could not be termed as decent as these salaries are below the statutory minimum wage rates set by the state government10. ii)

Impact on income

73% of the surveyed youths (out of 81 youth who have ever worked in the past and also currently employed) reported positive changes in income levels after receiving the training. Of these, 14% reported no change in their income levels and rest (15%) reported a decrease in their income levels. 5%, 21% and 26% reported increased in the income, 0-<25%, 25% - <50% and 50% - < 100% respectively. iii) Impact on quality of life In the absence of specific indicators the evaluation exercise adapted globally used and recommended indicators on ‘quality of life’ (Housing condition, access to sanitation, access to drinking water, food consumption pattern, economic condition, food consumption pattern, work-life balance and asset creation). The evaluation also understands that change (positive/negative) in quality of life cannot be solely attributed to Saksham project. Overall 70% (71% females and 68 % males) of youth reported to have experienced some positive change in their quality of life (positive change in any of the aforementioned indicators).

The categorization poor and socially excluded category is as per generic Indian categorization of poor and excluded communities. Since demographic profile of project locations are not available, the data presented cannot be analysed with existing break-up of poor and excluded in the project location. 10 http://www.phdcci.in/admin/admin_logged/banner_images/1367229054.pdf 9

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IV. Recommendations  Recommendation 1: Focus on retention The factors related to retention in jobs needs to be addressed through strategic mechanism as high turnover negatively impacts the results for youth as well as project partners. Greater emphasis may be laid on orienting youth for long term ‘carrier development’ instead of perceiving VT as a vehicle for immediate employment. On-job mentoring support and greater exposure to prevalent work culture (timings, job-profiles, promotion ladder etc) may also be useful in this regard.  Recommendation 2: Use of Result Based Management framework for project management It is recommended to develop, implement and maintain performance management measurement system (Result Based Management). The framework should clearly define result matrix, indicators at all levels of results, M&E plan and risk mitigation strategy. Further, the MIS system should be aligned to the result areas. This will guide the managers in effective implementation, progress tracking, taking mid-way corrective actions and maximising the achievements.  Recommendation 3: Setting-up standard communication protocols It is recommended to develop standardized communication protocols for both internal (members of three party model) as well as external stakeholders (employees and community). This will help to ensure enhanced coordination, monitoring and reporting within the project.  Recommendation 4: Define benchmark for salaries during placements. It is recommended that the project should define benchmark for salaries of trained youth which should at least comply with the statutory minimum wages as laid by Government of Delhi. This will also require creating a better match between needs, eligibility criteria and courses offered.  Recommendation 5: Standardization of training delivery and VT process as a whole To strengthen its course content Saksham may need to consider standardization of course content (for all locations), make it more specialization oriented than generic, give adequate time for course delivery, continue focus on soft skills development and standardization of MIS for all locations.  Recommendation 6: Review the program strategy in accordance with the contextual changes o Assessing competition in the area of operation: such assessment will enable to determine feasibility of operating independent VT centers at planning Stage. 13 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

o Adopt CCCDP implementation strategy: Plan India can consider taking the role of linking the identified youth with already existing Government or private training institutes and provide counselling support and follow-up support to the youth. ď&#x192;ź Recommendation 7: Forge programmatic linkages with other Plan programmes to maximize outreach Synergy between Saksham project and other Plan project can be strengthened since the location of implementation and NGO partners are same. For example, mobilization efforts can be more systematic and efficient if already targeted families (through other project/s) are taken into consideration.

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CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION Saksham launched in May 2010 is one of the flagship projects of Plan India towards enhancing young people’s access to market driven vocational skills. The project aims to train youth from disadvantaged and marginalized rural and urban communities in market driven Job Oriented Vocational Training (JOVT). The project was implemented in seven resettlement colonies/slums of Delhi: Dwarka, Mahipalpur, Badarpur, Mehrauli, Mangolpuri, Madanpur Khadar and Holambi Kalan. The target group comprised of youths in the age group of 18 to 25 years. The project is part of Plan India’s Country Strategy Plan III (CSP-III) for 2010-15 in which Plan India is targeting to support 50,000 female youth for employment / selfemployment through skill development by 2015. Saksham has a three-party implementation model and the three parties comprise of Plan India, Plan’s NGO partners and Technical Partner (TP). A detailed description of project is part of the Project’s Overview presented in Chapter 2. The project, a cluster of three sub-projects11 funded by different donors, had a uniform implementation structure and was implemented between May 2010 and June 2103. As the project completed its three years, Plan India commissioned final evaluation of the project to Kaarak, an advisory and professional services firm based out of New Delhi. This report presents the findings of this final evaluation.

Objectives and Scope of Evaluation12 The evaluation was intended to be a systematic learning exercise to help Plan India in development of future phase of the project and Plan India’s skill development theme as part of HES portfolio. The specific objectives of the evaluation are as follows:  Review the progress towards goal, objectives, key outputs and outcomes of the Saksham Project as defined in the approved project. 

Review the project implementation structure to understand and document the efficiency of project management structure, three party model of partnership, project implementation processes, management information system, etc. to identify learning and challenges contributing to / hindering the success of the project.



To evaluate the relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, and impact of the project on the lives of youth and their families.



Document lessons learned from Saksham (including case studies of target group) to inform Saksham through recommendations. The scope of the evaluation is as follows: The evaluation process included i) desk assessment, and ii) comprehensive in-field evaluation visits where Saksham projects have been implemented. The study aimed to provide an overview of the outcome and impact of Saksham project on youth

The term sub-projects is introduced by the Evaluation Team to ensure clarity while referring to different smaller projects. This term was not used by Plan India in any of its documents. 12 Terms of Reference (ToR) 11

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employment in the targeted operational areas of the project. The evaluation intended to categorically cull out following outcomes of the project: ď&#x201A;ˇ

End line assessment with similar indicators adopted during baseline survey and do comparative analysis with baseline findings; o Percentage of youth reported significant rise in income; o Percentage of youth, specially girls, reporting increase in quality of life; o Percentage of youth engaged in gainful employment (at least during first 6 months of course completion and placement); o Number of alumni groups formed and number of youth enrolled for alumni membership; o Number of students trained out of Saksham project;

Methodology and Approach As per the ToR and the Kaarak proposal, the evaluation involved discussions with all the project stakeholders and participation of the primary target groups, i.e. youths and their families. A brief description of the methodology and approach is provided below: Evaluation Approach Our Approach

ASSESS

Progress of the output against objectives, outcomes and impact.

IDENTIFY

Gaps and areas of improvement in strategy, implementation and management of the program. Strategies and measure to improve development of future phase of the project

RECOMMEND

EFFECTIVENESS EFFICIENCY IMPACT

Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation Approach

Multi-stakeholder Multi-tiered

RELEVANCE

Qualitative & Quantitative Consultative & Participatory

Triangulated Timely

Evaluation Values

Evaluation Methodology The final evaluation comprised of both secondary and primary research methodologies. Secondary research Project proposals, annual reports, select review meeting reports, process related documents and other documents were intensively reviewed as part of the evaluation process.

16 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

Primary research Primary research included quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Under quantitative methodology, primary surveys were conducted with targeted youths (males and females) and families of youth. The qualitative methods included discussions with community (youth and families), NGO partners, TPs, Plan India staff and Employers. 1. Quantitative research The details of the primary survey are as below:

Sampling and coverage of youth group The evaluation team had planned to use stratified random sampling method to cover 20% of the trained youths (females and males) across the six project locations proportionate to their ratio in the population. According to this plan, Kaarak prepared a list of randomly selected samples from the total list shared by the Plan India. This list was then shared with Plan India to check the availability of the youths for the primary survey. Plan India with the help of its partners checked the availability in which a significant number of randomly selected samples were not available. Considering the time constraints, it was then decided to interview youths who were available during the survey period. The survey in the first round was able to collect responses from a total of 424 youths against the planned number of 525. Out of 424, a total of 116 youths were employed. Based on presentation of preliminary findings, the Plan India and Kaarak agreed to conduct a second round of data collection to cover adequate number of employed youths. In the second round, the Plan India supplied a list of 238 youths from which 138 responses were collected in which 101 youths were employed. The table below represents sampling distribution of the youths surveyed in two rounds as per gender and location. Table 1: Number of respondents covered in primary survey

Location Dwarka

Round 1 F M T 64 53 117

Round 2 M T 14 25

F 11

Mahipalpur

Mangolpuri

109

151

Mehrauli

Munirka

Badarpur

129

Grand Total

236

188

424

142

304

262

566

F 75

TOTAL M 67

T 142

F â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Females, M â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Males and T â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Total

Sampling plan for families of youth A similar stratified random sampling was proposed to cover 10% of families within each category of youth group across the six project locations. However, as in case of youths families were covered as per their availability and a total of 211 against the planned numbers of 269 were covered. The table below presents their coverage as per different locations:

17 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

Table 2 Samples covered-families of youth

Location Dwarka

Number of parents/families of youth covered 68

Mahipalpur

Mangolpuri

Mehrauli

Munirka

Badarpur

Grand Total

211

2. Qualitative Research The following table presents the details of the qualitative data collection: Table 3 Qualitative data collection plan

Respondent Youths and their families

 Personal interviews  FGDs

Tools  29  14

Coverage

NGO partners

 Personal interviews

 5 Contact Points  4 Mobilisers

TP or technical resource agencies

 Personal interview

 2 Focal points (One from CAP and

Plan India staff

 Personal interviews

Empower respectively)  4 Trainers (all from Empower)  4

Methodological Steps This evaluation exercise was carried out in three key steps. The description of these key steps and activities involved are as follows: Step I: Inception Phase This phase started with an inception meeting on 10th June at Plan India office in which following key aspects were discussed:   

Presentation and overview of the Saksham project by Plan India Scheduling of evaluation visits and interviews Sharing of secondary documents by Plan India

A planning meeting was further organised on 18th June with the following outputs and agenda:  

Plan India’s feedback on data collection tools Scheduling of primary survey and data collection with youths and their families and project partners

Based on the outcome of the discussions, the evaluation team finalised the tool after piloting it in Mahipalpur. The coordination for data collection with Plan India extended to the next phase. The evaluation team also shared the draft report structure, draft 18 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

evaluation framework and the set of data collection tools with Plan India as part of intermediate deliverables mentioned in the contract. Step II: Data collection, collation and analysis phase This phase was conducted in following sub-steps:i. Training of investigators for quantitative data collection: A team of sixteen investigators trained and supervised by Kaarak collected the community level quantitative data. The one-day training was organised on 21st June 2013 at USO House, New Delhi which focused on orienting the investigators on the Saksham project and on application of survey instruments. The training programme included a detailed one hour session on Child Protection Policy of Plan India by Mr. B. Ilango, Technical Advisor (Children Participation). All the investigators and Kaarak team signed the Child Protection Policy of Plan India. ii. Primary data collection: This step comprised of actual data collection using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. In addition, the evaluation team also used observation method during the evaluation process. a. Quantitative data: The data collection for youths was conducted in two rounds as mentioned in the sampling section above. During round one, i.e. from 22nd-30th June, data was collected through personal interviews in the field and during round two, i.e. from 18th-20th July, data was collected through telephonic interviews. b. Qualitative data: At the level of communities, NGO partners and trainers, qualitative data was collected during field visits. Interviews with Plan India staff was organised in Plan Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office while the evaluation team visited the offices of TP and employers to interview them. In case of Cap Foundation (the second TP), a telephonic interview with the relevant contact person based in Hyderabad was conducted. iii. Data entry, collation and analysis: The data entry was carried out in especially designed MS Access forms by data entry clerks which was then analysed using MS Excel and STATA. As mentioned above, the evaluation team shared the findings of the primary data collection with Plan India on 12th July 2013. Post round two of data collection, the evaluation team conducted analysis of the entire data set which now forms part of this report. Step III: Report writing and submission of deliverables This phase involved coming together of the evaluation team post data collection and sharing of preliminary findings with Plan India. Plan India further provided rest of all available documents to the evaluation team as per queries raised by them for additional information. The ToR and evaluation framework was referred to for analyzing the collected data and the lead evaluators hold the final responsibility of presenting the findings to develop the comprehensive draft and final reports. At the time of writing the report, the evaluation team was informed that the planned stakeholder consultation to cross verify the findings (as mentioned in the ToR) would be carried out later to discuss the final findings of evaluation.

19 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

Limitations Some of the key limitations of the evaluation exercise are mentioned below.  Youth’s availability for primary survey: Many of the youths were not available during primary survey due to variety of reasons. Accordingly, the stratified random sampling could not be used. The convenience sampling method entails a degree of bias in the results obtained which needs to considered while extrapolating the findings for the entire population. In round 2, the telephonic interviews were conducted to overcome the challenge related to employed youth’s availability.  Verification of facts as reported by youths: The evaluation team has presented the facts as reported by youths and these facts have not been verified through documentary evidences.  Availability of project documents: Some of the important project management tools were conspicuous by their absence. The notable ones are logical framework, Monitoring and Evaluation plan, annual work plans, Detailed Implementation Plan, etc. Additionally, the documents which were not available includes final reports of the TPs, comprehensive reports of NGO partners, project’s annual report for second year, information related vacant periods of Plan India’s project team, minutes of meetings of review meetings amongst others. Consequently, the evaluation team could not carry out trend analysis of project results, progress towards objectives, efficiency of project management structure, performance of three party model amongst others  Absence of specific indicators: As mentioned above, in the absence of the projects management framework the indicators related to important aspects, such as efficacy of three party model, capacity building of NGO partners, enhancement in the quality of life of the youths were absent. Thus, the evaluation team developed indicators to comment on the relevant evaluation parameters as mentioned in the ToR.  Time frame allocated to evaluation process: The total time allocated to evaluation was initially two months which was later extended to three months. The extension was made to accommodate second round of data collection which was done telephonically for 142 youth. Considering the scope of work this time frame was found to be inadequate. In this specific context, the evaluation team had to allocate additional human resources due to two rounds of primary survey and additional time taken to agree over the key findings

Report layout The report is divided into 5 chapters. Chapter One: Chapter one presents an overview of the evaluation objective, scope and the approach and methodology. Chapter Two: provides an overview of the the Saksham project while detailing out its objectives, target group and outreach, the intervention model and progress towards objectives. Chapter Three: The third chapter is about the findings of the evaluation as per the key evaluation criteria: relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, outcomes and impact. Chapter Four: This chapter lists down the good practices and lessons learned that have come out through the entire project duration. It also consists of narratives of case studies which presents the achievements and processes of the Saksham project. Chapter Five: Finally, chapter five makes recommendations as per the evaluation criteria. 20 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

CHAPTER 2: SAKSHAM PROJECT OVERVIEW About Plan13 Plan envisions a world in which all children realize their full potential in societies that respect people’s rights and dignity. For this purpose Plan works in the areas of child participation, child protection, gender equality and advocacy in 50 developing countries across Africa, Asia and the America. Plan India primarily works with child centreed community development (CCCD) approach in approximately 5000 communities in 11 states of India in collaboration with its partner NGOs. Plan India’s country strategy plan (CSP-III) for 2010-15 has recognized Household Economic Security (HES) as a vital element for providing basic rights and needs to the children, adolescents and young people. Within this priority, Plan is engaging with the unprivileged youth and helping them access decent and formal employment with the overall objective of breaking intergenerational cycle of poverty. Plan India is training youths in job oriented vocational, business and life skills training. Plan India has targeted to support 50,000 female youth for employment / self employment through skill development by 2015. In this process, Plan India implemented a JOVT project called “Saksham”-Youth Employment Initiative in Resettlement Colonies of Delhi.

About Saksham Project The Saksham project, started in May 2010, targeted select pockets (slums/resettlement colonies) of south Delhi and west Delhi in collaboration with its NGO partners. Saksham’s overall objective is ‘to ensure equitable access to vocational and life skills training which are directly linked with gainful employment opportunities for young girls and boys from the poor families’. The project has evolved in last three years in terms of its key objectives as well as the processes, however, the overall goal has remained the same. As already mentioned, the project adopted a three party model for implementation. It is understood that the Project had three sub-projects as per the different donors and the timing of their funding. The table below presents an overview of the subprojects under the Saksham project: Table 4: Project Details

Name of donor FNO & NLNO

Project start date May 2010

Accenture

January 2011

Bombardier

January 2012

Project end date April 2013 (no cost extension till Aug’ 13) June 2013 (no cost extension till Aug’ 13) March 2013

As per www.planindia.org and ToR

21 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

Name of the NGO partners AVBT, CASP Plan, Alamb, Nav Shristi

Name of the TP Empower Pragati

Bal Vikas Dhara

CAP Foundation Empower Pragati

Bal Vikas Dhara

CAP Foundation Empower Pragati

Specific Objectives Saksham’s specific objectives as mentioned in the evaluation ToR is as follows: 1. Enable 3000 girls and boys from poor and socially excluded families in 5 urban resettlement / semi-rural colonies of Delhi to access dignified employment through vocational, life skills training and job placement support. 2. Develop a pilot strategy to facilitate employment of girls and boys from poor and socially excluded families in urban resettlement colonies through vocational and life skills trainings in order to influence government to take it up as a input to revise Modular Employability Scheme (MES). 3. Test efficacy of 3-party model (Plan, Technical Partner and grassroots NGO partner). As mentioned by the project team, the above mentioned specific objectives are a consolidated summary of the different specific objectives of sub-projects. The objectives as specified in the other proposals are presented below: Specific Objectives as per first sub-project funded by FNO & NLNO 

By October 2012, 3000 girls and boys from poor and socially excluded families in 5 resettlement colonies of Delhi will have access to vocational & life skills training which is directly linked to employment, through innovative partnerships with Expert Agency on Vocational Training, Civil Society Organizations (existing NGO Partners of Plan) and business sector resulting in job placement of the trained youth by January 2013 (Out of 3,000 youth the project would attempt to reach at least 1600 young girls)



By October 2012, all stake holders (particularly target families, target communities, and potential employers) members will be sensitized about the importance of economic empowerment of girls which will lead to young girls will coming out of home for vocational training and develop a prepared work force by January 2013; and



By January 2013, skills & capacity of Plan partner NGOs on ‘Youth Employment Though Vocational Training Program’ will be developed which would enable partners to promote youth employability after the completion of the project, without the help of external expert agency.

Specific Objectives as per first Sub-project funded by Accenture   

Youth employability: Enable 600 disadvantaged youth in urban slum areas of Delhi with equitable access to skills and employment. Test Pilot: Prove efficacy of 3-party model (Plan, Technical Expert Agency and grassroots NGO partner). Sustainability: Liaise with government to consider scale-up of the project by adopting the 3-party model for national scale; using and improving established infrastructure and modular employment schemes.

Specific Objectives as per first Sub-project funded by Bombardier  Allow for 175 girls and boys from poor and socially marginalised families in urban and semi-rural settlements in Delhi to access decent and dignified employment 22 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

The evaluation team notes that the consolidated specific objectives as mentioned in the ToR largely accommodates all the specific objectives mentioned under different subprojects apart from few exceptions with regard to capacity building of NGO partners and change in specific numbers and end dates.

Target beneficiaries and outreach The project specifically targeted the poor and socially excluded youths residing in resettlement colonies/slums of West and South Delhi. The following table presents the specific details about the targeted beneficiaries: Table 5: Target Beneficiaries and Outreach Details

Name of donor

Targeted youths

Age Group

FNO&NLNO

3000, revised to 2400 (at least 1600 females in 3000; 60% of the reduced target remains girls) 600 (50% female) 175 (100 females and 75 males)

18-25 (as mentioned in Annual reports 2010-11 and other project documents)

Name of the locations Dwarka, Mongolpuri, Badarpur, Holambi Kalan and Madanpur Khadar

18-29 18-25

Mahipalpur, Munirka Mehrauli

Accenture Bombardier

Youths with 60% females in the age group of 18-25 were initially the primary targets of the project in the five locations. Training centres at Madanpur Khadar and Holambi Kalan were closed in August 201114 while training centres at Mahipalpur, Munirka and Mehrauli were started with the support of Accenture and Bombardier.

Three Party Intervention Model Plan India adopted a tripartite model wherein Plan India, the NGO partners and TP (A vocational training expert agency) jointly implemented the project. This tripartite model was based on the Planâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s previous experience in India wherein community mobilisation for JOVT was seen as a challenge and the TP driven model lacked connect with the grassroots. Plan India included NGO partners in this model in order to strengthen the work at the community level. A brief of the roles of the different partners in this tripartite model as per the project proposal is presented below:

The locations were difficult to access and due to various reasons (e.g. prevalence of alcoholism, and drug abuse, highly mobile communities) it was challenging mobilise the community- As reported by Plan Project Staff. 14

23 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

Table 6: Three Party Model

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES IN THE THREE PARTY MODEL Plan India

NGO Partner

Technical Partner

Strategies and Activities The project strategies and activities to execute the VT model are presented below in the figure. Figure 1: Project Strategies and Activities

24 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

Project Management Structure The project management structure included the team members from the three parties and can be presented below in the figure: Figure 2: Project Organogram15 THREE PARTY MODEL

Technical Advisor-HES

As part of the sub-project funded by Accenture, three new centres were opened at Mahipalpur, Munirka and Mehrauli and CAP foundation was included as a TP. Within Plan, Rajdhani CPU was initially implementing the project which was later transferred to grants department at the national headquarters at Delhi. The project was implemented through VT Centres and the TPs were primarily responsible for setting up and management of these centres. At the level of TP, the project team included one point person, two trainers at each centre with one trainer acting as Centre Manager and one/two mobilizers. At the level of NGO partner for each location, the project team included one point person and two field mobilizers (one male and one female). Each centre had a coordination committee that comprised of Centre Manager, NGO partnersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; representative, field mobilizers and project coordinator of Plan India who met periodically to discuss issues specific to the centre.

The diagram as shared by the project team

25 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

As mentioned in the figure above, the project team at Plan India comprised of Project Manager, Project Coordinator under the overall supervision of Senior Program Manager with support from Technical Advisor – HES.

VT Process Saksham immerses best practices from 8 step Vietnam vocational training model which was adapted to meet the requirement of Indian market scenario/context16. The project devised a process for carrying out entire VT process. A standard process upto enrolment was documented in form of guideline by the end of the project (January

Figure 3: VT Process

ENROLLMENT TRAINING DELIVERY

ASSESSMENT & CERTIFICATION

JOB PLACEMENT

FOLLOW UP

CONTENT DEVELOPMENT

2013) which evolved from the project execution experiences during the till date execution experiences. The document includes detailed guidelines during the course of project execution with the direct project experience on ground17. The overall VT process as mentioned in the guidelines and comprehended by the evaluation team for all the phases is being briefed below: A.

Enrolment

The enrolment process comprised of the five steps as mentioned below18: 1. Mobilization – The NGO partner through its field level mobilisers was primarily responsible for mobilisation of trainees. The mobilisation methods included door to door visits, street plays, and pamphlet distribution. Parents of the youth, especially females, were also sensitized. Saksham alumni were also encouraged to support the NGOs in this activity. As the community mobilisation became a challenge and started impacting the batch sizes, the TPs additionally appointed mobilisers. As per the Technical Advisor, HES, around 10,000 youths and their households were touched through this activity, although this number is not recorded in available progress reports. 2. Enquiries raised: The Centre Manager in collaboration with community mobilisers attended to the queries raised by the interested youths and informed details regarding orientation programme and application process. 16

Urban Youth Vocational Training in Growing Economies Plan International project in Vietnam & India Executive Summary 17 ‘Youth Enrollment in Vocational training-A guiding document’ as shared by the project team. 18 Ibid

26 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

3. Orientation and application: The orientation programme focused on courses offered, course structure, job description and career growth. The youths were then encouraged to fill the application form by themselves and it was strictly prohibited for the staff to fill the form on youth’s behalf. The process guidelines also clearly stated that the course selection had to be youth’s independent decision. The process guidelines clearly state rejection of incomplete forms and that the application had to be supported by required documents including youth’s photograph. The centre manager had a central role in this process. 4. Screening: The centre manager took lead in the screening process which included filling up of a screening interview schedule (to understand the interests and expectations of the youth) and suggesting relevant courses. The parents were also to be counselled regarding their ward’s interest and the course selection. 5. Enrolment: After the screening process, the youth gets enrolled for the course. Within a week of youth joining the course, the field mobilisers conduct a socioeconomic assessment of the family. The centre maintained a range of documents pertaining to the participant’s enrolment and job placement. As an addition to the documents, maintained, individual files were also being maintained by the TPs. B. Content development The content development exercise included selection of the courses and development of their content to deliver the training programme. 1. Market Scanning: An important part of the project was market scanning exercise carried out by the TPs to select courses. Empower Pragati conducted market scanning exercise in the first two years. In the first year, the scanning exercise suggested to target service sector including Customer Relations and Sales (CRS), Retail, Hospitality, Security Services, BPO and Call Centres of which the first three courses were offered 19 . In second year, the market scanning exercise of Empower Pragati recommended courses which did not have educational qualifications as minimum qualification criteria and proposed six courses including DRA, Home Managers, Motor Driving, and Certificate course in computers, Housekeeping, and security 20. CAP Foundation also conducted market scanning exercise which suggested Customer Relations and Sales (CRS), ITES and Retail, Hospitality and Health Care21. 2. Content development: The TPs led the content development exercise after selection of courses. Empower Pragati developed the courses as part of it’s overall vocational training work and engaged with Plan India in this process. CAP Foundation used the courses from its inventory and has IPR on the content developed. It was proposed to involve NGOs in the course content development which could not take place. C. Training delivery a.

VT Centres: The TPs established VT Centres in each of the target area to deliver the JOVT. The centre management was in direct control of TP with the support of Plan India and NGOs. Madanpur Khadar and Holambi Kalan centres closed in August 201122 and new centres at Mehrauli and Mahipalpur were established in

Labor Market Investigation Report Delhi, Report By Empower Pragati - Hitesh Pariekh & Pankaj Kumar, August 2010 20 Market study – Part 2, Report by Empower Pragati, date of publication not mentioned 21 Urban Youth Vocational Training in Growing Economies, Annual report – January2011- December 2011, India Field Country Office 22 Mid Term Evaluation Report of “Saksham”– A Youth Employment Initiative in Resettlement Colonies of Delhi.

27 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

September 2011 23 . Issues of accessibility, prevalence of alcoholism and drug abuse, salary and job expectations, challenges in mobilizing the girls were cited as key reasons for closing down the above mentioned two centres24. In 2012, the Vikas Nagar centre was closed following a number of complaints by girls (as this was not proving to be safe passage for them), and this closed centre was merged with the closest Dwarka centre, and Munirka centre was closed as the project with Accenture got over. b. Course Duration: In the initial phase, the duration of the course was three months and the classes were held 5 days a week for around 6 hours a day (for two batches). Course duration at centres run in partnership with Empower Pragati ,September 2011 onwards, was reduced to 60 days with 6 days a week classes for around 3 hours per day integrated with personality development, English and computers25. c. Batch size: The average size of one batch was recommended to be 25 – 30 participants (minimum around 20) and approximately two batches were given training per day. Empower organised a total of 84 batches in three years in 9 VT centres in which 2416 youths were enrolled26.

Urban Youth Vocational Training in Growing Economies, Annual report – January2011- December 2011, India Field Country Office 24 Mid Term Evaluation Report of “Saksham”– A Youth Employment Initiative in Resettlement Colonies of Delhi and personal interviews 25Mid Term Evaluation Report of “Saksham”– A Youth Employment Initiative in Resettlement Colonies of Delhi. 26 As per the data shared by Empower Pragati in MS Excel Sheet

28 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

Figure 4: Batch details as per locations

Batches as per locations

Batches

No. of Batches Conducted; No.26 of Batches No. of Mangolpuri; Batches Conducted; Conducted; Dwarka; 19 Badarpur; 17

of Batches No. of No. Batches No. of Batches Conducted; Conducted; No. of Batches Conducted; No. of Batches No. of Batches Uttam Nagar; 9 Holambi Kalan; Conducted; Madanpur Conducted; Conducted; 4 Khadar; 3 Mahipalpur; 3 Mehrauli; 2 Kalkaji; 1

The data available for 66 batches of Empower provides the following information about the batch size. Table 7: Batch size details

Courses offered: The courses offered at centres run in partnership with Empower Pragati and CAP Foundation included CRS, Retail and Hospitality, ITES (BPO), DRA and Driving. Apart from the main course content, life skills, English and Computers were integrated with all courses except DRA. Stress management and financial education were initially proposed, however, were not included in the courses. In the initial phases, all the identified courses were offered at vocational training centres, however, it was reported by Plan Project, TP and NGO partner staff during consultations that all the courses were merged into one major i.e., CRS it appears that maximum number of youths were trained in CRS during the project period27.

Batch size range 10 to 15 16 to 20 21 to 30 31 to 40 41 to 50 51 to 60 More than 60

Number of Batches 12 7 21 9 12 3 2

The exact number of youths trained by two TPs as per courses is not available with the evaluation team.

29 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

D. 1.

Assessment and certification Assessment: Every enrolled youth was to be assessed based on examinations or tests at various levels of the course. In the three months course, trainees were to be assessed every month. In the 45 days course trainees were to be assessed twice, i.e. mid-term and end term. While the centre manager was responsible for conducting the tests, the format and questionnaires of the test papers were also monitored by the Plan India staff. This process was overall executed by the TP28. Certification: As per the process document, TPs had to provide certificates to youths within fifteen days of the course completion. In case of Empower, the certificates were initially issued under the banner of Plan India and Empower which later also included the logo of NSDC. CAP Foundation had planned to issue certificates under the community college scheme of IGNOU, however, the situation turned slightly complex after the scheme was rolled back. CAP Foundation arranged for certification from another institution under the SDI-MES scheme of government and Edexcel, an international certification body. Job placement

The job placement was the primary responsibility of the TPs in which a minimum of 70% was set as the key indicator. The TPs made significant efforts in collaboration with Plan India to ensure placement of the trained candidates. Efforts were made to place the trained youth within one month in a job that best suited her/his skills. Some of the key activities undertaken were:

1. Pre-placement support: The TPs organised special sessions to assist youths interviews by conducting mock interviews. 2. Job Offers: The TPs provided at least three job offers to each candidate as part of the placement process. A youth could avail the best offer from the three offers. In case someone left the job within the first six months, the TPs provided another job offers. In cases where a youth refused all three offers, the youth was considered as placed to ease out the process of payment to partner (as payment was directly linked to percentage of youth placed)29. 3. Interaction with employers: Empower Pragati made significant efforts to interact with the employers to get their feedback and also conducted a small study in this regard. The study findings were used in course of the project to ensure placements. Follow up support

The NGO partners through their field mobilizers were responsible for the follow up after the placement. Through follow ups they were supposed to help the participants adjust to the work environment and perform effectively. Counselling with youths as well as their parents was the primary method used in this regard.

Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Plan India led the monitoring, evaluation and reporting components of the project.

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Youth Enrollment in Vocational training-A guiding documentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; as shared by the project team and personal interviews. 29 As per the MIS data shared with evaluation team

30 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

Monitoring: The Plan India project team was primarily responsible for monitoring which was carried out by field visits, analysing monthly progress reports of partners and holding tripartite quarterly review meetings. Plan India’s project team participated very closely in the project and were very much engaged in day to day management decisions. Evaluation: An internal mid-term evaluation of the project was conducted in March 2012 and the current exercise is the final evaluation. A baseline survey was conducted in in May – Jun 2011. Reporting: Plan India prepared annual reports in participatory mode in consultation with different stakeholders including communities and other two parties. Additionally, Plan India also submitted periodic and final reports to its donors.

Achievements The key achievements of the project as against key objective of JOVT is provided in the table below: Table 8: Project Achievements30 Name of the Centre

Current Status (open/ Close) Closed Closed

Name of the TRA

Name of NGO

Centre Starting Date31

Boys

No. of Youth Placed Girls Boys

Empower Empower

AVBT AVBT

Jun’10 Jun’10

May’13 May’13

272 167

228 120

269 155

228 118

161 57

157 67

Closed

Empower

Alamb

Jun’10

May’13

295

243

293

243

198

170

Closed Closed

Empower Empower

Jun’10 Jun’10

Dec’12 May’13

156

130

156

214

330

212

330

131

240

Mahipalpur

Open

July’11

248

213

245

213

167

176

Mehrauli

Open

BVD

Jul’11

122

Munirka

Closed Closed

CAP/ Empower CAP/ Empower CAP Empower

Alamb CASP Plan BVD

130

Badarpur

Jul’11 Jun’10

Dec’12 Aug’11

129

Closed Closed

Empower Empower

BVD Navsri shti CASP Plan

Jun’10

Aug’11

1593

1557

1591

917

Mangolpuri Mangolpuri 2 Dwarka Uttam Nagar

Holambi Kalkaji

Madanpur khaddar

Centre Closing Date32

No. of Youth Enrolled Girls

TOTAL

Completed Training

Boys

1579

Girls

3172

3148

Youth Enrolled

Youth trained

Youth Placed

Male

Female

Male

Female

Male

Female

IND0208

1189

1237

1187

1215

768

696

NIN0229

340

261

340

261

255

165

Project

This information was compiled and provided by Plan India separately. The start & end date are not the actual dates but are as per the agreement. 32 The start & end date are not the actual dates but are as per the agreement. 31

31 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

1068 1985

NIN502233

Total

1593

1579

1591

1557

1068

917

3172

3148

1985

As can be seen from above table, the project reported enrolment and trained youths to around 3200 and of which 63 %were reportedly placed. The evaluation team, however, was not able to verify these figures with the detailed MIS and annual reports due to discrepancies in the dataset as part of MIS and also due to different formats used. The discrepancies related to data entry errors, insufficient information around each of the fields, etc. The further achievements listed in this section is based on the data provided by Empower Pragati for 2418 youths and does not include youths trained by CAP Foundation. This is because the MIS maintained by CAP Foundation did not collect information on age, educational qualifications and socio-economic background. Profile of the Youths Enrolled and Trained Educational profile: 63% of the youths enrolled had completed 12th Standard, 31% 10th and 3% graduation. Age: 67% of the youths were in the age group of 18 - 21 years, 28% in the age group of more than 21 upto 25 years, 3% in the age group of more than 25 upto 29 years. Family Income: The family income of 57% was in the range of Rs. 5001 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 8000 per month; 21% below Rs. 5000 per month; 10% in the range of 8001 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 12000. Incomes of 10% were not mentioned. Income of placed youths: As per the table below, incomes of 63% of the youths are available in which around 56% reported earning between Rs. 5001 to 9000. Table 9: Income Details of Places Youth

Income of Placed Youths (Number of Youths) Income range (INR) Number of youths Below 5000 145 5001-9000 1362 9001-12000 20 12001-15000 0 More than 15000 1 NA 898

Bombardier

32 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

CHAPTER 3: EVALUATION FINDINGS The evaluation findings are presented as per the key evaluation criteria, i.e. relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, outcomes and impact. The section also includes analysis of the primary data collected from youths and their families. Further, a detailed context analysis was conducted by the evaluation team to assess skill development’s eco system at the country and Delhi levels. Skill development, which is now taken up on a mission mode by Government of India (GoI) and different State governments, is one of the largest vocational training initiatives in the world. This context analysis has been presented in Annexure 2. As an introduction to the section the status of objectives as mentioned in different proposals is being briefed below: Table 10: Status of Objectives

Objective Status Comprehensive – as mentioned in the ToR. Enable nearly 3000 girls and boys from poor and socially excluded families in 5 urban resettlement / semi-rural colonies of Delhi to access dignified employment through vocational, life skills training and job placement support. Develop a pilot strategy to facilitate employment of girls and boys from poor and socially excluded families in urban resettlement colonies through vocational and life skills trainings in order to influence government to take it up as a input to revise Modular Employability Scheme (MES). Test efficacy of 3-party model (Plan, technical expert agency and grassroots NGO partner).

3148 youths trained; 1985 placed. No progress.

3 – party model implemented; the project terms this model as good practice in the first year and recommends for up scaling.

Other objectives mentioned in the project proposals and not covered above. By October 2012, all stake holders (particularly target families, target Youths, target communities, and potential employers) members will be sensitized about the families and importance of economic empowerment of girls which will lead to young girls employers will coming out of home for vocational training and develop a prepared work sensitized. force by January 2013; and No progress. By January 2013, skills & capacity of Plan partner NGOs on ‘Youth Employment Though Vocational Training Program’ will be developed which would enable partners to promote youth employability after the completion of the project, without the help of external expert agency.

I. Relevance The relevance of the project was assessed with regard to the Plan India’s overall objective and strategy as expressed in CSP – III (2011 – 15). This section is accordingly presented in the following three sub-sections: Relevance to national and local context ► Relevance to Plan India’s CSP-III ► Relevance to youth and their families ►

33 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

Relevance to national and state context Plan India through its Saksham project was one of the early entrants in the renewed focus of the development sector to fulfil the skill gap in the country. The Government has set ambitious long and short term targets for skilling youth and the targets for current year, i.e. 2012-13 in itself is more than 7 million. There are no state specific targets, however, it is expected that a minimum of 70,000 will need to be covered in Delhi to meet the above mentioned national target34. In this context, the three years’ project achievements (3200) contribute to around 2 %of the annual estimated state level targets for 2012-13. The GoI has involved more than 15 ministries and has especially set up NSDC to involve private sector. The NSDC and SDI – MES are supporting development and delivery of a huge range of VT courses. Empower Pragati, the TP, is one of the investee companies of the NSDC and subsequently Saksham project has directly contributed to the NSDC targets. Also, Plan NGO partners are running VT courses as part of the Gender Resources Centre (GRC) under Mission Convergence scheme of Delhi Government 35 . There are other governmental, non-governmental and private training providers operating in the project locations. Please refer to Annex 2 for details. Overall, the project is highly relevant to the national and state context and matches with government’s priority to JOVT. However, allocation of significant financial resources by the national and state governments has led to increased number of VT service providers at the local levels adding to the competition to source trainees which the project could not anticipate during the design phase or did not analyse during the execution phase. None of the project documents including market scanning exercise has analysed this aspect. As the skill development landscape in the country has changed significantly since project’s inception, this aspect would demand special attention in the second phase.

Relevance to Plan India’s CSP-III Saksham project is very well aligned with the Plan India’s commitment under CSP III and the overarching focus of HES. The project contributes to the overall commitment made by Plan India and specifically covers 3 % of the total target of training 50,000 female youths. Though the project holds relevance vis-à-vis Plan India’s CSP-III, the design of the project could have elaborated more on measures to ensure optimum efficiency and effectiveness as mentioned in the proposal. Furthermore, as the project was initiated in Plan India communities and involved Plan NGO partners as critical stakeholders in the tripartite model, programmatic linkages with other Plan projects and communities (being covered under CCDP) could have been stronger. Key Recommendation: Forge Programmatic linages with other Plan programmes to maximize outreach Considering Saksham project and other Plan project location, and NGO partners are same, forging strategic linkages will help optimizing the resources and make implementation more effective.

34Delhi

has 0.01 %of the country’s population which has been used to calculate the proportionate minimum targets. 35 www.missionconvergence.org/grcsk.php accessed on 23 Aug 2013, 11:35:41

34 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

Relevance to youth and their families The selection of resettlement locations or slums to reach out to youths was relevant and appropriate as youths belonging to poor or socially excluded groups stay in these localities. Baseline studies commissioned by the Plan India (Rajdhani CPU) indicated high unemployment levels in these localities even though youth were well aware of vocational training opportunities. JOVT was clearly highlighted as a need by the communities, particularly youth. Secondary document review of project documents as well as qualitative findings outlines expectations of youth included other courses like accounting, data entry, beautician, etc. The youthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s expectation also included need for better skills (communication, language), decent salary levels (in the jobs offered), distance of the job location from home (many female youths preferred to stay close) and decent work timings. This was also identified during youth consultations undertaken by Plan India and further reiterated by Kaarakâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s evaluation findings. Figure 5: Reasons for Joining VT

% Youth

Reasons for Joining VT (%)

Male; Financial Independence ; 42 Total; Financial Female; Idle Total; Utilize Independence ; 33 Male;Utilize Utilize Idle TimeIdle Female; Financial Time ; 29; 28Time ; 28 Independence ; 25 Male; Total; Poor ecoFemale; Poor ecoFemale; Job Female; Learning ; 21 Total; JobTotal; Learning ; 17 Male; Total; Peer Influence ; condition; 15 15 Peer Influence ; Male; condition; condition; 15 Opportunity ; 15Job Female; Peer OpportunityMale; ; 13 Learning ; 11 12 10 Opportunity ; 10 Influence ; 9

Female

Male

Total

The primary survey conducted as part of evaluation process indicates that amongst the multiple reasons for joining VT, financial independence was common for males, followed by better utilisation of idle time. Amongst the females, better utilisation of idle time was most common, followed by financial independence and learning opportunity. Around 15% of the males and females cited poor economic condition and better job opportunity as one of the reasons for joining the VT. The families of the youth, i.e. 37% of males and 35% of females 36 mentioned financial independence as one of the key factors for taking up JOVT. The project was highly relevant from the perspective of soft skill building as it laid special focus on English, computers and life skills (including communication). Based on primary survey findings (Refer to figure 6), most of the youths found these modules quite relevant. Employers too cited the importance of these soft skills since other technical components of the job are anyways part of the induction training.

Ibid

35 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

Figure 6: Relevance of Soft Skill Module

Relevance of Soft Skills (%)

% Youth

Highly Relevant; Highly Somewhat Relevant ;Relevant; Highly Relevant; Life Communicative English Relevant; Relevant ; Somewhat RelevantHighly ; Communicative EnglishSkills Communicative English Highly Relevant; Female; 45Somewhat Female; 45 Computers Male; 44 Communicative English Computers Female; 42 Male; 42 Female; 41 Computers Female; 41 Somewhat Relevant ; Male; 38 Somewhat Relevant Computers Male; 35 Highly Life ; Somewhat Relevant ; Relevant; Life Male; Skills Male; 32 Skills 31 Life Skills Female; 30 No Respnse; Life Skills Male; 25 No Respnse; Life Skills Female; 19 No Respnse; No Respnse; Irrelevant ; Irrelevant ; Computers Not applicable ; English Irrelevant ; Computers Irrelevant ; Communicative No Respnse; Not applicable ; Life Female; 10 Not applicable ; Communicative Communicative English Communicative English Not applicable ; Irrelevant ; Life Skills Male; 10 Communicative English Life Not applicable ; Male;English 8 No Respnse; Not applicable ; Computers Male; 7 Communicative English Skills Male; 6 Female; 6 Skills5 Male; 6 5 Irrelevant Male; 6 Male; Female; 5 Skills; Life Female; Computers Male; 5 Computers Female; 4 Computers Female; 3 Female; 2 Female; 2

Highly Relevant

Somewhat Relevant

Irrelevant

Not applicable

No Respnse

Since the project imparted training on few selected trades or courses (mostly CRS), overall relevance was perceived as limited by some sections of youths and their families. However, the evaluation team notes that this strategy of having limited number of courses was appropriate especially in the context of available resources and expertise. The job placement aspect of the project was relevant to youths looking for immediate jobs. The evaluation findings suggest that the jobs offered were not relevant to youths who were aspiring to take up jobs with certain conditions, i.e. related to work timings, salary levels, distance from home etc. Also, many youth who undertook the training were pursuing their studies and had enrolled themselves in Saksham program to enhance their skills and thereby utilize their time constructively so that they are better placed to take up higher level jobs once they complete their education. Since the course had a very clear focus on computer education, communicative English and overall personality development, the training was viewed as highly relevant especially in the context of future job prospects. It is for this reason, number of youth rejected the placement offers or the jobs (in which they were initially employed).

II. Effectiveness The evaluation team has assessed the effectiveness of the project implementation strategies and processes and the assessment areas are as follows: ď&#x201A;ˇ

ď&#x201A;ˇ

Effectiveness of VT Processes o Enrolment o VT Delivery o Assessment and Certification o Placements and Follow-up Project Implementation Strategies o Partnership: Three Party Model o Gender Sensitization of Communities and Employers o Youth Collectives: Alumni Groups 36 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

o Capacity Building of NGO Partners (Has not been analysed as there is no progress against this strategy)

A. Effectiveness of VT Processes 1. Enrollment a. Mobilization and Enquiry Raising: 52% of the surveyed youths got the information about the Saksham project for the first time from NGO/TP staff/community mobilisers and another 44% from friends 37 . Please refer to the figure no. 7. In some cases, neighbours, parents and other family members also provided information to the youths. Figure 7: Community Mobilization

Source of information about Saksham (%)

% Youth

Female; NGO staff/ Total; NGO staff/ Male; NGO staff/ Comm Mob. activity; Comm Mob. activity; Comm Mob. activity; 53 52 50

Male; Friend ; 47 Total; Friend ; 44 Female; Friend ; 41

Female;Male; OtherOther Family Total;Family Other Family Member ; 7 Member ;6 Member ;5 Female;Male; Parents; 2 Parents; Total; 1 Parents; 1

Female

Male

Male; Neighbor & & Total; Neighbor Female; Neighbor & others ; 10 others ; 8 others ; 9

Total

In some of the centres, female youths mentioned GRC as an important source of information. The community mobilisation strategies were target driven and were successful in achieving the overall enrolment targets. This can also be attributed to existing rapport and outreach of the NGO partners in the project locations, intensive efforts by the TPs/NGOs and counselling of parents of female youths. In the first year, the project faced significant challenges in mobilising communities as only 40% of the annual enrolment and training targets could be achieved38. As previously mentioned, this also led to closure of two centres in second year. Initially, no specific resource was allocated to NGOs for community mobilization activity which may have contributed to the shortfalls in meeting targets. Also, during the transition phase, i.e. when the project moved from Rajdhani CPU to Grants, the community mobilisation was 37 38

This was a multiple response questions. Annual report â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Saksham project 2010 - 11

37 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

affected. Later, the project addressed this issue by having dedicated staff and point persons at the NGO level as well. b. Orientation: The orientation of youth was conducted at the VT centres and the TP staffs were reported to be easily approachable and youths were provided with information on the course content. The VT centres answered all the queries of the youths and gave sufficient time to each of the participant. c. Screening: The screening process entailed screening of candidates based on ‘selection criteria’, screening questionnaire’, parent counselling and interest inventory test. c.1 Criteria: Age and Educational Qualification 96 % of the youth (both males and females) surveyed belonged to the targeted age group, i.e. 18 to 25 years. Almost 85% of the respondents were either 10th or 12th pass. About 13% of youths had either a graduate or masters level qualification. The mid-term evaluation report recommended targeting youth with educational qualification between 5th to 8th standard as part of the ‘inclusive approach’ 39 , however, this was not implemented. Figure 8: Youth Currently Pursuing Education

Currently Pursuing Education (%)

Open School; Female; 16

Open School; Male; 18

Open School; Total; 17

Part Time Courses ; Female; 52 Regular full time course; Female; 6

Part Time Courses ; Male; 45 Regular full time course; Male; 12

Part Time Courses ; Total; 49 Regular full time course; Total; 8

Part Time Courses

Open School

Regular full time course

Overall, around 74% of the youth surveyed reported pursuing education largely through part time courses40, correspondence, or open schools. 79% of the surveyed youth were unemployed before attending the training in which 83% were females and 79% were males.

The project team mentioned this during discussions. This approach is not mentioned or defined in any of the project documents. 40 Part time in the graph includes the respondents pursuing education through correspondence 39

38 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

Poor and socially excluded:

% Youth

The project objectives clearly mention that the youth target group shall be from the ‘poor and socially excluded Figure 9: Economic Category wise distribution of youth (%) groups’. However, consultations with Plan’s staff revealed that the project followed an Female;Total; APL; ‘inclusive approach’ 41 APL; 51APL;4947 Male; wherein all the youths Male; No No Female; Female; No Total; residing in the resettlement Card; 27 Card; 25 Male; BPL; BPL; 25 24 Total; BPL; 24 Card; 24 colonies/slums were treated Female; NoNoNo Total; Male; as potential targets. Response; 2 1 1 Response; Response; The project did collect information around the Female Male Total social group and family income in the application form, however, detailed information around economic status was collected only during baseline assessment (carried out as part of enrolment after screening). Also, the social group was not considered as eligibility criteria. The information as mentioned in the application forms were not collected uniformly across all the locations indicating the evolutionary nature of the project. In the evaluation survey, 37% of the youth were SC, 12% OBC and 1% ST, and 50% youth were from General42 category, which can be a disadvantaged but not considered as a socially excluded group in India. With regard to economic status, 24% of the youth reported having BPL43 cards, 49% APL cards and 25% as having none of these cards (Please refer to figure 9). While there are other reasons for not able to possess BPL card despite technically being poor or vice versa, the overall profile of youths as found during primary survey reflected that most of them belonged to poor 44 or lower middle class (as commonly understood) income categories. In few cases, the youths belonged to relatively affluent sections within the resettlement colonies in possession of two wheelers or four wheelers. In the absence of specific demographic data of the project locations, a comparative analysis cannot be made. c.2 Process: Screening interview to assess willingness to take up job The screening interview (facilitated by an interview schedule) assessed youth’s willingness to take up job immediately upon completion of the training. The screening questionnaire comprised of open ended questions around willingness, expected job profile, salary 41

The project team mentioned this during discussions. This approach is not mentioned or defined in any of the project documents. 42 General category is India is normally not considered as socially excluded in India 43 In Delhi, families with income of Rs. 24,200 per year or less is identified as living below poverty line (BPL) (Source: http://delhi.gov.in/DoIT/DoIT_Planning/ES2012-13/EN/ES_Chapter19.pdf accessed on 23 Aug 2013) 44 The Planning Commission of India in its11th Five Year Plan lists Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Minority as socially excluded groups, while also recognizing gender inequality as a factor of exclusion (http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/planrel/fiveyr/11th/11_v1/11v1_ch1.pdf

39 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

expectation and parent’s view. The evaluation team notes that the format of the screening interview schedule was too subjective for analysis or to be part of the MIS. Also, some of the key expectations of youths, for e.g. preferred job timings and distance from home, were missing. The overall placement results reflects limitations of the screening exercise, however, in absence of sufficient information (number of youths and centres on whom the interview schedule or process was administered and their results), the evaluation team is unable to comment on the efficacy of this process. Parent’s involvement Involving parents during the screening process was part of general protocol for the implementation partner. Post January 2013, the project documented its enrolment guideline document which clearly stated involvement of parents during the screening process as mandatory. The evaluation findings (FGDs with youth and parents consultations with NGO partners) suggest involving parents during the screening process was not that this was not followed especially in case of parents of male youths. Parents of females youths were visited and counselled as part of the community mobilisation process. Interest Inventory Test

survey reported taking interest inventory test. It seems that this test was conducted only for some batches by Empower Pragati. Also, this test does not find a mention in the enrolment process guidelines developed by the project. The information around the number of youths who took this test was also not recorded.

Figure 10: Youth who took Interest Inventory Test

Interest Inventory Test (%) % Youth

Around 30% of the youths covered under primary

It appears that this test lost relevance during the course of project’s execution as only two to three courses were promoted considering its placement potential.

72% of youth reported to have undertaken CRS and 14% Retail. Please see the figure 11. As mentioned earlier, the courses were merged into one as CRS and only this course was being offered across different locations by the training centres.

Figure 11: VT Course reported by youth

Enrollment in VT Course (%) Female; CRS; 73CRS; Total; Male; CRS; 70 72

% Youth

d. Enrolment:

Yes

Female; Female; No Female; Female; Female; Male; Total; Total; No Male; No Male; Retail; 14 14 Retail; 13Hospitality; Total; Retail; ITES; 6 Total; ITES; 6 Male; ITES; 6 Response ; 4;;23 Male; DRA; 4 3Hospitality; Hospitality; 3 3 Response Total; DRA; 2 Response DRA; 1

Female

Male

Total

The uniqueness of Saksham VT courses lied on special emphasis given to ‘communicative English’, ‘life skills’, ‘basic computer literacy’ and ‘job readiness’. The evaluation survey indicates that 76% of the youths recalled module on basic computers, 71% communicative English, 50% life Skills and only 8% all the four modules. 40 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

Overall Enrolment Process The overall findings suggests that the project achieved the targets of enrolling youth as per the criteria of age and education, however, all the youths did not necessarily belong to poor and excluded groups. A more relaxed educational criterion in terms of targeting the school dropouts might have helped in reaching to the youth belonging to this category and in need of immediate jobs. This also has been one of the recommendations of project’s mid-term assessment. The findings also suggest that all components of the enrolment process (as mentioned in the guidelines pertaining to screening, SocioEconomic Assessment, Parents Counselling) were not uniformly and consistently applied across all the centres which also indicate that these processes have evolved during the course of project’s execution which is apparent from the fact that the enrolment guideline was documented in January 2013. Figure 12: Rating of Enrolment Process by Youth

Rating-Enrollment (%)

% Youth

Satisfactory; Satisfactory; Satisfactory; Satisfactory; Orientation Female; 66 Mobilization Female; Orientation Male; 62 Mobilization Male; 57 Satisfactory; Parent 54 Satisfactory; Screening Not applicable; Not applicable; Parent Satisfactory; Screening Counseling Female; 45 Male; 44 Satisfactory; Parent43 Screening Female; 43 Counseling Male; Highly Satisfactory; Not applicable; Highly Satisfactory; Highly Satisfactory; Highly Satisfactory; Female; 38 Counseling Male; 35 Not Female; applicable; Not applicable; Parent Mobilization Screening Male; 32 Highly Satisfactory; Orientation Male; 30 Highly Satisfactory; Parent Counseling Orientation Female; 29 Mobilization Female; Female; 25 Highly Satisfactory; Counseling 24 Mobilization Not applicable; Male; 22 Female; 21Parent Counseling Highly Satisfactory; 17 Mobilization Male; 15 Screening Male; 16 No Response; Parent No Response; Parent Unsatisfactory; Unsatisfactory; Unsatisfactory; Male; 13 No Response; Female; 12 Unsatisfactory; Unsatisfactory; No Response; No Response; Unsatisfactory; Unsatisfactory; Parent NotScreening applicable; Response; No Response; No Response; NotNo applicable; Unsatisfactory; Parent Counseling Female; 7Male; 6 Counseling Mobilization Male; 5 Mobilization Female; 4 Screening Female; 4 Screening Male; 4 Screening Female; 4 Orientation Orientation Male; Male; 3 3 Screening Male; 3 2 1 2 Male; 2 Counseling Male; 2 Orientation Orientation Female; Mobilization Female; 1 Orientation Orientation Female; Mobilization Male; 1Female; Counseling Female; 1

Enrollment Steps

Highly Satisfactory

Satisfactory

Unsatisfactory

Not applicable

No Response

The surveyed youth are largely highly satisfied or satisfied with the enrolment process. Overall, the orientation process received the best ratings. However, a significant proportion did not rate the screening (43% female & 32% male) as it was not applicable to them. Similar was the case with parent’s counselling in which 43% of the males and 25% of the females mentioned as not applicable. 2. VT Delivery A. Course Content Overall, 26% of the youth stated that they were highly satisfied and 65% satisfied with the content of the VT course. Around 7% of the youth reported the content to be unsatisfactory. Please refer to Figure 13.

41 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

Figure 13: Rating on Course Content

Rating-Course Content (%)

% Youth

Satisfactory; Female; 70

Highly Satisfactory; Male; 29

Highly Satisfactory; Female; 23

Satisfactory; Total ; 65

Satisfactory; Male; 60

Highly Satisfactory; Total ; 26 Unsatisfactory; Male; 8

Unsatisfactory; Female; 5

Highly Satisfactory

Satisfactory

Unsatisfactory; Total ; 7

Unsatisfactory

The qualitative findings on the course content of the additional course (Communicative English, Basic Computers and Life Skills) states the female youths were content with the delivery of English speaking course as it enhanced their communicative skills and built their confidence to a great extent. The youths appreciated the English speaking software while some of the NGO partners mentioned that English communication modules could include more practical (as the current module was largely computer/ software aided). Youths were largely satisfied with the computer course, however, some of the youth during FGDs also shared that computer course was very basic for taking up any IT related jobs. Key Recommendation: Standardization of training delivery It is recommended to standardize the course content for all the locations and make the courses more specific, giving adequate time for delivery.

B. Trainers, Training Methodology and Infrastructure Trainers

Rating-Faculty (%)

% Youth

50% of the youth rated the training faculty as highly satisfactory. The trainers were very approachable and showed a lot of patience and keenness while answering to queries.

Figure 14: Rating on Faculty

Highly Satisfactory; Satisfactory; Female; 55 Female; 41

Highly Satisfactory; Satisfactory; Male ; 50 Male ; 46

Unsatisfactory; Female; 3

Highly Satisfactory

Highly Satisfactory; Total ;Satisfactory; 53 Total ; 43

Unsatisfactory; Male ; 3

Satisfactory

Unsatisfactory; Total ; 3

Unsatisfactory

Some of the challenges and concerns mentioned by youths with regard to trainers include high attrition rates leading to disruptions in training delivery, only one or maximum two trainers for each centre leading to monotony and absence of female teachers. NGOs partners mentioned that present trainers/ faculty members were good, however they many a times carry out multiple tasks including centre management, training delivery 42 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

as well as placements. Some of the partners strongly suggested that specialised trainers (separate for technical and soft skills) as per modules are required to enhance the effectiveness of training delivery. Methodology Youth highly appreciated the participatory training methodology which included role plays, lecture methods and interactive sessions as they found it effective in imparting the knowledge and skills. The Figure 15: Youth’s rating of VT Centre infrastructure participatory methodology Rating-Infrastructure (%) lead to enhanced participation of the youths Satisfactory; Satisfactory; Satisfactory; and was able to create an Female; 61 Total ; 60 Male ; 60 enabling learning Highly Highly Highly environment. Satisfactory; Satisfactory; Satisfactory; Female; 31

Infrastructure

Male ; 36

Total ; 33

Unsatisfactory Unsatisfactory Overall, the youths and their Unsatisfactory ; Female; 8 ; Total ; 6 ; Male ; 4 parents were largely satisfied Highly Satisfactory Satisfactory Unsatisfactory with the infrastructure at the VT centres. Some of the challenges and concerns reported include lack of adequate number of computers and lack of drinking water facilities.

C. Other aspects Course timing and VT Centre location Course timings and location of VT centres was reported as satisfactory by the youths. It was also shared with the evaluation team that as per recommendation of mid-term assessment separate batches of female youths were initiated. Quality control measures The quality control measures especially with regard to trainers’ performance and VT centre infrastructure was part of the project level monitoring, evaluation and reporting systems. This was directly undertaken by Plan India in which the monitoring visits, monthly reports, quarterly review meetings played key roles. However, a systematic mechanism to collect every trainee’s feedback was absent. 3. Assessment and Certification The ‘Youth Enrolment in Vocational Training Guideline’ recommends that every student should undergo assessment at different levels of course completion. Table 11: Assessments Periods45

English

Computer

Starting of the course End of first month End of Second month Final examination End of first month End of second month Final Examination

‘Youth Enrolment in Vocational Training Guideline’

43 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

Consultations with TPs reveal that assessments were conducted by TPs but the process followed was not uniform. Empower conducted internal assessment 46 of the students while CAP Foundation conducted assessment through ‘Edexcel’ and ‘NCVT’ for certification. However the evaluation team has extremely limited information pertaining to data on these periodic assessments or results of these assessments as this information was not part of the project MIS formats. Thus, the evaluation team could not gather enough verifiable information to comment exclusively about this aspect. Main Course

End of first month End of second month Final Examination

% Youth

The Youth Enrolment Guideline recommends certification for the students who clears the final assessment. The evaluation team Figure 16: Youths reported receiving certificates have inadequate information with Youths reported receiving reference to the number of students who certificates (%) were eligible for certificates (i.e. who Yes; qualified the assessments) and the number No; Female; Yes; Yes; Male; of students who received certificates. No; Male; Total; 55 No; 56Female; 54 45 Total; 44 43 During consultations with Plan India staff No No No it was reported that certificates have been Response; Response; Response; issued for all the trained youths, however, Female; 1 Total; 1 Male; 1 a large number of them have not collected them. Around 55% of the youth reported receiving certificates. While certificates Yes No No Response have been issued for all the youth who completed training and these certificates are available at the training centres, a large number of youths have not collected them. As per quantitative findings, 45% of youths do not have certificates although they have completed the course. Some of the reasons cited by youth during FGDs for not collecting certificates include lack of time, centres being closed when visited, and their perception that there is no special requirement of these certificates, i.e. employers do not ask for certificate.

Empower has NSDC accredited curriculum & certification

44 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

4. Job Placements and Follow-up A. Job Placement Figure 17: Job offered immediately after completion of VT By

JobSaksham offered after placement (%) Saksham Saksham % Youth

Around 86% youth reported to be offered a job opportunity immediately after completion of VT course. However, only 48% accepted the job offer, of which 62% youth are still employed. 45% of those who were provided job placement opportunity did not accept the offer while 8% could not clear the interview. Overall, one forth (22%) of the total surveyed youth (which included a number of youth who has just completed course, youth taking up higher education, youth not employed) reported to be employed till first six months after the course completion.

;% ; % Male; ; Total ; Female; 84 86 88 On my On my On my No; % No; Total Own ;No; % % OwnMale; ; % 15 Own; ;12 Female; 9 Female; 3 Total ; 2 Male; 1

By Saksham

On my Own

Table 12: Present Employment Status

Currently Employed (%) Yes No

Female

Male

Total

Of the total youth surveyed around 38% of the surveyed youth (33% females and 44% males) reported to be employed at the time of survey. Those who are not currently employed (62% of all surveyed) cited various reasons for not taking up jobs or leaving jobs such as pursuing education, job not being of interest or expectation, distance between work place and home, low salary levels and parents/elders disapproval. The other reasons included work environment related stress, health related problems amongst others. Figure 18: Reasons for not accepting or continuing with jobs

% Youth

Reason for Not working (%)

Male; Job ofnot of Female; Pursue Female; JobTotal; notnot ofJob Total; Male; PursuePursue interest or expectation; or expectation; education ;education 23 ;Female; interest orinterest expectation; Others; 22 1821 Total;Others; Others; education 21 ; 22 Female; Job was at Male; Female; Parents/elders Total; Job was at Parents/elders Male; Job 10 was at Male; Total; 13 15 14 Parents/elders distant location; Female;Male; LowTotal; Salary; 7 Salary; did not approve of;approve 7 Low 7 distant Low Salary; 7 distant location; 7did not location; 3did not approve of; 1 of; 4

Female

45 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

Male

Total

Key Recommendation: Focus on Retention: A significant numbers of youth either didn’t take up job or left their job, the project in its next phase strategically needs to address the issues related to retention through orientation of youth on long term carrer development. Also, a greater effort on on-job mentoring may be considered to counsel the youth regarding prevalent market context.

Placement support provided by the TP Youths were highly appreciative of the placement support provided by the TP. It was reported that these agencies provided youths with at least two job opportunities. Most of the youth recalled support in preparation for the interview (68%), information sharing on job openings (58%) and support in job application process (36%) as key services provided by the project for job search. Figure 19: Job Placement Support

Job Placement Support (%)

Male; Information on Total; Information on Female; Information Job openings; 61 on Job openings; 58 Job openings; 56

Female; Support Total;inSupport in Male; Support in preparation of preparation of preparation Interview ;Interview 70 of ; 68 Interview ; 66

Female; Support Total;inSupport in Male;process Support in application application process application process (CV/ Paperwork); 38 (CV/ Paperwork); 36 (CV/ Paperwork); 34

Male;Total; None;None; 16 14 Male;Total; Follow-up with with Follow-up Re- Female; None; 13 Female; Follow-up withFemale; the company post Male; Re-employment Total; Re-employment the company post employment (upto 3 the company post interview ; 6 ; (upto 3 jobs); 5 3 jobs); 4 4 4(upto jobs); Male; Others; interview ;interview 3 Total; Others; Female; Others; 2 32 Female Male Total

Though the NGO was not directly involved in the placement of the youth, they stayed in the loop as they were responsible for the follow up with the youth. They were highly appreciative of the Saksham project in increasing the awareness regarding job opportunities in the community. They mentioned that visits of HR officials of the employers was quite beneficial in Mahipalpur and recommended strongly for other locations. The NGO partners felt that low salaries and lack of assessment of the workplace by the TP could be the reasons for youth’s low retention in jobs. They also mentioned that initially youth were placed in certain specific sectors later on the ambit of employers expanded. The TP mentioned that job market has now become extremely competitive and youth’s expectations with regard to salaries do not match their qualification. Many of the youths still prefer jobs in government agencies and accordingly are continuing with their studies. The employers expressed their challenge of accommodating employees with work timing issues and preferred employees who were flexible in this aspect. Some of the employers also expressed their dissatisfaction with regard to Saksham’s policy that required them to counsel the low performing employees rather than remove her/him from the job. 46 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

Follow-up Support

Figure 20: Received Follow-up Support on-job

% Youth

Of the total youth Received On-Job Support (%) interviewed, 50% ever worked (n=281 i.e., either currently working or has ever worked after VT). Out of these around 34% %; Female ; reported on-job support. %; Total ; 40 %; Male ; Most of the follow-up 34 29 support was on the issues regarding work pressure, work timings, negotiation with the employers on salary/ work-timings issues. Figure 21 depicts the follow-up support received by the youth Figure 21: Nature of Follow-up Support

Follow-Up Support (%)

% Youth

Female; Counselingwork Total; Counselingpressure/timings; 43work Male; Counselingpressure/timings; 38 work pressure/timings; 30 Female; Further skill Total; Further skill Female; NegotiationMale; Further skill enhancement; 21 Total; Negotiationenhancement; 19 salary/work time; 17 Male; Negotiationenhancement; 16 manag salary/work Female; time; 15 Fin Fin manag Male; FinTotal; manag salary/work time; 12 (opening of a/c, (opening of a/c, (opening of a/c, investments, etc.); 6 etc.); 5 etc.); 5 investments, investments,

Female

47 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

Male

Total

B. Effectiveness of Project Implementation Strategies Saksham’s implementation strategy clearly outlines four key strategies for project implementation. The key findings of effectiveness of these strategies are as follows: Partnership: Three Party Model The three party model was at the core of Saksham’s implementation strategy. In absence of performance indicators, the evaluation team assessed the design as well as the success factors. A. Role Clarity The roles of each partner was broadly defined and understood by the partners. The roles of Plan India and TP was found to be well defined, however, NGO’s role in community mobilization and follow up support witnessed some overlap with TPs. The partners reported that Plan India was responsive to their roles and provided timely support and coordination especially in later half of the project. B. Coordination and Communication To facilitate coordination, joint monitoring visits, Centre Coordination Committee (key representatives from NGO, TP and Plan India) meetings, and joint quarterly reviews were the common methods. Saksham project’s reports and stakeholder consultations indicate gaps in day to day coordination and communication between the implementing partners, i.e. NGO and TP. The overall findings suggest that Plan India was the channel through which the coordination and communication happened between the partners which could have led to gap in real time coordination between TP and NGO partners. C. Target Setting and Achievements The targets at the level of Plan India and TPs were well defined and clear, however, this was absent at the level of NGO partners. Accordingly, NGO partners’ achievements in this project could not be quantified. D. Ownership of the Result Plan India served as a common link between the four NGO partners (at 5 locations) and two TPs. While Plan India’s and TP’s ownership of the project results have been well defined, that was not the case with NGO partners. As per the agreement of MoU and also as per the findings from the qualitative discussions with the NGO Partners the role of NGOs partners were broadly around awareness generation which was although important but restricted to support function in the context of overall VT process. The project however had envisaged capacity building of NGOs to take up the VT without the support of TP in the next phase of Saksham, but it was not taken up. Key Recommendation: Setting-up standard communication protocols A standardized communication protocol, for all the project partners is recommended to ensure better coordination, monitoring and reporting within the project. This will strengthen the three-party model and will facilitate effective project management.

48 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

Gender Sensitization of Communities and Employers

% Youth participated in Sakshan

The project took a focused approach on gender sensitization. For gender mainstreaming a guideline and process documents has been developed by the project47. The community mobilisation activity specifically focused on this and took special measures to ensure % of Youth Enrolled, Trained & Placed female youth participation in the project. Special campaign drives, door to door Male; Male; Female; Male; Female; Female; counselling, and counselling of parents at the Placed ; Trained ; Placed Enrolled ;Trained Enrolled ; ; ;54 VT centres were carried out to encourage 50 50 49 51 46 parents for sending their daughters VT. The data presented in the figure 21 clearly states female youth’s participation at par with the males (enrolled, trained and placed). Female

Male

The gender sensitisation of the parents of female youths seems effective as 91% of the female youth’s parents mentioned VT training being beneficial for their daughters. This is significant as parent’s attitude was reported as challenge during the course of project implementation. Also, as per project report48, special efforts were made to negotiate terms with employers, for instance, recruiting small groups of girls rather than one and suitable work timings. Plan India conducted gender sensitization programme for project partners which was very much appreciated. Create and Empower Youth Collectives: Alumni Groups

In the first year, it is reported that alumni groups were constituted and meetings were held to define their purpose and activities 50 . NGO partner was primary responsible to establish and manage the alumni groups. However, the alumni groups have not functioned as against the objective and the NGO partners mentioned

Figure 22: Youth who ever attended Alumni Meeting (in percentage)

Ever Attended Alumni Meeting (%) % Youth attended Alumni Meeting

Alumni groups were envisaged to be the vehicle of empowerment of youth in the project. It was also envisaged that after completion of two years of the project, 50% cost of the training would be recovered through the repayment49 of fees by passes out trainees. The alumni group was conceptualize as a means to facilitate this repayment along with supporting placements of the students.

Yes; Female; Yes; Yes; 63 Total; 58 No; Male; 53 No; No; Not Male; 39 Female; Total; 33 aware; Not Not 28 Female; aware; aware; 9 Total; 8 Male; 7

Yes

Not aware

‘Engendering Saksham-Operational Guidelines’, July 2012 and ‘gender Mainstreaming: Saksham-Process Document, November 2012 48 Gender Mainstreaming in Saksham: A Process Guideline, November 2012 49 Saksham Proposal 50 Annual Progress Report (2010-11) 47

49 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

alumni’s low attendance to be major challenge in this process. At the time of evaluation, the alumni groups did not exist formally, however, NGO partners did make efforts to organise meetings and interactions between alumni and youth part of VT. Around 58% of the surveyed youth reported to have attended at least one alumni meeting (figure 22). However, these are one-off meetings with limited potential of any planned activity with alumni. 45% of the surveyed youth consider purpose of alumni groups as a platform for peer learning, sharing of various career options and coordination amongst the students. 16% have reported the group’s purpose as support in job/ new opportunity and guidance for further skill enhancement. Figure 23: Purpose of alumni group

% Youth

Purpose of Alumni Group (%) Female; Peer Total; Peer Male; Peer Learning, sharing Learning, sharing Learning, sharing for trouble shooting for trouble shooting for trouble shooting and coordination; and coordination; and 49 coordination; 45 40

Guidence Support inFemale; Total; Guidence on Total; in Female; Male; Support in Support Male; skill Guidence on Female; Fin. on further Job progression / skill Job/ progression / furtherfurther Job progression Male; Fin. Support ; 20skill Support Total; Fin. Support placements; 17enhancement enhancement ; 16(enrolment placements; 16enhancement placements; 15 ; 12 in (enrolment in in further (enrolment trg prog); further trg prog); further trg 2prog); 2 1

Female

Male

Total

The evaluation team notes that formation of alumni groups under VT was a difficult task to achieve considering the length and subsequent attachment of alumni with the programme. The evaluation team observes that since TP is better connected with employers, aware of workplace issues and market trends, it is better positioned to coordinate alumni activities. Overall, the alumni groups could not play any role in building the sustainability model of the project which was initially visualised by the project.

III. Efficiency The efficiency of the Saksham project is being evaluated primarily with regard to assessment of project management structures and MIS as per the ToR. As the assessment of the financial management was outside the scope of this evaluation, the evaluation team did not accessed the budgetary and expenditure figures. In absence of annual work plans or detailed implementation plan, the evaluation team could not assess the project’s timeliness and their factors.

Project Management Structures At Plan India level, the project management structure is adequate. The impact of staff turnover on the project could not be assessed as the relevant details is not available. The current project team joined only last year and the position of Senior Manager (who is 50 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

part of the project team) is still vacant. Plan India reported of making alternate arrangements. At the level of TPs, the project was managed by a point person along with a dedicated person taking care of placements. This looked sufficient. At the Centre level, the management was taken up by TP staff termed as Centre Manager. The person also doubled up as trainer and local liasioning person for exploring placement opportunities. Only two trainers were allocated to each centre which reportedly seemed less. In some of the Centres, the staff turnover also impacted the quality of training delivery. The TP had also staffed community mobilisers. Some of the partners also reported inadequate capacities of the trainers with regard to delivering specific modules. At the NGOs level, a point person and two mobilisers was allocated. However, considering that TPs also had to appoint mobilisers, the efficacy of community mobilisers and role overlap was questioned and noticed.

Management Information System The project invested good amount of time and resources in collecting data with regard to youths being enrolled, trained and placed. The data base was maintained at each centre and compiled at the TP level before submission to Plan India. This investment played a key role in keeping the focus of the project on achieving the targets relating to enrolment and placements. Special efforts were also made to collect the information on the latest status of each of the trained youths. The evaluation team understands that the format underwent a change during the project. Plan India has further worked with Accenture to develop a detailed MIS system as per the three party system which will be implemented in the next phase of Saksham project. The table below presents the fields in which the data for each of the youth was stored under different formats. Table 13: MIS Format Details Name of the Format/File: Copy of Saksham new batches data revised (Enrolled) Location S.No Batch no. Date of joining Course Name Gender Date of birth Age Educational qualification Address Phone no.

Name of Format/File: Copy of Saksham new batches data revised (Enrolled) S No. Centre Batch No. Course Name of the youth Gender Age Address Contact No Interview option – 1 Interview option – 2 Interview option – 3

Family--Occupation Family monthly income

Selected @ Placed (Y/N)

Social Group Registration Fee

Proposed salary Proposed designation

51 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

Name of Format/File: Compiled 2000-new S. No Centre Name Batch No Address Contact No DOB Gender Age Education Joining Date Career Orientation (from Interest inventory) Course Opted Ref.By (Name of the volunteer) Family Occupation Family Income

Referred by Additional info

Name of the company Salary Designation Date of Joining Evidence of placement Status Placed by Remark Final status

Placed (Y/N) Date Company Salary Proof of Employment

The evaluation team notes that although a huge effort was made to collect, store and manage data; this data was not used extensively during project period. Some of the basic principles of the database management, for e.g. giving unique ID to each trainee, was not adopted which can lead to errors while analysing the data. Also, the data stored was not friendly to quick and large scale analysis. The different formats made it increasingly difficult for the evaluation team to draw conclusions across all the centres or youths. Other significant information which the MIS could not capture are related to the screening process, drop outs, attendance and time spent in the employment. Overall, the MIS only served the purpose of maintaining a list of youths enrolled, trained and placed. Key Recommendation: Use of Result Based Management framework for project management A performance management and measuring system with defined indicators at all levels of results is highly recommended for the project. The MIS system should be aligned to the result areas. The RBM will guide the managers to make the implementation effective and help in generating timely data/ information for action.

IV. Outcomes and Impact This section reviews the progress the project made towards its goal and the specified objectives while outlining the key outcomes and impact.

Outcomes: Access to decent employment to poor and socially excluded youths The assessment of projectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s outcomes as per the defined objectives is as follows:As discussed earlier, the selection of project location was appropriate and played a positive contribution to this outcome. The project was able to cover youths from poor and socially excluded categories (24% of poor/BPL and 50% of SC/ST i.e., socially excluded categories51). The projectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s outputs in terms of enrolment and training can be termed as highly satisfactory as it meets the requisite numbers. There is no overall data available with the project MIS to determine percentage of the youths who continued in jobs for at least six months. The primary survey indicates that only 22% continued in job for first six months and 38% were in jobs at the time of evaluation survey. This includes youths who also got jobs from other than Saksham project (as reported during FGDs with youth groups).

52 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

Overall, 75% of the surveyed Figure 24: Salary scale of employed youth youth (n=566) found the VT very useful. The training positively Salary scale of employed youth impacted the youth’s personalities and has led to enhanced self-confidence as reported by 79% of surveyed 7% 2000 - 5000 youth. The qualitative findings 10% 23% states that the VT has certainly 5001-6000 exposed the youths to good 6001 - 7000 16% quality training programme and 7001 - 8000 gave an insight into the opportunities available in service 44% 8001 and above sectors like retail, ITES, etc. However, impact of the training on knowledge levels could not be ascertained. A few of the female Source: MIS data shared by Empower Pragati youths were found to be repeating the training programme by the same TP under a different government programme. The project certainly enhanced the youth’s choices and access to employment in formal sectors, however, it is also noted that significant number of youths did not opt for immediate jobs and are not currently employed. As discussed above, many of them are still pursuing education to enhance their knowledge and skills for better jobs opportunities. As per the project MIS data almost 80% of the surveyed youths reported earning between Rs. 2000 to 7000 per month (please refer to figure 24). Even though a common practice in India, the evaluation team concludes that the jobs offered to the youths could not be termed as decent as these salaries are below the statutory minimum wage rates set by the state government52. Even though the wages are determined by many other factors, it is important that the project reflects on this critical issue as it raises the issue of VT’s relevance. The evaluation tried to assess the project’s impact on income and quality of life of the trained youths as mentioned in the ToR. This sub-section presents the findings accordingly: Key Recommendation: Define benchmark for Salaries: The salaries for the trained youth should at least comply with the statutory minimum wages as per Government of Delhi. In order to set a minimum bench mark the project may consider better accord between needs, eligibility criteria and courses offered.

Impact on income Of all the total youth surveyed 348 have ever worked (i.e., worked in past or in between or currently working). 145 youth have worked in past of which 29 have not responded regarding their salary levels. Keeping in consideration that 60% of the surveyed are not 52

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53 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

currently employed and change in income level can only be analysed for those youth who have worked in the past and are also currently working. As comparison on the change on income levels can be made if there is a change in the income levels. During the time of the survey there were 81 such youths who have worked in the past and also are currently working. 73% of the youth (n=81) reported positive change in their income levels, while 14% reported no change in their income levels and rest (15%) reported a decrease in their income levels, not owing to Saksham project rather due to various reasons. (refer figure 25). Figure 25: Change in Income levels of the youths who have worked in past and currently working

% Youth worked in past and currently working

Change in Income (%)

%; 50% - < 100%; 26 %; 25% - <50%; 21 %; > 100% ; 20

%; Decrease ; 15 %; Same ; 14

%; 0- < 25%; 5

n=81 youth

Impact on quality of life

Evaluation team further conducted assessed the projectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s impact on quality of life as per indicators relating to housing condition, sanitation, drinking water, etc. In terms of changes in overall quality of life, 70% of youths (71% females and 68% males) reported improvement or some improvement or significant improvement (please refer to figure 26).

Figure 26: Any impact on quality of life after VT Positive Positive Positive Change in Quality of Life (%) changes changes changes reported; reported; reported; Female; Total; 78 Male; 76 79 No No No significan significan significan t change t change t change reported; reported; reported; Female; Male; 24 Total; 22 21

However, against the specific indicators, almost 30% to 40% of the youths reported no change. The findings also do not suggest significant difference between the male and female respondents.

54 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

% Youth

78% of youth reported to have experienced any positive change in their quality of life after attending the training.

Positive changes reported No significant change reported

% Youth

Impact on quality of life indicators (%)

No Improvement (as good as Notime Improvement (as good as it was); Adequate for No Improvement No (as Improvement good as (as Improvement good as No (as good as No Improvement (as goodfamily as life post it was); Asset Creation ; 46 social/ work; ; it was); Access toitdrinking was); Food Consumption No Improvement it(aswas); goodAccess as to Sanitation it was); Economic Condition ; 38 Some Improvement ; Overall water; 36 Pattern; 36 it was); Housing Condition ; 37 32No Improvement (as Quality of Life; 31 Some Improvement 27 ; Significant ; Overall Quality Some Improvement ; Improvement ; Adequate Some Improvement ; Food Some Improvement ; Some Improvement ; Access Improvement ; Access Improvement Overall ImprovementSome ; Housing No Improvement (as21 (as;good Improvement ;Adequate Economic No Improvement (as Improvement (as No Improvement (as Housing Condition ; 22 No(as Improvement ; Food poor as it was); Adequate No Improvement No Improvement of Life; time for social/ No Improvement (as time for social/ family life Consumption Pattern; 19 Economic Condition ; 19 No Improvement (asas to drinking 19 to to Sanitation ;; Access 19 Improvement to water; Quality of Life; 18 Significant ; Adequate timeImprovement Improvement ; Access Condition ; 17 Some Improvement Asset poor life as ititwas); Asset Condition ; 15time Significant ;; Asset Significant ; Access to Significant ; Access to poor Consumption Pattern; 14 was); Overall Quality of as it was); Access to poor as it was); Access to family life post work; 13 poor as it was); Economic Significant ; Food for social/ family poor ;asHousing it was); Housing ; Economic post work; 12 ; Asset Creation was); Food Sanitation ; 11 drinking water; 10poor as itSignificant for social/ family life post poor as it was); Overall Significant ; Creation ; 9 Condition ; 7 Creation ; 7 ; 7 Life; 6 water;Consumption 7 water; 4 Pattern; 5Condition Creation ; 6 drinking ; 4 drinking ; work; 4 post ConditionSanitation ; 3 Sanitation Consumption Pattern;Condition 2; 4 3 work; 3 2 Quality of Life; 1

Significant

Some Improvement

Improvement

No Improvement (as poor as it was)

Has Gone Down

No Improvement (as good as it was)

55 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

CHAPTER 4: GOOD PRACTICES AND LESSONS LEARNED Good practices ►

Mobilization efforts made by partner NGOs towards counselling of community members, especially female youths and their parents, have ensured their better participation in the VT. Partner NGOs conducted one-on-one interactions and centre based counselling sessions with parents of potential female candidates. These efforts have been effective in convincing parents as well as female youths, who otherwise were reluctant, to join the course.

►

Gender sensitization training which was organized as a four day residential training program, helped in building the capacities of Saksham project staff i.e. both partner NGOs as well as technical agencies. Through the training, the Saksham staff (trainers, mobilizers, etc.) was sensitized on concept of gender and its related issues. This helped in planning mobilization activities and interventions related to girl child participation more effectively.

►

Considering JOVT was is not a specialized domain of work for Plan India at the time of project start, the three party model helped Plan in leveraging on competency of TPs, the specialized training agencies.

►

At Dwarka and Mongolpuri centres, Gender Resource Centre (GRC) contributed to the community mobilization process. GRCs by virtue of sharing good rapport with the community acted as a dissemination point for Saksham courses which helped the partner NGOs to approach the intended target group with greater ease.

Lesson learned The project offers significant lessons for similar interventions for skill development. These are listed below: ►

Community’s need for VT and existing rapport with the community may not be sufficient conditions for mobilising youth for the VT programme. The project experience points out that other factors including local context need to be considered during design phase. The changes in the larger context (national and state level) may also impact the activities on ground.

►

For a program that is multi-layered i.e. spread across different levels and engages multiple stakeholders, having a communication strategy is a must. A common communication strategy is essential to communicate the right message consistently across different levels and stakeholders, create the right image and reach out to the intended target audience in an effective manner. In the absence of a concrete strategy the key message gets lost. In this context, though Plan India made efforts to ensure training is provided to maximum number of youth, the message of career development could not be disseminated to the intended target group in the same spirit and was reduced to job placement.

56 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

►

Clarity in roles and division of responsibilities are critical to the success of a three party model. It is important that all the stakeholders share similar understanding of the project, have clarity about their roles and scope of work. Standard protocols are required with regard to communication and roles.

►

As the Project offers vocational training, it creates an expectation among youth that they will be placed post training. Project experience shows that the youth is not merely satisfied with getting a job offer. Salary levels, work timings and distance from home (especially in case of girls) are also key criteria that a youth considers while accepting a job offer.

►

Special efforts are required to set up formal systems in a service delivery mode to ensure proper functioning of alumni networks.

57 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

CHAPTER 5: RECOMMENDATIONS Based on the findings from the evaluation, the evaluation team recommends the following that may help Plan India to strengthen Saksham program. Recommendation 1: Focus on retention The factors related to retention in jobs needs to be addressed through strategic mechanism as high turnover negatively impacts the results for youth as well as project partners. Greater emphasis may be laid on orienting youth for long term â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;career developmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; instead of perceiving VT as a vehicle for immediate employment. On-job mentoring support and greater exposure to prevalent work culture (timings, job-profiles, promotion ladder etc.) may also be useful in this regard. Recommendation 2: Use of Result Based Management framework for project management It is recommended to develop, implement and maintain performance management measurement system (Result Based Management). The framework should clearly define result matrix, indicators at all levels of results, M&E plan and risk mitigation strategy. Further, the MIS system should be aligned to the result areas. This will guide the managers in effective implementation, progress tracking, taking mid-way corrective actions and maximising the achievements. Recommendation 3: Setting-up standard communication protocols It is recommended to develop standardized communication protocols for both internal (members of three party model) as well as external stakeholders (employees and community). This will help to ensure enhanced coordination, monitoring and reporting within the project. Recommendation 4: Define benchmark for salaries during placements. It is recommended that the project should define benchmark for salaries of trained youth which should at least comply with the statutory minimum wages as laid by Government of Delhi. This will also require creating a better match between needs, eligibility criteria and courses offered. Recommendation 5: Standardization of training delivery and VT process as a whole To strengthen its course content Saksham may need to consider standardization of course content (for all locations), make it more specialization oriented than generic, give adequate time for course delivery, continue focus on soft skills development and standardization of MIS for all locations.

58 Saksham Final Evaluation Report

Recommendation 6: Review the program strategy in accordance with the contextual changes ď&#x192;ź Assessing competition in the area of operation: It is recommended that Plan India undertake an assessment of training facilities providing JOVT courses. Such competition analysis will enable Plan India to determine feasibility of operating independent VT centres at the planning stage. ď&#x192;ź Adopt CCCDP implementation strategy: Plan India may consider applying CCCDP implementation strategy for undertaking vocational training projects for youth under this project. Plan India under this operational model may take up the role of linking the identified youth with already existing training structures instituted by Government as well as private institutions. Therefore, Plan India may consider to support youth through counseling and linking them to existing VT centres alongwith thorough follow up support. Recommendation 7: Forge programmatic linkages with other Plan programmes to maximize outreach Synergy between Saksham project and other Plan project can be strengthened since the location of implementation and NGO partners are same. For example, mobilization efforts can be more systematic and efficient if already targeted families (through other project/s) are taken into consideration.

59 Saksham Final Evaluation Report