PROTOCOL: Interventions to increase youth employment: An evidence and gap map

Area of Science:

• Social Sciences
• Development Studies
• Economics

Background:

• Youth unemployment is a significant global challenge.
• Evidence-based decision-making is crucial for effective youth employment interventions.
• Existing research on youth employment programs is fragmented and difficult to access.

Purpose of the Study:

• To create a comprehensive evidence and gap map (EGM) of global youth employment programs.
• To enhance the discoverability of impact evaluations and systematic reviews for decision-makers, development partners, and researchers.
• To support evidence-based decision-making in youth employment programming and policy, aligning with strategies like the Mastercard Foundation's 'Africa Works'.

Main Methods:

• Developing a classification framework for youth employment effectiveness studies.
• Conducting a standardized search strategy to identify and screen relevant impact evaluations and systematic reviews.
• Utilizing EPPI Reviewer 4 for study coding and EPPI mapper for creating a user-friendly, interactive EGM visualization.
• Analyzing coded data to produce a narrative report and disseminating findings through workshops and online platforms.

Main Results:

• The study aims to identify the nature and extent of the evidence base for youth employment programs worldwide.
• It will highlight clusters of evidence and assess the quality of available research.
• The resulting EGM will provide a clear overview of existing research, identifying both areas with substantial evidence and research gaps.

Conclusions:

• The youth employment EGM will serve as a vital resource for evidence-informed policy and programming.
• Improved accessibility to research findings will foster innovation and more effective youth employment initiatives.
• The project contributes to bridging the gap between research and practice in the field of youth employment.