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Migration, internal and external, continues to be a dominant livelihood strategy for households in Lesotho, with almost half (43 percent) of households reporting at least one member living away. The past decade has seen a sharp increase in female migration, due to a halt in new hires of Basotho men in South African mines and a concomitant expansion of jobs primarily for women in the export garment sector in Maseru and Maputsoe. This study analyzes female migration using three waves of the Demographic and Health Survey (2004, 2009, and 2014) as well as primary data collected by the research team in March-April 2015. The findings indicate that female migration in Lesotho is primarily driven by economic "push" (rather than "pull") factors, often due to shocks to the household, such as job loss, death, or bad crops. Migrants are often seen as "strugglers" and their households of origin are just as poor as rural households with no migrants. Moreover, the study finds conclusive evidence that women's employment in sectors dominated by migrants is strongly correlated with HIV/AIDS: 55 percent of women working in garment factories and 38 percent of domestic workers are HIV positive, as opposed to the national average of 30 percent. These findings point to three policy recommendations to support female migrants and their families: (i) lower the barriers to secondary education in rural areas, (ii) diversify and expand employment opportunities for men and women, and (iii) provide HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services to garment factory workers as well as migrants working in the informal sector.

Divorcees --- Economics & Gender --- Gender --- Gender & Poverty --- Gender and Economic Policy --- Gender and Economics --- Industry --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Marital Dissolution --- Nutrition --- Science and Technology Development --- Technology Industry --- Technology Innovation --- Welfare --- Widows

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Skills development offers a range of benefits to out-of-school adolescent girls and alleviates a key obstacle to youth employment in developing countries. But do increased skills lead to delays in early marriage and pregnancy? Not always, according to the available empirical evidence. Although the global evidence base on skills training is growing, and despite a theoretical basis for the relationship between skills, employment and fertility, the documented impacts of skills interventions on fertility outcomes are still too limited to draw strong conclusions. The substantial heterogeneity of what constitutes a "skills" intervention contributes to the uncertainty. The strongest evidence is in support of holistic community-based programs that combine information on sexual and reproductive health with skills training and other financial and social assets. More research is needed to isolate the impacts of these different program components and disentangle the causal pathways leading to delays in marriage and pregnancy.

Empowerment --- Gender --- Skills Development and Labor Force Training --- Social Protections and Labor --- Technical and Vocational Education and Training --- Vocational & Technical Education

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The youth unemployment rate is exceptionally high in developing countries. Because the quality of education is arguably one of the most important determinants of youth's labor force participation, governments worldwide have responded by creating job training and placement services programs. Despite the rapid expansion of skill-enhancement employment programs across the world and the long history of training program evaluations, debates about the causal impact of training-based labor market policies on employment outcomes still persist. Using a quasi-experimental approach, this report presents the short-run effects of skills training and employment placement services in Nepal. Launched in 2009, the intervention provided skills training and employment placement services for more than 40,000 Nepalese youth over a three-year period, including a specialized adolescent girls' initiative that reached 4,410 women ages 16 to 24. The report finds that after three years of the program, the Employment Fund intervention positively improved employment outcomes. Participation in the Employment Fund training program generated an increase in non-farm employment of 15 to 16 percentage points for an overall gain of about 50 percent. The program also generated an average monthly earnings gain of about 72 percent. The report finds significantly larger employment impacts for women than for men, but younger women ages 16 to 24 experienced the same improvements as older females. These employment estimates are comparable, although somewhat higher, than other recent experimental interventions in developing countries.

Abuse --- Access & Equity in Basic Education --- Adolescent Girls --- Both Sexes --- Capacity Building --- Childbirth --- Children --- Civil Conflict --- Classroom --- Completion Rates --- Contraception --- Control Over Resources --- Curriculum --- Developing Countries --- Development Policy --- Disadvantaged Groups --- Discrimination --- Dropout --- Dropout Rates --- Early Intervention --- Economic Empowerment --- Economic Growth --- Economic Resources --- Economic Status --- Education --- Education for All --- Educational Attainment --- Employment Opportunities --- Enrollment --- Ethnic Groups --- Ex-Combatants --- Exams --- Female Participants --- Female Students --- Fertility --- Fertility Preferences --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial Literacy --- Food Insecurity --- Food Security --- Formal Education --- Gender Differences --- Gender Discrimination --- Gender Equality --- Girls --- Groups --- Health, Nutrition and Population --- HIV --- Household Assets --- Household Food Security --- Household Income --- Household Level --- Household Size --- Human Capital --- Important Policy --- Income-Generating Activities --- Indigenous Peoples --- International Labor Organization --- Interventions --- Investment --- Job Opportunities --- Job Training --- Knowledge --- Labor Force --- Labor Market --- Labour Market --- Leadership --- Learning --- Level of Education --- Life Skills --- Literacy --- Livelihood Skills --- Mandates --- Marital Status --- Marriage --- Meat --- Migrants --- Migration --- Ministry of Education --- Minority --- Number of Children --- Older Women --- Outreach Activities --- Participation --- Pensions --- Physical Health --- Pilot Projects --- Policy --- Policy Discussions --- Policy Implications --- Policy Makers --- Policy Research --- Policy Research Working Paper --- Population --- Population Policies --- Practitioners --- Pregnancy --- Primary Education --- Progress --- Public Health --- Quality of Education --- Radio --- Reasoning --- Regular Attendance --- Remittances --- Reproductive Health --- Science --- Self-Confidence --- Service Delivery --- Service Providers --- Sex --- Sexually Active --- Skills --- Skills Development --- Skills Training --- Social Norms --- Social Science --- Sponsors --- Students --- Substance Abuse --- Technical Education --- Technical Skills --- Technical Training --- Training --- Training Opportunities --- Training Programs --- Training Services --- Unemployment --- Values --- Vocational Education --- Vocational Training --- Vulnerability --- Vulnerable Groups --- Women --- Workshops --- Young Men --- Young People --- Young Women --- Youth

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This paper presents findings from the impact evaluation of the Economic Empowerment of Adolescent Girls and Young Women (EPAG) project in Liberia. The EPAG project was launched by the Liberian Ministry of Gender and Development in 2009 with the goal of increasing the employment and income of 2,500 young Liberian women by providing livelihood and life skills training and facilitating their transition to productive work. The analysis in this paper is based on data collected during two rounds of quantitative surveys in 2010 and 2011, the second of which was conducted six months after the classroom-based phase of the training program ended. Strong impacts are found on the employment and earnings outcomes of program participants, relative to a control group of non-participants. The EPAG program increased employment by 47 percent and earnings by 80 percent. In addition, the impact evaluation documents positive effects on a variety of empowerment measures, including access to money, self-confidence, and anxiety about circumstances and the future. The evaluation finds no net impact on fertility or sexual behavior. At the household level, there is evidence of improved food security and shifting attitudes toward gender norms. These results reinforce the highly positive feedback received from focus group discussions with program participants. Finally, preliminary cost-benefit analysis indicates that the budgetary cost of the EPAG business development training for young women is equivalent to the value of three years of the increase in income among program beneficiaries. These preliminary results provide strong evidence for further investment and research into young women's livelihood programs in Liberia.

Access & Equity in Basic Education --- Adolescents --- Education --- Education For All --- Gender --- Health, Nutrition and Population --- Labor Policies --- Population Policies --- Primary Education --- Social Protections and Labor --- Vocational Training --- Youth Employment --- Sub-Saharan Africa