Practical vocational training helps young people enter professional life (YEP) 

The goal of the project is to reduce the high rate of youth unemployment in Nepal. Beneficiaries gain access to market-oriented, high-quality vocational training courses. This increases their chances of sustained successful integration into the professional world. As employees or self-employed professionals, they earn a living and improve their life situation.


One of Nepal’s greatest challenges is the high youth unemployment. One reason for this is the lack of adequate vocational training opportunities. Although the private sector is increasingly aware of the importance of well-trained professionals, it is reluctant to invest sufficiently in their qualification. Many young people cannot afford vocational training.

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sindhuli, Nepal
27.2568824
85.971322
Project duration
2017 - 2020

The project

The project provides young people in Nepal’s Terai region with vocational training and supports them in entering the professional world. The courses are geared to the local employment market and form a key part of the vocational training system in the project regions. The project’s active labour market activities improve the young peoples’ chances of finding a job or becoming self-employed and increasing their income.

The training courses are broken down into modules which can be taken independently of each other. This takes account of the different educational levels of the young participants.

Furthermore, Swisscontact contributes to the social cohesion of the ethnically highly heterogeneous population of south-east Nepal and promotes an entrepreneurial mindset among young migrants who return to their home regions.

Project Goals

The project aims to improve the livelihood of 2 310 young Nepali women and men from the southern rural districts Sarlahi, Mahottari, Sindhuli, Morang, Sunsari and Dhakuta through entrepreneurship promotion, skills development, and skills enhancement activities. It will achieve this by capacity building of local NGOs and private institutions, enabling them to provide a range of technical skills and entrepreneurship training. The project works in three areas:

  1. Entrepreneurship promotion: 400 youths, including returning migrants, attend entrepreneurship training of which 240 (60% of trainees) set up a small business and practice a profession that secures their livelihood.
  2. Skills development: 2 500 unemployed youth benefit from market-oriented high-quality theoretical and practical training. 1 750 (70% of trainees) find a salaried job or become self-employed and contribute substantially to their family income after completing the skills development training.
  3. Skills enhancement: 400 working youths enhance their skills in theoretical and practical training. 320 (80% of trainees) increase their income by 50% compared to before the training.

Project partner

  • Micro, small and medium enterprises
  • Educational institutes
  • Financial institutions
  • Local radio stations

Results

  • A total of 2 898 young men and women completed an entrepreneurship, skills development or skills enhancement training.
  • 200 entrepreneurship training graduates set up a small business and practice a profession that secures their livelihood.
  • 1 962 skills development training graduates found a job or became self-employed and contribute substantially to their family income.
  • 242 further-trained young adults increased their income by at least 50%.
  • The total cumulative income increase amounts to over CHF 4 800 000.

Financing partners

In 2020, the Youth Employment project was financed by the City of Zurich, the Happel Foundation, the Symphasis Foundation, the Tibetania Foundation, and was part of the Swisscontact Development Programme, which is co-financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA.

News

Nepal
Labour market insertion, Continuing Vocational Education and Training
24.12.2020
Youth Employment Project Closure and Experience Sharing Program 
The Youth Employment Project (YEP) conducted a farewell and an experience sharing program for its implementing partners (IPs) on 18th December 2020, at Greenwich Hotel, Kathmandu. YEP phase-II will conclude on 31st December 2020, after four years of operation in Nepal.
Nepal
14.02.2019
Training of Trainers (ToT) conducted for Skills Development trainers
A five-day Training of Trainers (ToT) programme was conducted for new Skills Development (IA2) trainers from January 28th to February 3rd, 2019 at the Training Institute for Technical Instruction (TITI) in Bhaktapur. The training included 23 participants from different trades including 9 women, who came from eight different implementing partners...
Nepal
22.01.2019
In the Land of Summits, Gods and Contradictions
This year members of the Foundation Council took a trip to the highest country in the Himalayas