This project improves the economic wellbeing of young women and girls through decent employment and sustainable livelihoods.
Its over-arching strategy is to provide greater private sector engagement and community support for the economic inclusion of women and increase demand driven skills for young people.
Key successes:
• Delivery of technical and soft skills training to 360 young women and 200 young men.
• Delivery of entrepreneurship training and seed funding for business start-ups for 100 young women.
• Identi?cation and adaptation of 21 training courses by TVET centres in consultation with local employers that deliver the skills required of employers, and are in alignment with the education background and capacities of vulnerable youth.
• Private sector partnerships were established with local employers, and 302 participants who completed on-the-job training (OJT) were employed in decent work by local private sector employers identified by the project.
• Promoted youth and gender friendly businesses at the local, district and national level, with the implementation of six workshops which present the 'business case' for investing in young women.
• Alumni networks in each of the two districts supported and developed to facilitate youth mentoring and engagement of young people in initiatives at the local, district and national levels.
Challenges
An extensive gender analysis was conducted and indicated significant constraints on choices of training made by male and female youth, in alignment with family expectations and societal norms. There were few instances of young women choosing non-stereotypical training courses and successfully completing graduation, providing positive role models for later trainees. Project-level strategies have therefore focused on ongoing training and sensitisation with stakeholders at multiple levels to challenge those gender-limiting roles and expectations.
The analysis also identified safety and protection issues for young women in accessing training and employment. So, simultaneously the project has implemented strategies to address, reduce and raise awareness of the sexual harassment and gender-based violence that young women experience within, and travelling to and from, their workplaces.
Attitudes within the Community
Coping strategies adopted by youth and families during the civil conflict persist today, including a reliance on informal migration to earn a living. Young people commonly travel to middle-eastern countries for work opportunities, and they are highly vulnerable to exploitation and abusive labour practices.
Feedback from project beneficiaries and their families to date indicate that youth believe they can benefit from the training, and those that still wish to migrate believe they’ll have stronger technical skills and be better equipped to access decent work in host countries by engaging in training. The experiences and success stories of young people engaging with these opportunities have provided a great influence in helping overcome the reluctance of other youth to participate in training, rather than migrate immediately with limited skills.
The project also facilitates linkages and on-the-job training with local businesses, thereby offering a viable alternative to migration and an opportunity for young people to remain with their families and communities. This has been well received and embraced by the communities which will also have a positive ripple effect.
Project Case Study
Through promoting women’s economic leadership, we’re helping young women between 15-26 years to get the right skills to secure decent employment. Youth living in the Eastern province remain attracted to irregular migration as they lack skills due to lack of skill development opportunities in the area. Because of this and the encumbrance of entrenched social norms, many girls marry early to ease off the family burden.
With Plan International’s support, young girls like Rajagopal, who couldn’t meet her ambition in life, were given new opportunities to get vocational skills and pursue a career to support her family.
Plan International works with sustainable models within societies.
This project sought to build the capacity of existing vocational training providers, to ensure that training is more effectively linked to market demands and the needs of employers. It established mechanisms for training providers and employers that will continue into the future, ensuring an ongoing system of coordination between the complementary stakeholders.
The project also built local demand for vocational training services, as young men and women realised they can access decent work opportunities in their own country, instead of migrating for more lucrative work opportunities overseas where they are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. The project built peer-to-peer support networks amongst youth entrepreneurs, and links with business mentors to provide ongoing guidance and advice to youth businesses after completion of the project.
Since the project was completed, Plan International has ceased operating in Sri Lanka, however the benefits of the project and the positive impact on project participants continues.
Project background
Plan International Australia has been supporting a Youth Economic Empowerment program (YEE) with Plan International Sri Lanka since 2014. The project is currently entering a third phase, from July 2019 – June 2021.
Employers in Sri Lanka are recognizing a critical skills mismatch between competencies of entry level workers and the competencies required in the work place. One out of five youth (15–24 years) is unemployed, and the youth unemployment rate is five times higher than the overall unemployment rate in 2016.
Comparison of annual data from the last few years show that women enrolment in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is decreasing.
The underlying reasons for lower female TVET completion rates, and significantly higher levels of unemployment for women include:
- Negative perceptions of vocational training as a less desirable option than university amongst high school students and their families.
- Domestic responsibility is almost entirely put on women.
- Prevalent social norms and negative stereotypes associated with women working in professional sectors.
- Constraints in women’s physical mobility and, for the poorest women, insufficient money to pay the costs for transport and accommodation for them to complete their TVET training.
- A lack of working flexibility for pregnant and lactating mothers.
- A lack of role models and incentives for women to step into professional/technical fields.
Project overview
This project aims is to empower 2,505 young people, especially young women, to reach their full education and career potential in Mullative district of Northern Province in Sri Lanka.
By actively engaging the community at the secondary school level this project will promote young women’s empowerment and enrolment in public TVET courses of their choice. It will also promote the benefits of enabling young women to reach their full potential in making informed and supported choices about their education and training post-secondary school. This will enable their access to government-funded public TVET education which all young people are entitled to receive in Sri Lanka.
Over the course of the 24-month funding period, through community engagement and training of school teachers, school principals and committee members, the project is creating a supportive, empowering environment for future female students to follow in the footsteps of their peers.
Specifically the project will work to overcome some of the underlying barriers which are preventing young women and marginalized young men from enrolling in, and completing their vocational training. The project will:
- Work in 25 high schools to promote and increase awareness of the benefits of undertaking TVET courses and disrupting the existing challenges of negative gender stereotypes. Particular emphasis will be placed on promoting TVET to female and male students in their final years of secondary school.
- Work in all six divisional areas of Mullative district (Oddusudan, Welioya, Puddikudiirippu, Maritimepattu, Thunukkai, Manthai-East divisions) to promote the benefits of TVET, specifically targeting parents of high school students, to overcome negative perceptions and stereotypes relating to vocational training. In these communities, the project will also promote gender equality and specifically target negative gender norms and practices through participatory community activities and the identification of male and female ‘champions’.
Key outcomes
- Families and communities are actively supporting young people, particularly young women, to enrol and complete TVET training of their choice.
- 25 schools provide gender-sensitive career counselling to 2,705 students with a particular focus on TVET. Provide training to 180 teachers, principals and school development committee’s on career counselling for their school students with a strong gender lens. It will seek to ensure that training participants are able to identify and consciously consider their own gender biases, negative gender norms, and stereotypes which might prevent young women undertaking a TVET course of her choice.
What's covered in project cost
The contribution from the Footprints Network can provide support in the following ways:
- Promotional campaigns in all 6 divisional areas of the Mullative district specifically targeting marginalized young women and men to encourage participation in the TVET sector.
- Conduct awareness raising programmes (materials and the staff to conduct them) in all 6 divisional areas of the Mullative district for families and communities of vulnerable youth on the importance of TVET.
- Conduct capacity development programmes for teachers and principals across 25 schools in order for them to be able to deliver gender sensitive career counselling to students.
- Support 25 school development committees to promote gender sensitive career guidance.
- Management, reporting and monitoring. Ensuring the formal requirements across all stakeholders are met and make agile improvements based on our learnings within the communities as we move through our work.
Partners and community involvement
The project will conduct awareness raising campaigns in target communities, working with parents and community members to promote the positive benefits of TVET courses. The campaign will also target fathers and community leaders, who are often the key decision-makers in the household and community, and can therefore act either as gate-keepers or champions for young women’s empowerment. By targeting fathers and male leaders, the campaign will seek to build a groundswell of male champions for women’s empowerment, and a sense of pride within the community for driving positive changes in the lives of young women living in their communities.
School principals and teachers will be engaged with to raise awareness about the project, its objectives and explain the project approach within schools. Plan will provide training to teachers, principals and school development committee’s on effective career counselling for their school students.
The project will also work with schools/TVET Centres to promote public TVET amongst students in their final years of schooling. Where possible, students will also be supported to participate in an exposure visit to public TVET centres, or as an alternative, Plan will organize a ‘TVET fair’, in which students can be supported to speak with and learn about the courses on offer in the district provided by the public TVET centres.
Part of a larger strategy
This project is part of Plan's larger strategy to demonstrate inclusive access of public TVET services to government stakeholders.
The government of Sri Lanka has prioritized increased youth access to public TVET, as a core component of their education and training policy, with public TVET funded through their high profile ‘Skills Sector Enhancement Program’. Whilst the government funding to TVET centres is a very welcome and positive development in Sri Lanka, the underlying factors which prevent young women and students from poor and marginalized households from accessing public TVET are not directly addressed at a government policy or service delivery level, resulting in inequitable access to TVET.
This project will seek to demonstrate low-cost and effective strategies at the high school and community level, which can enable increased access and inclusion of poor, marginalized young women and men, in the public TVET system.
The project also contributes to objective of The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's Aid Investment Plan (AIP) in Sri Lanka to expand economic opportunities for the poor. By empowering young people especially young women to follow TVET will open avenues to increase their income by engaging in prospective gender equality. There will be an emphasis on targeting women and young women and addressing their barriers to participation in TVET through both 'principle' and 'significant' gender.