Y3 Progress Reports (October 2020 - September 2021)
Well into the second year since the unprecedented outbreak of the Corona Virus Disease (“COVID-19”) and the crises and challenges that accompanied it, YouthWorks PH has remained unwavered and committed in its efforts to achieve its objective to improve the employment of youth not in education, employment or training (NEET) and engage the private sector in workforce development. In its third year of implementation, YouthWorks PH has continued to be as adaptive and agile: marking the rollout of all the major programmatic pivots and staffing movements in response to the changing environment the project has been working in.
This Annual Progress Report looks at the programmatic and financial performance of YouthWorks PH in Year 3 . It also discusses how the project was able to manage risks and take advantage of opportunities.
The project’s improved performance was built on existing pivots made from the previous implementation year. It crafted and executed guidelines on COVID-19 support for FTW trainees, forged additional strategic partnerships, amplified the #TechVocLangMalakas Youth Recruitment Strategy, and adopted the site-agnostic & location-specific recruitment and training. The project was able to produce significant accomplishments for Year 3 in support of its objectives. These include the following:
7,167 training positions committed by 14 partner companies (13 of whom are new)
18 strategic partnerships forged (17 new & 1 renewal)
116 mentors engaged for the FTW program
2,638 trainees placed in the FTW program where 1,565 are mid-program completers2 (MPCs) and 375 were transitioned to OJT or in-company training
200 trainees who graduated from the FTW program where 120 were absorbed for employment by partner companies
2,813,970 stakeholders reached by the IEC materials produced by the project
PHP 28,748,300.23 leverage from project partners which brought the total to PHP 167,785,907.96
Aside from the aforementioned accomplishments, the project also made significant impacts to improve the enabling environment for workforce development through policy and advocacy efforts both at the local and national levels. To name a few:
2 policy research projects undertaken with PIDS and TESDA on training and skilling landscape in the country, and profile of youth NEET in the Philippines.
1 policy research project with FEU Policy Center on career guidance and school-to-work transition
JobsNext Bill filed in the House of Representative and the Senate of the Philippines ● Continued support in reviewing/refining the Cagayan De Oro Local Employment Code which aims to promote employment opportunities for CDO residents by encouraging the private sector’s participation
GIA Council in Zamboanga institutionalized by virtue of City Ordinance No. 544
Though significant efforts translated into accomplishments, the project still faced roadblocks in achieving project performance targets. Out of the 13 project targets for Year 3, 30% or only 4 targets were achieved (see Annex B for details). Unmet targets were due to several factors, particularly, prolonged lockdowns in project sites, technological issues (i.e. Internet connection issues), trainee non-compliance to project requirements/conditions, Youth NEET’s limited access to and difficulty in securing valid/government-issued IDs, concerns on management of multiple partnerships per training program and cohort, and increase of training fees. In turn, these factors also affected the project’s fund utilization.
Out of the project’s PHP 66.77 million budget for Year 3, 76.21% was disbursed within the year, and the project was left with an unutilized budget allocation of PHP 15.88 million by the end of Year 3. Though the financial performance in Year 3 is relatively better than in Year 2 , the project was not able to reach its target of an 80% budget utilization rate. However, it is worthy to note that the project has generated PHP 8.49M of cost savings due to leverage and training subsidies from strategic partners.
Throughout the year, there were several employee turnovers due to various reasons but these were immediately resolved through the quick hiring for the vacant positions. By the end of the period covered, the fill rate or hiring productivity for YWPH is at 96%, or 28 out of 29 positions. The remaining one is the MEL specialist position, which was filled on 04 October 2021.
To ensure that the implementation of the project is at its highest performance, improvements were made in the project team’s structure and functions. The Youth Empowerment and Recruitment Manager (YERM) position was created. The MEL function was strengthened through the hiring of a Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning Assistant (MERLA), who was then promoted to an officer or MERLO.
To help improve the project’s programmatic and financial performance, this progress report identifies good practices, which shall be adopted in the subsequent years of implementation. Major lessons learned include the following: accommodation of Type 2 trainees, provision of accommodations during theoretical training and stay-in arrangements with partner companies during OJT, site-agnostic recruitment and training, and breaking down of communication barriers.
The next pages of this report consist of different segments: Section A generally describes the project; Section B presents updates on the project as COVID-19 continuously affects project implementation; Sections C and D show significant project milestones and how the project responds to challenges posed by the pandemic; Monitoring, Learning, and Evaluation updates can be found in Section E; Lessons learned, best practices, and ways of integrating the cross-cutting issues can be seen in Sections F and G respectively, and lastly; Sections I and H provide a preview of the project spending and leverage generated for Year 3.