Cash Transfer and Youth-led Procurement Assessment Report: Ethiopia

Youth in Action Ethiopia is a six-year project implemented by Save the Children in partnership with the MasterCard Foundation. The program aims at improving the socioeconomic status of 9050 out of school youth between the ages of 14 and 18. The overarching aim of the program is to support youth to build foundational skills in literacy and numeracy, financial literacy, and social assets that will help them to succeed in livelihoods activities. Upon completion of the five-month learning cycle, youth will be supported to map out and select viable pathways to return to school and/or choose a career in the agricultural sector. 

Since the inception of the program, 1821 boys and 1329 Girls (42%) have been enrolled in the learning and nearly 1569 (954 boys and 665 girls) of these youth have selected individual/group project and have received cash. Following the choice of individual/group project, youth were provided cash and focused training to enable them to start their preferred pathway option. 

In line with the above, YLP (Youth Led Procurement) MEAL guideline was developed to capture important lessons and insights with regards to process and outcomes of Youth-Led Procurement and market behavior.  This report summarizes the findings of the field assessment and documents the key lessons on cash transfer and Youth-led Procurement (YLP) from Ethiopia.