Breakout Sessions: (2 hour sessions)

Breakout Sessions will focus on key learnings, results, and findings that would be useful and transferable to other practitioners, funders, and educators interested in applying these key points to their programming or policymaking.

A. Market-Driven Approaches

Youth and Microfinance: Groundbreaking Global Initiatives
Presenters:
- Annie Bertrand, World Youth Initiative Advisor, Mercy
  Corps; & Karen Doyle Grossman, Senior  Director of
  Innovations, Mercy  Corps   (Facilitators) (PowerPoint presentation)
- Meaghan Murphy, Leland International Fellow, Mercy
  Corps, Mongolia
- Grant Ennis, Research Coordinator, Katalysis, Honduras
- Selma Jahic, Director of Marketing, Partner Microcredit Organization, Bosnia & Herzegovina (PowerPoint presentation)
- Lara Storm-Swire, Relationship Manager, Pro Mujer (PowerPoint presentation)

Session Description:

Participants will engage in a discussion with panelists on five different and promising youth microfinance programs operated by financial institutions – Xac Bank (Mongolia) , Katalysis Network (Honduras), Partner Microcredit Organization (Bosnia & Herzegovina), and Pro-Mujer (Bolivia).

Four rounds of discussion will enable both panelists and participants to share expertise and lessons learned while addressing specific questions on the definition of success in youth microfinance, the drivers of success, and the implications for sustainable and effective implementation. Empowering youth entrepreneurs is the main focus.

Session Handouts:

- Katalysis - Youth Entrepreneurship Program Manual 

- ImagineNations Group Case Study Report

Presentation Material:

Youth Transformation at Mercy Corps

Cordes Foundation and Katalysis Network: Youth Entrepreneurship Microfinance Program Manual

The Missing Link: Incorporating Youth Entrepreneurs in Value Chains
Presenters:
- Terry Isert, Senior Technical Advisor, American
  Refugee Committee
- Jacqueline Bass, Senior Manager, Emerging Markets
  Group   
- Victoria Francis, Senior Manager, Emerging Markets
  Group 
(PowerPoint presentation)

Session Description:

ARC and EMG will disseminate lessons learned in applying a market-driven and cross-sectoral value chain approach to income generation activities targeting women, youth and vulnerable populations in both conflict and post-conflict settings. Through a participatory methodology, presenters will share their experiences identifying the challenges of design, implementation and monitoring sustainable impact at the client level.

Session participants will work through groups on mini case studies formulating solutions to particular challenges. The facilitators will elicit the collective experience of participants around key questions that include: How do we balance market needs with adolescent preferences for income generation activities?  How can a value chain approach best be applied with youth or vulnerable or displaced groups?

Session Handout

Fact Sheet: Activity

Session Description:

The session will focus on programs developing holistic, multi-sectoral and system-driven collaborative models for entrepreneurship education and coaching that are grounded in the context of their communities. First, session participants will learn about national youth entrepreneurship programs (with a particular focus on Native American and Rural programs) that are part of an emerging field of collaborative entrepreneurship development systems across the U.S. Then, participants will develop a framework for thinking about holistic approaches in their local communities by using Mentoring, Entrepreneurship education and technical assistance, Legal advice, and Development (M.E.L.D) as a case study. M.E.L.D is a collaboration of a youth entrepreneurship organization, a university, a community association, and a not-for-profit, public interest law firm.

Presenters will share national effective practices and use the M.E.L.D. case study to engage participants in an interactive process of developing holistic, multi-sectoral models for youth entrepreneurship in their own community contexts, including those that are vulnerable and have weak markets.

 Session Description:

Fundacion Paraguaya will share its approach to transform poor, rural youth into successful “rural entrepreneurs” at a school which generates enough income to cover all of its operating costs. The Fundacion will explain how this “education that pays for itself” model works. Key stakeholders (a funder, an employer, and a former student) will give their perspectives on the model’s effectiveness.

Participants will be invited share how their programs address issues related to this model in areas such as sustainability; scale; and providing practical, low-cost, and high-quality education to rural young people.

B. Effective Methodologies and Policies for Monitoring, Evaluating, and Conducting Impact Assessments

Practitioner and Evaluator Perspectives on M&E Approaches for Behavior Change Programs that Improve the Financial, Health, and Social Empowerment of Adolescent Girls

Presenters:
- Bobbi Gray, Research Specialist, Freedom from Hunger (PowerPoint presentation)
- Sheila Chanani, Research Coordinator, Reach India, India

Session Description:

Girls in rural India between the ages of 10 and 19 face particular risks, as more than one-half are married by the time they reach 18. The younger the bride, the greater her chance of being trapped in poverty and remaining or becoming malnourished. This session will focus on evaluation methodologies developed for Learning Games for Girls, a dialogue-based educational approach that aims to empower girls to make behavioral changes related to money and health. The changes that are promoted are intended to improve the financial, health, and social empowerment of adolescent girls.

The session will examine how the design and the evaluation of the program are inextricably linked, with a focus on the use of randomized control trial evaluation methodologies and the impacts of this evaluation design on implementation.

Facilitator's Guide: Learning Games for Adolescent Girls and their Mothers

Are We Measuring the Right Things? Return on Investment and Economic Rates of Return Analysis

Presenters:
- Eric Rusten, Director of New Ventures, Academy for
  Educational Development
- Tania Yuka Ogasawara, Executive Director, ADE Brasil

Session Description:

Many efforts to measure the true “success” of youth employment and enterprise programs have relied on crude measures of effectiveness, have lacked rigorous assessments, have set the bar against which to define success far too low, have not taken the steps to track impact after programs end, use simplistic strategies to address highly complex problems, and ignore the profound effect of failure on young people who have invested their time, effort and hope to be able to improve their own future and, in many cases, that of their family and the society in which they live.

This session will address ways to effectively measure the success of programs and projects that seek to enable disadvantaged youth to gain the skills and capacity needed to succeed economically, socially and politically in an increasingly competitive and unequal world.

The intent of the Facilitated Working Groups is to provide a space for open and informal dialogue on various issues, questions, collaborations, or other initiatives related to youth enterprise, employment and livelihoods.

Health Micro Insurance: Creating a Sustainable Model for Adolescent Girls
Facilitator:
- Ryan Lynch, Manager, Micro Insurance Agency International

This Working Group will use the successes and failures of the MIA/Nike Foundation Adolescent Microinsurance Project as a basis for discussion to address: 1) How to reach youth in developing countries; 2) How microinsurance and microfinance can be used to benefit youth; and 3) How to innovate with youth in leading roles to empower their lives.

The group will use case studies and a "mock" focus group discussion for this analysis.

Monitoring Outcomes and Evaluating Impact: A Comprehensive Framework for Assessing Youth Development “Drivers”
Facilitator:
- Annie Bertrand, World Youth Initiative Advisor, Mercy Corps (PowerPoint presentation)

Session Description:

Participants will reflect on the most important “drivers” of youth development using the Mercy Corps’ Youth Transformation Framework™  and then discuss a list of potential indicators in small groups.

The drivers captured in the framework are program outputs seen to be critical for success through research across disciplines and years of international development experiences. While discussing suggested indicators for these outputs, participants will engage in a cost-benefit analysis of M&E. 

Finally we will discuss two indexes aimed at increasing M&E consistency and simplicity while providing evidence of impact on two important youth development goals: 1) Sufficient income (livelihood) – measured by the Livelihood Index (LI); and 2) Responsible and engaged citizens – measured by the Soft Skills Index (SSI).

Presentation Material:

Youth Transformation at Mercy Corps

Building Partnerships That Work with the Public and Private Sector
Facilitators:
- Andrew Fiddaman, Director, Youth Business International
- Allegra Whittaker, Coordinator, Youth Business International
(PowerPoint presentation)

Session Description:

It is essential that effective partnerships are in place if sustainable progress is to be made in supporting youth enterprise and employment creation. This Working Group will examine practical ways in which the private and public sectors can support youth enterprise and employment creation using outline case studies, personal examples, and interactive discussions.

Examples will include a young person who has faced challenges in seeking employment or becoming self-employed, as well as a business representative who has been a mentor for youth will help lead an exploration of the advantages of mentoring and creating access to business networks. Discussions will also look at additional ways members of the public and private sectors can support and advise individuals as well as community organizations.

Bridging the Gap: Linking Youth Livelihoods Development to the Market in Post-Conflict Settings
Facilitators:
- Barri Hope Shorey, Youth and Livelihoods Program Manager, International Rescue Committee
- Lauren Heller, Program Officer, Women’s Commission
- Jenny Pearlman Robinson, Program Officer, Women’s Commission
- Colleen Galbraith, Columbia University/Women's Commission

Session Description:

The objective of this Working Group is to facilitate an interactive discussion on what is needed to overcome challenges of linking youth livelihoods programs to the market. Women’s Commission facilitators will begin by highlighting key findings and challenges identified through their research on youth and livelihoods programs. International Rescue Committee facilitators will guide the Working Group through a program case study and a tracer study to highlight best practices and lessons learned.

Participants will be asked to identify and reflect on common challenges to linking programs to market from their own experiences, and discuss effective strategies to improve program design, implementation, monitoring, and measuring impact. Together, Working Group participants will participate in a simulated “market” exercise and pilot test a tool developed to better link livelihoods programs for youth to the market in post-conflict situations. Participants will close by reflecting on the usefulness of the tool and identifying further steps practitioners, policymakers, and donors should take to improve practice on the ground.

Recommended Reading

Market Assessment Toolkit for Vocational Training Providers and Youth

Executive summary: Youth and Sustainable Livelihoods: Linking Vocational Training Programs to Market Opportunities in Northern Uganda

Youth and Sustainable Livelihoods: Linking Vocational Training Programs to Market Opportunities in Northern Uganda

For Additional Information:

Don't Call it Shangri-La: Economic Programs for Displaced Populations in Nepal

Country at a Crossroads: Challenges Facing Young People in Sierra Leone Six Years after the War

Rebuilding Lives: Refugee Economic Opportunities in a New Land

Listening to Youth: The Experiences of Young People in Northern Uganda

Build the Peace: Creating Economic Opportunities in Post-Conflict Liberia

From the Ground Up: Education and Livelihoods in Southern Sudan

Making a Living: Promoting Economic Opportunities for Refugee Women and Youth

Untapped Potential: Displaced Youth

Youth Creating Social and Green Enterprises in the United States
Facilitators:
- Lisa Smith, Executive Director, Enterprise for Equity
- Gregory Perry, Marketing Teacher/Junior Achievement
  Advisor, Beachwood High School
- Kelly Hatgas, Junior Achievement - Cleveland, OH

Session description:

This session will feature several effective strategies to enroll youth in leading change in their communities through entrepreneurship in green enterprise. Two leaders in the field will highlight specific projects and strategies they have used to raise awareness around green enterprise, engage youth in business development and provide a context for working within the larger business community.

4:15 - 4:30 pm

Breakout Sessions will focus on key learnings, results, and findings that would be useful and transferable to other practitioners, funders, and educators interested in applying these key points to their programming or policymaking.

Session Description:

The objective of this session is to share achievements and challenges in creating access to financial services for young people. During the session, presenters will use a talk show format to share efforts to design market research tools, develop products, and pilot services.

Session Description:

Presenters will lead participants through a learning process for them to become familiar with: 1) baseline studies as best practice in M&E; 2) the use of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) in conducting baseline studies; and 3) the community enumeration process, benefits, challenges, and youth involvement.

Participants will learn how to: assess prospects for implementing baseline studies in their own M&E efforts, PDAs when conducting a baseline and ongoing M&E, and various survey and interview techniques to assess the value of community-led vs. professional enumeration.

Kids Talking to Kids: Youth Participation in Design, Implementation, and Evaluation
Presenters:
- Rabi Seck, Youth Financial Services Project Manager,
  Plan West Africa (PowerPoint presentation)
- Jared Penner, Microfinance Coordinator, MEDA (PowerPoint presentation)
- Patrick Crompton, Co-founder/President, Alliance of
  Students Against Poverty (PowerPoint presentation)

Session Description:

These 3 organizations will lead participants through an exploration of how to involve young people effectively in the M&E process, which can support the development of new approaches, methodologies and products related to youth enterprise, employment and livelihood development.

With participants, Plan West Africa will provide an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses inherent in involving youth in the M&E process and connecting them with financial service providers.

MEDA will lead an examination of different methods of maximizing the participation of young people in designing and conducting research into the causes of, and solutions to, child vulnerability, including young people’s interactions with microfinance operators.

Finally, the Alliance of Students Against Poverty will share how they recruit youth from the Global South and North to conduct qualitative client interviews for various development programs.

Presentation Material:

MEDA: Helping Children Confront the Challenges, Mid-Term Report