Assessing tech-enabled solutions to global youth unemployment

Genesis was commissioned by Mercy Corps to conduct a rapid impact assessment of its Youth Impact Labs (YIL) programme.

YIL was a three-year programme that sought to identify and test creative, technology-enabled solutions to tackling global youth unemployment by accelerating job creation so every young person has the opportunity for dignified, purposeful work.

In East Africa, the programme focused on three priority sectors: digital marketplaces and platforms that offer services to micro small and medium enterprises; agricultural-supply management platforms that improve efficiency and increase income for farmers and suppliers; and digital work solutions that prepare youth for the future of work through training and work placements in the tech field.

The YIL was committed to building its evidence base on what works and what does not in our current strategy of testing technology-enabled solutions, tackling global youth unemployment, accelerating job creation and contributing meaningfully to the global conversation on youth employment.

As part of this, the assessment determined the extent to which the programme created new work opportunities; increased income for workers and improved quality of work, based on programme indicators; the extent to which YIL’s interventions served vulnerable youth in particular; and the effectiveness of various programme components in facilitating the intended impacts.

Additionally, Genesis assessed the extent of the positive benefits and as a result the programme will be continued among target populations.