NIGERIA

Impact of IT Training on Youth Employment

Mr. Y.S. Labaran, Mr. F.O. Bajowa, Mr. Hamza Bello, Mrs. Yemisi Joel-

Osebor

Nigeria needs more jobs

Nigeria needs more jobs, especially among the young population 1 in 10 new entrants to labor force find

formal sector jobs 30% of workforce inactive Less than 9% formal employment 50% of 15-24 year olds unemployed

TitleINTERVENTION DESCRIPTIONWhat is the intervention?

Intervention: IT training for secondary school

graduates to work in offshore call centers.

Motivation:1. Business processing outsourcing (BPO)

industry growing 25-30% a year2. India receives same amount per year

($50 Billion) from IT-enabled services as Nigeria does from oil

3. Building IT infrastructure is large part of GEMs project

Intervention is part of a larger project GEMS (Growth & Employment in States)

Construction and real estate Meat and leather ICT

Broadband connectivity Management and vocational skills Access to finance ICT parks

TitleEVALUATION QUESTIONSEvaluation questions of

interest Can IT training of youth facilitate their

employment and improve their earnings?

What do they do with any increased earnings?

What effects does this have within the household? Does this make youth financially independent from their

parents? Does it change transfers and borrowing behavior? Does it change their activities during leisure time?

Does the impact differ by gender?

TitleEVALUATION DESIGN

More background

Accreditation of IT training centres is a part of the GEMS project 6 centres expected to be accredited very

soon Each center can accommodate

approximately 300 students per year 18 week course

Ultimate goal: Up to 100,000 students trained

Trying to train 100,000wae

TitleEVALUATION DESIGN

Evaluation design

3 options:1. Pure lottery after meeting basic eligibility

criteria secondary school graduate proficiency in English willingness to pay $500 fee, $250 returned

upon successful graduation Also need to experiment with subsidies to see if

the fees exclude too many poor, high-potential people.

to train ,000wae

Evaluation design

2. Regression discontinuity design: Centers administer an aptitude test and set a cut-off mark. Everyone above cut-off gets the training. Compare those just to the left of the cut-off mark to those just to the right.

Blue line: Cut-off mark

Evaluation design

2. Regression discontinuity design: This depends on how many students fall within the brackets. If there are too few students………

Blue line: Cut-off mark

Evaluation design

3. Lottery above cut-off mark: randomly choose students who score above the cut-off mark. Those not chosen get a slot in the following year.

Blue line: Cut-off mark

Random selection among applicants

above cut-off

TitleSAMPLING AND DATA

Data and sampling

Data Online survey of all applicants in both

treatment and comparison groups Sample among all of these for a face-to-face

survey Aiming to interview 1,000 treated and 1,000

comparison students across 6 training centres by end of 1 year of training. 2,000 interviewed by web survey (with voucher as

compensation) 1,000 interviewed in household

TitleTIMELINE FOR IMPACT EVALUATION

Timeline

Need to wait for centres to be accredited and for them to finish training a few batches This should be finished byAugust 2010

1. Advertising and recruitment of applicants [2 months]

2. (Aptitude test)

3. Baseline surveys [1 month; could happen at registration]

4. Random assignment (if necessary)

5. Announcement of selection

6. Training [18 weeks per stream]

7. Endline surveys [6 months after end of program]

TitleIMPACT EVALUATION TEAM: STAFFINGStaffing

Main project coordinator Make sure initial recruitment and screening occurs Main liaison with training centres Conduct lottery (if necessary) Ensure correct treatment assignment Could be firm or individual depending on number

of applicants Researcher to design surveys Data collection firm Data collection supervisor (M & E

specialist) Arianna Legovini to work with M & E

team to analyze data in Lagos in July/August 2011

TitleBUDGET

Budget

Accreditation: Waiting for bids…Approximately $250,000

Data collection: Household surveys: $200,000 Web-based survey: $20,000 Compensation for web-based survey: $10,000

Staffing: Mostly covered under budget for PIU