Attachment_J.1c_SOO_Annex_3_AWDP_Final_Report.pdf

JUNE 2018

This publication was produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development

(USAID). It was prepared by Creative Associates International implementing the Afghanistan Workforce

Development Program. The authors’ views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.

AFGHANISTAN WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

PROGRAM (AWDP)

Agreement No. AID-306-C-12-00007

FINAL REPORT

I

Afghanistan Workforce

Development Program

(AWDP)

FINAL REPORT

Submitted to:

U.S. Agency for International Development/Afghanistan

Tariq Waizy, COR

US Embassy, Great Massoud Road

Kabul, Afghanistan

Submitted by:

Creative Associates International, Inc.

5301 Wisconsin Ave., NW, Suite 700

Washington, DC 20015

Cover Page Photo: Between April 2012 and June 2018, the Afghanistan Workforce Development Program worked with 43,873 mid-career/semi-professional Afghan women and men.

II

CONTENTS:

Acronyms and Abbreviations .............................................................................................. IV

I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. Introduction

Background/Problem Statement Addressed by AWDP

The Afghanistan Workforce Development Program

2. Summary Accomplishments and Impact

Summary Accomplishments

Leading Program Impact

Principle Recommendations Regarding Future and Unfinished Work

3. Structure of this Report

II. AWDP PROGRAM STRUCTURE

1. On-budget Components

Implementers

Administration

Key Impacts on the Implementing Partner

2. Off-budget Components

Implementer

Administration

Key Impacts on Implementing Partners

III. PROGRAM METHODOLOGY

1. The AWDP Four-Pillar Model

Purpose

Approach

Implementation

IV. ACHIEVED ACTIVITIES & RESULTS

1. Program Timeline of Activities Achieved

Base Period of 18 months (April 2012 – September 2013)

Option Period 1 of 18 months (October 2013 – April 2015)

Option Period 2 of 15 months (April 2015 – June 2016)

Extension Period of 24 months (July 2016 – June 2018)

2. Results Within Each Workforce Sector

Project Management (PM)

Financial Management (FM)

Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

Construction

Women in the Private Sector (WiPS)

Employment Related Services (ERS)

III

Career Counseling Centers (C3)

Business Communications and Employability Skills

Master Training of Trainers (MTOT)

Public Private Partnerships (PPP)

Sales and Marketing

Youth Training for Employment

Media and Communication

Hotel and Hospitality Management

V. PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED, SOLUTIONS TO CONSTRAINTS, LESSONS

LEARNED AND BEST PRACTICES

1. Anticipatory and Innovative Planning

2. Swift Reactive Efforts to Adapt and Respond

3. Economic Empowerment of Women

4. Expansion and Advancement through Research and Collaborate/Learn/Adapt

5. Value and Potential of Modern M&E Instruments

VI. THE AWDP IMPACT

1. AWDP Impact on the Afghan Workforce

Immediate Impact

Legacy Impact

2. AWDP Impact on National and International Institutions and Organizations

Impact on Local Implementing Partners/Grantees Based on Program Indicators

Impact on the DM-TVET

Impact on the Donor Community

VII. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FOLLOW-ON WORK TO COMPLEMENT THE

AWDP IMPACT / OBJECTIVES NOT FULLY ACHIEVED

1. Refine and Scale an Effective Model

2. Private Universities’ Unmet Potential for Job Seekers

Increasing the Number and Coverage of Career Counseling Centers (C3s)

3. Scaling a Proven Business Model

Lengthening and Broadening the Employability Center Initiative

VIII. ADDITIONAL/AVAILABLE EVALUATIVE DATA COMPARED TO

PROJECT RESULTS

1. IP Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Analyses

2. AWDP Program Performance

3. Profile of AWDP Training Participants

4. Profile of AWDP Job Placements

5. AWDP Trainee Satisfaction

6. AWDP Indicator Performance Tracking Table and Results

INDEX OF REPORTS AND INFORMATION PRODUCTS

IV

ADDITIONAL GRANT IMPLEMENTATION PHOTOGRAPHS

Acronyms and Abbreviations

ACE Afghanistan Center for Excellence

AFS Afghan Financial Services

AHG Afghanistan Holding Group

ANDS Afghanistan National Development Strategy

ASIA ASIA Institute Higher Education

AWDP Afghanistan Workforce Development Program

BEST Business Education Skills Training

CAA Credence Auditor & Advisors

C3 Career Counseling Center

COR Contracting Officer Representative

COAR Coordination for Afghan Relief

CTTC Champion Technical Training Center

DM-TVET Deputy Ministry of Technical, Vocational Education and Training

ERS Employment Related Services

FOG Fixed Obligation Grant

GIRoA Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

HHM Hotel and Hospitality Management

ICC Impressive Consultancy Company

ICT Information and Communication Technology

IPs Implementing Partners

JDO Job Development Officers

KHEI KAWUN Institute of Higher Education

KU Kardan University

MEHR MEHR Education and Human Rights Organization

MoE Ministry of Education

MoU Memoranda of Understanding

MST Management Support Team

MTC Master Trainer Certification

MTOT Master Training of Trainers

NGO Non-Governmental Organizations

OP-1 Option Period 1

OP-2 Option Period 2

PESCO Paiwand-Emroz Social and Cultural Organization

PIHE Private Institute of Higher Education

PM Project Manager

PMIS Project Management Information System

PSE Private Sector Entity

RFA Request for Application

RSSAO Reconstruction and Social Services for Afghanistan

SEO Society Empowerment Organization

SMART SMART Afghan International Training and Consultancy

TA Technical Assistance

ToT Training of Trainers

TVET Technical and Vocational Education and Training

UNIMARS Uni Mars Business Group

USAID United States Agency for International Development

USG U.S. Government

WiPS Women in the Private Sector

AWDP - FINAL Report April 1, 2012– June 30, 2018 Page 1

I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. Introduction

The United States Government, represented by the U.S. Agency for International Development

(USAID), awarded a 6-year and three-month, cost-plus-fixed-fee term contract to Creative Associates

International (Creative), in partnership with the Deputy Ministry of Technical, Vocational Education and Training of the Ministry of Education (MoE/DM-TVET) to implement the Afghanistan

Workforce Development Program (AWDP).

AWDP’s timeline consisted of a Base Period of 18 months (April 4, 2012 – October 3, 2013), an

Option Period 1 of another 18 months (October 4, 2013 – April 4, 2015), an Option Period 2 of 15 months (April 5, 2015 – June 30, 2016, including a three-month No-cost Extension Period), and a

Cost-Extension Period of 24 months (July 1, 2016 – June 30, 2018). An On-Budget component of

AWDP in collaboration with the MoE/DM-TVET started on September 19, 2013 and concluded on

December 31, 2016.

Background/Problem Statement Addressed by AWDP

An estimated 68 percent of Afghanistan’s 31 million people, or roughly 20 million people, are below the age of 25, and as many as half had not attended school or had dropped out to due to war, poverty and other reasons, according to research carried out in the years leading up to AWDP’s launch in

April 2012. An entire “lost generation” of Afghan youth constituted a highly vulnerable, disenfranchised, under-skilled, uneducated, neglected and volatile segment of society.

Those who did benefit from schooling faced challenges to obtain employment, as they may not have gained the skills that were in immediate demand by the labor market. With unemployment rates in

Afghanistan in 2011 hovering at approximately 45 percent , the increase in young job seekers in the labor market without the skills sought by employers further exacerbated what was already widely acknowledged to be one of the most serious problems at the national and local levels.

Job seekers that turned to the existing Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system for support struggled to improve their employment chances due to the low capacity and relevancy of TVET options offered. Four main factors were contributing to the local TVET system’s inability to provide the requisite training:

1) Low number of opportunities for training

2) Poor quality of existing training: theoretical training; dilapidated training facilities; time-based, not competency-based, programs; lack of skills standards; lack of a quality control mechanism

(accreditation); and absence of national technical teacher training facilities

3) Relevance of training to labor market requirements: little relationship with the labor market, supply-driven system; outdated and theoretical curricula; and little industry input in the formation of curricula

4) Weak institutional arrangements for planning, managing, regulating and financing training opportunities

National Youth Policy of Afghanistan, First Draft 11 Oct 2008; GOA; Ministry of Information, Youth and Culture

CIA World Factbook 2009

( https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/af.html)

Afghanistan in 2009: A Survey of the Afghan People, The Asia Foundation, page 4 “survey of Afghan public opinion states that unemployment continues to be one of the most important problems at both national (35 percent) and local (26 percent) levels.”

4 National Skills Development Program (NSDP)

AWDP - FINAL Report April 1, 2012– June 30, 2018 Page 2

The biggest challenge to increasing training and job placement was not the small number of TVET institutions, but the quality of the sector as a whole. Within the sector, as the World Bank-funded

GIRoA National Skills Development Program (NSDP) reported in 2009, 70 percent of TVET trainers were illiterate, and the vast majority of them were close to retirement, often using outdated teaching methodologies. Only 50 percent of planned curriculum materials were developed, and only 40 percent of the targets in capacity building programs for teachers were met. There had been little progress in the establishment of an Afghan National Qualification authority for TVET and the TVET Board registration and accreditation systems. Due to the weak institutional arrangements for planning and managing training institutions, the private sector was also limited in its potential to work with TVET centers.

The lack of training-of-trainers (ToT) facilities for the sector was another acute problem identified at the time by all involved ministries and listed as a top priority in their strategic plans. The large number of TVET students and high demand for training with only limited numbers of trainers made it impossible for the sector to grow and deliver quality, accessible and market-driven TVET opportunities. Additional concerns were that 58 percent of students enrolled in TVET were in Kabul, and only 15 percent of students were female.

The absence of skills in the labor pool compelled private employers and even governments to import better-skilled workers from outside the country or to outsource work.

Acknowledging the impact on the public and private sector of high unemployment and a low capacity to adequately train job seekers, the 2008-2013 Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS), conceded that “[Afghanistan’s] immediate human capital challenge is not labor, but productive skilled and semi-skilled labor…technical know-how and managerial competences are all in short supply.”

Furthermore, the lack of sustainable employment opportunities, as a result, hindered socio-economic development and influenced participation in insurgent activities, drawing unemployed people to illicit activities including paid recruitment by the insurgency.

The Afghanistan Workforce Development Program

With the $50 million Afghanistan Workforce Development Program (AWDP), funded by the

American people through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S.

Government (USG) in coordination with other donor programs in workforce development sought to address these challenges head-on by directly increasing job placements, salaries/wages and self-employment opportunities for Afghan men and women. The overall design of AWDP was to increase employment placement, trade and economic growth by improving the quality and accessibility of

TVET and Business Education Skills Training (BEST) institutions through improved curricula, new course offerings, expanded operations and enhanced management and capacity to meet present labor-market demands. Specific sub-activities and initiatives undertaken directly responded to the aforementioned problems in standardization of TVET training, quality improvement of TVET offerings, TOT supply, teacher/instructor capacity, female involvement, the private sector’s role in the

TVET system and, most importantly, the relevancy of training to current labor market demands, among other related activities.

The program aimed to continually identify, adapt and respond to labor market demand for both men and women through consultation, surveys and analyses with the private and public sectors and ensure that the program’s partners were continuously surveying, analyzing and meeting those demands. This effort at times entailed a change in mindset among the program’s partners from the former reliance on

Support to TVET Paper., UNAMA, 16 November 2009

Support to TVET Paper., UNAMA, 16 November 2009

Why do men join the Taliban and Hizb-i-Islami? How much do local communities support them?, August 14, 2009, pg. 46: Economic incentives were a primary reason for joining an armed group by 345 combatants interviewed in a field study by DFID

A 44.8 million USD off-budget component under Creative Associates International and a 5.2 million USD on-budget component under the

GIRoA MoE/DM-TVET

AWDP - FINAL Report April 1, 2012– June 30, 2018 Page 3 offering short-term donor-driven training as a business model to more well-rounded approaches of first proactively identifying private sector clients, collaboratively identifying workforce gaps, strengthening potential candidates’ ability to directly meet those gaps and following through with job placement support in coordination with those clients. Ensuring that AWDP workforce initiatives were determined by demand and establishing and strengthening direct links with private sector employers and professional bodies were central to AWDP.

Through innovation, flexibility, adaptability and an understanding of the changing local market, AWDP achieved and exceeded its target by enhancing the skills and employability of 43,873 technically qualified and professionally capable Afghans, 36 percent of whom were women, in the private and public sectors. AWDP realized this target through a collaboration with the MoE/DM-

TVET, 123 local implementing partner grants/contracts and Technical Assistance (TA), and partnerships with over 3,500 private and semi-public sector entities to develop and strengthen their capacity to improve the supply and quality of workers.

2. Summary Accomplishments and Impact

Summary Accomplishments

AWDP measurably exceeded its primary goal of increasing the number of mid-career experienced workers trained and placed and had an immediate effect on communities, businesses and local economies. The program’s results also show it reached its larger goal of strengthening the private sector and promoting long-term economic growth, as AWDP grantees developed new approaches to skills training, and the demand for mid-career experienced employees and job seekers increased as companies became aware of this newly available pool of skilled Afghan talent. Training program participants transitioned into new jobs or enjoyed an improvement in their employment status. By the time the program came to a close on June 30, 2018, AWDP accomplishments included:

43,873 Afghan women and men trained as a direct result of AWDP workforce development programs and support.

o 23 percent above the original target of 35,714 trainees.

o 15,813 Afghan women received BEST or TVET skills training, 77 percent over the target of 8,929 mid-career/semi-professional Afghans women trained.

o 28,060 Afghan men received BEST or TVET skills training, 5 percent over the target of 26,786 male placement/promotions.

28,790 mid-career/semi-professional Afghans placed in new jobs or promoted.

o 15 percent above target the target of 25,000 placement/promotions.

o 10,252 Afghan women obtained new or better employment, 64 percent over the target of 6,250 female placement/promotions.

o 18,538 Afghan men obtained new or better employment, 1 percent below the target of 18,750 male placement/promotions.

3.8 percent average salaries/wages increase for men and women who completed USG-funded workforce development programs, 27 percent over the target of 3 percent

3,500+ Private Sector Enterprises (PSEs) contacted or engaged by BEST and TVET service providers

3,100+ skills demand assessments carried out by local TVET or BEST organizations on local private sector enterprises located across 12 major Afghan cities

AWDP - FINAL Report April 1, 2012– June 30, 2018 Page 4

1,900+ MoUs (Memorandum of Understandings) signed between private sector enterprises and local TVET/BEST providers for job training and placement services

53 Afghan TVET and BEST service providers’ technical capacity built

750+ new TVET and BEST curricula developed or improved

53 new trainings, workshops and labs designed or improved (89 percent over the target of

28)

99 percent of total participants were satisfied with their competency-based training, with virtually no difference by location of training site (out of 43,873 trainee exit forms, 74 percent responded that they were very satisfied with the training; 25 percent responded that they were satisfied; and only 1 percent stated that they were less than satisfied with the training)

68 percent of all participants were between 21 and 30 years old, addressing the target age group of mid-career/semi-professional Afghans. Only 20 percent were under 21 years old; 7 percent were between 31 and 40 percent; 3 percent were between 41 and 50; and 2 percent were over 50

5 private universities of higher education (PIHEs) assisted in sustainably establishing career counseling centers. An additional 1 PIHE was supported i substantially improving on its existing career counseling center across three major hub cities

1,778 students/job seekers utilized AWDP-supported career counseling center (C3) services

807 students/job seekers placed in new jobs through the 6 AWDP-established or improved career counseling centers

500 teachers trained on teaching business education and vocational skills building

300 trainers employed to teach teacher training programs at higher-level business education institutions

1,401 master trainers trained through the Master Trainer Certification (MTC) program

12 cities received workforce development support (Kabul, Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif, Jalalabad, Kandahar, Kunduz, Bamiyan, Faizabad, Gardiz, Ghazni Jawzan and Khost) across 12 provinces

123 grants carried out by 53 entities over the 75-month period with a total value of

$19,609,876 disbursed through both on- and off-budget funding to directly assist TVETs, BEST providers and universities

6 mega job fairs carried by AWDP grantees in 4 major cities

20,000+ employees, job seekers and PSEs representatives attended locally managed job fairs, promotional ceremonies and networking events carried out by AWDP, resulting in increased job placements.

15 sectors within Afghan workforce received new or improved trainings and curricula

(Program Management, Financial Management, Information and Communication

Technologies, Women in Private Sector, Construction, Marketing, Sales and Marketing, Media and Communication Management, Hotel and Hospitality Management, Master

Training, Career Counseling Centers, Employment-Related Services, Business

Communications and Employability Skills Services, Youth-Related Services and Public

Private Partnerships).

AWDP achieved the listed accomplishments despite a number of challenges, including the further drawdown of the majority of the NATO-led foreign forces from Afghanistan in 2014, the negative impacts of controversial presidential elections in the same year and the growing deterioration of the security situation in most parts of country, resulting in a general reduction of national and

AWDP - FINAL Report April 1, 2012– June 30, 2018 Page 5 international investments. These challenges, which heavily affected the areas of placement and promotion of AWDP-trained mid-career/semi-professional job seekers and employees of PSEs, did not deter AWDP’s and its grantee partners’ determination and success. Importantly, the accomplishment of AWDP is due in large part to the positive manner in which the grantees, and the companies which implemented the program, embraced program goals.

Leading Program Impact

While the core goal of AWDP was increasing employment among mid-level workers as demonstrated in the above figures, another important goal was emerging: a sustainable shift in the TVET/BEST system in Afghanistan. AWDP grantees reported that the employers they established agreements with were enthusiastic about the relevancy of the AWDP demand-driven approach. Several grantees also discovered that this approach was leading to new business opportunities. When AWDP staff asked some of the grantees if they would return to their old “training-only” model after the project’s close, they unequivocally stated that reverting to the old model would now be impossible and unacceptable to clients. It was made clear that the grants implemented by AWDP were contributing positive change in the training system at large. This shift has the potential of impacting other TVET/BEST firms and may lead to a permanent change in how people across the country are both prepared for and placed in

Afghanistan’s evolving workforce. In achieving this emerging goal, USAID has created a legacy for positive economic growth that continues beyond the end of AWDP. Furthermore, to sustain the achievements of these goals, AWDP introduced innovative ideas discussed later in this report that improved grantees’ business structure and preparedness to continue their new demand-driven models with the local private sector for revenue generating activities post-AWDP, independent of future donor funding sources. Finally, through grantees’ meetings, AWDP has been able to promote a culture of learning and sharing experiences among training providers.

Principle Recommendations Regarding Future and Unfinished Work

The principle recommendations for follow-on work to complement the AWDP impact include:

1) Scale up the application of a tried and tested four-pillar model to workforce development standardized within the Afghan TVET/BEST community under AWDP to serve additional

PSEs, service providers and participants;

2) Scale up AWDP’s notable successes to increase local female employment and promotions with the four-pillar model;

3) Scale up AWDP’s successes in connecting TVET/BEST service provider implementing partners with a network developed of over 3,500 private sector enterprises;

4) Foster the active partnership approach between service providers and private clients;

5) Enhance support for former AWDP TVET/BEST service provider grantees interested in capitalizing and building on their AWDP successes post-grant close-out, i.e. business planning to open employability centers;

6) Expand on AWDP’s largely successful pilot initiative to support private institutes of higher education to open Career Counseling Centers (C3s).

1) The Four Pillar demand-driven training and job placement/promotion model created under AWDP proved successful and able to overcome a challenging security and economic situation. The model prepares Afghan businesses to begin partnerships or increase their portfolio with the private sector as donor funding decreases. It also standardized TVET/BEST services in a sector largely lacking uniformity. Close to 90 percent of grantees, grantees’ clients and grantees’ partners had success under the model. It would be to the benefit of future workforce development programs to carry on this standard, introducing the successful four-pillar model for workforce development to a larger number

1) Labor Market Demand Assessment, 2) Curricula Development/Adaption, 3) Competency-based Training, and 4)

Employment Related Services.

AWDP - FINAL Report April 1, 2012– June 30, 2018 Page 6 of TVET and BEST service providers, with an emphasis on both expanding further into the provinces and working with female job seekers/employees.

2) The figures for female participation in the workforce were

11 percent above the 25% representation target set for the program: 36 percent of all trainees and 35.6 percent of all program placements and promotions were Afghan women.

This outcome was a direct result of the atmosphere of communal support and trust fostered under AWDP. The program employed a non-threatening helpful attitude, and grantees were encouraged to discuss their problems openly and ask for help—which was always made available when possible. Trust was built over time, and with continued joint coordination channels created for all grantees, former competitors began to support one another to overcome obstacles, share innovative approaches, and offer lessons learned. This change in behavior allowed grantees to share approaches that had success in welcoming greater numbers of interested female job seekers in more challenging regions of the country.

3) In the six years and three months of program implementation through June 30, 2018, AWDP’s unique private sector-focused, demand-driven approach established a network of over 3,500 Afghan client businesses, many of which continue to indicate considerable unmet demand for skilled domestic labor. The depth and breadth of AWDP grantees’ collaboration with PSEs is a considerable asset moving forward. As such, USAID is poised to maintain the program’s momentum and further expand this unprecedented network of PSEs to effectively meet a clearly defined demand among the domestic business community for skilled Afghan workers in certain high-potential geographic areas and sectors.

4) A crucial factor for the success of the AWDP demand-driven model, and potential future success of follow-on work to complement the AWDP impact, is succeeding in fostering an active, disciplined approach among TVET/BEST service providers of working hand-in-hand with private sector employers/clients from start to end. The most successful grantees were those who quickly came to understand the value of establishing private sector contacts and listening closely to their needs. Time spent maintaining an intimate engagement and reconfirming that the training curriculum provided exactly the skills that PSEs needed and providing credible, disciplined training were factors that paid off during the final stages of grant implementation. Those training firms that were the most comfortable dealing with employers from the beginning were among the best performers. They knew that a good understanding of employment demand on the front end of the program would greatly simplify placements or salary increases after training was completed. An integral part of this relationship between grantees and employers during the AWDP was the Memorandum of

Understanding (MoU). Lessons learned demonstrated that preparing good MoUs with employers about their roles and responsibilities, involving them in validating the curriculum and following up with constant communication during the training period was a particularly powerful approach. AWDP refined its MoU template with each tranche of grantees. AWDP recommends considering building on this predefined MoU template for follow-on work.

5) It would be advantageous for future USAID workforce development programs to offer one-on-one business planning and financial planning consulting services to more TVET/BEST service provider owners and managers that have previously completed an AWDP grant or undergo future similar programming support. Grantee owners showed great entrepreneurial ideas to permanently incorporate the four-pillar workforce development model within their own companies’ services and structure, and build on the private sector clientele obtained under AWDP. Acknowledging the decline in international aid streams, many TVET/BEST service providers were highly interested in supplementing their reliance on donor funding with a larger local private sector portfolio in an effort to adapt and obtain a steadier income flow. The newly introduced AWDP model offered this possibility. For a portion of the ambitious and determined grantee owners, the improved services and methods of demand-driven delivery introduced under AWDP encouraged them to officially launch an

Participants engage in conversation during a USAID training course at Kaweyan

Business Development Services in Kabul.

AWDP - FINAL Report April 1, 2012– June 30, 2018 Page 7

Employability Center or employability cell within their companies. AWDP undertook a pilot project in the last phase of the program to support five such aspiring TVET/BEST service provider grantee owners to achieve their goals of opening an employability center post-grant close-out. In doing so, AWDP observed that other grantees attempting to capitalize and build on their AWDP successes post-grant close-out could benefit from further practical one-on-one business development support and proper planning to increase the longevity and impact of their employability center business ventures.

6) Conversely, AWDP discovered that private institutes of higher education already utilized a business model based on local private sector funding and have the necessary infrastructure and resources in place to immediately and successfully commercialize the AWDP workforce development model. Furthermore, universities can capitalize on the large number of graduates/job seekers available to the institutes. AWDP supported six private universities in three provinces to launch career counseling centers (C3s) on their campuses, introducing the demand-driven workforce development model as a base for their services offered. Career counseling is a nascent sector in Afghanistan and was well accepted by students and the universities alike. This effort showed exceedingly high potential for sustainability. As a result, AWDP strongly recommends that the applicable lessons learned and best practices discussed in this report be applied to expanding the C3 initiative to a greater number of private universities of higher education in Afghanistan, with a particular emphasis to expanding greater into the provinces.

3. Structure of this Report

This report provides an overview of the AWDP structure, implementing partners, objectives and indicators. The AWDP-developed four-pillar workforce development model is at the core of all program activity. The following sections revolve around defining, assessing and revealing lessons learned, impact and results of this model for future program efforts.

The “Program Methodology” defines the model’s components and provides a summary of the replicable steps AWDP took to implement the model with each of its 53 grantees. The “Achieved

Activities and Results” section focuses on conveying the successes of implementing the model both chronologically and by workforce sector. The “Problems Encountered, Lessons Learned, Best

Practices and Recommendations” chapter digs deeper into the on-the-ground implementation and focuses on all the challenges, adaptions and changes made to the model over the six years to improve and advance it for future use. The “AWDP Impact” chapter explains the larger influence of the

AWDP model on the Afghan workforce, with an emphasis on lasting change. The chapter “Objectives

Not Fully Achieved/Recommendations for Follow-On Work to Complement the AWDP Impact” reveals recommendations to fill gaps in the current approach to the model to increase future sustainability, as well as the best activities to expand on for a larger footprint of change. The last chapter offers additional visual data and charts evaluating the program’s overall performance, beneficiaries’ feedback and quality.

While specific chapters are dedicated to the impact and the lessons learned, it is important to note that impact, successes and lessons learned are also incorporated throughout all sections of the report.

AWDP - FINAL Report April 1, 2012– June 30, 2018 Page 8

II. AWDP PROGRAM STRUCTURE

AWDP activities laid the foundation to support USAID’s Strategic Objective 05 “A Thriving Licit

Economy Led by the Private Sector.” The program was guided through two key components/results:

Result 1 focused on “Improved quality and access to market-driven TVET to the Afghan population.”

Result 2 provided “Improved quality and access to business programs and targeted continuing education and professional development programs.”

The AWDP results were accomplished through two grant mechanisms: an “off-budget” grant fund under a contract with Creative Associates International and an inter-ministerial “on-budget” grant fund. In total, 123 competitive grants and contracts were issued under the AWDP off- and on-budget grant mechanisms for implementation of specific training and placement/promotion programs in 15 different economic areas in 12 major cities, according to the market demand.

1. On-budget Components

Implementers

The “on-budget” program was managed by a Management Support Team (MST) formed in collaboration between USAID and the Ministry of Education and Deputy Ministry of Technical, Vocational Education and Training (MoE/DM-TVET). The Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) and the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled (MoLSAMD) also participated in the

MST. The MST managed the MST sub-contracts program, with the support of Creative, to award contracts using the on-budget funds to Afghan largely private sector TVET and BEST service providers and public-private partnerships. The nearly $5.3 million on-budget component of AWDP started on September 19, 2013 and concluded on December 31, 2016.

Administration

Funding for both AWDP on-budget contracts and Creative/AWDP off-budget grants were dependent on meeting measurable achievements, called “milestones,” with slight differences in their mechanisms. The Creative/AWDP off-budget sub-grant implementing partners, termed “grantees,” and inter-ministerial on-budget implementing partners, or “contractors,” both received funding payments after the successful completion of programmatic milestones. The overall implementation of the Creative/AWDP component, however, was funded according to its contract with USAID.

Key Impacts on the Implementing Partner

Creative/AWDP delivered over 39 months of TA to the MoE/DM-TVET to improve their capacity to deliver modern, relevant and demand-driven training programs. The ministry’s technical team also gained essential planning, management and monitoring capacity. The application of the newly introduced four-pillar model for workforce development was an important learning experience for the MoE/DM-TVET, enhancing their role in the TVET sector. Through the use of this model the DM-

TVET technical team boasted the following successes:

11 TVET/BEST contracts successfully implemented by the DM-TVET with 7 private sector contractors

5,103 mid-career/semi-professionals and job seekers trained

1) Labor Market Demand Assessment, 2) Curricula Development/Adaption, 3) Competency-based Training, and 4)

Employment Related Services.

AWDP - FINAL Report April 1, 2012– June 30, 2018 Page 9 o 3,327 mid-career/semi-professional men trained o 1,803 mid-career/semi-professional women trained o Exceeded the target of 5,060 Afghan men and women trained

4,006 trained mid-career/semi-professionals and job seekers were placed or promoted within the private sector o 2,549 mid-career/semi-professional men placed/promoted o 1,457 mid-career/semi-professional women placed/promoted o Exceeded the target of 3,542 Afghan men and women placed/promoted

763 PSEs engaged and demand assessments carried out

638 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) signed with the PSEs in preparation for trainings

6,814 job seekers and PSE employees registered and profiled for training

12 geographical areas covered major economic hubs of the country such as Herat, Kabul, Jalalabad, Mazar-e-Sharif, Kunduz and Kandahar, and several other cities such as Khost, Gardiz, Faizabad, Ghazni, Bamiyan and Sheberghan.

7 sectors covered: 3 projects in ICT, 3 projects in construction and 5 projects in each of the following sectors: FM, PM, Job Placement (JP), Public Private Partnership (PPP), and Master

Training of Trainers (MTT)

1 Career Counseling Center covered under a PPP grant in the Agriculture and Veterinary

Institute of Kabul to provide counseling services and pre-employment trainings to graduates and students.

The application of this model within a public-sector DM-TVET system that continues to struggle with adapting training programs to reflect up to date market demand was a significant achievement. AWDP offered a new standard of skills development that promoted best practices in the collaboration of the public and private sector together and integrated effective demand assessment and targeted training within public institutions to make TVET options more relevant, available and effective. Unlike other workforce development programs, AWDP focused on the needs of mid-career experienced workers and technical staff rather than entry-level workers and created direct linkages between business service providers and the private sector. These actions left the DM-TVET with a network of over 700 national and international partners and 4,000 new entrants into the professional labor force.

2. Off-budget Components

Implementer

USAID AWDP off-budget activities were implemented under a $45 million contract with Creative

Associates International (Creative) over a 6-year and 3-month period. While the on-budget activity focused on the DM-TVET’s role in workforce development, off-budget activities focused on improving the standard and quality of the private workforce development partners. At the heart of both activities, however, was helping mid-level job seekers or mid-career experienced workers throughout Afghanistan gain employment or new skills to better carry out their current job and move up within their respective careers.

Similar to the on-budget activity, off-budget also worked through the provision of TA and grants.

Creative/AWDP off-budget grant recipients within the private sector received capacity building to deliver modern, relevant and demand-driven training programs and post-training job placement services using the same four-pillar model to facilitate the employment of Afghans. Within this goal, USAID outlined two key private sector beneficiary groups and their identified deficits which

Creative/AWDP was contracted to address:

Component 1: Capacity Building Support to Afghan TVET Providers

Component 1 focused on partnering with and providing capacity-building support to Afghan public, private-sector and Non-Government Organization (NGO) providers to improve the quality and

AWDP - FINAL Report April 1, 2012– June 30, 2018 Page 10 accessibility of market-driven TVET for the unemployed and underemployed. Students or trainees of the TVET providers’ institutes were at the heart of the program.

AWDP improved access to, and quality of, TVET through newly developed or enhanced demand-driven TVET curricula, strengthened skills and practices in TVET public and private institutions, improved training programs and introduced employment placement services for TVET graduates.

Furthermore, improved teaching methodologies were appropriately designed to ensure skills development over theoretical and conceptual instruction.

Based on demand, the primary TVET sectors supported were the information communication technology and construction sectors.

Component 2: Capacity Building Support to Afghan BEST Providers

The Component 2 goal was to improve quality and expanded accessibility to business education programs and target continuing education and professional development programs through partnerships with private and semi-public sector business institutes and universities.

AWDP forged partnerships between business education and training institutions and the private sector to ensure that Business Education and Skills Training (BEST) courses were demand-driven, responsive and supported through technical, financial and managerial training programs. AWDP also provided opportunities to private business training service providers to access capacity building training courses to upgrade and enhance their programs.

Based on demand, the primary BEST sectors supported were: financial management, program management, marketing, sales, business communication, employment related services, career counseling, master training, media and communication management, and hotel and hospitality management.

Administration

Creative/AWDP off-budget RFAs were structured as Fixed Obligation Grants (FOGs), a mechanism in which grantees were paid a set amount upon accomplishment of a milestone. Therefore, during grant award, Creative/AWDP technical personnel negotiated with each selected grantee a detailed implementation plan with appropriate milestones and budget. This approach allowed for the award of grants with very specific program elements without requiring Creative/AWDP to monitor the actual costs incurred. The selection of this grant mechanism which focuses on milestone-based performance and payment proved both efficient and effective and was a contributing factor to AWDP’s success.

Key Impacts on Implementing Partners

Creative/AWDP delivered extensive technical assistance to grantees pre-award, during grant implementation, and post-award to not only successfully accomplish program workforce development goals but to build sustainable institutional capacity within its local implementing partners. Across each local implementing partner, the four-pillar model was introduced along with a clearly defined quality measurement index, creating an informal yet expected standard across both the public and private TVET sector previously void of any such commonality.

With Creative/AWDP’s continued guiding support, 47 TVET and BEST service provider grantees –

46 national and one international – were able to successfully channel close to $16 million in grant funding to 112 strategic interventions in:

Teacher training to make TVET and BEST training relevant and market-driven;

Curriculum development aligned with market priorities;

Institutional strengthening to increase the relevancy of TVET and BEST training;

Increase employment opportunities by forming partnerships with employers, developing job information (placement) systems and creating employment centers.

The 47 grantees recruited a private sector network of more than 3,000 partnering private sector entities across 8 major hub cities in Afghanistan: Kabul, Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif, Jalalabad, Kandahar, AWDP - FINAL Report April 1, 2012– June 30, 2018 Page 11

Kunduz, and Bamiyan, as well as other areas of the country where the demand for skills within private sector companies was identified.

AWDP’s largest impact was the change in the business culture required to accept and promote a more market-driven model in the TVET and BEST sectors.

III. PROGRAM METHODOLOGY

1. The AWDP Four-Pillar Model

Purpose

USAID’s model for workforce development, implemented by AWDP, was different from conventional approaches to workforce development. Many programs only concentrate on training and pay little or no attention to the needs of employers or follow-up to help graduates transition into jobs and improve their employment status. Consequently, these one-dimensional programs often contribute little to lowering unemployment or to increasing economic growth. In contrast, the multi-dimensional nature of the AWDP model integrated the most critical elements of workforce development into one comprehensive program. Furthermore, AWDP required that at least 25 percent of all participants were women. To achieve this, it helped grantees implement strategies to recruit women into their training programs and ensure that at least 70 percent of already employed women were promoted, and that an equal portion of female job seekers gained jobs. The AWDP model evolved from its original focus on long-term training and capacity building of training institutions to demand-driven, short-term training of mid-level workers and job seekers.

Approach

AWDP designed a model specifically for the implementation of employment services to accelerate job placements in Afghanistan. The four main principles of this model were: labor market demand assessments; adaptation and validation of demand-driven curricula; competency-based training programs; and employment related services. The activities related to each element took place in a consecutive order. Job placements came after previous elements of the model had been completed.

The program was based on the four main elements, as follows:

AWDP - FINAL Report April 1, 2012– June 30, 2018 Page 12

Private Sector Demand Assessments

In this first step of the AWDP model, each grantee was required to conduct an assessment of the demand private sector companies had for skills at the mid-career/professional level. Grantees were required to explain to the private sector companies why such an assessment was necessary and how it would benefit their business success and growth. This contact was regularized and streamlined throughout the life of the grant to ensure both private sector and AWDP grantees delivered on their commitments. Grant recipients signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with private sector entities (PSEs) to guide the process of gathering data about employment needs, recruiting mid-career workers and maintaining continuous communication with the employers to ensure that training interventions for potential employee candidates were market-driven. AWDP provided each grantee with technical support on how to identify their employees’ training needs; compile and translate collected information into curricula; and deliver quality, relevant and participatory training programs.

Conducting private sector demand assessments was a “new reality” that the AWDP grantees had to learn about, adapt to and implement. While all grantees had some level of curriculum development and training delivery experience, the connection between skills training and employment was new to most.

Curriculum Adaptation and Validation

After PSE demand for skills were successfully captured and recorded from at least 10 private sector companies, curricula were designed by the grantee capturing the skills and logical and critical thought processes that would enable both job seekers and current employees of a firm to manage a given function with desired quality. The grantees either used existing curricula (if it addressed identified private sector market needs) or adapted existing curricula to meet the identified needs of the PSE clients. In some instances, new curricula were designed.

Curriculum adaptation was an important step as it captured specific competencies that the private sector required. It helped AWDP grantee institutions address specific competencies as opposed to designing a curriculum that didn’t necessarily meet the demands of the private sector. It further helped the grantees learn the importance of working with a client organization in a business environment.

During the course of implementing the program model, AWDP grantee organizations developed skills that would help them continue efficiently engaging their client companies and responding to emerging needs for skills development in the future.

The content of the core curriculum for all mid-career experienced participants had to be validated in writing by a minimum of five private sector companies to ensure that the training provided by these grantees met the needs of employers. Further, all curricula that were used by a grantee for short-term, demand-driven training had to be consistent with modern, modular, competency-based criteria. The validation of the curricula helped ensure that the training satisfied the private sector needs so the PSEs would hire trainees who successfully completed the training program and build skills as needed by the

PSEs.

Competency-Based Training Program

After the steps described above were completed, AWDP’s technical team reviewed and approved the training design, the delivery approach and the evaluation system. The grantees were required to outline a training design that was consistent and aligned with the design of the curriculum. Delivery was to be guided by the following basic principles of modular and competency-based technical skills training:

The training is based on curriculum which has been developed from competency standards

Learning is modular in its structure

Training is practically oriented

Assessment is based on on-the-job work performance

AWDP - FINAL Report April 1, 2012– June 30, 2018 Page 13

After the steps described above were completed, AWDP’s technical team reviewed and approved the training design. The training design included:

Learning objectives

Activities that allowed participants to meet the objectives

Time for each activity

Materials needed to implement each activity

Evaluation criteria to measure how well the objectives were met

Once approved, grantees could start their training activities.

Although each grantee had experience in designing and delivering training programs, the main challenges observed were with the focus on conveying knowledge to and assuring understanding by the trainees. Typical training methodologies were lectures designed to convey information. AWDP managed to bring a substantial change in the way grantee organizations designed and delivered competency-based training programs. Coaching and TA were provided to grantees to help them focus on skills building. Since grantees needed to respond to the PSEs’ deficit of skilled labor, workshops were designed by AWDP for grantee organizations to learn new participatory methodologies that engaged job seekers or employees in practical skills development activities.

Employment-Related Services (ERS)

For unemployed job seekers who participated in this area of training, the job placement effort focused on assisting them to find…