Local Employment for African Development (LEAD phase II): Synthesis Study of Mid-Term Evaluation Reports
This report is a synthesis of Mid-Term evaluations carried out for the LEAD II program for youth employment (2020-2024). LEAD is implemented by four NGO-consortia led by SOS, Oxfam, Hivos and SPARK in Somalia, Nigeria, Mali, Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia. The program aims to strengthen the SME ecosystem, enhance employability of youth, create new jobs and stimulate youth entrepreneurship.
This LEAD II synthesis study was commissioned by the NL MFA Department for Sustainable Economic Development (DDE) and was conducted by external evaluator MDF. The goal of the study is to draw conclusions and lessons learned that can be used for informing future policy and programming on Youth Employment. The synthesis also looks at comparisons with the ILO Systemic Review on youth employment. LEAD II is the final phase of the LEAD program. The synthesis study will therefore not be used in preparation of a next phase. Aside from informing future policy and programming, conclusions will be used as input for an ex-post evaluation of LEAD in 2025 focusing on impact and sustainability.