The Role of Training Programs for Youth Employment in Nepal: Impact Evaluation Report on the Employment Fund

Abstract

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

Understanding the Labor Market Decisions and Outcomes of Nepal's Young Adults

“…In general, we do not find effects on wage earnings for either gender. This finding contradicts evidence on the effects of short training on earnings for Nepal by Chakravarty, Lundberg, Danchev, and Zenker (2015). Among other plausible explanations, we posit that the general absence of effects on earnings indicates that skills (by themselves) may not be the binding constraint to labor market success for disadvantaged individuals.…”

“…To the best of our knowledge, credible evidence on the effects of training from widely representative data is absent for Nepal. The only available study for Nepal is by Chakravarty et al (2015), which evaluates a small-scale variant of a preexisting training initiative undertaken by an international NGO in partnership with the government. The intervention offered one-to-three month long training in a few selected fields (for example, dressmaking/tailoring, construction, electrical work), targeted to young women and other traditionally-disadvantaged groups.…”

Providing Out-of-School Girls with Skills

“…Results from a quasi-experimental evaluation of the Nepal Adolescent Girls Employment Initiative were similar (Chakravarty et al 2015). Through an ongoing program called the Employment Fund, almost 15,000 male and female youth per year receive access to free technical skills training courses, paired with life skills modules for women.…”

Providing Out-of-School Adolescent Girls with Skills

“…However, the evaluation found no net impact on fertility. 8 Results from a quasi-experimental evaluation of the Nepal Adolescent Girls Employment Initiative were similar (Chakravarty et al 2015). Through an ongoing program called the Employment Fund, almost 15,000 male and female youth per year receive access to free technical skills training courses, paired with life skills modules for women.…”