final evaluation of youth livelihood project of eda

8/3/2019 Final Evaluation of Youth Livelihood Project of EDA

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Emmanuel Development Association

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Acronyms

ACSI Amhara Credit and Saving InstituteAIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

AEMFI Association of Ethiopian Microfinance InstitutionsAMFI Addis Micro Finance InstituteCIDA Canadian International Development AgencyCSA Central Statistical AgencyCSO(s) Civil Society Organization (s)CSA Central Statistical AuthorityCSR Corporate Social ResponsibilityEDA Emmanuel Development AssociationFGA Family Guidance AssociationFGD Focus Group DiscussionGoE Government of EthiopiaGTP Growth and Transformation Plan

HIV Human Immunodeficiency VirusICT Information Communication TechnologyIGA Income Generation ActivityLIA Life in AbundanceMEPO Micro and Small Enterprises Promotion OfficeM&E Monitoring and EvaluationMFI Micro Finance InstituteMoU Memorandum of UnderstandingNGO(s) Non Governmental Organization (s)OFED Office of Finance and Economic DevelopmentOVC Orphan and Vulnerable ChildrenPLA Participatory Action and Learning

RETRAK RETRAK (UK based NGO)SBTK Street Business ToolkitSBT Street Banking ToolkitSDPRP Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction ProgramSKI Street Kids InternationalToR Terms of ReferenceToT Trainers of TraineeWCYO Women Children and Youth Office


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Acknowledgment

The evaluation team would like to thank Emmanuel Development Association and

Street Kids International for offering the opportunity to conduct this evaluation.

We are greatly appreciative to the following individuals for their invaluable roles inthis evaluation. Tesemma Bekele, for commenting on work plan and first draft of thereport, organizing and providing relevant documentation of the project, and helpingthe evaluators in conceptualizing the project approach and methodology. ShimelisAnegagergne, for commenting on the first draft of the report, timely responding toinquiries of evaluators, and organizing the focus groups, survey respondents, storytellers, and interviewees. He has made the process of data collection friendly andproductive.

Many thanks to the individuals and organizations that gave of their time, ideas, andcooperation in the evaluation process. Special thanks to youth beneficiaries,community representatives, youth workers, government stakeholders andMicrofinance Institutions in Akaki and Debre Berhan for their participation and sharingexperience.

Evaluation team


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Executive summary

Between November and December 2011 Emmanuel Development Association (EDA)conducted an evaluation of its youth livelihood project. The purpose of this project

end evaluation is to assess the extent to which the youth livelihood project hasachieved its results and objectives. It is expected that the outcome of the study willhelp to share achievements and lessons, provide conclusion and recommendationsfor implementation of similar project in the context of NGOs.

Study methodology

The methodology adopted for this assignment designed to meet the requirementsand expectations set out in EDAs Terms of Reference (ToR).1 The evaluationemployed a mix of tools including focus group discussion (FGD), survey, case study,and consultation. All the selected tools encouraged/motivated the active participation

of youth beneficiaries, youth serving organizations and other stakeholders in anevaluation process. The sources of primary data have been project beneficiary youth,youth serving NGOs, government stakeholders, Microfinance Institutions (MFIs),youth representatives, community members in Akaki and Debre Berhan, staff of EDAat central and project offices, and donor organization. In total 105 people wereparticipated in the evaluation.

Focus group discussion 5 FGDs were carried out with a total of 55 participantsrepresenting beneficiaries, stakeholders and staff of EDA.

Youth beneficiary surveyIn total 29 young operators participated in survey.

In-depth interviews This tool contains both structured and non structuredquestions to produce valid results. 11 people who represent diverse organizationsinvolved.

Case studyWe conducted case study with an objective of examining a limitednumber of variables or cases in-depth. Case study targeted 10 beneficiary youngboys and girls.

ObservationWe gathered information from visiting the operation of youthbeneficiaries which has enriched our understanding about the business location andcondition.

Secondary data pertaining to the topic of evaluation were collected and reviewed.Much emphasis has been given to government policy, strategy and program on youthemployment/unemployment.

1The ToR shown in Annex 1.


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Main findings

Project achievementsThe findings of the study reveal that the overall performanceof youth livelihood project has been above the targets. Except mentors

accompaniment to youth operators, other categories of training have considerablyexceeded the target set for the project period. According to EDA report, 300 youthoperators have accessed business start up grant amounting Birr 387,402. The grantdisbursement was managed in cooperation with key stakeholders including two MFIsoperating in AkakiAddis Microfinance Institute (AMFI) and Debre BerhanAmharaCredit and Saving Institute (ACSI). The type of business in which beneficiariesinvolved has gender orientation.

EDA has a good practice of gathering and analyzing qualitative and quantitative datafrom the field. Success stories, challenges, recommendations and lessons werecaptured in annual and bi-annual reports. However, benchmarks have not been

defined to compare performance against baseline data.

RelevanceThe EDAs youth livelihood project is responsive to the governmentpolicies, the needs of youth and youth serving NGOs. Giving a special attention toyoung girls has developed their confidence and strength to fight against societalprejudice and misconception. However, it has been realized that there was lessparticipation of relevant stakeholders in the project cycle management particularly inthe phase of design, monitoring and evaluation. As reported by EDA, staff turnover ingovernment sector has much contributed to this. The discussion on partnership hasinclined toward the importance of signing MoU with key project actorsMFIs andyouth serving NGOs. This would possibly result in better undertaking of joint follow up

and monitoring activities in organized manner. In context of EDAs livelihood project,the evaluators could not find evidence demonstrating the interface betweenmonitoring and the learning mainstream that provides adequate room for relevantstakeholders. Rather the accountability role of M&E is dominant over learning role.

Effectiveness According to the observation of evaluators, both external andinternal factors contributed to achieve intended results: unemployment, lack of skillsamong youth, poverty and high cost of living are external factors whilst the relevanceof the project and commitment of the beneficiaries and participation of stakeholdersconsidered as internal factors. In our observation, the degree of ownership feelingsignificantly varies among different people/organizations involved in the projectimplementation. In the process of project implementation EDA has been transparentto youth beneficiaries and stakeholders.

Efficiency EDA has appropriately utilized the human, financial and materialresources of the project to achieve intended results. Some of the beneficiaries havebeen far sited and developed capacity to analyze the business opportunities andchallenges. It has been further found out that through the project community supportsystem has organically emerged. The budget utilized to achieve the planned project


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objectives. According to the reports of EDA, the elements of spending (over spendingas well as under spending) experienced by EDA are acceptable and at a minimalrate.

Impact The project has brought positive change in the lives of young operators, inthe work of youth serving NGOs, decision makers and business men. There arecases where by young girls able to save more than Birr 100 weekly. Youth servingNGOs and government counterparts began mainstreaming the knowledge gainedinto their interventions. Business men started working hand in hand with youngoperators.

Sustainability The project has established a good ground to ensure sustainabilityof the project results. Skill, knowledge, experience and inspiration of youth operatorsto run business, community support to project activities, willingness of governmentauthorities including MFIs to extend further support to youth groups, motivation of

youth serving NGOs to institutionalize the essence and approach of the project intheir work are some of the indications for sustainability. Many of youth beneficiarieshave developed creativity, customer orientation, and peer learning.

Inflation and inadequate access to working space are among the factors whichnegatively influence the performance of youth beneficiaries.

Conclusion The participation of young boys and girls in youth livelihood project hasmade significant change in their lifethey become self confident, strong, creative, selfsupportive and positive about the future. Particularly the youth beneficiaries areinspired to run business in combination with pursuing their education. This parallel

and knowledge oriented action will facilitate the development of self as well as theirbusiness.

The respondents did give more value for the training than the amount of money givento start own business.

EDA has made a conscious effort to address gender issues in the project. Except inpartnership meetings in all other project interventions (trainings, business grantapplication and winning) the participation of young girls has been in good number.

The move toward sustainability is encouraging. The project interventions are inconsistency with government employment policy and have obtained significantsocietal support (government authorities including MFIs, youth serving NGOs,communities including business men) which is a key to ensure sustainability. Keyactors in the process are aware of their role without much involvement of EDA.

Recommendations The evaluation outcome found out that both in Akaki andDebre Berhan the process of beneficiary selection has limitation andrecommendation made to make it more participatory.


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Such process needed to be articulated in detail before project execution to beginwith. The participation of government authorities and communities in the process ofbeneficiary selection is paramount since they are nearer to the problems, solutionsand available capacities in their locality.

The beekeepers in Akaki have inadequate information on taxation, their eligibility foraccessing loan and working space. The evaluators suggest that the beekeepersneed to be organized in formal association that will help them to access informationand services relevant to their business. It is also recommended youth beneficiaries toinvolve in joint lobbying of government and other actors to get support in good time.

The evaluation team envisages the government stakeholders to be in drivers seat toquickly chart out the next steps in regard to smooth transfer of beneficiaries togovernment authorities and MFIs. EDA and youth serving NGOs have a stake in theprocess.

Effective publicity and promotion was one of the strongest themes to emerge fromthe evaluation. Increasing awareness of the NGOs, government, private sector andthe larger public in general through media, news paper, news letter, and websitehave been recognized as areas for improvement.

Almost all participants of the evaluation recommended the scaling up of similarproject in project areas and elsewhere in Ethiopia. In particular, the suggestion hascome from realizing the impact and benefit of training. Therefore, further partnershipbetween EDA and SKI is commendable to reach out more young boys and girls. Theuse of developed capacity within beneficiaries and organizations is strongly

recommended during scaling up phase of the project.

Lessons learned Development initiatives based on participation of relevantstakeholders, local knowledge and skill tend to be more fruitful and sustainable. As aresult of these participatory interventions EDA has been successful in achievingresults in short whilea period of three years.

Entrepreneurship development among youth groups should keep its pace,influencing the pace will not lead to successful results. The evaluators have learnedthat steps followed by the project are reinforcing each other and suit with the interestof beneficiaries.

As per the evaluation findings real learning has taken place in this project amongdifferent groups of peopleyouth groups, people working toward the change theybelieve in, people who are involved in the action, and people who are valuing realpartnership and facilitating the process instead of influencing and bringing arrogance.The core for these people has been brining change in the lives of children andyouth.


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1 Introduction

This report dwells on project end evaluation of EDAs youth livelihood projectimplemented in Akaki Sub City of Addis Ababa and Debre Berhan town. The project

was run for a period of 3 years (2009 until end of 2011). The overall objective of thisassignment as defined in the ToR, is to assess the extent to which the youthlivelihood project supported by Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)has achieved its strategy, objectives, through employing participatory evaluation

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methodologies.

The specific objectives of the assignment are:

to assess the achievement of the project against the inputs, outputs, andoutcomes included in the project log frame;

to assessthe impact of completed CIDA youth project in terms of self employment

created, and livelihoods improved among youth beneficiaries; to examine the impact of the project at communities and local markets or

business;

to analyze the factors of success and challenges experienced during projectimplementation;

to identify best practices and lessons learnt from the approaches of projectintervention; and

to develop recommendations for similar project to be carried out in the periodof 2012-2016.

The fieldwork was carried out in November 2011 in Akaki and Debre Berhan. The

discussion with staff of EDA head quarters and project offices was conducted inDecember 2011. Wassie Azashe and Gemechu Kebede were involved in datacollection, entry, analysis and write-up of the report.

The report has seven sections. The introduction and background sections one andtwo present the objectives and project background. Section three gives contextanalysis giving a particular emphasis on youth policy, strategy and program inEthiopia. Section four summarizes evaluation scope and methodology, while sectionfive provides the evaluation findings. Section six deals with conclusion andrecommendations. The report ends with section 7 giving a summary of lessonslearned.

2It is a way of learning from and with community members to investigate, analyze and evaluate constraints and

opportunities and made informed and timely decisions regarding community development.


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2 Project background

EDA is an indigenous development NGO, established in 1996 with the aim toimprove the socio-economic situation of children and youth among the most

vulnerable and disadvantaged communities.

EDA committed to promote integrated community based sustainable developmentprograms to improve the lives of marginalized children, youth and women throughneed based and innovative development programs such as quality education, earlychildhood development, adult education, basic health services and livelihooddiversification.

EDA operates in Addis Ababa City Administration and Amhara Regional State. Intotal there are nine project sites where EDA works with poor communities to enhancetheir well-being through targeted interventions.

EDA has been closely working with youth focused NGOs and youth groups in itsoperational areas. In 2009, the organization entered into partnership with Street KidsInternational (SKI) to implement the three year (2009-2011) project specificallyaddressing youth unemployment through small business training and development.CIDA provided financial support to this project. The project targets Akaki Kaliti SubCity of Addis Ababa and Debre Berhan town. In the project document it is mentionedthat the project would benefit about 1500 young people from targeted interventions.The total project budget allocated for three years is CND 189,500.

The overall goal of the project is to strengthen the capacity of youth servingorganizations in Ethiopia and to provide marginalized youth with livelihood assets

and capabilities to attain a healthy and self sufficient future.

SKI and EDA have applied to CIDA to extend the project for a period of 2012-2016and agreed to conduct project end evaluation to assess the impact of the project anddraw lessons to successfully implement similar project in the future. The evaluationexercise is considered to be a learning exercise for all concerned people who areinvolved in the youth livelihood project.

3 Ethiopia: Context analysis

3.1 Demography and poverty

According to the National Population and Housing Census carried out in 2007, thetotal population of Ethiopia for the year 2011 is estimated at 82 million3, making thesecond most populous country in Sub-Saharan Africa. The population structureshows that child and young people constitute the larger proportion compared to otherage groups.

3Forecast made on the basis of CSA (2007).


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The youth population is projected to grow in absolute terms from about 15 million in2005 to 26 million in 2030, but will remain at about one-fifth of the overall populationduring this period.

4The Ethiopian population is young (with 44% under the age of 15

years) and rapidly growing, resulting in a high dependency ratio. Until 2030 a high

increase in population size is expected in urban centers as opposed in ruralsettlements.

The population growth is also putting pressure on cultivable land and contributing toenvironmental degradation, which is worsening the level of poverty and causing rural-urban migration. In Ethiopia, the proportion of people who are absolutely poor isexpected to be more than 44 %.

Ethiopia has 9 regional states and 2 city administrations5 directly accountable toFederal Government. As indicated in the Sustainable Development and PovertyReduction Program (SDPRP), the level of rural poverty decreased from 47 percent in

1995 to 45 percent in 2000 whilst during the same period the incidence of poverty incities rose from 13 percent to 37 percent. This can be an example of acceleration ofurban poverty in the country.

3.2 Youth unemployment

The Government of Ethiopia (GoE) has taken several policy measures to facilitategrowth of self-employment and create formal and informal employment opportunitiesfor youth. However, still the lack of employment opportunities for young people isamong the critical development challenges facing the country. Poor young boys andgirls do not have adequate access to economic opportunities and credit facilities.

Increased number of dependents who are not able to engage in productive activities,lack of saving and entrepreneurship skills, lack of working space to start business incombination with other factors have compounded the unemployment rate in majorcities, towns and urban villages. The effects of prolonged unemployment will lead toserious social and economic problems. Ethiopian young people living in cities andtowns are much more likely to be unemployed than their rural counterparts. The riskof unemployment faced by Ethiopian young people also differs by sex. A recent studyconcluded that in Ethiopia, female youth across all ages are more likely to beunemployed than male youth. Inability to find a job and lack of startup capital areamong the contributing factors for youth unemployment. Due to economic and socialfactors many children and youth migrate to big cities and towns to look for betteropportunities, however there are cases where by they end up on the street to leaddifficult part of life. Particularly it is a common practice for orphan and vulnerablechildren (OVC) and youth who lost their mothers/fathers.6

4Cited in Guarcello and Rosati (2007).

5These are Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa city administrations.

6Population Council (2010).


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3.3 Policies and programs on youth employment

This section reviews relevant aspects of the policy of GoE through the lens of youthemployment.

National Youth PolicyIn 2004, the GoE promulgated National Youth7

Policy aimingat enabling youth to actively participate in the development, democratization andgood governance process of the country. The basic principles of the policy are toensure that youth will be active participants in and beneficiaries of democratizationand economic development activities, to bring about unity, to allow youth to organizethemselves to protect their rights and interests, and to build capacity (for example, viaskills training). The policy identifies seven strategic directions: (i) organization andparticipation of youth and their associations; (ii) supporting the capacity of youth andyouth serving organizations and creating enabling policy environment for youth toensure their participation in different development processes; (iii) enabling youth to

benefit from Information Communication Technology (ICT) through facilitating anefficient and integrated exchange of youth focused information between youthassociations, government authorities, business, and civil society; (iv) encourage andsupport youth who become role models in creation of jobs and achieving betterresults in their workplace; (v) support research undertakings and establishment ofyouth focused data base that will be accessible to decision makers, stakeholdersincluding funding partners; (vi) encourage participation of Ethiopian youth in nationaland international partnership arrangements and incorporate youth issues in bilateraland multilateral relations; and (vii) ensure cooperation and coordination throughsupporting the establishment and functioning of youth councils, inter governmentalbodies at federal and regional levels, a consortium of NGOs, and youth forums.

Article 7.4 of the Policy defines the role of CSOs as: undertaking variouscapacity building activities that enable youth to strengthen their participation andensure their benefits in development ventures which are initiated individually, ingroups, or associations.

National Youth Development ProgramPursuant to the directions of Youth Policy,in 2006 the Ethiopian Youth Development Program was developed. Unemployment,lack of efficient social services and facilities, lack of participatory forums have beenacknowledged as critical issues to be addressed in short, medium and long termperspectives. The program provides strategic areas that will benefit youth living inurban and rural settings.

7The Policy defines youth as a person aged between 15 and 29.


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Table 1 Strategic directions of youth development program

Urban youth development Rural youth development

Expand microeconomic & small scale

enterprises and ensure youth becomedirect participants and beneficiaries

Expand various employmentopportunities

Create job opportunities through theexpansion of urban farming

Establish special system within the creditsystem that would benefit youth

Provide youth with skills upgrading andcapacity building training to enable thembecome competent economic actors

Enable youth to enroll in higher education

and training opportunities Ensure that uneducated youth receive

short term trainings that would enablethem to participate in productive activities

Educate youth on reproductive healthand HIV and AIDS

Reduce youth delinquency

Address land issues of youth

Ensure participation of youth in off farmactivities

Establish youth friendly credit system

Provide skills upgrading

Facilitate markets for youth products andtheir input demands

Meet youth education and training needs

Ensure the participation of youth inenvironmental protection and afforestation

Ensure transmission of youth programsthrough public media (TV and radio)

Provide special attention at societal level

Facilitate participation of youth indevelopmental undertakings

Establish enabling environment foremergence and development of youthorganizations

Reduce youth delinquency

Source: Ethiopian Youth Development Program (2006).

Micro and Small Enterprise Development Strategy In 2004, the GoE formulatedthe Micro and Small Enterprises Development Strategy. It has been recognized the

economic and social role of micro and small enterprises in providing goods andservices, creating employment opportunities and generating income. The strategydefines micro enterprises as formal or informal enterprises with paid-up capital notexceeding Birr 20,000. Small enterprises are defined as those with paid-up capital ofBirr 20,00050,000 excluding high technology firms.

The policy on MFIs issued in 1996 provides the relevance of giving preference topoor rural farmers and micro economic activities of rural and urban communities withsmall cash requirements.

Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) The plan has been endorsed by House

of Peoples Representatives in early December 2010; it is a guiding developmentplan of the country for a period of 2011-2015. The plan builds on 7 pillars: (i)Sustaining faster and equitable economic growth; (ii) maintaining agriculture as amajor source of economic growth; (iii) creating favorable conditions for the industry toplay key role in the economy; (iv) enhancing expansion and quality of infrastructuredevelopment; (v) enhancing expansion and quality of social development; (vi)building capacity and deepen good governance; (vii) promote women and youthempowerment and equitable benefit.


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As has been mentioned in GTP, during the previous planning period, a total of3,435,049 youth participated in various training sessions. More than 708,116 youthreceived training in management skills and 444,595 organizers of youth associationsreceived training for the preparation and design of strategic plans, financial

management, and administration. The plan sets out the importance of mainstreamingyouth issues into other development programs.

4 Scope and methodology of evaluation

The evaluation on youth livelihood project was conducted in Akaki Sub City of Addisand Debre Berhan townabout 125 Kms far away from Addis Ababa. In both areasEDA has project offices and implements diverse programs, while the currentevaluation entirely focuses on youth livelihood project.

4.1 Initial discussion with EDA management

The evaluation team began its work through conducting discussion with themanagement team of EDA central office to have clarity on scope of the assignmentand understand the expectations from EDA side. At this stage, agreement has beenreached on logistical arrangement and collection of pertinent documentation of theproject. The process of identifying and reviewing available documentation of EDAfacilitated identification of information gaps and preparation of the relevant survey,case study, and FGD questions to triangulate information. At this stage, a conceptualmodel was also developed to guide the evaluation process.

4.2 Evaluation questions

The following evaluation questions set out:

What achievements have been made in regard to results at the level of output,outcome and impact?

Have the project interventions been consistent with the needs and priorities ofyouth groups, communities, youth serving organizations and otherstakeholders?

To what extent the EDAs youth project has achieved its intended results?

Have there been adequate human, financial and material resources allocatedand how well these resources used?

To what extent the project interventions have brought changes in the lives ofyouth beneficiaries and capacity building of youth serving organizations?

Will the results produced by the project interventions be maintained afterending EDAs involvement?

Has there been shared responsibility for results?

What has the project achieved in regard to gender equality?

What lessons can be learned from the practice of the project that can bereplicated in similar context?


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4.3 Methodology

The methodology adopted for this assignment designed to meet the requirementsand expectations set out in EDAs ToR. The evaluation employed a mix of toolsincluding FGD, survey, case study, and consultation. All the selected toolsencouraged/motivated the active participation of youth beneficiaries, youth servingorganizations and other stakeholders in an evaluation process. The following aspectswere considered in selecting the methods of evaluation:

a) Tools that are easy for different groups to actively participate in the evaluationprocess and help participants in conducting self evaluations, help gather dataor help interpret results.

b) Tools that facilitate or enhance active participation of different groups havingdiverse attitudes, skills, and experiences.

Indicators8 were selected to measure project achievements and impact in relation tothe relevant groups. Project end evaluation criteria such as relevance, effectiveness,efficiency, impact and sustainability were used. In the process of evaluation theconsultants took into consideration the measurements to examine the level ofparticipation, overall poverty reduction efforts, partnerships and networking practicesand addressing gender issues among young people, youth serving organizations andother stakeholders. In broader sense the performance indicators focus on resourceutilization, outputs, results, and impacts.

The Data collection tool was developed to gather relevant information. The tool

outlines the issues for data collection, sub questions and sources of data.Confidential interview/discussion has revealed key information about the livelihoodproject. The task of evaluators during data collection has been to maintainconfidentiality while encouraging people to open and transparent on the issues. Themajority of beneficiaries and stakeholders spoke openly. They were encouraged togive specific examples from their experience. These experiences have been furtherexplored to develop deeper insights.

Data collection was focused on developing a better understanding of theperformance of the project and the factors that drive performance. The evaluationlargely employed qualitative study; however both quantitative and qualitative data

were collected from different sources.

8Indicators are simply measures that describe how well a project is achieving its objectives.


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Primary data collection

The sources of primary data have been project beneficiary youth, youth servingNGOs, government stakeholders, MFIs, youth representatives, community members

in Akaki and Debre Berhan, staff of EDA at central and project offices, and donororganization. In total 105 people were participated in the evaluation. The number ofparticipants by gender composition has been mentioned for each evaluation tool.

Focus group discussion In total 5 FGDs were carried out with a total of 55participants representing beneficiaries, stakeholders and staff of EDA. Girls/womenparticipation accounted for 49.1%.9

Youth beneficiary surveyIn total 29 young operators participated in survey. Thegender mix has been similar i.e. 50%.

In-depth interviewsThis tool contains both structured and non structured questionsto produce valid results. The target groups were representatives of youthassociations; government authorities, Women Children and Youth Office (WCYO),Office of Finance and Economic Development (OFED), ACSI, AMFI. Out of the totalinterviewees (11) the female participants were 3 or 27%.

Case studyWe conducted case study with an objective of examining a limitednumber of variables or cases in-depth. People were asked to talk about the history ofthe project, results, change in their own lives (organizations) overtime because of theproject. Case study targeted 10 beneficiary young boys and girls. Out of the total thegirls participation has been 40%

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ObservationIsone of the tools that help to triangulate some of evidences generatedfrom FGDs and interviews. We gathered information from visiting the operation ofyouth beneficiaries which has enriched our understanding about the business locationand condition.Secondary data collection

Literature reviewAs has been mentioned in this section; secondary data ongovernment policy, strategy and program were collected and analyzed. Otherrelevant literatures on youth employment/unemployment reviewed to conceptualizethe evaluation process.

9Annex 2 gives the list of FGD participants.

10The full text of case studies provided in Annex 3.


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Basic characteristics of respondents of survey

In total 20 youth beneficiaries were targeted to participate in survey. However, it hasbeen managed to cover 29 young boys and girls in this category of study.

Table 2 Basic characteristics of youth survey respondentsVariable Male Female All (%)

Age group Less than 18 6 4 10 34

18-23 5 4 9 31

24-29 4 4 8 28

30 and above 0 2 2 7

Marital status Single 13 8 21 72

Married/live with partner 1 3 4 14

Divorced 0 4 4 14

Education Grade 1-4 0 2 2 7

Grade 5-8 6 7 13 45

Grade 9-12 4 4 8 28

Diploma and above 5 1 6 21Year of participationin youth livelihoodproject

2009 10 5 15 52

2010 6 6 12 41

2011 1 1 2 7

Total 15 14 29 100

Data analysisThe quantitative data were analyzed in a numerical form. Statisticalanalysis was used on quantitative data to give a precise description of the findings interms of average, proportions, and ranges. This makes easy-to-draw pictures tosummarize data.

Qualitative analysis builds up on in depth picture on how the population of the studyfunctions, what key relationships exist, how different aspects of the project are linked,how people understand and analyze their situation, project achievements, outcomesand reach conclusions. The data were analyzed by using triangulation, concepts andopinions interpretation, and compare and contrast methods. They are presented usingnarrative quotes.

The data collection and analysis was carried out at three levels: at beneficiary level(young boys and girls); communities; youth serving organizations and otherstakeholders.

11The evaluation team has focused on what has been achieved as a

result of the youth livelihood project of EDA. Youth operators involved in the projectwere interviewed, their businesses were visited, youth serving NGOs and

government partners were asked to examine the project relevance, benefit andimpact. Changes in the livelihood of the beneficiaries were assessed using thebefore and after project intervention scenario.

11The conceptual model used in the process of evaluation is shown in Annex 4.


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4.3 Limitation of the evaluation

Getting quality time of respondents has become a challenge for evaluators. Everyonehas a busy schedule the beneficiaries, the government stakeholders, and youthserving NGOs. However, they spared their precious time to share their experiencewith us. More specifically, the first round of data collection was undertaken in Akakiduring weekdays. There have been cases where by students missed their morningclasses because of interview. We did not take this into account while planning thedata collection time frame. One of the beekeepers had examination in school, andthe lead consultant allowed him to go to do his examination. We learned from theexperience and did the interview during the weekend with those who could not makeit in weekdays.

In Debre Berhan, the dates of data collection matched with celebration of thecooperation between two sister-cities (Debre Berhan town and Blumnil City ofFrance). Government authorities were busy with other meetings. However, they gave

some time for us for which we are very much grateful.

4.4 Defining evaluation criteria

RelevanceDegree of appropriateness of project design to respond to the needs andpriorities of target groups and policies of local government authorities. Evaluatorsalso looked at the extent to which interventions took into account the local knowledgeand experience of target groups and larger community, extent of gender sensitiveapproaches, and participation of beneficiaries and stakeholders in the process ofproject cycle management.

EffectivenessExamines the extent to which the intended livelihood changes havebeen achieved in the target areas (Akaki and Debre Berhan). The evaluatorscompared planned against achieved results at the level of outcomes. The factorscontributed toward achievement or non achievement of the targeted results wereanalyzed. The evaluators also looked into coverage in terms of beneficiaries,transparency and accountability to beneficiaries and stakeholders.

Efficiency Reflection on the results compared with the resources spent on theproject. We examined measures taken during planning and implementation to ensureefficient use of resources (human, material, and financial). The alignment betweenintervention strategies, local resources mobilization and utilization, follow up and

monitoring of the progress of beneficiaries has been assessed.

ImpactThe overall effect derived from project interventions; impacts on income ofyouth, their attitude, behavior, confidence, and contribution to community. We furtherassessed how much youth serving organizations were taken up youth livelihoodproject approach in their own context. The positive/negative impacts and/orintended/unintended impacts on social, economic and business issues at projectareas were examined.


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SustainabilityThe likelihood of maintenance of the project activities after phasing-out external support. The indicator measures from outset of the support from localgovernment, capability of beneficiaries to run their business, functional systemestablishment, community participation and sense of ownership, feasibility of

resource mobilization and implementation, and capacity building system to share andlearn from practice.

5 Evaluation findings

In this part of the report, the findings of evaluation are discussed as per the criteriaand evaluation questions shown in section 4.

5.1 Assessment of achievements

This section presents the achievements of the project considering the following

aspects: skills and knowledge gained from trainings, coaching, and mentoringactivities undertaken to support the business operators, start up grant provided to runown business, and key success factors and challenges observed during the projectimplementation.

Training, coaching and mentoringThis service is one of the components of theproject out of which significant number of youth benefited. As we can see in the Table3 the quantitative achievements of the trainings12 are encouraging. Except mentorsaccompaniment to youth operators, other categories of training have considerablyexceeded the target set for the project period.

Table 3 Achievements in trainingCategory of training/coaching service Number of participants % performance

Plan Achieved

Training for level 2 master trainers 6 6 100

Training for level 3 master trainers 2 2 100

Training for mentors 60 72 120

Strengthening youth workers to deliverentrepreneurship training

48 48 100

Strengthening youth workers to deliver financial literacytraining

24 24 100

Street business toolkit 2000 2000 100

Street banking toolkit 1500 1500 100

Mentorship toolkit 250 300 120

Life skills related to entrepreneurship, responsibility,financial management and savings

1162 2000 172

Mentors accompaniment to youth operators 650 450 69

12It has been reported that there are different levels of training as per SKI guidelines: Youth workers, master

trainer level 1, master trainer level 2, master trainer level 3, national coach, and international coach.13

The initial targets set for trainings on SBT, SBKT and mentorship were 48, 24 and 60 participants. Later on thetargets were adjusted as appeared in the Table.


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EDA carried out the translation of SBKT and adapting Mentorship Manual to reflectthe Ethiopian context. They have been in use since the last two years.

For some of our survey respondents it was not easy to remember the topics, durationand frequency of trainings in which they participated. Out of the total 29 respondents,41% stated that they participated in 2-3 days training and 45% mentioned theyparticipated in 4-5 days training. The remaining 14% could not remember theduration of training.

During specialized training events EDA advised young beneficiaries to continue theirformal education. As reported, in the project period more than 500 youth haverestarted their schooling, especially those ended up on street.

Through coaching and closely working with young girls EDA addressed thechallenges faced by girl entrepreneurs. As stated by EDA staff, gradually the thinkingof girl entrepreneurs was changed after their involvement in trainings. This is anindication for us to realize the positive contribution of the project in the lives of girls,and the need for expanding the training in different areas.

Provision of start up grant for youth operatorsIn the project period it wasplanned to issue business grants for 300 young boys and girls whose business planshave been reviewed and accepted. All trained youth are eligible to apply for grantwithin 2-3 months of the deliberation of training event. The application is on annualbasis. For example, in the fiscal year of 2011 alone 250 trained youth applied forbusiness grant; 100 won the grant. Their business plan assessed using the following

criteria: Feasibility of the business (40%), understanding of youth about basicconcepts of entrepreneurship (10%), implementation period & location of workingplace (25%), and commitment (25%). The appraisal of the business plan is carriedout by EDA and master trainers. In total, 300 youth accessed business grant over thecourse of the project period. According to EDA report, the total amount disbursed toyouth operators is Birr 387,402. The grant disbursement was managed incooperation with key stakeholders including two MFIs operating in AkakiAMFI andDebre BerhanACSI. It is evident that cooperation with MFIs contributed to betterfinancial management by business operators.

Business mentors provided advice to youth operators on how to develop self and

start small business, future planning, time management, communication with andmanagement of clients, financial management and proposal writing. This helpedbeneficiaries to be more successful in their business venture.


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Types of businessThe surveyed youth beneficiaries are involved in diversebusiness activities. More than two thirds of operators are engaged in

preparing/selling food and beverage, running shop and urban animal keeping. In ourcase, the selection of business has correlation with gender. For example, none ofboys involved in preparing/selling food and beverage similarly urban livestock andshoe shine do not attract young girls.

Table 4 Type of business managed by young operatorsBusiness type Number of operators Total %

Male Female

Preparing/selling food and beverage (Injera,Kolo, Tela, Areke14, vegetables and fruits)

0 7 7 24

Running shop (handicrafts and pool playing) 2 5 7 24

Urban livestock keeping (beekeeping,poultry, sheep)

5 1 6 21

Shoe shine and repair 3 0 3 10

Stitching cloth 3 0 3 10

Repair watch 1 0 1 3Bicycle renting service 1 0 1 3

Selling charcoal, fire wood, and dung 0 1 1 3Total 15 14 29 98

In regard to ownership, a larger proportion (69%) of business ventures are owned byoperators alone, 17% owned in group, and 14% owned by families of operators.

The amount of grant provided to youth beneficiaries ranges between Birr 700-1020.Significant number (45%) of operators received an amount of Birr 960 to startbusiness or inject their capital. 20% of respondents accessed either Birr 1000 or1020. In the view of EDA, variation in grant provision happened because ofexchange gains.

Although MFIs keep on providing advice, at present some of the business operatorsare saving whilst some others dont. In some cases, the operators are less motivatedto save because they do have inadequate information about the intent ofsaving....they are afraid that EDA would collect their saving to use it as revolvingfund for others. Lack of clarity about saving by some operators and stiff businesscompetition are among the challenges weakening their financial strength.

14These are typical Ethiopian food stuff and drinks. Injeraa flat bread; Koloroasted, barley, chick peace etc.;

Telahome made beer; Arekehome made strong alcohol drink similar to vodka.


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The project has made remarkable achievement in regard to promoting integration ofentrepreneurship training into the programs of organizations. The organizationsrepresent youth serving NGOs, government authorities, youth and womenassociations and MFIs. Some of FGD participants exclaimed that the training is

helpful not only effectively running their livelihood program but also helped to think ofbusiness to make change in their future life.

EDA has positively recognized the contribution of SKI to effectively manage theproject implementation through sharing knowledge and practices. Since the inceptionof the project we learned a lot from SKI facilitators to develop professionalcompetence in the youth livelihood project. We also learned from the intern of SKI, hecontributed much in our work, to mention few improved skills on report writing, datamanagement, filing and documentation, writing stories etc.

Documentation and sharing the practiceKeeping up the institutional memory isone of the learning processes, which requires putting the practices on paper andvisual aid materials to transfer the story and facts of the organization for others(successors and stakeholders) to build on. According to the observation of theevaluation team, EDA has rich experience in developmental practices; the availabledocumentation on youth project seems a good start. Qualitative and quantitative datagathered from field and analyzed; success stories, challenges, recommendations andlessons captured in annual and bi-annual reports.

However, benchmarks have not been defined to compare performance againstbaseline data. For a project like this it would have been good to set baselineotherwise it is also possible to use data from other project explaining about thesituation soon to be compared with the project performance. Dissemination orsharing the project practice with larger public is another grey area yet to be workedout. In this regard, one respondent has similar argument, low publicity and marketingthe positive impact of EDA considered as one of the weaknesses of the organization.

Follow up and monitoring project activitiesSome of our respondents claimedthat EDA has not made adequate follow up at the level of youth operators and therelationship with youth serving NGOs. Some of the points mentioned were:

The relationship between EDA and youth serving NGOs is not as expected,rather it is weak. Leaders of some of youth serving NGOs are willing tocooperate with EDA on youth livelihood initiative however they have

inadequate information about the project. Youth serving NGOs have no formal relationship with EDA except participating

in ToT. We independently follow the success of our youth beneficiariesinvolving in business. Joint follow up together with trainers of trainee wouldhave brought more success.

We planned meetings to consult about the future of the project, unfortunatelythis couldnt be materialized.


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Closer follow up and monitoring project activities in the field positively contributes toencourage good performing entrepreneurs and help those who are in need ofsupport. On top of this, it helps to take informed decision on the basis of adequateinformation, and furthering learning from practice with real participation of

beneficiaries and key stakeholders.

In conclusion, the findings of the study reveal that the overall performance of youthlivelihood project has achieved above the targets. One of the respondents has similaropinion: Overall we are very satisfied with EDAs performance and EDA wasextremely good at taking feedback and reviewing their practices for improvement.

Project budgetAs reported, the total project budget utilized in the project period

2009-2011 has been Birr 2,141,181.

5.2 Relevance of project

In this section, we look into appropriateness of the project design and implementationin terms of responding to government policy, priorities of youth beneficiaries, youthserving organizations, government stakeholders and communities.

Contribution to government policyMost FGD participants agreed up onresponsiveness of the project interventions to government policy, which is opted toreduce youth unemployment through promotion of micro enterprises both in rural andurban settings. In their view, employment creation for youth and women is key ingovernment policy. Participants from government authorities spoke, The projecttargets poor street children and transactional sex workers who are appropriate tobenefit from the project. The project approach is in consistency with the policy andpractice of ACSI. According to the OFED, inclusion of IGA in the project is one ofthe criteria for signing agreement with the office. He further noted that theperformance of EDAs livelihood project has relatively been successful compared toother NGOs operating in Debre Berhan. From the above explanation it is safe toconclude that the trainings of EDA as well as the provision of start up grant for youngboys and girls have complemented the government policy and programs.

Selection process of beneficiariesAccording to EDA, a series of discussion wasconducted with government signatories how to go about the process of beneficiaryselection. The organizations involved in discussion include the following: MIFIs,MEPO, Sub City Administration, WCYO, and MFIs in Akaki and Debre Berhan. Thesignatory organizations at city level contacted their respected offices at loweradministration level (Kebele) to have stake in the process. In the view of EDA, Youthassociations were more involved in the selection process than others. The surveyrespondents of youth associations confirmed their active participation in thebeneficiary selection.


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We found out from the documentation of EDA that the criteria set out for selection ofyouth workers were: Permanent resident of Kebele, being vulnerable children/youth,between the ages of 15-29 years, maintaining gender balance (60% girls and 40%boys), interest to involve in own business after receiving training, availability during

the entire duration of the training/workshop, employment contract in the field for atleast one year, experience in facilitation and comfortably speaking in public, havingbasic numeracy skills, and willing to make extra effort to learn. Once satisfactorycandidates identified, invitations were sent at least one month before the trainingtakes place, and a reminder is sent one week before the workshop. It was reportedthat similar indicators were used to select youth beneficiaries who are interested tostart own business or have already started a business.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)was signed in Akaki and Debre Berhanwith key government stakeholders. The MoU clearly defines the roles andresponsibilities of organizations in the process of beneficiary selection follow up and

monitoring, and furthering support to beneficiariesloan, training, working space etc.

Most of the youth beneficiaries involved in survey began participating in youthlivelihood project in 2008 (52%) and in 2009 (41%). Only 7% started participation in2011. According to survey respondents, the sources of information for theirinvolvement in the project were youth associations (55%), teachers in schools (21%),Kebele Administration (14%), and youth serving NGOs (10%). Majority of therespondents could not explicitly tell us about the process and the criteria used forselection.

The government authorities in Akaki and Debre Berhan have identified theshortcomings of the selection process. They stated: MFIs could have better involved

in the process. The selection criteria should be reviewed to target poor young boysand girls who have capacity to run own business. The participation of governmentauthorities and communities in the process would have an added value.

Partnerships development15 Most of the government stakeholders and youthserving NGOs developed partnership through participating and providing training onentrepreneurship development for beneficiaries, organizing youth to benefit fromproject activities, and support clients.

15Partnership is a frameworks for integrating complementary interests & joint efforts of parties--- in order to

address societal problems In development literatures partnership has at least five stages: (i) Informationtellpeople what has been planned; (ii) Consultationoffering options and listening to feedback; (iii) Decidingtogetherencourage others to provide additional ideas and options; together deciding the way forward; (iv) Actingtogetherpeople with different interests decide together what is best, in partnerships; and (v) supportingindependent community initiativeshelp people do what they want.


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The majority of respondents positively commented on the training content and qualityas ...the trainings are goodparticularly the methodology is simple and interesting.Our staff participated in training events, and we use the inputs of the training whenproviding training for our clients. The representative of OFED in Akaki stated: EDA

signed agreement with the office to implement the project. They are timely reportingthe progress of the project; the report is good and reflects the achievements of theproject. As he stated midterm evaluation of the project could not be materialized dueto other engagements of EDA as well as the office.

According to the observation of evaluators, joint monitoring could be a missedopportunity for both parties since the exercise would contribute toward relationshipbuilding and learning from practice. The inputs from joint monitoring would also bekey to improving the performance of the project.

Participation of youth serving NGOsInitially about 15 NGOs were identified to

cooperate in this project. However, 5 organizations Life in Abundance (LIA) andPACT operating in Debre Berhan, Care for the Poor operating in Akaki, RETRAKEthiopia implementing program in Merkato area of Addis Ababa, and FamilyGuidance Association (FGA) in Akaki actively participated in the projectimplementation. Following are points considered in selecting these NGOs:willingness to participate in the project, the experience in youth livelihood interventionand possibility for replication of the project activities by NGOs.

FGA has started engagement in this project in 2010 through participating in trainingevents organized by EDA and selecting young boys and girls who are benefiting fromthe livelihood project. Through the recommendation of FGA 7 young boys and girlstrained, received business start up grant and started their own business.

LIA recruited 27 beneficiary youth from its clients to participate at EDAs youthlivelihood project. During the period of data collection it has been stated that theclients of LIA have not yet received start up grant.

Care for the poor selected 14 transactional sex workers to involve in EDA youthlivelihood project. The target groups were given training, developed business planand obtained small grant to start own business.

PACT has recruited 20 children to obtain training, and start up grant from EDAlivelihood project. Accordingly, the target groups were trained and currently involving

in business activities.

The use of local knowledge and experienceThe findings of survey, case studyand FGD revealed that the project extensively used the local knowledge andexperience in project implementation. The young beekeepers motivated to learn fromtheir community. In their words: We started beekeeping through copying from aperson living in our community.


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They further mentioned, He has been involved in bee keeping for two decades, andstill employs traditional beekeeping his beehives are traditional, resulted in lowproductivity, and he keeps on earning very minimal income. We are able to make

traditional beehives from local materials. However, we learned from the practice ofour neighbour and asked EDA to provide us modern beehives that will improve ourproductivity. The evaluators realized that in the fourth week of November 2011 EDAprovided modern beehives to young beekeepers operating in Akaki.

The partnership arrangement with MFIs in Akaki and Debre Berhan enabled EDA touse the expertise of these organizations to manage the finance and businessoperation of beneficiaries. AMFI and ACSI have provided the following services forbeneficiariesappraisal of the business plan of individual operators, providing thembusiness start up grant deposited by EDA and encouraging the operators to saveregularly. The amount is deposited in MFIs for each individual. In the view of AMFI,

the beneficiaries of EDA are eligible to apply for credit falling between Birr 700 to250,000. The new AMFI policy emphasises on development of partnerships withdifferent actors and in support of operators to get credit since they have experience inrunning profitable businesses.

In Debre Berhan, there is urban development committee chaired by the mayor of thetown. The committee supports the project approach, would like to mobilize therequired support to this project and will help maintaining the relationship betweenbeneficiaries, communities, EDA and government counterparts (FGD participant).This looks a promising practice building on the role of government as facilitator ofdevelopment; the opportunity to be tapped by EDA and other developmental NGOs

so that they can better benefit the poor from collaborative efforts.

Addressing gender issuesFrom a gender perspective, girls are oftenmarginalized, and vulnerable to harmful traditional practices and societal perceptions.The problems are linked with inadequate understanding about gender equalityamong boys and men.

One of the respondents explained about the societal perceptions:

People are very much suspicious of how I generate livelihood out of preparingand selling Kolo. In their view, unless I augment my income by other sidebusiness (transactional sex), it is not possible to lead such life. I sell Kolo inthe evening walking around small bars and restaurants. Some have eventhought of I have a child to take care for, otherwise at this age they could notimagine my involvement in Kolo business. They levelled me and my business.Having known my real situation, some regret with their wrong judgment, theirthinking was changed, and now they feel regret.


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From the above short story we easily understand the need for extending advisoryservice for young girls to ensure their active participation in their personal and

community development processes. Otherwise, the societal influence and tensionswill possibly take the developmental efforts backward instead of moving forward.Gender experts recommend that educating boys and men about gender equalityshould go hand in hand with empowering girls and women.

The proportion of female participation in project interventions has significantly varied.According to the reports of EDA, female participation in trainings was rangingbetween 1390 percent of total participants, in grant application (49%100%) andgetting start up grant (46%57%), and in beneficiary survey 48%. The figures abovedemonstrate encouraging participation of young girls/women. The policy of EDA ontargeting has been one of the factors resulted in acceptable level of female

participation. On top of this girl entrepreneurs received need based support to makethem successful in their business ventures.

Stakeholders participation in project designOne of primary objectives ofstakeholders participation is increasing the contribution of every actor throughinducing learning and sharing experience. Learning is a natural process leading toimprovement at organizational and project performance. EDAs livelihood project canbe considered as a multi stakeholder and multilevel project where learning to startwith planning together, drawing lessons from implementation, reviewing the practice,and capturing learning to incorporate in the new plan. In this regard, the evaluationteam could not find adequate evidence confirming the participation of relevant

stakeholders (youth beneficiaries, government authorities, and youth servingorganizations) in the process of project design.

In Akaki and Debre Berhan, EDA has signed MoU with government authoritiesinvolving in the project implementation, but not signed the same with youth servingNGOs. In the view of evaluators signing MoU with youth serving NGOs seemsrelevant to institutionalize the relationship and guide the process more systematically.In fact signing MoU should be supported by action of participants. The case in DebreBerhan reveals that after signing MoU in June 2011, the government partners couldnot move ahead with practical activities. They planned meetings to consult about thefuture of the project, unfortunately this couldnt be materialized. They suggestedcalling urgent meeting to enlist the future directions how to support projectbeneficiaries before the completion of the project period.


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Out of the discussion with different groups, the following barriers of participation have

been identified:

The business start up grant is not sufficient considering the current high inflationrate. Provision of business start up grant was delayed.16

We miss our classes to attend trainings and participate in discussion.17

Quick turnover of trained staff of NGOs; at initial stage many youth and womenpreferred wage employment over self employment, many youth pushed into selfemployment due to less opportunity in formal economy; inadequate access tostart up capital because MFIs consider youth entrepreneurs as a high-risk groupin the financial marketnot having collateral is one of the factors.

18

Not signing MoU with MFIs.19

Inadequate sharing the project objectives and target at initial stage of theproject.20

Inadequate follow up and monitoring the progress of youth operators.21

It was mentioned that the system of taxation was unnecessary complex.22

Review of the practice of monitoring Organizations usually undertake monitoringfor three main purposes. First, monitoring focuses on learning from experiencegained, second monitoring ensures the internal and external accountability of theinputs used and the results achieved, and third, monitoring is helpful to takecorrective measures at the right time. Monitoring takes place at various levels:donor; EDA head office and project offices; and stakeholders.

23

Each monitoring level has its own information needs; therefore the entire monitoringsystem should be responsive to provide adequate information on the project at agiven period of time. As one survey respondent commented: We expected moreengagement in monitoring and evaluation process. Another respondent mentioned:The experience with EDA was that quantitative monitoring skills were well aboveaverage, there remains room for improvement in the ability to see a project beyond alist of deliverables. The third participant from OFED in Akaki stated that due tooutstanding factors project midterm evaluation could not be carried out.

16FGD participants of youth beneficiaries. FGD participants of government authorities and MFIs.

17FGD participants of youth beneficiaries.

18EDA staff.

19FGD participants of authorities and MFIs.

20FGD participants of government authorities and MFIs.

21FGD participants of youth serving NGOs.

22FGD participants of youth beneficiaries.

23They include beneficiaries, government stakeholders, and youth serving organizations.


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In the context of EDAs livelihood project, the evaluators could not find evidencedemonstrating the interface between monitoring and the learning mainstream thatprovides adequate room for relevant stakeholders. Rather the accountability role ofM&E is dominant over learning role.

We have observed that the EDAs youth livelihood project is responsive to thegovernment policies, the needs of youth and youth serving NGOs. Giving a specialattention to young girls has developed their confidence and strength to fight againstsocietal prejudice and misconception. However, it has been realized that there wasless participation of relevant stakeholders in the project cycle managementparticularly in the phase of design, monitoring and evaluation. As reported by EDA,staff turnover in government sector has much contributed to this. The discussion onpartnership has inclined toward the importance of signing MoU with key projectactorsMFIs and youth serving NGOs. This would possibly result in betterundertaking of joint follow up and monitoring activities in organized manner.

5.3 Effectiveness of interventions

EDAs key developmental approachAs reported, EDA employs bottom up, andmulti stakeholder participation in its developmental interventions: We encouragepeople to participate in our project activities to contribute to poverty reduction effortsof the country. Our work fits into the government policy at different administrative tiersin a way addressing the challenges of youth through providing training onentrepreneurship development and facilitating access to start up grant/capital. EDAnoted that the organization takes into account the political, economic and socialdimensions while designing and implementing project activities. Participatory learning

and action (PLA) model is widely used as a relevant tool in EDAs project cyclemanagement. The example cited: The project addressed the problem of youthlivelihood, economic empowerment by conducting business skill training for themarginalized youth groups. As reported, market survey was conducted in cooperationwith multi stakeholders before the commencement of the project. This helped EDA tounderstand local conditions, needs and problems of youth and to take informeddecision on their priorities.

EDA has set out a strategy to meet the needs of youth groups and otherstakeholders. According to them, the following are key directions: Promotingentrepreneurship culture through education, business development services for out-of-school youth, facilitate access to finance for young entrepreneurs, youth-to-youthmentoring service, strengthening evidence based advocacy, market driven approach,and increasing partnerships to join effort in achieving project results.


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Addressing target beneficiariesThe cooperation with youth serving NGOs hasenabled EDA to reach out many youth with budgeted amount of money, the capacityof NGOs developed to scale up the new model on youth livelihood promotion,community of practice established to deepen the understanding and share the

experiences between diverse actorsEDA, youth serving NGOs, governmentauthorities, MFIs and communities. As argued by EDA: It would have been veryexpensive for us to run the project activities without the involvement of youth servingorganizations.

In the project period, EDA has worked strongly with youth serving organizations inboth project areas. Strengthening the capacity of these organizations has helpedthem to conceptualize and develop cohesive livelihood programmes. Theorganizations have developed relationship with their peers, keep on sharing theexperience, use the knowledge to provide better service to their youth clients andsmoothly expanded the skills they have developed to wider communities. Most

interviewees and FGD participants impressively sited the importance of SBTK andSBT trainings which have positive impact on improved performance of their work andpersonal life they were inspired by the training. For some this motivated them to runown business.

As a member of the youth serving organization I use the knowledge to start myown business. The training has shown the ways and means to becomesuccessful in business. In supporting our clients we use the practicalknowledge we have gained from EDA training. In the same token, theknowledge gained by the beneficiaries is even more worthwhile than themoney given to start business.

From the above statements it is possible to conclude that the training has broughtmultiplier effect24 in terms of expanding the benefit beyond its initial target groups.This implies that if an intervention is effective and beneficial to communities,therefore replication will go smoothly and without too much external input. It neitherrequires much push from different sides.

As shown in Section 5.1, the target achievements of the project has beenencouraging and significantly above the plan without incurring additional costs. Asmentioned by EDA, the new venture in youth livelihood has been extended out of theproject locationsIn all sub cities of Addis Ababa, and Northern part of the country(Dessie, Kobo, Woldya and Gonder). One respondent has come up with similarargument, EDA has been able to reach scale in terms of quantity of youth and youthworkers trained and geographical reach beyond the scope of the original projectdescription.

24In this context, multiplier effect implies the increase in project coverage in terms of target groups and area with

initial project budget without compromising the quality.


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FGD participants disclosed the commitment of government to support youth inproviding working space and other necessary inputs. In Akaki, four story building isunder preparation as a working place for youth operators. This will help addressingthe working space challenge experienced by youth operators. Of course further

lobby together with youth operators is needed to ground the commitment.

Performance of beneficiariesThe factors for success can be looked at fromdifferent dimensions and depend on the experience, measurement and sample.According to the survey result 50% of respondents confirmed their success; theremaining 50% have said they are less successful in their current business.

Table 5 Measuring the performance of businessIs the business successful? %

1.Yes 50

Reasons:

The training provided by EDA 47Support obtained from friends, families and community 23

My personal commitment & external opportunities 15

It is profitable business 15

Total 100

2. No, less successful 50

Reasons:

Inadequate income from the business 46

Lack of access to working space 38

Saturation of the market 8

Other factors (increased housing rent, paying out installments, etc) 8Total 100

The majority of respondents (47%) stated that the inputs gained from training havecontributed to their success, followed by support they have received from friends,families and community (23%). Generating inadequate income out of the businessand lack of access to working space have been reasons for those respondents whoconsidered their business was less successful.

The qualitative assessment of project achievements confirms the same evidence.

The stakeholders including MFIs have information about successful businessoperators involved in EDA livelihood project. They stated that the beneficiaries haveacknowledged the importance of saving and provision of start up grant. Loan isconsidered as a short term solution, a long term contributing factor for success of abusiness is saving. Saving is part of loan. Trainings provided on SBKT and SBT thatcovered the African experience enabled youth to develop business plan/proposal andsubsequently resulted in business transition from shoe shine to shoe repair orrunning both.


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Transparency and accountability to beneficiaries and stakeholders The words,transparency and accountability sound very interesting and repeatedly pronounced inthe development sector including NGOs. However, the practice of opencommunication on the importance of all data including the successes and mistakes

not easy to include in the culture of organizations or communities. According to theobservation of evaluators, EDA has been transparent to youth beneficiaries andstakeholders. This has been demonstrated by government respondents: EDA keepsus officially informed before they start project implementation. Except for therepresentatives of youth associations, the beneficiary selection for some ofrespondents has not been transparent.

Factors contributed toward achievement of resultsAccording to the observationof evaluators both external and internal factors contributed to achieve results. Somerespondents pointed out unemployment, lack of skills among youth, poverty and highcost of living are external factors whilst the relevance of the project and commitment

of the beneficiaries, and participation of stakeholders considered as internal factors.The other internal factor as mentioned by interviewee, EDA positively considersfeedback coming from stakeholders, review and enrich their practice accordingly.The invisible factor which has significantly contributed to the production of results isincreased ownership of the intervention by different groups of people participated inthe project. If people (we name them differently beneficiaries, stakeholders,partners, communities) own the project activities, then they take care of the activities.Pertaining to observation of evaluation team, the degree of ownership feelingsignificantly varies among different people involved in the project implementation.

5.4 Efficiency of interventions

Young operators have developed capacity to read their internal and external situationthat is key to efficiently run business. They noted that with the small start up grantprovided by the project they could be able to get more money.

One of the FGD participants (girl) gave example as follows:

I received birr 960 to run fruit selling business, and I realized that purchase ofscale would be Birr 500, and the remaining 460 not sufficient for renting ashop for even one month, no money for buying fruits and other running costs.Then I decided to change the business from fruits selling to Injera baking andselling. We are trying to engage in a business which can give us profit or weask communities to assist us.

Caring community is always ready to support each other and celebrate successtogether. The case below exhibits the aspect of togetherness and bonding that holdsa community and beekeepers together. It is crucially important in the process ofcommunity development. We interviewed two community representatives from Akakiand Debre Berhan, the case of one of interviewees presented in the next page.


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Box 1 Case story ...Young beekeepers are quick learners

Ato Teshager, 65 years old man completed grade 5. He has five childrern3 boys and

2 girls. Teshager retired from his regular employment some time back, resides in AkakiKality Sub City of Addis Ababa in the neighborhood where young beekeepers live in.He is pioneer community member who has extensive experience in traditionalbeekeeping and honey production. He has nine boxes of traditional beehives in hissmall compound. He said, my children are very considerate, from their early age theyhave concern not to bothering me, they are attempting to cover the cost of educationalmaterials. Two of them had been working on shoe shine business. In our village, theyoung boys involve in beekeeping. In his view the young beekeepers benefited fromthe trainings, they have gotten money, and have been encouraged to move ahead.

Teshager is getting old; it has become difficult for him to hang beehives on trees. Theyoung beekeeperswalking on his foot print are there to help him in hanging beehives

on trees. The young beekeepers not only copied the way how to run beekeeping intheir community but also supporting a man who has been their role model and eyeopener in the development of their skills. In the words of Teshager, the youngbeekeepers are energetic, patient, quick learners and changing their life. He furthermentioned one of the beekeepers frequently visiting him to get advice to furthering hisskill and experience. The name of this young beekeeper is Ephrem, a boy havingleading idea in the field of beekeeping in the neighborhood.

We brought the case in the picture to explain about efficiency gains achievablethrough employing once expertise or capacity in developmental practice. Efficiency is

all about raising productivity; it is a measurement about once achievement againstperformance. It is meant also supporting people and spending in productive activities.As we can see from the case, Ephrem frequently visits Ato Teshager with anobjective of generating more knowledge about beekeeping. In return he assists AtoTeshager in hanging beehives on trees which is difficult for elderly to do the samething over and again.

The evaluators attempted to get information on the financial position of respondents,although it is not as such accurate in the expertise view. People in formalemployment/business are less willing to openly disclose their income andexpenditure to third party. There are arguments that consider an individual income is

a private matter that should be disclosed only for legal and related reasons otherwisealways there should be willingness of disclosure.


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In our case, the fear from tension related to taxation and participation of thebeneficiaries for a shorter duration are among contributing factors. With thisunderstanding, the evaluators did not push much to further explore on the level ofincome earned and amount spent by operators. Rather we interested in knowing the

magnitude of saving, since it will indirectly give an insight into the performance of thebusiness.

The saving experience of operators demonstrates that out of the total respondentswho gave their response on saving 80% do experience regular saving, while 20% donot have regular saving. Close to 50% of respondents save up to Birr 100 on weeklybasis. There are successful girl performers in the business as well as saving. Asindicated in the Table 6 only girls are able to save above Birr 100 weekly.

Table 6 Weekly saving of operators

Amount of savingOperators (N=15)

%Male Female Total

Do not regularly saving 1 2 3 20

Up to Birr 20 2 2 4 27

From Birr 21 up to 50 1 1 2 13

From Birr 51 up to 100 1 2 3 20

More than Birr 100 0 3 3 20

Total 5 10 15 100

Saving is one of the indicators explaining about the efficiency of businessoperationIt is only possibly when income exceeds the total expenditures.25According to the observation of evaluators, the operators are efficient in running thebusiness and well developed the concept of saving.

The results orientation is another factor leading to efficiency in business operation.This is much linked with setting goal, achieving that goal, and again setting anothergoal. People get pleasure out of trying to achieve their goals. In the process quickmove and restlessness are common characteristics of this kind of business people.

The case below shows how far a young girl efficiently moving from one ladder ofbusiness and social entrepreneurship to another. She tends to get what she expectsfrom herself and others. She keeps on expecting more and extends efforts to getmore. This should be typical characteristics of good business operators.

25Our analysis is limited to micro enterprises under evaluation. Therefore, in this context total expenditures imply

both business running costs as well as individual spending for food, shelter, clothing, schooling, medication etc.


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Box 2 Case story I am motivated to expand my business

Hezebalem is 22 years old young girl, she earns livelihood from selling fruits and vegetablesin one of open markets in Debre Berhan town. She is married, a mother of four years old

daughter and one adopted child he is now a student of grade 9. According to Hezebalem,she grew in a poor family, who could not support her education. She supported herself tocomplete grade 10 through preparing and selling Kolo.

The people and business men around Hezbalem developed confidence and trust her. Shemanages to get loan from individuals; goods from business men on creditevery week shepays outstanding credit out of her income.

Hezbalem has concrete plan to expand the business. In another big market place shesecured land from local government and has started the construction of her own shop

(shown to the right). She completed the foundation work. In short run she will continuerunning the business in two market placesthe volume of sales in two market places will besignificantly varied.

The future is in retrospectthere is hope to move from retail to wholesale trade. Hezbalem isconfident that she would realize her plan, I am motivated to expand my business throughmore investment to generate more profit over what I am earning, I am confident will realizemy plan. The social interaction and entrepreneurship skill I have developed after EDAstraining will be input for my current and future success. Hezbalem compares her livingsituation now and before: Formerly, I wasnt able to feed myself, but now things are changedand I am comfortably supporting my family including one adopted child.

The development of social capital is another lesson from the above case story.People around Hezbalem provide support to her. This helped Hezbalem to wisely useher entrepreneurship capacity the capacity of calculating the potentials and odds,and deciding which risks to take and when to take. This is the basics of businesswhether micro, small or big.


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The social cohesion between micro enterprise operators and people around them stillnot yet well organized and developed in Ethiopia. In the past, the operators wereneglected and could not get the necessary societal support. However, in the case

story the theory of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has also been welldemonstrated. Hezbalem has received the required support from EDA, community,government authorities and business men to become successful in her business. Inexchange she provides part of her income back to community to help a boy who iscontinuing his education at grade 9. She has no biological brotherhood with a boy,overtime sociological brotherhood developed and now he becomes part of the family.The case resembles to the entire objective of community development practice whichaims at creating carrying communities/individuals who extend support to theirmembers without external support or resources. In the observation of evaluationteam, the case is an organic example of interface between community developmentprocess and business practice.

Project coordination and managementAs reported by EDA, the project has fulltime coordinator based in the central office of EDA; he is responsible for the day today operation of the project. The executive director and the project offices in Akakiand Debre Berhan actively engage in the process of project implementation andprovide the necessary support to project coordinator. As one of the respondentsmentioned, the coordinator has been successfully coached and trained. Anothersurvey participant mentioned that he is energetic and capable of coordinating theproject.

Most of respondents acknowledged efficiency of the coordination of the project as:

EDA has been able to scale up the project interventions beyond the initialtarget

Openness to new program directions

Good relationship with stakeholders (government, community, NGOs, youthbeneficiaries) resulted in good respect from the community and government asa development partner

EDA has been accountable for stakeholders, good financial and narrativereports

Strong resource base and management

Strong leadership, program and resource management

Committed & learning organization26

26According to Britton (2005) a learning organization is an organization that facilitates the learning of all its

members and continuously transforms itself, an organization that is skilled at creating, acquiring and transferringknowledge and modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights

and the organization which buildsand improves its own practice, c

final evaluation of youth livelihood project of eda

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