Publication:
Youth Employment in Sierra Leone : Sustainable Livelihood Opportunities in a Post-conflict Setting

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (1.97 MB)
1,837 downloads
English Text (508.88 KB)
414 downloads
Date
2009
ISSN
Published
2009
Author(s)
Peeters, Pia
Acharya, Gayatri
Van Adams, Arvil
Editor(s)
Abstract
This study focuses on short- and medium-term solutions. It informs the government about the type of programs and policies that could improve the employability of young people, paying special attention to areas in which productivity can be rapidly improved. The report consists of six chapters. Chapter two profiles young people in Sierra Leone. Chapter three examines young people in the labor market, with a focus on the labor supply side of the equation (that is, the skills young people bring to the labor market). Chapter four turns to employers (the demand side of the labor market) to better understand why they do or do not employ young people. Chapter five reviews skill development programs to enhance employability of young people in Sierra Leone and other countries and presents policy options for improving worker skills (supply side) and employer interest (demand side). Chapter six summarizes the lessons from the analysis and concludes with policy and program recommendations.
Link to Data Set
Citation
Peeters, Pia; Cunningham, Wendy; Acharya, Gayatri; Van Adams, Arvil. 2009. Youth Employment in Sierra Leone : Sustainable Livelihood Opportunities in a Post-conflict Setting. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/2599 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    Voices of Youth in Post-Conflict Burundi : Perspectives on Exclusion, Gender, and Conflict
    (Washington, DC, 2012-01) World Bank
    This report examines youth in post-conflict Burundi. The research responds to the nascent but growing body of knowledge on conflict, young men and gender. War and violence have devastated societies and economies throughout Africa with young men being the main perpetrators of this violence. This research attempts to contribute to this body of knowledge. It looks at youth and young men in particular in two countries emerging from years of ethnic conflict, with a view to identifying if gender norms may increase the risk of renewed conflict. Specific objectives of the research in Burundi were to examine how poor and excluded youth are faring and coping in the country's post-conflict environment; how gender dynamics are playing out in Burundian society and how these may contribute to increased risk of renewed conflict; and what the implications of findings are in terms of future policy and programming. The study takes a special look at youth ex-combatants who are in the process of being reintegrated back into their communities, given that this group has been a focus of a high profile demobilization and reintegration program in Burundi and given that ex-combatants are considered to represent a higher risk to renewed fighting. The report is organized as follows. After this introductory chapter, chapter two presents the context for the study, and includes a definition of youth as well as a brief description of the country context and socioeconomic indicators for youth. Chapter three presents the main research findings on how youth are faring, how they see their prospects, and the challenges they face, including those related to meeting gender norms and other social institutions. Chapter four presents a description of the policy response and programs targeting youth, scanty as they may be. Lastly, chapter five summarizes the study's main findings and conclusions, and presents an overall approach for youth development as well as policy directions.
  • Publication
    Violent Conflict and Gender Inequality : An Overview
    (World Bank, Washington, D.C., 2013-02) Buvinic, Mayra; Das Gupta, Monica; Casabonne, Ursula; Verwimp, Philip
    Violent conflict is a pervasive feature of the recent global landscape which has lasting impacts on human capital and these impacts are seldom gender neutral. Death and destruction alter the structure and dynamics of households, including their demographic profiles and traditional gender roles. To date, attention to the gender impacts of conflict has focused almost exclusively on sexual and gender-based violence. The authors show that a far wider set of gender issues must be considered to better document the human consequences of war and to design effective postconflict policies. The emerging empirical evidence is organized using a framework that identifies both the differential impacts of violent conflict on males and females (first-round impacts) and the role of gender inequality in framing adaptive responses to conflict (second-round impacts). War's mortality burden is disproportionately borne by males, whereas women and children constitute a majority of refugees and the displaced. Indirect war impacts on health are more equally distributed between the genders. Conflicts create households headed by widows who can be especially vulnerable to intergenerational poverty. Second-round impacts can provide opportunities for women in work and politics triggered by the absence of men. Households adapt to conflict with changes in marriage and fertility, migration, investments in children's health and schooling, and the distribution of labor between the genders. The impacts of conflict are heterogeneous and can either increase or decrease preexisting gender inequalities. Describing these gender differential effects is a first step toward developing evidence-based conflict prevention and postconflict policy.
  • Publication
    Youth--An Undervalued Asset : Towards a New Agenda in the Middle East and North Africa
    (2007-09) World Bank
    Youth are becoming an increasing priority for countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Youth are an asset that if properly nurtured can stimulate the economic and social development of the region. Countries are searching for effective policies to capitalize on this youth asset and an increasing number of governmental and nongovernmental institutions in the region are involved in youth related-work. This report represents an initial attempt to assess the case for making investment in youth a systematic development priority for the region. It summarizes what is known about the challenges facing youth and the opportunities successful youth embody, and begins to consider the contours of promising cross-sectoral, youth-centered, and inclusive policies for the region and the potential role for the World Bank. It is a first step in the process of setting out the issues to encourage dialogue and discussion among policy makers leading to decisions and eventually actions. The report has two intended audiences. The first are policy makers in the region, particularly those in Governments that are responsible for economic and social policy including Ministries of Finance, planning and economy and line ministries responsible for delivery of social services to youth such as the health, education, social affairs and youth ministries. Second, donors and development organizations such as the World Bank can use the report as an input into thinking about how youth issues may fit into projects and to help formulate priorities toward youth in the future.
  • Publication
    Montenegro Gender Diagnostic
    (Washington, DC, 2013-06) World Bank
    In 2011, women and girls represented 50.6 percent of the total Montenegrin population (620,029 persons). Different aspects of gender inequality vary by region and ethnicity. The present World Bank country partnership strategy in Montenegro is based on two pillars that include supporting Montenegro s accession to the European Union (EU) through boosting institutions and competitiveness. The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of gender inequality in Montenegro. Using a number of data sources, gender differences in various outcomes are analyzed with the intention of highlighting gender inequalities in human wellbeing. Results are used to prioritize possible avenues for future research to better understand such inequalities and or suggest areas that require more focus from policymakers. This report operates under the premise that gender equality is both an issue of human rights and of critical economic consequence. In line with the world development report (WDR) 2012, the nomenclature of gender gaps in endowments, access to economic opportunities, and agency will be used to elaborate upon these arguments and their relevance to Montenegro. The findings of this diagnostic suggest that there are gender gaps in Montenegro, particularly in: (i) agency, although available data in this area is limited; (ii) access to economic opportunities; and (iii) human capital among some population subgroups. The structure of the report is as follows: section one gives introduction. Section two addresses gender disparities in endowments, including education, health, and assets. Section three presents disparities in economic opportunities in the forms of labor force participation, unemployment, employment and wages, and entrepreneurship. Section four focuses on agency and its implications for gender equality. Section five discusses relationships across issues and suggests areas for further research.
  • Publication
    Investing in Gender Equality : Looking Ahead
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-07) Buvinic, Mayra; Lunde, Trine; Sinha, Nistha
    The financial crisis of 2008-09 has highlighted the need for greater attention to gender, both to address the vulnerability of countries to global shocks and to reach growth and poverty reduction goals. Investments in girls and women need to be scaled up substantially in response to this and other recent crises and, looking ahead, to alleviate demographic stresses and harness demographic opportunities for growth. This is the case because the fate of women and girls, especially in low-income countries and low-income households, is closely linked to the economic prospects of these countries and these households.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    Ten Steps to a Results-Based Monitoring and Evaluation System : A Handbook for Development Practitioners
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2004) Zall Kusek, Jody; Rist, Ray C.
    An effective state is essential to achieving socio-economic and sustainable development. With the advent of globalization, there are growing pressures on governments and organizations around the world to be more responsive to the demands of internal and external stakeholders for good governance, accountability and transparency, greater development effectiveness, and delivery of tangible results. Governments, parliaments, citizens, the private sector, Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), civil society, international organizations, and donors are among the stakeholders interested in better performance. As demands for greater accountability and real results have increased, there is an attendant need for enhanced results-based monitoring and evaluation of policies, programs, and projects. This handbook provides a comprehensive ten-step model that will help guide development practitioners through the process of designing and building a results-based monitoring and evaluation system. These steps begin with a 'readiness assessment' and take the practitioner through the design, management, and importantly, the sustainability of such systems. The handbook describes each step in detail, the tasks needed to complete each one, and the tools available to help along the way.
  • Publication
    World Development Report 1984
    (New York: Oxford University Press, 1984) World Bank
    Long-term needs and sustained effort are underlying themes in this year's report. As with most of its predecessors, it is divided into two parts. The first looks at economic performance, past and prospective. The second part is this year devoted to population - the causes and consequences of rapid population growth, its link to development, why it has slowed down in some developing countries. The two parts mirror each other: economic policy and performance in the next decade will matter for population growth in the developing countries for several decades beyond. Population policy and change in the rest of this century will set the terms for the whole of development strategy in the next. In both cases, policy changes will not yield immediate benefits, but delay will reduce the room for maneuver that policy makers will have in years to come.
  • Publication
    Africa's Future, Africa's Challenge : Early Childhood Care and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa
    (Washington, DC : World Bank, 2008) Garcia, Marito; Pence, Alan; Evans, Judith L.
    This book seeks to achieve a balance, describing challenges that are being faced as well as developments that are underway. It seeks a balance in terms of the voices heard, including not just voices of the North commenting on the South, but voices from the South, and in concert with the North. It seeks to provide the voices of specialists and generalists, of those from international and local organizations, from academia and the field. It seeks a diversity of views and values. Such diversity and complexity are the reality of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) today. The major focus of this book is on SSA from the Sahel south. Approximately 130 million children between birth and age 6 live in SSA. Every year 27 million children are born, and every year 4.7 million children under age 5 die. Rates of birth and of child deaths are consistently higher in SSA than in any other part of the world; the under-5 mortality rate of 163 per 1,000 is twice that of the rest of the developing world and 30 times that of industrialized countries (UNICEF 2006). Of the children who are born, 65 percent will experience poverty, 14 million will be orphans affected by HIV/AIDS directly and within their families and one-third will experience exclusion because of their gender or ethnicity.
  • Publication
    Tanzania
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-06) Arce, Carlos E.; Caballero, Jorge
    This study aims to achieve a better understanding of the agricultural risk and risk management situation in Tanzania with a view to identifying key solutions to reduce current gross domestic product (GDP) growth volatility. For the purpose of this assessment, risk is defined as the probability that an uncertain event will occur that can potentially produce losses to participants along the supply chain. Persistence of unmanaged risks in agriculture is a cause of great economic losses for farmers and other actors along the supply chains (for example, traders, processors, and exporters), affecting export earnings and food security. The agricultural sector risk assessment is a straightforward methodology based on a three-phase sequential process. Phase analyzes the chronological occurrence of inter-seasonal agricultural risks with a view to identify and prioritize the risks that are the drivers of agricultural GDP volatility. This report contains the findings and recommendations of the first phase and includes the identification, analysis, and prioritization of major risks facing the agricultural sector in Tanzania, as well as recommendations regarding key solutions. Chapter one gives introduction and context. Chapter two contains an overview of the agricultural sector and its performance, as well as a discussion of key agro-climatic, weather, and policy restrictions and opportunities. Chapter three includes an assessment of major risks (that is, production, market, and enabling environment risks) facing key export and food crops. Chapter four presents an estimate of historical losses due to realized production risks and a correlation of such losses with production volatility. Chapter five provides insights into the exposure to risks by different stakeholders and their actual capacities, vulnerabilities, and potential to manage agricultural risks. Chapter six presents a risk prioritization by different supply chains and discusses the possible solutions, as well as specific recommendations for the agricultural sector development program (ASDP).
  • Publication
    World Development Report 2017
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2017-01-30) World Bank Group
    Why are carefully designed, sensible policies too often not adopted or implemented? When they are, why do they often fail to generate development outcomes such as security, growth, and equity? And why do some bad policies endure? This book addresses these fundamental questions, which are at the heart of development. Policy making and policy implementation do not occur in a vacuum. Rather, they take place in complex political and social settings, in which individuals and groups with unequal power interact within changing rules as they pursue conflicting interests. The process of these interactions is what this Report calls governance, and the space in which these interactions take place, the policy arena. The capacity of actors to commit and their willingness to cooperate and coordinate to achieve socially desirable goals are what matter for effectiveness. However, who bargains, who is excluded, and what barriers block entry to the policy arena determine the selection and implementation of policies and, consequently, their impact on development outcomes. Exclusion, capture, and clientelism are manifestations of power asymmetries that lead to failures to achieve security, growth, and equity. The distribution of power in society is partly determined by history. Yet, there is room for positive change. This Report reveals that governance can mitigate, even overcome, power asymmetries to bring about more effective policy interventions that achieve sustainable improvements in security, growth, and equity. This happens by shifting the incentives of those with power, reshaping their preferences in favor of good outcomes, and taking into account the interests of previously excluded participants. These changes can come about through bargains among elites and greater citizen engagement, as well as by international actors supporting rules that strengthen coalitions for reform.