SNV Opportunities for Youth Employment & Enterprise 2019-2023

The OYE project ran from May 2019 to April 2023. The project achieved significant impact in supporting youth skills development, promoting employment, and improving livelihoods. The key achievements of the project are summarised below and include the following: - Total youth registered under OYE - 17 373 (56 % females) - Employability skills imparted to 11 771 angainst target of 10 000 - Technical skills training for 8 690 youths against a target of 7 000 - Employment created for 6 626 youths against target of 6 000 - New youth led enterprises created - 2 128 against targeted 3 500 - Financial support to OYE youths reached 2 957 against a target of 1 500 Under the employability skills development, of the 11,771 beneficiaries, 56 % were female. The intervention equipped the youth with the necessary knowledge and skills to enter the job market or start their own businesses. The transition rate from skill training to jobs in the OYE project in Zimbabwe is 57%, which is in line with the rates observed in other seven (7) OYE countries in Africa. This means that a significant proportion of the young people who receive training through the project were able to successfully transition into employment. Technical skills training equipped the youth with hard skills and competencies that were required under each of the identified youth (self) employment opportunities. The trainings were provided through different ecosystem actors that were collaborating with the project. A total of 8,690 youth (56 % females) received technical skills trainings against a target of 8,000. The technical skills training was in the following sectors: Agrifood had 83 % of the total beneficiaries, Energy had 15 % and Green jobs had 2 %. Youth were trained in poultry, apiculture, piggery, horticulture, value addition, mushroom, cowpeas, solar and recycling. The trainings were delivered under the youth hubs,and through private sector led internship and on the job training and learning and exchange visits in partnership with TVET and higher and tertiary institutions like NUST and Harare Institute of technology. The other training avenue that gained momentum was the peer-to-peer learnin where trained young people imparted skills to each other. Trainings were also delivered through collabration with government extension workers. The OYE project surpassed its target of 6,000 youth into employment, successfully facilitating 6,626 youth (56 % female and 44 % male) in self-employment. Most of the employed youth, 87 %, were in the agri-food sector, with the percentage for Energy at 7 %, Green Jobs 2 % and other sectors 4 %. The significant achievement under this indicator is attributed to matching youth to market opportunities, skills training, financial support, mentorship and coaching, and collaboration between the private and public sectors. As a result of the projects intervention, employment and income generation opportunities for youth were created and this contributed to poverty reduction and economic growth. Avtotal of 2 957 OYE participants received various financial products. Derisking mechanisms and youth friendly financial products were piloted during the projec phase and these were embedded by partcipating financial institutions to continue beyond the OYE project duration. The 2 957 youth accessed financial assistance worth USD420,460.The support came as starter kit grants, matching funds, commercial loans, consignment stock and credit guarantees. Youth Savings and Lending (YSALs) emerged as one of the most effective and sustainable avenues of financing the new youth led enterprises. A total of 2521 youth were trained in the YSAL methodology, resulting in the formation of 360 groups with 74 groups deemed matured and actively engaged in saving and lending activities with 471 youth participating, by the end of the project. A total of $15,625 was raised in savings and a total of $45,974 borrowed by the youth to fund their business activities. For instance, through the Credit Guarantee Facility established by the project and being administered by Empower Bank, youth now have improved access to finance and consignment stock as the financial institution and private companies are now receiving partial cover on their loans or consignments hence more youth access. Through the ZADT IGNITE & Empower Banks youth loan facilities, both OYE and non-OYE youth are now have better access to affordable and youth friendly loans to grow and expand their enterprises even beyond the OYE project duration. Other than access to finance, a total of 2 955 youth-led enterprises received support services from the project through trainings and mentorship sessions focusing on areas such as enterprise governance, business management and access to markets. Access to markets for the enterprises was achieved by linking them to input suppliers and output markets through platforms such as national trade and exhibition forums, the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair, and the Harare Agricultural Show as wellas virtual fairs organised during the Covid-19 era. The baseline levels of income for OYE Zimbabwe were under a dollar a day. The average yearly earnings of the target youth increased from 31USD per month to average of 129USD per month, equivalent to an increase from 372USD per annum to 1,548USD per annum. This was a 4-fold increase in income per month for the youth both in formal and self-employment in all districts according to the OYE Employment and Income Survey conducted. There was effective engagement of the key ecosystem actors in creating an enabling environment for the implementation of the project and making economic opportunities for youth accessible and sustainable. The project engaged 51 Private Sector Companies, 4 Financial Institutions, 6 Grassroot Organizations, 8 Knowledge Institutions as well as the relevant Government departments who acted in various capacities and provided several opportunities for the youth resulting in 6,626 youth benefiting from these engagements. The project's six implementing Local Service Providers (LSPs), were capacitated to deliver market-based approach and youth training in 11 OYE districts. The LSPs included Green Impact Trust, Women in Agriculture Zimbabwe (WiAZ), Regional Centre for Social Responsibility (RCSR), Proweb Zimbabwe, Empretec Zimbabwe and Boost Fellowship (Boost) and thses have added market-based youth economic empowerment solutions as part of their product offerings. Several TVETs under the project across the country embedded the Basic Life and Business Skills training curriculum in their training courses following a participatory curriculum review and adaptation process with the institutions. Institutions such and National University of Science and Technology (NUST), Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) and TVETs such as Jairos Jiri and Bulawayo City Council training centre adapted their curricula; entry requirements; delivery methodologies; outreach trainings; course durations and offered accredited certificates to youth who do not typically qualify for such trainings. Best success was by HIT and NUST where together with solar companies the project trained and certified 201 youth with Basic Solar Installation Certificates resulting in some securing formal employment whilst the vast majority secure self-employment as agents and installers of various solar companies Through a stakeholder review workshop and writeshop sessions, the project provided technical support to the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation. The support resulted in the review and finalization of the 2020-2025 National Youth Policy which has a goal to create an empowered youth actively involved in national development. The unexpected result was the recognition of the OYE project as contributing to advancing the objectives of the Team Europe Initiative (TEI) on Gender Equality and Women Empowerment in Zimbabwe - an initiative spearheaded by several European donors in the country and Switzerland.

The proposed overall goal of the OYE project in Zimbabwe is to improve livelihoods for young people and contribute towards creation of an enabling environment for youth and women to thrive through creation of enterprises and jobs. Over the four-year project activity period, a total of 5 000 youths is proposed to be reached directly under the Sida support and an additional 25 000 youth will benefit indirectly from Sida funds. Half of the stated figures will be women who will be reached through targeted mobilization. The project is co-funded by the Swiss SDC and this support will help to reach out to the equal number of both direct and indirect beneficiaries. The target 10,000 direct beneficiaries will include both rural and urban youths and women. Peri-urban target districts are around Harare, Ruwa, Goromonzi, Seke, Bulawayo, Umzingwane, Umguza and Matobo districts. Under the urban initiative, the programme will target 5 000 youth in and around Harare and Bulawayo provinces. Under the rural initiative, the programme will target 5 000 youth in Manicaland' s  Mutasa, Nyanga, Makoni and Chimanimani districts; Mashonaland East's Mutoko, Murewa and Chikomba districts and Matabeleland South's Beitbridge, Mangwe and Gwanda districts. The SNV project has three specific objectives: a) Out of school rural and urban youths acquire market-relevant in technical, business, leadership and life skills to exploit any available market opportunities b) Public, private and civil service providers develop youth-inclusive capacities and create opportunities to employ youth as well as facilitate enterprise-creation c) OYE contributes to learning and policy-making on youth employment at national levels and regional level through SADC structures. The contribution is aligned to Sweden's strategy for Zimbabwe mainly under the key support area of Livelihoods, Environment, Climate Change and Renewable Energy. These first two objectives above respond to the strategy goal 3.1: Improved opportunities for sustainable livelihoods, with a focus on sustainable food security, productive employment with decent working conditions, especially for women and young people. The third objective relates to the proposal to establish a regional Centre of Excellence to be based in Harare to share regional OYE lessons learnt, knowledge development and robust evidence-generation to influence policy advocacy around youth employment at SADC level. As a cross-cutting objective, the project also speaks to the goal 1.3 of the strategy that relates to Strengthened conditions for equality and respect for human rights, with a focus on women and girls.