institutions, public and private providers, to skilled artisans offering apprenticeships. The second step, after the call for proposals, is for each T&E provider to complete a Rapid Market Assessment (RMA) outlining viable and potential employment opportunities.<sup>10</sup> The third step in the process is for the EF to evaluate submitted proposals according to preset criteria; the EF weighs the capacity and experience of each T&E provider, the market demand for the proposed trades being offered, and the proposed costs. Finally, the EF issues a contract to selected providers: the contract specifies the number of training courses (hereafter called “ _events_ ”) to be conducted and the number of individuals to be trained and employed in each event. The T&E providers are then free to recruit and select their own trainees for each of their training events, according to guidelines established by EF.

Table 1 provides the total number of T&E providers, number of training events, and number of trainees. Table 1 shows an increase of total number of program beneficiaries between 2010 and 2012. Training courses in technical skills vary across a wide range of trades ( _e.g.,_ incense stick rolling, carpentry, tailoring, welding and masonry). All females receive 40 hours of life skills training (beginning in 2011) and a subset of EF trainees receive a short course in basic business skills. In addition, each trainee is encouraged to complete a skills certification test offered by the National Skills Testing Board (NSTB).<sup>11</sup> Upon completion of the classroom-based training, the EF places emphasis on job placement services. EF verifies trainees’ employment status three months and six months after the completion of the training.<sup>12</sup> Upon verification, T&E providers receive an outcome-based payment from the EF that is higher for trainees who are employed. The outcome-based payment system creates strong incentives for the T&E providers to provide placement assistance and provides graduates with an opportunity to put their new skills to work immediately after the training. The EF emphasizes the placement of trainees into “gainful” employment in which they earn a minimum of 3,000 NRs (  40 USD) per month.<sup>13</sup> In 2010, the EF partnered with DFID and the World Bank’s Adolescent Girls Initiative to improve the EF’s reach and impact for young women aged 16 to 24. Training under this Adolescent Girls Employment Initiative (AGEI) proceeded in the same way as it did for other EF trainees, except that certain events had been flagged in advance as likely to attract female trainees. This was done in order to ensure that the EF reached adequate numbers of young women.<sup>14</sup> For the purpose of this evaluation, we designate all female participants aged 16 to 24 in EF-sponsored training courses as “AGEI”.

The Employment Fund struggled in 2010 to recruit young women to training events and in 2011 launched an enhanced communication and outreach strategy to recruit more female trainees.<sup>15</sup> In addition to the T&E

> 10 The RMA process is facilitated via EF-supported capacity building workshops.

> 11 In some cases, the Employment Fund has even cooperated with the NSTB to develop skills standards for tests in trades where no test existed.

> 12 The employment status of a sample of graduates is verified by EF field monitors three to six months after the completion of the training event.

> 13 The definition of “gainful” employment was increased in 2012 to 4,600 NRs (  60 USD). Throughout this report, we use the prevailing exchange rate during 2010 and 2011 of 75 NRS to 1 USD.

> 14 The T&E providers running these training events are not given hard quotas for how many AGEI trainees to reach, but any female trainees aged 16 to 24 that they do train are designated as “AGEI” trainees for accounting and monitoring purposes. Employment Fund records indicate that 4410 young women were reached over the three year initiative, as shown in Table 1, exceeding the target of 4375.

> 15 They reached only a bit more than half of their annual target of 1500.

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