Develop Program Guidance on Skills for Employment

Detailed description of project Back

The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 sets out a global ambition for all girls and boys to complete on year pre-primary and twelve years of basic education by 2030. To achieve SDG4, UNICEF will support governments in the progressive realization of early childhood, primary, lower and upper secondary education. The UNICEF Strategic Plan (2018-2022) articulates these priorities under Goal 2 ‘All Children Learning’. Success will be measured by improved access and completion (Result 1), learning outcomes (Result 2), and skills development (Result 3). The focus will be on ensuring that ‘no child is left behind and the reduction of education inequalities.

Result 3 (Skills Development) is an emerging area of programming for UNICEF. Under the Strategic Plan, four skills outcomes are identified; skills for learning, for employment, for active citizenship, and personal empowerment.

To support implementation of the Strategic Plan, there is high demand from Country Offices for programmatic guidance. A global conceptual framework and guidance is lacking, and so as a first step, an evidence review was undertaken that focused on ‘Improving Work Outcomes Amongst Young People: what role of skills’ (UNICEF, 2017). The purpose was to collate knowledge of effective interventions in the area of skills for employability. The review concluded that UNICEF should focus on strengthening education systems in order to provide foundational and transferable skills to lower secondary age adolescents, through both formal and non-formal delivery channels. When supporting technical and vocational training for older adolescents, evidence suggests that an ‘integrated approach’ should be adopted, combining technical with foundational and transferable skills.

The objective of the assignment is to produce an Evidence Note and Programmatic Guidance on Skills for Employment. This will be based on the above Evidence Review (UNICEF, 2017) and used to support CO program design and implementation.

Type of services provided

• Synthesizing the key findings and recommendations of the Evidence Review so content is more accessible for Country Offices;
• Restructuring and synthesis of the Evidence Review to focus on key messages and UNICEF areas of comparative advantage;
• Drafting of Program Guidance.

Main staff provided:

• Education sector specialist (23 w/d).