The Learning Journey: From Awareness to Application

The Accelerator Lab designed a three-day immersive workshop to build these capabilities:

• Day 1 – Foundations: Teams learned the logic of portfolio approaches versus traditional programming. They practiced horizon scanning, identifying weak signals and emerging trends using STEEP-V frameworks.
• Day 2 – Application: Participants mapped risks and opportunities, then structured portfolios aligned with CPD priorities. They applied foresight tools like the Social Dynamics Iceberg Model to uncover root causes.
• Day 3 – Integration: Groups co-developed a roadmap for portfolio approach & foresight integration, complete with milestones, roles, and success indicators.

What emerged from the signals mapping?

• Economic: Youth unemployment and the informal sector’s expansion, digital infrastructure gaps, and financing constraints for MSMEs.
• Social: The Anglophone crisis and service delivery challenges, food insecurity, and GBV/SRH gaps.
• Environmental: Urban waste and plastic pollution, water scarcity, climate‑induced disasters, and infrastructure deficits.

Across responses, two critical risks for CPD design consistently ranked highest:

1. Youth unemployment & informal sector expansion
2. Infrastructure development gaps (especially for the energy transition)

From Insights to Action: Two Flagship Portfolios

The capacity-building process produced two transformative portfolios that respond to those top two identified risks:

1) Youth Employment Transformation

A. Strategic Statement – UNDP’s Role within the Cooperation Framework
UNDP will act as a convener and systems integrator with MINEFOP and MINEPAT to make the private sector the engine of decent youth employment. The role includes: (i) technical assistance on portfolio design and policy stress‑testing; (ii) crowding‑in finance and PPP facilitation for apprenticeships and first‑job schemes; (iii) institutionalizing labour‑market intelligence and career guidance; and (iv) embedding gender equality, inclusion, and digital M&E across the portfolio.

B. Programme Priorities & Desired Partnerships

• Programme priorities:
  • Align TVET and vocational curricula with market demand; establish national career guidance and labour‑market analytics.
  • Incentivize private sector job creation (apprenticeships, wage subsidies linked to retention, green/tech jobs).
  • Strengthen inter‑ministerial coordination and rural–urban service equity.
• Desired partnerships & roles:
  • Government: MINEFOP (lead on skills & employment), MINEPAT (economic policy/coordination), line ministries.
  • Private sector & chambers: employer councils, on‑the‑job training, co‑design of competency standards.
  • Universities/TVET & research: curriculum reform, tracer studies, foresight labs.
  • CSOs & youth networks: outreach, inclusion of women and vulnerable groups, community feedback.
  • IFIs/donors: blended finance for first‑job instruments and MSME growth.

C. Programme Management Components & Risk Management Framework

• Management components
  • Portfolio approach: integrated projects under a single results logic (skills → matching → job creation → enterprise growth).
  • Capacity building: training of trainers; set‑up of a national career guidance and labour‑market analysis function.
  • Stakeholder engagement: employer roundtables; youth advisory panels; quarterly portfolio reviews.
  • Innovation platforms: challenge funds for green/tech jobs; skills‑to‑work hackathons.
  • Data & learning loops: use market analytics and tracer data to iteratively rebalance interventions.
• Key risks & mitigations
  • Training–market mismatch: rolling curriculum updates; employer co‑assessment; modular micro‑credentials.
  • Weak coordination / resistance to change: multidisciplinary risk & MEL committees; policy stress‑testing; change‑management plans.
  • Unequal access (rural/urban): mobile training units; digital learning; location‑based quotas in incentive schemes.
  • Partner misalignment: MoUs with shared KPIs; portfolio governance board.

D. Desired M&E Framework

• Architecture (building on national system): INS + administrative systems; single digital platform with interoperability across ministries; GIS‑enabled service maps.
• Measurement focus:
  • Outcomes: youth employment/placement rate, retention at 6–12 months, earnings growth, % of green/tech jobs.
  • System shifts: % of TVET programmes co‑designed with employers; time‑to‑curriculum update; coverage of career guidance services.
  • Equity & inclusion: female youth placement; participation of vulnerable groups; rural access rates.
• Practices: quarterly CSO‑assisted data collection; employer satisfaction panels; public dashboards for transparency; learning briefs every two quarters to inform portfolio pivots.