Improving Economies for Stronger Communities (IESC)
2000 M Street NW
Suite 250
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: 202-589-2600
Email: iesc@iesc.org
Get Updates
Get the latest news from IESC, delivered straight to your inbox.
YouLead
For Students
YouLead improves career counseling in Sri Lanka to make it more in line with the market, so that young people have in-demand jobs and skills. YouLead ensures that high-quality, market-oriented career counseling is equally available to groups that have historically been left out of these services, including rural youth, girls and young women, and ethnic minorities.
For Teachers and Institutions
Working closely with key government ministries and private and public training institutes, YouLead takes a market-driven approach to designing and improving educational and vocational training curriculum and helps develop master trainers and counselors.
Follow Our Work
- In collaboration with the Sri Lankan Tourism Skills Committee, YouLead developed “Tourism Workforce Competitiveness Roadmap 2018-2023” which charts out the critical and practical measures the tourism sector in Sri Lanka must undertake to support youth employment and enhance the sector’s contribution to the country’s economic growth. The full report can be found here.
- The Youth Labour Market Assessment of 2018 builds on the primary research undertaken by YouLead and partner Verité Research. The assessment presents the key findings and recommendations that are pertinent to the private sector, the donor community and TVET training providers on the factors contributing to a youth skills gap vs. workforce requirements in Sri Lanka. The full assessment can be found here.
Entrepreneurship Curricula
You can find the individual books by clicking on each link below:
Trainee Workbook 1
Trainee Workbook 2
Trainee Workbook 3
Trainee Workbook 4
Trainer Guide 1
Trainer Guide 2
Trainer Guide 3
Trainer Guide 4
Skilled and Resilient Migrant Workers Project (SRMW)
Funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), IESC implemented the $1.5 million Skilled and Resilient Migrant Workers Project (SRMW). SRMW was designed to make overseas employment safer and more rewarding by providing better occupational information and by increasing the skill levels of Sri Lankans going abroad for work. It helped reintegrate returning workers by assessing their capabilities and linking them to employment and entrepreneurship opportunities in Sri Lanka. With more than 50,000 migrant workers returning to Sri Lanka due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the SRMW project came at a very critical time as many returnees have very few employment prospects. To deliver support to Sri Lankan migrant workers and civil society organizations working with migrants, SRMW leveraged the counseling, vocational skills development, and entrepreneurship support mechanisms built by YouLead. A summary of IESC’s impact through SRMW follows:
- One of IESC’s most notable achievements under SRMW was the development of curricula on Occupational Career Guidance (OCG) and Post Return Career Guidance (PRCG). These modules empower prospective migrant workers with insights into skilled labor opportunities and support the sustainable economic reintegration of returned migrant workers into the Sri Lankan labor market.
- In 2023, IESC established the first pilot Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) Information Center, which will help facilitate skilled migration. The center is already serving as a pivotal space for conducting National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) assessments, strengthening opportunities for prospective or returned migrant workers to receive formal certification for technical skills.
- 15,070 aspiring and returned migrant workers were provided with OCG and PRCG in priority districts.
Tourism Resilience in Sri Lanka
Funded by the European Union (EU) and USAID, the Tourism Resilience Project is supporting the recovery and resilience of Sri Lanka’s tourism industry. To build a sustainable, innovative, and resilient tourism ecosystem, the project is (1) retaining jobs and small businesses through the provision of small grants and technical assistance; (2) supporting sustainability and innovation through the development of new and diversified tourism products; and (3) building small and medium enterprises that are aligned to those tourism products and better able to compete in the changing tourism landscape. The Tourism Resilience Project works in coordination with YouLead to contribute to the overarching goals of employment and enterprise development. See the project’s website here: https://www.thepekoetrailsrilanka.com/
Recent News:
“Serendipity Trails”: SLTDA, EU & USAID kick off first long-distance walking trail
Summary
YouLead improves technical and vocational education and training and increases the employability of young people in Sri Lanka. YouLead creates a more skilled and flexible workforce through activities that support and strengthen students, teachers, and institutions. Please read our most recent newsletter here.
Key Results Achieved to Date
To date, YouLead has achieved the following results:
- 29,242 young Sri Lankans with new or better jobs
- 32,249 youth completed project-assisted workforce development programs
- 77,359 youth received career and occupational guidance and counseling services
- 800 new businesses set up
- 31,985 youth trained in social or leadership skills through project-assisted programs
- 1,892 career /occupational guidance practitioners trained to better match students to careers
- 76 technical curricula designed or improved
- 1,866 trainers receiving training by YouLead
Funder: USAID
Project Duration: 2017-2024
Award: $18 million
Partners
Global Communities, American Chamber of Commerce, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Skills for Life, Verité Research
Resources
Business Start-up Training Programme – Trainer Guides 1-4 – English
Business Start-up Training Programme – Trainee Workbooks 1-4 – English
Publications
YouLead Impact Bulletin – Volume 3 Issue 4 – December 2023
YouLead Impact Bulletin – July 2023
YouLead Impact Bulletin – April 2023
YouLead Impact Bulletin – January 2023
YouLead Impact Bulletin – October 2022
YouLead Impact Bulletin – July 2022
YouLead Impact Bulletin – May 2022
YouLead Impact Bulletin – February 2022
YouLead Impact Bulletin – September 2021
YouLead Impact Bulletin – June 2021
YouLead Impact Bulletin – April 2021
Sri Lanka Youth Labour Market Assessment
Improving Youth Employment & Entrepreneurship in Sri Lanka: Insights and Strategies
YouLead in the News
USAID YouLead and Isobar Sri Lanka launch media campaign to empower and inspire youth
USAID-Funded YouLead! Programme Holds First Leadership Forum
Impact