Improve School-To-Work Transitions for TVET Trainees in Mombasa County, Kenya

Policy Context

Youth unemployment remains one of the most pressing development challenges in sub-Saharan Africa, where young people make up about 60 percent of the unemployed. In Kenya, this figure is even higher, at  approximately 67 percent, despite substantial investments in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), including the African Development Bank Support to TVET and Training for Relevant Skills Development Project (Phase II), which totaled roughly $53.82 million USD in the past decade. 

Evidence suggests that technical skills may not be sufficient to facilitate successful school-to-work transitions: weak job-search strategies, low self-efficacy, and limited persistence all shape whether trainees translate credentials into employment, and both job-application support and psychosocial support have shown independent effects. However, no study has tested whether combining the two produces effects larger than either alone  joint influence of these elements on school-to-work transitions. This pilot study examines whether integrating job-search skills training alongside psychosocial support inside existing TVET systems will strengthen labor market readiness among disadvantaged youth in Mombasa County, Kenya.

Study Design

The pilot will conduct a cluster-randomized evaluation at the TVET-class level across 8 to 12 classes, comprising 240 and 360 trainees in the final year of TVET training. Participants will be assigned to one of four arms: 1)  job search skills training-only, 2) psychosocial support-only, 3) both interventions combined, and 4) a comparison group receiving standard TVET training only.

The job-search component will train trainees to prepare resumes and cover letters, identify and target relevant job openings, and develop interview and networking skills over eight weeks. The psychosocial component, also of the same time frame will use structured group activities to strengthen self-efficacy, hope, and resilience through personal mastery, goal setting, and stress management activities. The research team administers baseline and follow-up surveys to all arms and evaluates the interventions’ impacts on employment quality, including employment status, earnings and job quality, and psychosocial outcomes. 

Results and Policy Lessons

Results forthcoming.