Why youth programmes in the public sector fail to deliver? By Vaqar Ahmed Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI)

1.
There are
being ma
governm
given the
Initiative
training s
free loan
At sub-na
Benazir B
Programm
Programm
Employm
Balochist
Unfortun
mentione
youth po
politicall
votes. Se
Why y
e several paral
anaged at the f
ment levels. At
e example of P
e, which includ
scheme, fee re
schemes and
ational level, w
Bhutto Shahee
me, Punjab Y
me, Khyber P
ment Programm
tan’s Laptop S
nately, the bas
ed schemes are
licies. Indeed,
y-driven budg
econd, there ar
Sche
D
youth pro
llel youth eng
federal and pr
a national lev
Prime Ministe
des the laptop
eimbursement
skill developm
we have schem
ed Youth Dev
outh Develop
Pakhtunkhwa Y
me, and Chief
Scheme.
is for many of
e found missin
, it seems that
get allocations
re significant o
emin
Dr Vaqar A
ogramme
gagement sche
rovincial
vel, one is ofte
er’s Youth
p programme,
t scheme, inter
ment program
mes, such as
velopment
pment
Youth
f Minister’s
f the above-
ng in provinci
t these are
s for winning
overlaps acros
1
ng fo
Ahmed Aug
es in publ
emes
en
rest-
mme.
ial
ss
nati
lead
Bot
mec
irre
exc
info
Ano
inte
the
Perh
lack
and
effi
ben
info
keep
in fu
duri
or yo
ust 13, 201
lic sector
ional and sub-
ding to waste o
th supply-side
chanisms are m
gularities and
luded youth a
ormation regar
other key issu
erventions and
national and s
haps, this part
k of ease of ac
d youth with di
ciency due to
nefits, exclusio
ormal sectors,
p the disburse
funds disburse
ing mid-cours
outh
7
fail to de
-national youth
of scarce budg
and demand-
missing, leadi
d missed servic
are usually una
rding these pr
e is missing li
d social protec
sub-national le
tially explains
ccess (particul
isabilities), w
which many
on of youth in
dependence o
ements runnin
ement, divertin
se to other prio
h
eliver?
h intervention
gets.
-side accounta
ing to alleged
ce delivery tar
able to access
rogrammes.
inkages betwe
ction programm
evel.
s challenges re
larly for marg
eak targeting
deserving can
agriculture an
on foreign don
ng, violations o
ng allocated am
orities, compl
ns,
ability
financial
rgets. The
een youth
mes at
egarding:
inalised
nnot claim
nd
nors to
of merit
mounts
lex

2. 2
application procedures, weak grievance redress
mechanisms, and limited outreach and engagement
with intended beneficiaries.
There is ample literature from around the globe,
South Asia and Pakistan which advocates the use of
‘scientific evaluation’ for policy effectiveness in
youth engagement programmes. This literature
makes a case for more effective evaluation for youth-
related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
which in turn can render timely accountability and
learning, and also more favourable outcomes and
impact vis-à-vis the outcomes seen during the period
when Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were
being implemented.
One of the key outcomes envisaged in many youth
engagement programmes is reduction in youth under-
employment and unemployment. Recently, using
official data form Bangladesh, India and Pakistan,
Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI)
demonstrated that the level of unemployed youth (as
percentage of labour force between 15-24 years) is
not coming down as earlier envisaged in
programmes.
Second, there is a high share of youth who are
currently not in education, employment or training.
Third, given the demographics and youth bulge in
these countries, the ratio of youth to overall
unemployed persons is increasing. These three
patterns point towards a negative outcome — by not
having a significant share of youth in productive
activities, South Asia and particularly Pakistan loses
substantial national income.
Any evaluation exercise, which aims to look more
deeply into the above-mentioned findings, should
first start by answering: i) How many youth are being
served by the public sector interventions? ii) What
are community-level impacts of these youth related
interventions? iii) Who and where are the excluded
groups?
While the answers to the above questions may serve
as an analysis into prevalent challenges and
constraints, a medium to long-term follow-up and
review of youth schemes is required to put forward
priority actions to accelerate youth engagement and
employment. Furthermore, any recommendation
towards priority actions needs to be complimented
with a comprehensive overview of available and
missing means of implementation (of priority
actions).
SDPI’s research also finds gaps in existing
evaluations of youth-related interventions. These
include: a) youth employment being seen in isolation
from youth engagement, b) outdated data and
research on supply-side versus demand-side factors
hindering youth employment, c) weak needs-
assessment of unemployed youth, d) policies for
youth not backed by primary evidence, and e)
missing regular review of ongoing policies and
programmes for youth.
Going forward, a good evaluation agenda at national
and sub-national level should be two-pronged. A set
of supply-side evaluations aimed to: map youth
unemployment by region and community; explain
how can central governments fill the role of
planning, coordination and monitoring of youth
related interventions; assess how public-sector
secondary schools, colleges and universities should
be encouraged to open their technical vocational
education training facility for youth; and how to
develop a strong monitoring and accountability
framework across public sector programmes for
youth engagement and employment?
A set of demand-side evaluation should aim to:
assess how education and skills development may be
encouraged through non-profit, civil society
organisations and social enterprises; and identify
domestic regulations, taxes and subsidies that may be
reformed to incentivise skill development.
Finally, as is well known that public sector’s capacity
to absorb unemployed youth has greatly declined. It
is only the growth of private sector which can help
provide more jobs. Therefore, equally important are
reforms which rationalise the regulatory burden on
Pakistani small and medium enterprises, in turn
enabling them to being better instruments of
economic growth and job creation.
The writer is associated with www.sdpi.org
http://tns.thenews.com.pk/scheming-
youth/#.WZO65tIjHIV