LEARNING NARRATIVE YOUTH-LED ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT
The narrative depicts the journeys made over six years in creating decent work through small livelihood grants (90-200 USD per person) for rural out-of-school youth in Burkina Faso, Egypt, Ethiopia, Malawi, and Uganda.
The YLED approach is centered on youth leadership – giving youth the chance to learn, act, practice and implement selected business options. Fundamental to YLED is that youth have to complete 8-10 months learning and action-oriented training before qualifying for a grant. The approach has four intertwined phases: gateway, cash transfer, implementation, and post-distribution monitoring. Interventions and actions embedded in each phase are periodically assessed for quality assurance and receive mentorship and community follow-up support to enhance performance.