Strengthening Rural Youth Development through Enterprise Programme (STRYDE)

Objective

To equip young people in rural areas with skills, training and mentoring to help secure job and entrepreneurship opportunities in high-potential agricultural value chains.

Overview and Main Activities

TechnoServe and The MasterCard Foundation partner to deliver the four-year STRYDE programme to help develop commercial agriculture and other rural business models that enable youth in Sub-Saharan Africa to think about farming and off-farm activities as a business proposition. The programme delivers a comprehensive package of services: skills training, job placement, business development, mentoring and access to capital. The programme rests on four main pillars:

1. Training and Aftercare Programme (12 months): A three-month training programme designed to develop life, entrepreneurship and career skills, followed by a nine-month follow-up programme that includes business mentorship and counselling from a youth trainer, employment linkages and linkage to financial institutions. Participants are trained in groups often building on existing youth structures.
2. Business Plan Competitions: Experiential business exercises and 14 programme -sponsored business plan competitions for youth – as part of the aftercare programme – who want to start or grow their own business. Winners receive awards that help fund their ventures. There is currently one BPC per cohort in Kenya and Uganda; the Rwandan government runs the BPCs in that country.
3. Job Fairs with local businesses: Designed to connect youth to apprenticeships, internships and create demand for programme graduates. Knowledge and networks in a range of agricultural and other sectors including dairy, coffee, cotton, horticulture, livestock and retail distribution are leveraged to identify jobs and promote hiring.
4. Disseminate Knowledge Across the Region: At biannual meetings across East Africa, stakeholder share learnings and best practices, and promote adoption of similar approaches with government ministries, agricultural producers, NGOs and other private businesses.

The programme is administered by TechnoServe and has country-level steering committees comprised of representatives from the private sector, government and donor communities that meet quarterly to review programme activities and attract new partners.

The programme is conducted in partnership with the US Department of Agriculture, US Agency for International Development and Rwanda’s Ministry of Youth and ICT; as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Uganda’s Vision Fund and Kenya’s Housing Finance Foundation.

Success Factors and Challenges

Most critical success factors:

• Private sector engagement: Business Plan Competition sponsorship, employment opportunities and technical skills development
• Significant support and engagement from Rwanda’s Ministry of Youth and ICT and district authorities
• Participatory training methodology using real life examples
• Exchange visits to learn and gain hands-on experience,
• Personalized mentorship and coaching for entrepreneurs
• Personal effectiveness training

Main challenges:

• Overcoming potential employers’ reluctance to hire and invest in youth
• Facilitating access to financing for youth
• Reluctance of financial service providers to develop loan products
• Lack of technical skills among youth
• Accommodating youth with different education levels within training groups
• Finding opportunities to for early school-leavers
• Providing sufficient aftercare and mentorship to the most vulnerable youth

Recommendations for Others

The aftercare component (particularly the first three months) is critical for success. There are now local-level BCPs in addition to regional/national competitions, resulting in greater participation among youth and local stakeholders, which are, taking over training, aftercare and other key functions. Group participation is key, since it facilitates access to finance and land. Furthermore, it is also important that participants engage in developing a business plan. Finally, partnering with employment agencies and vocational/technical organizations helps provide specialized skills training during the aftercare component.

Replicability and Scalability

How easily could other organizations implement this initiative?
Easy: This is a proven model that requires sufficient resources and an organization with experience and reach in rural communities.

How easily can this initiative be expanded to include a larger number of participants?
Easy: The model is easy to replicate with the requisite resources.

About the Organization

Website: www.mastercardfdn.org
Sector: Non-Profit
Size (number of employees): Up to 1,000
Headquarters: Toronto, Canada

For Further Engagement

Contact name: Chris Donohue
Contact position: Regional Programme Director (TechnoServe)
Email: [email protected]