A multi-country evaluation of World Vision Youth Ready curriculum

Before COVID, 60% of Latin Americans aged 15–29 were outside the school system, and one in five neither studied nor worked. Violence/gangs, poverty, gender-based violence, and discriminatory gender norms result in socio-emotional development challenges, depriving youth from reaching their full potential as educated, skilled, and productive citizens. In response to this, World Vision (WV) has pioneered Youth Ready (YR), a holistic multi-sectoral curriculum integrating social-emotional learning with second chance literacy and life-skills training to facilitate youth empowerment and citizenship education in the Latin/Caribbean regions.

The program, guided by the Positive Youth Development (PYD) theoretical framework, targets vulnerable in and out-of-school youth who are unemployed, functionally illiterate, and at risk of violence. The PYD actively engages youth in building assets, agency, contribution, and enabling environment as vital to accessing education, employment, and entrepreneurship opportunities.

COVID-19 affected the implementation of YR, requiring innovative methods of reaching participants with alternative pedagogical approaches like integration of social media, and blended face-to-face/ virtual learning platforms. In April 2021, an independent comparative mixed-method evaluation across seven countries using the OECD criteria (Relevance, Coherence, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Impact, Sustainability) assessed the impact of YR delivery approaches. The results indicated that, even when adapted, YR made significant contributions to youth skill training and was highly effective.

Of the 1018 sample, four out of every five youth said it contributed to holistic skills development, was accessible, promoted a safe and gender-sensitive environment, and built collaborative relationships. The approach was 96% effectively developed social and communication skills including critical thinking and recognizing emotions. However, internet/technology challenges, such as lack of access and high associated costs, meant that some adaptations were more effective than others.

The study documented success factors and challenges to guide future scale-up in other regions such as East and West Africa, using a blended curriculum delivery model that integrates emotional learning with literacy and life-skills training for at-risk youth.