Youth in Action (YiA), is a six-year youth learning and livelihoods program in partnership with Mastercard Foundation. The program works to improve the sustainable livelihoods of over 40,000 out-of-school girls and boys in rural Burkina Faso, Egypt, Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda.

As part of the program's research and learning agenda, the team created a series of six Learning Narratives that draw together key learning in areas related to youth livelihoods programming. The Learning Narrative on Youth Self-Employment Capabilities focuses on what improvements in self-employment capabilities did the program see in youth engaged in YiA.