abstract: 'This paper assesses the impact of an integrated skills training program

  given to youth aged 17-25-year old living under the \$2/day poverty line

  in the cocoa belt region of Ghana. Despite being a leading producer of

  cocoa and having a burgeoning youth population, it is estimated that the

  average age of a cocoa farmer in Ghana is greater than 50 years. To

  introduce young people to cocoa farming and address the potential

  barriers they face in order to do that; a multi-faceted skills training

  programme was designed with the ultimate aim of improving and

  diversifying youth livelihoods. The training had three key components:

  i) cocoa academies (which includes agricultural practices; life skills

  and financial literacy); ii) business incubators (including

  entrepreneurial training, networks, mentoring) and iii) supporting

  enabling environment (access to land and finance). Combining

  quasi-experimental methods Propensity Score Matching with Difference in

  Differences, we estimate the causal effect of the programme on

  agricultural outcomes (farming, agricultural practices), financial

  behaviour outcomes (saving practices, mobile banking) and livelihood

  outcomes (employment, income, poverty likelihood) one year after the

  completion of training. The results of the impact evaluation suggest

  that compared to the control group (youth nonparticipants), youths who

  participated in the training adopt better agricultural practices (26

  percentage points (pp)), cultivate cocoa (24 pp), and are more likely to

  engage in farming (22 pp). We also find a 28.7\% increase in income in

  the last seven days and hours worked by 12.4\%. Youth also increase the

  use of banks for saving (16 pp), save using mobile money (6.7 pp), the

  use of Village Savings and Loan Associations (1.7 pp) and, in general,

  the use of mobile money for both sending and receiving transfers (10.6

  pp). The sex-disaggregated sub-sample analysis provides other valuable

  insights on the intervention.(c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.'
affiliation: 'Unnikrishnan, V (Corresponding Author), Univ Manchester, Global Dev
  Inst, Manchester, Lancs, England.

  Unnikrishnan, Vidhya, Univ Manchester, Global Dev Inst, Manchester, Lancs, England.

  Pinet, Melanie; Pasanen, Tiina, Overseas Dev Inst, London, England.

  Marc, Lukasz, World Bank, 1818 H St NW, Washington, DC 20433 USA.

  Boateng, Nathaniel Amoh, Solidaridad West Africa, Accra, Ghana.

  Boateng, Ethel Seiwaa, Participatory Dev Associates, Kumasi, Ghana.

  Atta-Mensah, Maya, Cornerstone Res, San Francisco, CA USA.

  Bridonneau, Sophie, Civil Serv Fast Stream, Cabinet Off, London, England.'
article-number: '105732'
author: Unnikrishnan, Vidhya and Pinet, Melanie and Marc, Lukasz and Boateng, Nathaniel
  Amoh and Boateng, Ethel Seiwaa and Pasanen, Tiina and Atta-Mensah, Maya and Bridonneau,
  Sophie
author-email: 'Vidhya.unnikrishnan@manchester.ac.uk

  m.pinet@odi.org.uk

  lmarc@worldbank.org

  nat@solidaridadnetwork.org

  t.pasanen@odi.org.uk

  bridonneau@faststream.civilservice.gov.uk'
author_list:
- family: Unnikrishnan
  given: Vidhya
- family: Pinet
  given: Melanie
- family: Marc
  given: Lukasz
- family: Boateng
  given: Nathaniel Amoh
- family: Boateng
  given: Ethel Seiwaa
- family: Pasanen
  given: Tiina
- family: Atta-Mensah
  given: Maya
- family: Bridonneau
  given: Sophie
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105732
earlyaccessdate: JAN 2022
eissn: 1873-5991
files: []
issn: 0305-750X
journal: WORLD DEVELOPMENT
keywords: Training; Youths; Impact; Quasi-experiment; Livelihood strategies
keywords-plus: EMPLOYMENT
language: English
month: MAR
number-of-cited-references: '44'
orcid-numbers: Amoh Boateng, Nathaniel/0000-0003-2320-8376
papis_id: 159241305c85672395721ccf3167d0b2
ref: Unnikrishnan2022impactintegrated
times-cited: '1'
title: 'Impact of an integrated youth skill training program on youth livelihoods:
  A case study of cocoa belt region in Ghana'
type: Article
unique-id: WOS:000806868400027
usage-count-last-180-days: '3'
usage-count-since-2013: '8'
volume: '151'
web-of-science-categories: Development Studies; Economics
year: '2022'