# **4. Research Agenda**

This section proposes an ambitious research agenda on young women’s employment focused on key evidence gaps uncovered in the literature. Within this space of unanswered questions, GIL has developed a set of priorities for its research agenda. The agenda is organized by the previously outlined constraints to young women’s employment. For each constraint, we discuss both the research needed to better understand or document the severity of the constraints, as well as the research aimed at what works to address these constraints. There is significant overlap between the “understanding constraints” and “what works” agendas. Questions regarding the nature of the constraints often require the use of a variety of research methods, including inferential research using nationally representative data sources and qualitative or mixed methods approaches. Questions regarding what works are most suitably addressed using rigorous impact evaluations. In some cases, adding survey questions to existing impact evaluations can provide insights into the causal mechanisms at play. The section concludes with priorities for crosscutting issues such as scaling up and measurement.

# **4.1 Skills**

Given the mixed record of vocational and business skills training exhibited both internationally and in Africa, as well as the high cost of training relative to other interventions (such as cash transfers), researchers have started to question the continued investment in training programs in Africa. However, even the most ardent critics acknowledge that when training does have a positive impact, it is usually for women, particularly young adult women (Blattman and Ralston, 2015). Hence, before abandoning skills training entirely, more work is required to unpack which types of skills are most needed and by whom, as well as how skills can be more cost-effectively delivered.

The review of evidence in Section 3 shows that comprehensive programs that include skills training among other interventions have shown some success for young women in Africa. However, these programs leave open the question of how important skills are relative to other constraints, such as care, capital, networks and role models, in promoting young women’s employment. The next generation of impact evaluations needs to unbundle these comprehensive interventions to examine which interventions are the most effective and cost-effective, and in so doing, shed light on the fundamental question of which constraints are the most binding, and for whom.

**_Which types of skills?_** Understanding the relative importance of technical, business, and life skills in labor market success is at the forefront of the youth employment research agenda, and GIL’s work seeks to examine whether young men and women require different mixes of skills. The optimal package of skills can be investigated through impact evaluations that vary the combination and intensity of the three types of skills. An ongoing GIL evaluation of a girls’ empowerment program in Sierra Leone is testing the impact of offering life skills training alone versus in combination with vocational skills. Other GIL evaluations are testing the effectiveness of a pure life skills intervention for girls in Liberia, soft skills training as an alternative to internships in Togo, and the combination of internships and training vouchers in Togo. More such evaluations are needed to determine the most impactful and cost-effective combination of skills. Socio-emotional skills training in particular merits further investigation, both

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