Measuring Decent Jobs for Youth: Monitoring, evaluation and learning in labour market programmes

We review the entire life cycle of a youth employment intervention, starting with diagnostics and programme design, then moving on to setting up a monitoring system and measuring results. We seek to provide a clear understanding of the variety of evaluation options available and the issues to consider in choosing the most appropriate method, given the learning objectives and operational context. Additionally, the guide describes how to manage an impact evaluation, if that is the assessment method of choice.

Our overarching goal is to strengthen the foundation of sound programming and policy- making by increasing the number of quality evaluations in the youth employment field, thereby facilitating the process of scaling up and replicating successful interventions. We want to promote a perception of evaluation as a tool for both internal and external learning rather than as simply an accountability exercise. Using evaluation to learn about the performance of an intervention can facilitate adaptive management where problems can be recognized early and projects adjusted accordingly. Learning that is shared publicly can help others to select the most effective intervention models, ensuring that resources spent on youth employment are optimally used.

Contents:

• Note 1: Diagnosing, planning and designing youth employment interventions
• Note 2: Concepts and definitions of employment indicators relevant to young people
• Note 3: Establishing a monitoring system
• Note 4: Enhancing youth employment learning through evaluation
• Note 5: Impact evaluation methods for youth employment interventions
• Note 6: A step-by-step guide to impact evaluation
• Note 7: Evidence uptake in policy formulation