WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS AND COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES OF THE GROUP MODEL IN IMPROVING YOUTH ECONOMIC - YETA LEARNING QUESTION RESEARCH BRIEF SERIES: ...
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Y E TA L E A R N I N G Q U E S T I O N RESEARCH BRIEF SERIES: WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS AND COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES OF THE GROUP MODEL IN IMPROVING YOUTH ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES?
TA B L E O F CO N T E N T S
3
T H E Y E TA A P P R OAC H
4
BENEFITS OF THE GROUP MODEL
7
P OT E N T I A L C H A L L E N G E S TO T H E S U CC E S S O F T H E G R O U P M O D E L
9
S U CC E S S A N D FA I LU R E
10
LESSONS LEARNED
11
CO N C LU S I O N
12
M E T H O D O LO GY
INTRODUCTION
Y outh Empowerment Through Agriculture (YETA) is a five-
year MasterCard Foundation-funded program in Uganda
led by NCBA CLUSA along with Youth Alive Uganda (YAU)
and Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) with support from
learning partner the Overseas Development Institute (ODI).
YETA has four objectives: 1) forming and strengthening youth
associations (YAs); 2) improving the well-being and confidence
of YA members through enhanced foundational skills; 3)
increasing access to financial services for YA members; and
4) developing the technical and entrepreneurial skills of YA
members so they can launch their businesses. YETA operates
in the districts of Dokolo, Kole, Masindi and Kiryandongo.
Having reached 27,130 youth (exceeding our target of 26,250),
the project is publishing a series of Learning Question
Research Briefs to galvanize discussion among youth,
policymakers and practitioners and to advance MasterCard
Foundation’s Youth Forward Initiative learning agenda. Based
on focus group discussions and interviews (see methodology),
this paper is designed to record the experience and learning
from YETA’s work in northern Uganda on the benefits and
comparative advantages of the group model.
THE GROUP MODEL 1
Young people in northern Uganda face a myriad of component of the YETA program has also been the
challenges as they seek to improve their livelihoods creation of village savings and loans associations
within the agriculture sector. One approach to (VSLAs), the focus here is on youth associations.
addressing these challenges is the group model The dynamics of VSLAs are discussed in a separate
adopted by YETA, where young people are paper entitled ‘How is Financial Inclusion Supporting
encouraged to form youth associations, to make the Youth Empowerment?’.
provision of training easier and to allow participants
to tap into the social capital and risk-mitigating The first section of this paper provides a short
benefits of voluntary collaboration. description of YETA’s approach, while the bulk
of the paper describes the benefits associated
This research brief looks at the benefits and with group membership and approaches. This is
comparative advantages of the group model for followed by a section on the potential challenges
YETA participants in northern Uganda as well as to youth associations based on the experience of
the possible challenges associated with youth YETA. Finally, the paper concludes with the lessons
associations. It also details the lessons learned so learned and a brief description of the research
that these can be shared with other programs and methodology.
help scale up successful youth associations and
youth employment programs. While an integral
MAIN FINDINGS
• Youth associations are a powerful tool for combating young people’s impression that they are unable
to positively change their lives and living standards. By demonstrating what is possible in a group
setting, young people are empowered and motivated to expand their agricultural enterprises.
• Participating in a youth association expands young people’s ideas about what is possible, thereby
helping them to develop actionable aspirations. 88% of YETA youth reported they have gained the
knowledge and skills to start and maintain sustainable agricultural enterprises.
• There are numerous economic benefits to participating in an association. Most important
among them is increased access to land, which allows for the expansion of a multitude
of agricultural enterprises. All 813 YAs under the program have gained access to land. As
registered groups, YAs have cumulatively tapped 82,814 USD from Uganda government
programs to invest in their enterprises.
• Young people reported being able to access information, reduced prices for agriculture inputs and
higher prices for their harvest more easily through their associations.
• Community leaders indicated positive changes in behavior among participating youth, including
increased confidence as well as reduced drinking and gambling.
• Associations face challenges, such as weak group cohesion and conflict, difficulty in selecting a
good mentor, and including less fortunate youth in their groups. Some groups had difficulty with
membership retention, particularly young women.
• The choice of enterprise is key to determining group success. Groups that chose to focus on
staple crops were less likely to do well – they required significant amounts of labor and financial
resources and experienced low prices (e.g. maize). Not all youth associations are mature enough to
provide storage or financing to their members to help address such situations.
2 Y E TA L E A R N I N G Q U E S T I O N S
THE YETA traction), and produce buying and selling. The
selection of enterprises by youth varied according
APPROACH to location and weather patterns. For instance,
in cohorts 3 and 4 goat-keeping and goat-rearing
proved particularly popular as erratic weather
patterns had rendered crops less profitable in
certain regions.
The YETA consortium addressed the challenges
faced by youth in agriculture – such as low levels of
productivity, access to resources, and low skill levels YO U N G P E O P L E W H O
PA R T I C I PAT E D I N
– by facilitating the creation of a network of youth Y E TA W E R E T R A I N E D
associations and, ultimately, cooperatives. Before O N T H E F O R M AT I O N
A N D M A N AG E M E N T
participating in the YETA program, the majority of O F YO U T H
rural youth in YETA areas of intervention worked A S S O C I AT I O N S ,
FINANCIAL
on small pieces of land provided by their parents or
L I T E R AC Y, L I F E
communities, without the necessary skills or finance SKILLS, AS WELL AS
to farm productively. They did not effectively AG R I C U LT U R E A N D
E N T R E P R E N E U R S H I P.
manage the little income they generated and often
did not know how to best invest their surpluses.
It is in this context that YETA’s youth associations
act as a vehicle to address these obstacles by
providing access to formal training and mentorship
so that young people have the skills to produce
more and invest better. Once formed, groups were
encouraged to choose a mentor to support their
group endeavours and to form a village savings and
loans association (VSLA) so that participants could
save for their individual goals and group projects.
Groups also functioned as a means for empowering
youth who have low levels of self-esteem and for
demonstrating that change and better livelihoods
are possible. Finally, it is easier for groups to
access resources – including land, information and
concessionary loans – provided by government or
other NGOs than it is for individuals.
Young people who participated in YETA were
trained on the formation and management of youth
associations, financial literacy, life skills, as well as
agriculture and entrepreneurship. Trainings were
organized into 4 cohorts over the life of the project.
After being trained, young people in each cohort
were provided with an incubation kit, which allowed
them to start a group business. YETA promoted
several profitable activities as group enterprises,
based on a value chain analysis. The recommended
value chains included crop production (sunflower,
soy beans, maize and horticulture), livestock
(piggery, goat-keeping, goat-rearing, and animal
THE GROUP MODEL 3
BENEFITS OF THE labor projects that might seem overwhelming and
prevent a young person making a start on their
GROUP MODEL own, such as clearing land, felt achievable as a
cohesive group. Starting a group is not a small
endeavour either. However, the encouragement
of a mentor or trainer as well as interactions with
other youth associations made the establishment of
According to respondents, there are many a group seem achievable.
advantages to participating in a YETA youth
association or cooperative. However, the benefits In some cases, the increase in motivation and self-
deemed to be most important by our respondents esteem resulted in young people returning to or
varied according to their relationship with the YETA even starting school for the first time. Others were
program: young people pointed to the learning, able to support their siblings to go to school by
empowerment and economic benefits as most contributing to their school fees and materials.
important, while most community leaders and
mentors stressed the benefits youth associations D E M O N S T R AT I O N E F F E C T
bring to the wider community, such as positive
changes in youth behavior and motivation. Once youth associations registered some initial
successes, their most important function was to
The benefits of the group model are outlined in broaden young people’s views on what could be
this section in order of importance, as identified by achieved. Many respondents reported that once
young people. they had seen what was possible as a group, they
felt sufficiently confident to test some of those skills
S O C I A L B E N E F I T S , E M P OW E R M E N T out in their individual enterprises. The benefits of
A N D M OT I VAT I O N working together in a youth association also inspired
youth to form larger producer cooperatives.
From the perspective of youth, undoubtedly the
most important benefit of participating in a youth The application of skills to individual enterprises is
association was feeling empowered, motivated and important to raising young people’s incomes. While
more confident. Young people described that they respondents reported successes in the businesses
had learned the ability to see the opportunities run by their youth association, they often
available to them and that their motivation to mentioned that these generated only relatively
pursue these through hard work had increased. small amounts of money per participant. However,
They found it easier to motivate themselves to when group members applied these same financial,
put their labor and creative energies into a group planning, and farming skills to their personal
project, at least initially, compared to working on projects, they reported significant increases in
their own on smaller plots where they described income. Surprisingly, these individual investments
succumbing to defeatist thoughts. were not limited to the same crops or livestock
projects carried out by their group enterprises.
Young people also stressed that working Instead more entrepreneurial association members
together made lighter work of tasks that seemed diversified their production considerably. This
insurmountable to an individual, whether this can be attributed to their increased access to
was for psychological or physical reasons. Many information (discussed in more detail below) and
groups noted how much easier it is to approach a the creative tensions generated by the choice of a
wealthy or respected community member jointly to group project. When opinions diverged within the
negotiate buying or renting land, than it is to do so membership about the best project to pursue, this
as an individual. Participants felt that being a youth served to generate ideas for individual enterprises.
association leader – or even member – gave them The acquisition of transferrable skills – leadership,
a level of credibility and respect that they would initiative, and soft skills – also contributed to youth
not command on their own. Similarly, manual starting individual businesses; these skills enabled
4 Y E TA L E A R N I N G Q U E S T I O N S
them to launch alternative ventures not depend on housing, accessed more land and in some cases
the group enterprise selected. young people even invested in their education by
returning to school or attending formal education
Additionally, the skills learned through their for the first time.
associations – such as bookkeeping, conflict
resolution, and cooperation – allowed young E CO N O M I C B E N E F I T S
people to form larger producer cooperatives and
Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs). This The economic benefits of participating in a group
meant not only reaching a larger number of young were primarily felt through access to two interlinked
people but also increasing the benefits available to resources: land and finance. Additional land
members. In Mutunda sub-county benefits from was accessed either through the social capital
these large youth groups were even extended generated by group membership or formal finance
to refugee communities, which had limited arrangements. In the former case, this came about
knowledge of farming practices, bookkeeping, or as a result of the group’s standing in its community
access to start-up capital. Under YETA, so far, 10 or its mentor’s influence. Usually this involved the
primary cooperatives and 1 SACCO have been group’s leadership approaching a member of the
registered with the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and community who owned a large amount of land
Cooperatives. These groups are setting their own and negotiating access to it, in exchange for either
production targets, increasing their land acreage a payment or goods and services. Where these
and engaging in larger volume transactions (input arrangements were informal this sometimes led
supply, extension services, bulking and marketing). to conflict with the landowner, particularly if they
While YETA offers training on cooperative insisted on the land being returned after one season
governance to them, the establishment of these meaning that the owner would still benefit from any
groups and selection of their leaders were primarily fertilizer applied. YETA staff and mentors encouraged
driven by the youth themselves; they recognized the groups to formalize their land rental and purchase
benefits of engaging the market on a larger scale. arrangements to avoid such situations, but this
This is another example of the demonstration effect advice was not followed by all groups.
from group model.
Both access to land and finance are frequently
G R O U P DY N A M I C S A N D A S P I R AT I O N S binding constraints on productivity: access to land
allowed individuals and groups to increase their
Where young people do not have a broad range of savings, which in turn allowed them to access more
role models on whom they can model their own land. Likewise, access to finance allowed groups to
futures, they tend to develop aspirations that are access more land as demonstrated in the virtuous
either too high or too low to be actionable. As a circle below:
result, they are discouraged from realizing a better
standard of living for themselves. However, the
Y E TA’ S P R O D U C T I V E I N V E S T M E N T C YC L E
process of developing aspirations and working
towards them are learned behavior and groups
can expand the range of aspirations available to
young people. Both focus group participants and
key informants provided evidence that participating
in a youth association helped young people to
develop realistic but higher aspirations than
their counterparts who were not participating
in YETA’s groups. Combined with the planning
and decision-making skills learned in training,
association members were able to take small but
achievable actions that brought them closer to
their aspirations. For instance, they improved their
THE GROUP MODEL 5
Saving to access land was especially important storage space which allows them to delay sales,
for young women who were much less likely to bulk large quantities and negotiate better prices.
access land from their parents than were their male
counterparts. Where youth associations have come together
to form a cooperative, they have been able to
Access to finance and, therefore, the ability to negotiate significant benefits for their members.
invest in enterprises both individually and as a One example of this is Ayer Cooperative, which
group was one of the primary economic benefits has signed a contract for sorghum production with
to young people. VSLAs also encouraged behavior Ednak, negotiating a 15% reduction on the price
and mindset changes, particularly planning for the of sorghum seeds and an 18% increase in output
medium and longer term, rather than focusing on prices for its members. Other examples are links
quick returns. Nevertheless, VSLAs experience a with large-scale cereal buyers, such as the World
range of challenges, from members defaulting to Food Program, which have also given cooperative
ONE OF THE MAIN
the exclusion of poorer members members reliable and profitable markets. Such
REASONS GIVEN who do not feel that they are linkages provide meaningful benefits to members,
F O R P R O M OT I N G able to generate enough income motivate youth to continue to collaborate, and
THE GROUP MODEL
I N P O O R LY- to save. The paper entitled ‘How increase the sustainability of youth associations
C O N N E C T E D, is Financial Inclusion Supporting and cooperatives.
AG R I C U LT U R A L
COMMUNITIES IS Youth Empowerment?’ describes
T H AT T H E Y C A N the benefits and challenges of ACC E S S TO I N F O R M AT I O N
A S S I S T W I T H AC C E S S
TO M A R K E T S F O R accessing finance through VSLAs.
AG R I C U LT U R A L Training provided by YETA was the main source of
PRODUCE.
Another benefits of group information and learning for participants. Young
participation include the reduction in ‘idleness’ people indicated information on group enterprises
and time spent looking for work. Participants and the diversification of production as most
recounted that they were much better able to find useful. In addition, they found the advice provided
productive forms of employment, reducing not by mentors on agricultural practices very useful.
only the amount of time spent looking for work Being in a group also allowed youth associations to
but also cutting down the temptation to gamble approach local government officials or extension
out of a sense of boredom and frustration with agents when necessary. Prior to engaging with
their low earning potential. This was partly due to YETA, participants usually had little experience of
the entrepreneurial mindset which youth learned engaging with the extension service so they did
during the YETA training, which allowed young not appreciate the benefits of technical advice. In
people to identify the opportunities and market addition, many young people reported that they did
gaps in their communities. As a result, YETA youth not have the confidence to approach government
are now providing a wide range of services to their officials before they had created a successful youth
communities, including land preparation using association. Belonging to a youth association also
conservation farming, chemical spraying, post- allowed YETA’s young people to access considerable
harvest handling, and basic veterinary services. resources through the Youth Livelihoods
Program, Northern Uganda Social Action Fund,
One of the main reasons given for promoting the Operation Wealth Creation and Uganda Women’s
group model in poorly-connected, agricultural Empowerment Program. In total, this has allowed
communities is that they can assist with access to groups to access 82,814 USD to date. This was
markets for agricultural produce. However, young mainly as a result of increased confidence and
people did not generally identify this as one of the purpose by members and their leadership. The
most important benefits of membership. Instead, encouragement received from their mentors to be
they reported reduced prices for agriculture inputs pro-active was also mentioned by many focus group
and higher crop prices as important economic participants as contributing to successfully raising
benefits. More well established groups with more these funds.
experience tended to prioritize the benefits of
6 Y E TA L E A R N I N G Q U E S T I O N SFinally, being in an association also facilitated
access to information on health services through
POTENTIAL
peer to peer health referrals. So far, 18,797 youth CHALLENGES TO THE
under YETA have accessed sexual and reproductive
health services through their Peer Leaders who are SUCCESS OF THE
designated to support group access to such services. GROUP MODEL
COMMUNITY LEADERS’ PERSPECTIVES ON While there are numerous benefits and
C H A N G E I N B E H AV I O R A N D M I N D S E T comparative advantages to the group-based
approach implemented by YETA, there are
It is worth noting that community leaders, challenges that were encountered by groups.
mentors and local government officials often
cited another benefit of the group model, which CHOICE OF GROUP ENTERPRISE
young people reported less frequently. This was
young people’s role in their communities. Those Perhaps the most important challenge faced was
that had participated in the YETA training and the choice of group enterprise. Some groups
had honed their negotiating skills in their youth that chose to produce crops experienced a great
associations were seen to be more active in deal of price volatility and performed less well
community leadership, less likely to engage in compared to those that had opted for animal-
drinking or gambling, and to have developed a rearing or the provision of services to other
stronger work ethic. farmers. In both the case of service provision and
animal-rearing, demand and supply remained
The perception that youth had taken on leadership relatively constant, which meant that prices did
roles in their communities is borne out by too. This made business success easier to achieve.
participant data, with a total of 311 YETA youth Well-established youth associations can protect
taking on roles with significant responsibility in their members from price volatility by facilitating access
communities. See the table below for details. to markets or storage facilities. However, youth
associations which had not yet matured sufficiently
to fulfill such a role continued to face problems of
price volatility. This problem had been particularly
severe for newer associations in Kiryandongo
where a bumper maize harvest resulted in prices
P E R C E P T I O N S O F YO U T H L E A D E R S H I P R O L E S
••L E A D E R S H I P P O S I T I O N MALE FEMALE TOTA L
••Local Government 214 80 294
••Health Center Management Chairperson 1 0 1
••Religious Leadership Committee 7 6 13
••Clan Leaders and Committee Members 3 0 3
••TOTA L 225 86 311
••
THE GROUP MODEL 7dropping wiping out profits. These challenges can dropping out of their group. Despite these reports
be overcome in due course provided that youth from young people, YETA is still seeing higher
are not discouraged; they establish linkages with numbers of young women saving than men.
Area Cooperatives Enterprises that have sufficient
purchasing power, such as Nyamahasa Area Poorer youth will struggle more to save and to
Cooperative; they form contracts with the private save enough to make it feel worthwhile. In some
sector buyers such as Masindi Farmers Association cases, they were not able to participate in the VSLA
(MADFA); and they access assistance from district component of their association, which they found
commercial officers. demotivating. Providing additional support to these
youth is important.
C H O I C E O F M E N TO R
ACC E S S TO L A N D
Secondly, the choice of a mentor was central
to a youth association’s success. Groups with Access to land proved particularly challenging for
knowledgeable, available, and generous mentors young women. Typically their male siblings had
fared much better than those less fortunate in their preferential access to family land or their husbands
choice of mentor. Most often this was due to the controlled the household’s land. Young women
mentor being too busy to provide advice and support. were especially dependent on renting land. And
they found it harder to compete in the rental
Linked to mentorship is the challenge of group market as many landowners prefer to rent to
conflict, which most commonly arose when groups men. However, YETA mentors or staff stepped in
could not agree on a joint enterprise or when a to help groups to access land, ensuring that young
member had defaulted on their loan payments. In women were able to maximise the benefits of their
one instance, a group had experienced the theft of participation in the program too.
group assets, resulting in conflict until the culprit
was apprehended and an agreement was reached M OT I VAT I O N O F G R O U P M E M B E R S H I P
about how to cover the cost of the losses. YETA
has learned that in these instances, the advice and Finally, some members joined the association
mediation of a mentor was absolutely essential. with false hopes assuming they would continue
Training for mentors emphasizes listening skills and to benefit from transport fees and other benefits
conflict resolution so that most types of conflict can by participating in association meetings. These
be avoided or resolved. individuals often dropped out, according to
remaining members.
I N C O N S I S T E N T M E M B E R S H I P PA R T I C I PAT I O N I N
G R O U P AC T I V I T I E S Sustainability is likely to be a challenge for some
of the newly established associations; they will not
Not all group members were able to benefit equally continue to have the same level of support and so
from their participation in youth associations, their growth may falter, or they may cease to exist
especially the VSLA component. The full entirely. Some government officials expressed
participation of youth association members involves concern that they would not be able to provide the
financial contributions to the group enterprise and same level of support after the end of the YETA
usually the participation in a savings association. program. YETA through its work with the Regional
While there is no minimum savings amount to Advisory Committee (RAC) has seen the committee
participate in a VSLA, those who were only able to member’s pledging to continue monitoring and
make very small contributions did not feel that they supporting YETA YAs; this is one way of ensuring
were making enough progress and felt discouraged. continuity of the YA businesses. Local government
According to our respondents, women were more Commercial officers pledged to continue providing
often unable to save enough to invest in productive training and technical backstopping to newly
enterprises. This was further aggravated by young formed youth led primary cooperatives beyond the
women migrating to marry and consequently project life.
8 Y E TA L E A R N I N G Q U E S T I O N SSUCCESS AND years to accumulate in one or two months. Within
several months, they may well be able to register
FAILURE the first successes as a group. Having seen these
benefits, young people are then able to replicate
them and gain the confidence necessary to test
other business ventures.
SUCCESSES FA I LU R E S
The greatest success of the YETA program has The majority of groups experienced one or more
been the demonstration effect of its groups: the setbacks, of varying degrees of severity. These
group-based approach can show young people the included the loss of members, conflict over the
cumulative impact of many small investments and use of group resources, theft of group property,
create a sense of achievement, while removing the and failure of the group business. However, these
need for patience. Instead of one young person setbacks only became failures in the absence of
saving for a reasonably long time, investing in a support from a mentor. The vast majority of groups
small business, and reaping the benefits some had chosen mentors who were willing to give
months or even years down the line, a youth their time, and sometimes resources, to groups.
association can speed up this process, while also Nevertheless, the absence of an engaged mentor
involving all group members. A group of 20 to 30 led to a small number of groups experiencing
young people can, for example, mobilize the capital serious setbacks.
that it would take an individual young person many
THE GROUP MODEL 9LESSONS LEARNED
The most important lessons learned from the
YETA program are:
• The power of cooperation: Youth • The strength of gender mainstreaming:
associations are a powerful tool for While groups were usually mixed,
empowering young people, demonstrating attention needs to be paid to gender.
opportunities available, and motivating Young women face additional hurdles
young people to work. Many respondents to be able to earn, learn and save.
reported that youth in northern Uganda Without additional assistance they will
are often demotivated because they not have the confidence or may not see
do not see how they might improve the benefits of participating in a youth
their livelihoods. Group approaches association. However YETA supported
are an effective way of demonstrating and encouraged female participation by
to young people how they can improve scheduling favorable times for trainings,
their own livelihoods. The incubation accommodating caregivers for those with
kits contributed to this by providing the children, seeking consent from husbands
group with an experience of success which and parents, and enforcing the 1/3 gender
motivated members. rule in all activities including trainings and
election of officials in YAs.
• The choice of mentor is critical: Young
people sometimes feel that they need to • Group models require group cohesion
choose a particularly influential individual to work: Young people lack experience
or someone who holds an important office in benefiting from collaboration and so
in their community. However, someone extra efforts are needed to foster group
with time and farming knowledge might cohesion to overcome challenges faced.
be a better option. Supporting groups in Support from mentors in aligning the
carefully managing mentor selection is group’s interests and mitigating conflicts
vital. is importance as well as assisting groups
in helping them elect their leaders to
• Smaller, achievable actions: planning they become effective at governing
and decision-making skills must include themselves and solving problems.
setting small but achievable actions that Cohesion is easier to achieve with groups
bring youth closer to their aspirations. By of 35 members or less.
working in a group and with support from
mentors, youth are exposed to a range
of aspirational goals and can set more
realistic ones - not too high or too low.
10 Y E TA L E A R N I N G Q U E S T I O N SCONCLUSION
Youth associations are a powerful tool for OV E R A L L T H E
BENEFITS
empowering young people. Group models require TO G R O U P
group cohesion to work sustainably with more PA R T I C I PAT I O N
– SUCH AS
support needed during the selection of group G R E AT E R AC C E S S
enterprises and mentors. Overall the benefits to TO R E S O U R C E S ,
OPPORTUNITIES,
group participation – such as greater access to CHOICES,
resources, opportunities, choices, information and I N F O R M AT I O N
new skills – far outweigh the challenges identified AND NEW SKILLS
– FA R O U T W E I G H
under YETA. THE CHALLENGES
IDENTIFIED
U N D E R Y E TA .
THE GROUP MODEL 11METHODOLOGY
This paper is based on the preliminary findings
from research conducted with YETA participants,
key informants, and program staff in April 2019.
Over the course of two weeks, focus group
discussions were held in Kiryandongo and Kole to
elicit the experience of youth association members.
These focus groups were complemented with
in-depth interviews with community leaders and
local government officials who were involved in
the program to triangulate and contrast with the
experience related by youth. Interviews were also
held with model youth and parent mentors. The
first group was able to provide insights into how
the program had benefitted them as well as reflect
on why some groups or individual members had
been less successful. Parent mentors on the other
hand were able to provide data on the types of
struggles their groups faced and how the YETA
program was able to help them overcome them.
A total of 13 focus groups were held with YAs
and 2 with cooperatives. We also interviewed 24
key informants, including local leaders, model
youth, and national government representatives.
While YETA works in four districts, the research
team chose Kiryandongo and Kole to cover the
experiences of the breadth of YETA’s experiences,
including post-conflict populations and groups that
were performing well and not so well.
Quality assurance: After data collection, the
research team drafted initial versions of the report
and shared these with the YETA team for inputs and
comments.
12 Y E TA L E A R N I N G Q U E S T I O N SA B O U T T H E PA R T N E R S The National Cooperative Business Internationally, NCBA CLUSA has Association CLUSA International (NCBA worked in over 100 countries building CLUSA) is the apex association for sustainable communities, creating cooperative businesses in the United economic opportunities and strengthening States and an international development cooperatives. Our work focuses on an organization. Founded in 1916, NCBA CLUSA approach that empowerments smallholder strives to advance, promote and protect farmers, women, and youth in the areas cooperative enterprises through cross-sector of food security, agricultural development, advocacy, education and public awareness strengthening of communities and farmer that help co-ops thrive, highlighting the organizations, community-based health and impact that cooperatives have in bettering natural resources management. the lives of individuals and families. The Mastercard Foundation was created in the world. With commitments of over in 2006 by Mastercard International US$2.2 billion, they have partnered with and operates independently under the more than 150 visionary organizations to governance of its own Board of Directors. increase financial inclusion and access to Since its founding, the Foundation has youth learning in Africa, and have improved grown from a small “start-up” with just three the lives of more than 33.8 million people employees to one of the largest foundations and their families. The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) is poverty, the alleviation of suffering and the an independent think tank on international achievement of sustainable livelihoods in development and humanitarian issues, developing countries.” It does this by “locking founded in 1960. Based in London, its together high-quality applied research, mission is “to inspire and inform policy practical policy advice, and policy-focused and practice which lead to the reduction of dissemination and debate.”
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