outcomes such increased access to savings, greater cognitive skills, and better personality traits such as decision‐making ability and grit. The study adopts the STEP skills measurement methodology<sup>5</sup> to estimate the use of cognitive skills (such as the use of reading and writing skills at work), computers, and job‐related interpersonal skills such as contact with clients, solving problems, and learning at work. It also uses the STEP methodology’s big‐five taxonomy of personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability). Although it is not shown in this paper, the evaluation found that the program had no significant effects on the use of cognitive skills as measured by STEP or on improving personality traits.<sup>6</sup> The theory of change behind this study is that providing job‐relevant technical and life skills combined with hands‐on experience in private sector firms increases the likelihood that unemployed youths will be retained by their internship employers, will find a job in an established firm not owned by their families (wage employment), or will start their own new business (self‐ employment). There are four possible ways in which the KYEP program may help to make participants more employable. First, the core business training, sector‐specific training, and internships teach youth new technical and job‐relevant skills, thus increasing their supply of technical skills and of work experience (tenure). Second, the entrepreneurship training and actual work experience with craft‐men equip youths with the financial education and core business knowledge to start up a new business (assuming capital constraints are not binding). Third, the life skills training teaches them better job search strategies (by helping them to prepare their CVs, to prepare for interviews, and access job vacancy notices) and also appropriate behavioral attitudes in the workplace. Fourth, the certification that participants receive for completing the KYEP training and internship program may act as a signal for employers that these young people possess certain sector‐specific and core business skills.

The study assumes that the classroom‐based technical training, the life skills training, and the workplace experience are all of sufficient quality, relevance, and length to enable participants to actually acquire new or consolidated skills. The study also rests on the assumption that employers are willing to retain interns if they perform well during the internship and on the existence of a private sector labor market that is able to absorb these skilled youths.

# **IV. Data Collection**

Ipsos‐Synovate, a global market research firm, carried out a face‐to‐face baseline survey of the program participants after they had been randomly assigned to the three groups (T1, T2, and control) in July and August 2012. This baseline survey collected information on the participants’ educational backgrounds, employment and self‐employment history, saving behavior, whether they had already participated in other training or internship programs, their household composition, health status, and any unintended pregnancies or risky behavior such as drug or alcohol consumption. It also included a module measuring their cognitive skills, skills at work, and non‐ cognitive skills (adapted from the World Bank’s STEP measurement survey instrument), as well as a detailed tracking module including contact information for their parents and their close social network to minimize attrition. A face‐to‐face endline survey was administered between November and December 2013 approximately seven months after the internships had been completed, using smart phones (LG E400) to enter data. The survey instrument was configured on a smart phone and

> 5http://microdata.worldbank.org/index.php/catalog/step/about.

> 6In addition, personality traits are not found to serve as good predictor of employment.

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