Dual-Client (Labor Market & Youth) Assessment for Kachin and Rakhine

Description of Project:

With a long history of inter-communal tensions, Myanmar’s Rakhine and Kachin States have witnessed periods of unrest and devastating conflicts, and large scale displacement. As a result, adolescents and young people are particularly vulnerable and do not have access to livelihood opportunities to improve their communities and quality of life.  Social restrictions and cultural norms in turn often impact girls and young women’s rights and access to livelihood opportunities

Even when women find formal work, they undertake statistically lower paying jobs or are involved in more seasonal work than men. Women are in other words left out of the formal labour market and engaged with unpaid family care and community work. Responding to the complex situation and the need for sustainable livelihoods, Plan International seeks to conduct a dual-client assessment to understand labor market opportunities for, as well as interests of, adolescents and young people and which skills development and livelihood interventions are most appropriate for enabling sustainable income generation opportunities for them in target areas.

Description of Actual Services Provided:

1)      Adolescent and Youth Population demographic mapping and profiling: Determining the number of adolescents and young people (10-30 years of age) who are employed or NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) on the national level and by state and region especially for Plan’s target areas, then identifying the specific conditions with regard to: (i) Occupational status and income, reasons for work, main sources of, means of remuneration and who controls earnings; (ii) Education level achieved and reasons for no longer attending; (iii) Level of participation in household chores and domestic responsibilities; (iv)Living conditions; (v) Preferred means of livelihood: wage or self-employment, professional aspiration; (vi) Preferred skills training that they believe would increase their employment opportunities; (vii) Constraints to accessing skills training and employment opportunities; (viii) What kind of support networks or focal points/mentors exists for youth to address or overcome problems they encounter with employers, coaches, teachers; and (ix) Typical male and female jobs in the area and opportunities to empower and open new opportunities for young women.

2)      Mapping of Training, Employment, and Business Development Services (BDS) providers: Identifying the agencies (government, INGOs and private sector) that are directly implementing or supporting (technical and financial) programs / projects and policies in the fields of skills training, enterprise/business development, and employment for adults and young people in the target locations. Providing a description of the programs, projects, policies. Identifying agencies and entities, public or private supporting business development or entrepreneurship through trainings, coaching, loans, and provision of facilities. Background-checking agencies for ties with human trafficking networks or exploitative practices (in particular in Kachin for businesses with ties to China)

3)      Assessment of status and functionality of Labor Markets: Identifying the different sector markets within the target locations and their status and functionality, focus (1) an analysis of the size of markets, volume of sales, market integration/segmentation; (2) local market structure and enabling environment; (3) market actors; (4) market requirements and prices, wage rates and employment conditions; (5) employment or entrepreneurial opportunities for them with minimal skills and experience. Also identifying gaps in the current markets and opportunities for new markets through last mile distribution, linking to neighboring markets or other.

4)      Recommendations for Plan International: Identifying suitable livelihood sectors and associated vocational training modules, business support interventions and other livelihood support that lead to sustainable employment opportunities within these livelihood sectors; Identifying the major constraints facing vocational training providers, job-seekers and potential entrepreneurs and providing an understanding where potential growth, and the uptake jobs growth is most likely to occur; Providing recommendations on how youth centers can support target young people to increase their employability and provide linkages to sustainable job opportunities; and Improving overall situations of adolescents and youth in target areas with recommended services; including opportunities for young women to break-out of traditional job roles.

Mekong Economics