Service Provider

Somali youth Volunteers Association (SOYVA)

Reporting Period

From:

To:

22^nd Oct,

14th Dec,2023

Area of intervention

Region/s

District/s

South west state of Somalia

Baidoa

Planned activity

Status

Actions / Recommendations:

Activity 1:

Participant mobilization and pre- engagement

Completed

Participant’s engagement and mobilization for the training program was carried out in order to collect data and have prior knowledge of the participants. SOYVA in collaboration with the MOYS mobilized 550 young people to introduce to them the types of training to be offered at Baidoa Youth Hub. This engagement process was also aimed to determine the participant’s level of education, gender, age, IDPs, PWDs, minority and marginalized groups beforehand. This activity enhanced inclusivity and to helped orient the youth

about the new opportunities that can be tapped at Baidoa Youth

Hub. During the exercise, the participants were taken around the center facilities in order for them to contextualize the services provided at the center.

Action points for the engagement plan

✓     To determine the level of education and the courses they are interested in.

✓     To get the clear picture and identify the priorities as well as

the need of the participants

✓     To identify the participant demographic data on age, sex, PWDs, IDPs

✓     To identify the number of marginalized and minority groups

The mobilization and participants engagement event achieved the following actions:

1.        It enabled collection of the necessary data for the trainings

2.        It provided a platform for interactions and socialization among the young peoples as well as trainers and SOYVA volunteers prior to the actual trainings helping us tackle community expectation beforehand.

3.        It provided an opportunity for the various youth who were engaged in the process to learn about the Baidoa Youth Hub as a safe space that is open to all the youth in South west state to empower themselves. They can use it as a meeting place, use the recreation facilities at discounted rate, use freely the library for their research and also utilize the cafeteria.

4.        The pre-engagement exercise created awareness among the youth on the existence of youth facilities that are equal to all whether young girls, boys, IDPs, PWDs, minority and marginalized community.

Activity 2:

Training on Numeracy, Literacy, Basic Computer and Life skills

Completed

The Training on Numeracy, Literacy, Basic Computer and Life skills training courses targeted 300 youth in South West State of Somalia. The course for the first week targeted 100 young men and women which were taken through integrated trainings on life-skills, numeracy, literacy and basic computer skills. The 100 participants were divided into 50 per classroom to enhance the facilitator and participant’s ratio for effective lesson delivery and class management. This was followed by the second week of the training where a different but same number of the participants were engaged to undertake the same course. The third week of the training also targeted another 100 participants that benefitted from life skills and peace building training.

The facilitators provided a brief background on the nature of Somali Youth and the lack of formal education that rendered mass number of youth illiterate or semi-literate. The facilitators noted that youth in Somalia were trapped in decades of civil strife without an effective central government. The collapse of central government had negatively impacted youthful generation through multiple social, economic and political exclusions. These exclusions limited the capabilities and opportunities of youth in the contributing to peace building and development. It also inhibited the natural energy and enthusiasm of youth, and systematically hindered their potential for positive advancement. Majority of young population were left

without quality education and ended up in violent extremism. On the other hand, young women were married off in tender ages and become house wives without any sources of income.

Others were forced to take up traditional occupations due to entrenched traditional gender roles which translated into huge number of unemployed young people who otherwise could have attended schools and acquire skills and education that could raise their future productivity and potential earnings.

Therefore, this literacy, numeracy and computer courses integrated with life skills/peace building were designed to help learners in acquiring basic mathematical operations and build the fundamental language skills of reading, writing, speaking, and listening, as well as impart computer and digital skills which are all critical in developing and empowering youth with the contemporary skills to fit into the competitive world. On the other side, the life skills come in handy to equip the learners with interpersonal skills, gain peace building, communication, organizational skills of career development, problem solving, mediation and conflict resolution skills as well as knowledge about sex, sexuality and reproductive health.

Action points for the numeracy courses:

✓     Numbers, Whole Numbers and Fractions

✓     Basic Mathematical operations: Additions & Subtractions

✓     Basic Mathematical operations: Multiplication & Division

✓     Introduction to percentages

✓     Counting and Decimals

✓     Measurements- Inch, Metre, Centimeters and feats

Action points for Literacy and computer skills

✓     Literacy Skills: Alphabets, Basic writing and Reading

✓     Literacy Skills: Speaking and Listening

✓     Introduction to computer parts and functions.

✓     Internet and other Digital devices.

Activity 3

All participants were trained on Life skills that included peace building and soft skills. This course was implemented as an integrated course into all other training packages and therefore a total of 550 persons benefitted.

The course covered peace building component that included peace building principles and framework, peace building skills, conflict management and resolution, youth political participation, life-skills (such as: listening and problem solving), negotiations and effective communications skills.

The Soft skills component included career assessment, job searching, CVs development and interviews, planning and organizational skills, self-confidence, interpersonal skills, team work,

problem solving and reproductive health.

Life skills and peace building

Completed

Activity 4

BDS and Life Skills Training

Completed

The Training on Business Development Service (BDS) integrated with Life skills courses aimed at targeting 200 youth some of whom are running small medium businesses in South West State of Somalia and some looking forward to starting business.

The participants were taken through the integrated trainings by the facilitators. The main purpose of the training was to provide opportunity for them to realize their full potential in entrepreneurship and business operation.

Action Points for the BDS Training

1.        Definition of entrepreneurship

✓     Entrepreneur and qualities of an entrepreneur

✓     Business skills

✓     Pillars of entrepreneurship success

✓     An idea and market

✓     Resources

✓     characteristics of successful businesspersons

✓     Benefits of entrepreneurship

✓     Understanding business process

2.        Record keeping.

✓     Definition of record keeping

✓     Reasons for record keeping and Importance of bookkeeping to a business

✓     Disadvantages of not keeping records or

keeping poor records

3.        Financial Literacy and accounting skills

✓     How to determine cost

✓     Ways of effective planning

✓     Controls of business operations

✓     Evaluation of business activities

✓     Measure profitability of products

✓     For strategic and actual decision making

✓     External reporting through financial statements

✓     The records that should be kept including Cash Book, Inventory Record, Receipt book, Stock book, Daily sale record, Ledger

4.        Cost / benefit analysis and profit calculation

✓     Ways that Money come into your Business

✓     Difference between income and expenditure

✓     Ways that Money goes out of your Business?

✓     Differences between profit and loss and how to determine them.

✓     Definition of costing and its importance

✓     Types of costs

✓     Product Pricing

✓     Profit sharing and financial agreements

✓     Allocating Profits and Losses

5.        Market and Marketing

✓     Definition market and marketing

✓     Customers

✓     Competition

✓     The marketing mix

✓     Buyers Identification

✓     Business plan and Checklist for business plan

✓     Infrastructure

✓     Financial analysis

✓     Internal and external problems or constraints that affect business start-up that youth need to prepare their mind to overcome

✓     Generation and introduction to Voluntary

Savings and Loaning Association (VSLs)

Activity 5:

Capacity     Building Organizations

of

Youth

Completed

The capacity building training targeted 50 youth from various youth networks in South west state of Somalia drawn from 25 youth networks.

The training was preceded by development of participants selection

criteria which was guided by:

✓     Gender inclusivity

✓     Youth organizations

✓     Women organizations

✓     PWDS Org.

✓     Minority Group

✓     South west civil society umbrella

✓     Human right Org.

✓     Peace development org.

✓     Students Unions/Activists

✓     Youth activists

✓     Youth research org.

✓     Policy and electoral org.

The main purpose of this training was to engage Youth Networks in South-West State of Somalia reinforce collaboration and synergize advocacy work as well as enhance their operational capacities, Accountability mechanisms and capacities to manage partnerships and programme, Leadership skills, community mobilization, volunteerism and self-help schemes.

The training incorporated the capacity building courses and the life skills as well as aspects of strategies for youth and women political participation, decision making, gender priorities in implementation of local services, youth advocacy and youth-led development and Urban Youth Centre management training and strategies.

Action points

1.        Financial Management

✓     Definition of Financial Management

✓     Basic Principles of Financial Management

✓     Financial management structure and roles

✓     Financial management cycle

✓     Procurement

✓     Purchasing goods or services

✓     Paying for utilities

✓     Financial Policies and Procedures Manual

✓     Budget monitoring reports

2.        Monitoring, Evaluation, and Reporting (MER)

✓     Definition of monitoring, evaluation and reporting

✓     The importance of monitoring, evaluating, and reporting

✓     The information circles

✓     How MER provides data for decision making

✓     Building your organization’s MER system and why it’s useful

✓     Developing a successful MER plan for your

organization

✓     How often data will be collected?

✓     Sources of data

✓     Data collection team and analysis report

3.        Resource Mobilization and Sustainability

✓     Developing a resource mobilization plan

✓     Preparing for fundraising

✓     Fundraising research

✓     Business ventures

✓     Sustainability

4.        Governance and Management

✓     Examples of governance issues

✓     Examples of management issues

✓     Differences       between         governance       and management

✓     Components of governance and management

✓     Importance of governance and management

✓     How to avoid board/management role confusion

✓     How     to     make     the     board     chair/director relationship work

✓     Establishing accountability systems and why do

organizations need accountability.

✓     What are the problems that an organization might face when trying to be accountable?

✓     Way that The Board can fulfill its responsibility of

accountability

5.        Human Resource Management

✓     Hiring

✓      Compensation

✓      Record-keeping

✓      Supervision and performance management

Participant s’ personal stories and Lessons Learnt for Capacity Building trainings

1.        Participants’ personal stories and Lessons Learnt for Literacy and Numeracy/life skills

Participants were indulged to share their knowledge and personal experiences that would inspire fellow young people. The following questions were asked:

a.)      What is your personal experience in your journey to acquire education as a youth?

b.)      What kind of services/courses would you prefer to be offered at Baidoa Youth Hub?

c.)      Do you think this training has captured all the necessary areas that you are interested?

d.)      What are some of the informal youth education found in South west?

e.)      What are the roles of young men and women in peace building in South west?

Mr. Ismail Ali Abdi who is from Waberi IDP and Mrs. Safiyo Ibrahim from Howl-Wadag shared their views with the participants on the above questions. They thanked SOYVA, UNHABITAT and Ministry for Youth and Sports for providing such crucial platforms for the youth to acquire knowledge on matters of literacy, numeracy and peace building & life skills. They said that this is very unique platforms as it provides the youth with the Educational insight and exposure for the youth specially those living in IDPs and those who have been left out of formal education. They highlighted the following key points to the questions asked

a) Mr. Ismail said, “I faced several obstacles during my childhood to acquire education as there existed no school in my area of locality and even surrounding villages. Only Quranic learning centers existed and this dimmed my dream of becoming a doctor. Farming was the available option for me and I engaged in this activity by helping my parents. However, my family was displaced by clan militia wars and I ended up in Waberi refugee camp together with my mother and six other siblings. in the camp life, people struggle for survival due to poor hygiene conditions and limited spaces and self-care was the last thing on my mind. I am grateful to SOYVA and other partners who provided this training specially on the life skills as we have learned on how to keep basic hygiene by washing our hands with soap every time and also managing our emotions and stresses as well as relationships. This has taught me how to be more self-aware and take care of myself. I will share this knowledge with my siblings and other adults in my camp’’

Mrs. Safiyo narrated similar story but this time outside camp life. Mr. Safiyo lives in How-Wadag in South west as a young woman who runs her own small kiosk. She appreciated the training especially on numeracy and

literacy which imparted on her knowledge of basic operations of numbers and also writing skills. She added that the basic operations of addition, subtractions and writing skills are very useful in running her small business. She requested for more training time to do practice and apply the knowledge she learned.

In response question b, Mr. Ismail and Mr. Safiya both preferred an intensive course on literacy and numeracy as well as life skills in order to gain skills that can help them improve their life. They also highlighted the need for other additional courses like electronic and mobile phone repair, tailoring, arts and paintings, metal work and IT courses for young men and women and extra courses like saloon, midwifery and handicraft for young women. Mrs.Safiyo also added services like volleyball, basketballs and tennis to be provided at the center so that girls can have opportunities to engage in physical education. They also requested for free internet services that can help youth search for job opportunities and network while in the youth center.

In response to question c, Mr. Ismail affirmed the courses captured topics that pertain to their lives. However, he added these topics are vital and need more days and training in order to internalize the concept. Mrs. Safiya added the courses were exciting though the durations are limited. On her part, she suggested more favorable courses for the girls like reproductive health, sex and sexuality and marriage life as girls have different needs compared to the boys.

In response to question d, Mr. Ismail highlighted that after the fall of the central government, many young people joined the Islamic schools which offer lessons in Arabic language. The students acquired Arabic alphabet and also writing and reading skills. He added that they learned through memorization and rehearsal and those students who cannot have the capacity to memorize dropped out of the system. Mrs.Safiyo also added that a part from attending Islamic educations, girls in south west attend Baidoa midwifery School which provide young girls with midwifery skills and maternal care. Here the girls gain skills from experienced mothers who take time to transfer these unique skills to the next generations for free.

In response question e, both Mr. Ismail and Mrs. Safiyo emphasized the need for inclusivity of youth in peace building process as they shoulder highest consequences during war.

Mr. Safiyo highlighted that in Somalia culture, men only sit around table to discuss peace and other important agendas affecting the lives of women and young men. She attributed the lack of permanent stability in Somalia is because young people specially are excluded from decision making. She added young people are the drivers and tools of conflicts used by elders and therefore, during peace talks they should be involved in the decision making as young people are talented, unbiased and open-minded. Thus, young people can play the role of good ambassadors especially women who are faced with multiple challenges during war like rape, killing of husband forcing them raise children as single mothers and displacement. Thus, women can have a lot of impact in their households as they can influence their husbands and sons not to take part in conflicts work towards other communities.

2.    Participants; personal stories and Lesson Learnt for BDS

Similar questions were administered to participants of Business development training to indulge them share their knowledge and personal experiences.

The following are some responses and opinions of the participants

Mrs. Deka responded to the first questions by highlighting how she ended up becoming a renowned business woman in her village. She tracked her journey to a workshop she attended in 2021. She said “ the eventful training inspired me to actualize a business idea I have always dreamt of; becoming fruit and vegetable vendor. The training enhanced my level of motivation and confidence to start the idea. I always feared the risk of failing but I learnt that without taking risk I would never be the entrepreneur I wanted to be and through the various marketing skills and skills of managing expenses I was able to reach out to customers and reduce my risk of loses. I am now a successful vendor in my village”. During this training you are offering, I have learnt a lot and am now inspired to expand my business to a neighboring village. Record keeping and financial management stood out for me and I will now start keeping records as I expand. I will design an expense register and cash book that will fit my operations. I encourage all the youths here to be courageous and take that step of taking risk to start that idea that you have in mind. I tell everyone that business is everything, its helping me support my family with income paying bills and also supplementing many of my family expenses”

Mr.Ali Abdi from Howl-Wadga IDP camp said “I have always wanted to start business but been hesitant and

my main challenge has been capital. The idea that has been on my mind for long is a barber shop within the IDP camp but the capital to start the business has been lacking. During this training I have learnt that capital can be raised through savings and loaning associations. In the camp this is common amongst women and we have always viewed it as such but now through your demonstrations I see it as a vey important practice that will help me actualize my dream after some time. I am going to organize 20 of my friends and we shall form saving associations. Some of the friends are here we have already discussed and some are at the camp so we shall share the information with them and they will accept”

He also added that Behavioral and life skills such as communication, goal setting and achievement, decision making as well as Business skills like marketing, research and budgeting benefitted him a lot.

Mrs.Deka on her side responded to the question on the kind of services/courses that youth prefer to be offered at Baidoa Youth Hub. In her responses she appreciated the current courses offered at Baidoa Youth Hub but also suggested youth need more vocational training courses that can provide them skills that lead to self- employment. She suggested training courses, mentorship and coaching on entrepreneurship, beauty and saloon, handicrafts, constructions, bee keeping, poultry farming, auto-mechanic, electric, hospitality, plumbing and other vocational skill for development of youths in south West State of Somalia.

Mr.Ali Abdi responded to the questions about the lessons he learnt from these five days training. He highlighted the following key points.

✓     That he and other participants gained knowledge and innovative skills on how to venture into a successful start-ups and business enterprise.

✓     Become aware of entrepreneurship culture and the opportunities that exist within their environment.

✓     Gained the financial literacy and accounting skills that are critical to the business growth, accountability and records for future references.

✓     The training boosted the critical thinking and problems solving skills for the young entrepreneurs

through group discussions and sharing of business ideas and solutions.

✓     The participants learned team work and cooperation in matters of formation of start-ups, VSLAs and cooperating with private sectors for the purpose of gaining practical skills

✓     The training provided confidence among the participants through mentorship and success story telling

and thus instilled positive attitudes towards creating self-employment, time and resource management.

3.    Participants’ personal stories and Lessons Learnt for Capacity Building trainings

50 Participants drawn from 25 youth networks within South west state of Somalia attended capacity building sessions for 5 days.

Mr. Abdullahi Ali from Kalkal Human Rights Development Organization shared his experience on key policies and guiding documents for the organizations. He outlined that, “while the commitment of the staff in improving the well-being of the constituencies it serve, several youths led organizations lack key policy/guiding documents”. He continued that, “Lack of key policies/guiding documents present a risk in different approaches being adopted by the different staff; further, while there may be organizational practices established by custom, these may not be known to new staff and hence the risk of practices that are not in keeping with best practices being adopted”. Lack of these key policies and guiding documents also present the risk that the organization’s processes may not inspire confidence in its stakeholders, particularly the funding agencies.

Mrs.Rahima Osman from Somali Youth Vision touched on her experience in M&E. she stated that effective M&E is a key to organizational growth and prosperity. She noted that organizations should keep an eye on “frequency of interactions with communities, government officials and other stakeholders”.Mrs. Rahima enlightened the participants on the need to have M&E strategy “that would be based on overall strategic plan and M&E plans for each of the programs or projects that it is being implemented”.

Mrs. Sahara Abukar representing minority groups shared with the participants on her experience on issues of resource mobilizations and fundraising activities. She stated that most of the youth organizations have the problem in searching for the donors. She shared her personal experience on the obstacles in approaching the

right donors. she advised the youth organizations to first-track their objectives, visions and mission and develop a short and long-time strategic plan. Then she added that “staff capacity building and commitment is very important for the organizations to succeed and achieve their mandate”. Mrs. Sahara noted that most of the youth from marginalized groups suffer a lot than their counterparts in terms of employment accessibility and other opportunities. She advised fellow youth not to use tribal cards but rather respect fellow youth on their capabilities, knowledge and contribution to the community’s well-being. She used the platform to advocate for the “youth and women inclusiveness in politics and governance to end the marginalization of the youth in general”.

Mr.Abdullahi Adan from Alle-Magan Disability Group informed the participants for them to succeed in resource mobilizations, it is crucial to engage in “mapping of donors and put in place plans with clear targets for engaging the resource providers”. This way, youth organization specially disability group will effectively build its sustainability.

Mrs.Fawzia Gudow from SOSWENSA which is south west civil society umbrella shared her experience on youth organizations’ lack of visibility. She said “most youth organizations are active within the communities they serve but are not well known beyond that scope”. She attributed these challenges to lack of well-trained communication strategist and IT experts who can handle their social media platforms where most stakeholders are available. She added that in order to increase the visibility and raise its profile in the communities that it serves, youth organization should consider developing a communication plan and raise awareness of the staff on this plan. This way, the staff will profile organization at every available opportunity and this will ultimately lead to organization known amongst its stakeholders. She also encouraged the use of social media platforms such Facebook pages and X(tweeter) platform.

Mr. Mohamed Abdullah who is a youth activist in South west thanked the donors, UNHABITAT, MoYS and SOYVA for providing this platform. He shared with the participants his experience in youth activism and advocacy. He noted that youth advocacy and activism is one of the sensitive areas since there are no legal framework that protects the activists. He added that “most of the time, the political class silence them through bribery or even threaten imprisonment’ ’He said most of the youth graduates languish in poverty due to high rate of unemployment. Mohamed suggested that the only way to unchain the youth from extreme poverty and illiteracy is to unite the youth through formation of youth alliance and strengthen the capacity of youth organizations that work on advocacy for youth political participation, inclusion in decision making and resource sharing. He requested for more trainings on public speaking skills, youth networking, negotiations, and fundraising skills within youth members who have ambitions to become politicians.

Activity 7:

Next steps after the training

The participants were given opportunity to share the key steps they will take in application of the knowledge and skills gained during the training. The following are some of the suggestions raised by the participants.

Next Steps for Literacy and Numeracy/Life skills participants

Mrs.Roda Mohamed highlighted the following steps;

✓     Change of attitude towards acquiring knowledge-Attitude change is very significant in engaging in any activity and therefore ‘’as a girl, despite missing out in education at early age of my life, am motivated to start enrolling in basic education in order to improve my life and that of my community’’.

✓     She stated that she gained passion for knowledge as this is key ingredient to any success.

✓     Gained confidence and commitment as a woman. I discovered that I lacked this important component in my life. I used to believe that education is only for younger teenagers. Through this training provided by SOYVA in collaboration with UNHABITAT and MOYS, we have learned that girls have equal opportunities as boys and there is chance to improve our skills in attending trainings that provide formal educations.

Mr. Hassan Jama who is PWDs appreciated the training and thanked the donors and the implementing partners for providing useful skills in his life. He added that the basic mathematic operations of addition, subtractions, multiplication and divisions as well as writing and reading skills gained during the training will help him to improve his daily life and increase also the employment opportunity. He appreciated the provisions of the certificate as it will act as recommendation whenever he seeks job opportunity.

He added that he will share the knowledge gained with fellow camp residents to boost the hygiene practice.

Mr.Mohamed Yakub who is from Wadajir IDP thanked SOYVA, UNHABITAT ,MOYS and the donors for providing this golden opportunity. He said that the knowledge of life skills gained will help him interact with other members of the camp positively. He added the problem-solving skills, stress management, peace building and reproductive health will help him in improving the lives at the camp as he will share this knowledge with his families and also the neighbors. This knowledge will help in preventing conflicts at the camp also reduce the outbreak of diseases that arises from poor hygiene.

Next Steps For BDS participants

The participants were given opportunity to share their plans and endeavors in application of the knowledge and skills gained during the BDS training. The following are some of the suggestions raised by the participants.

Mrs. Fatuma Ismail from Isha Village in Baidoa thanked the donors, UNHABITAT, MOYS and SOYVA for providing this platform and free training in order to boost young people’s skills who are faced with high rate of unemployment. Mrs.Fatuma said that, “she gained unique knowledge in doing business, problem solving, business advertisements and innovative skills which are crucial for successful business enterprise”.

She shared her experience in Baidoa town that majority of the successful business owners are people that have not gone to schools but used their innovative and creativeness to develop their business and create employment for their families and also other youth. Thus, she encouraged the youth to think outside the box and initiate their own business ideas instead of always looking for office work.

Mr.Moalim Mohamed from Bay-Hawo IDP camps appreciated the trainings especially on basic operations of Voluntary savings and Loaning Association, the process and structure of working together as a group and the benefits of the VSLA to the society especially in the IDP set up. He added that “previously the voluntary savings is matter for women folk only but now as young man he will implement it with his fellow youth in camp”. He noted one advantages he learned from the voluntary savings is that, “it is a powerful tool for young people to utilize in the wake of insufficient capital from other sources to start a business with sole aim of breaking away from poverty cycle and pull resources together for economic prosperity’’.

Mr. Omar Ali who is a PWDs acknowledged the important things the MOYS is doing for south west youth without discrimination. He thanked too the donors and UNHABITAT and requested for more programs that target youth with disabilities. Omar appreciated the course for its extensive coverage of day today running of business that includes communication skills, innovation, customer cares, market identification, customer segments, sales & distribution strategies, sustainable competitive advantage and positioning. He said that, “all these skills are what he lacked and he will put into practice for the growth and development of his small canteen in Horsed village”.

Many of the participants expressed their motivation to go ahead and take risk to start business startups from the ideas they have been thinking about while others expressed their willingness to expand their enterprises through application of beneficial growth management skills they learnt during the trainings.

Next Steps For participants attending Capacity building trainings

The beneficiaries of the training agreed that they will implement the learnt knowledge and skills within their organizations, improve on the gaps and strengthen the existing capacities.

The participants also agreed to share the learned knowledge and skills with their fellow colleagues by organizing their own internal staff capacity building programs. SOYVA team welcomed the idea and promised to support with the organizations with the necessary training materials and templates.

SOYVA also encouraged the youth organizations to utilize BYH facilities/Hall conferences for their workshops and community engagements as its available to them at discounted rate.

Summary of the Evaluation

SOYVA conducted evaluation of the courses and also the trainers during the course of each training. Trainees were provided with an evaluation forms to give their views on the training as well as on the delivery by trainers, training materials, caterings and areas of improvement.

Generally, the trainees strongly approved the training as exciting, interactive, educative and that the contents were relevant to their daily lives. They also rated very good the trainer’s knowledge, delivery methodology in application of learner centered methods including group discussions as well as question and answers. In addition, the presentation and mastery of the content was rated as above board.

The trainers also rated the training materials as relevant, simple and appealing to the eyes but suggested for the translation of the material into Somali. They also approved the caterings and leaning environment as conducive and excellent apart from the scarcity of the essential facilities like bathrooms and prayer rooms.

SOYVA will make post training follow up assessment to gauge the impact of the trainings on the lives of young people and our volunteers based in various communities will interact with the beneficiaries of these training to compile data on the impact of the training amongst the young people and good behavior change realized in communities.

Suggestions and areas of improvement;

✓     In future, it is important to include video clips that are relevant to the contents of the trainings.

✓     Translation of the course material into Somali for future trainings.

✓     More time allocation for practical activities on the template provided

✓     Inclusion of physical educations

✓     Morning sessions training was much far preferred than extension to the after sessions as the participants suggested that they have work and also families to attend to.

Activity 8:

Outcomes and impacts of the training

Outcomes/impacts

For the literacy, numeracy, peace building and computer skills

1.        Trained 300 beneficiaries who in their life did not have opportunity to attend formal education and critically required basic literacy. Among them 162 males, 138 females of which 21 are PWDs and 64 are IDPs.

2.        Developed positive attitude among the youth by creating synergy and enthusiasm in matters of peace building, conflicts resolutions, problem solving, reproductive health, communication and career development

3.        The training significantly reduced illiteracy levels among youth in SWS through acquisition of basic mathematical operations and build the fundamental language skills of reading, writing, speaking, and listening, as well as impart computer and digital skills which are all critical in developing and empowering youth with the contemporary skills to fit into the competitive world.

4.        Life skills training significantly impacted on the young people in terms of practicing good behaviors, interacting with the society, managing their relationships, safe sex practice, menstrual hygiene, stress management and harms of drug abuse

For BDS trainings

1.        Trained 200 beneficiaries running or wanting to start small businesses on important skills like Idea generation, Risk taking, enterprise startup and management, financial literacy, Behavioral and life skills. Among them are 122 males, 78 females, 18 PWDs and 20 from IDPs.

2.        Imparted Knowledge on business plan development, ways to mobilize capital and start entrepreneurial venture for self-employment.

3.        Strengthened various entrepreneurial concepts pertaining to the knowledge, skills and attitudes in entrepreneurships to develop positive outlook amongst youth towards self-employment, creating, organizing, and owning a business and becoming successful entrepreneurs.

4.        Business skills development training motivated most of the participants to start business and those already running one gained critical management and operation skills necessary for expanding and growing their enterprises.

For capacity Building training

1.        Strengthened and promoted the culture of team work among the youth networks in south west by

bringing together youth organizations, women, activists, PWDs and minority/marginalized groups

2.        Strengthened the capacities of 50 staff in 25 youth networks and activists within south west. Among them 21 youth networks, 2 organizations working on minority groups and 2 organizations working on PWDs.

3.        Created a strong sense of awareness among the youth on the significance of youth political participation and peace building.

4.        Strengthened the public speaking and debating skills among the youth through presentations and group discussions.

5.        Created awareness amongst the youth network about the services provided by Baidoa Youth as well as important facilities such as conference halls ,libraries and sport ground that’s is at their disposal at favorable rates and the wider communities/clients that they serve can utilize the center for the betterment of all Baidoa residents.

Challenges:

1.        Heavy rains caused delay due to floods in the town and also the youth center. The floods also caused displacement of IDPs as well difficulty for the PWDs to access the center.

2.        Computer labs not enough and the computers not installed with the software. That lab would have made computer and digital learning sessions more exciting, informative and interactive.

3.        Congestion at prayer space and ablution centers for male and female of hence participants had to move outside and look for prayer places sometimes causing delays in the afternoon sessions.

4.        The challenges on the facility usage as the number of participants are high and we have only few bathrooms which led to wastage of time during breaktime and prayer as the participants’ queue for the service.

5.        Most organizations do not have a strategic plan. There is no fundraising plan that is in place and hence decisions on which fundraising opportunities would be pursued are determined by the management on an ad-hoc basis or when there is information about availability of such opportunities

6.        Challenges on Human Resource sectors where organizations lack an elaborate recruitment process and code of conducts that are consistent with global practices.

Recommendations

For Literacy and numeracy/life skills

1.        The participants highlighted the significance of more Training with longer sessions to boost their knowledge and skills on basic mathematical operations, digital learning and life skills.

2.        Operationalize the computer lab and Increase the number of computers and allocate more space for digital learning as it’s a critical skills youth are eager to learn and it has the potential to bring about innovation.

3.        It is important to have computer lab technicians who are always standby in providing the computer lessons.

4.        There is need for whiteboard that can facilitate the practice of numeracy/literacy skills.

5.        Separate prayer rooms for male and females

6.        Provisions of sanitary pad for young girls attending the training sessions

7.        Introduction of vocational trainings like tailoring, phone repair, saloons and handcrafts to make the center a complete hub of vocational learning and innovation.

8.        Provisions of midwifery courses for girls as this very important especially for those girls living in IDPs sectors that can have access to health centers.

For BDS

1.        The participants highlighted the significance of more capacity building sessions for the youth to boost their knowledge and skills on entrepreneurship, life skills, vocational learning and business innovative skills.

2.        The participant members also requested for more training courses, mentorship and coaching on entrepreneurship, vocational trainings in the areas of beauty and saloon, tailoring, wood works, metal works for development of youths in south West State of Somalia.

3.        Help the youth with Linkages to access start-up grants and microcredits from banks and other

organizations.

4.        More trainings on soft skills such as Cv writing and networking to enhance youth employability.

5.        Focusing on traditional labor-intensive sectors (agribusiness, fisheries) and innovative promising sectors (renewable energies, services in urban areas).

6.        Promoting a national exhibition between governmental institutions, educational actors and public/private sector players to align youth’s skills on the reality of the market.

7.        Organize award winning idea competitions and Hackathons at the center to spur innovation and creativity among youth in Baidoa.

For youth networks

1.        The participants recommended that the capacity building is very important and suggested the continuation of the trainings on quarterly basis and also considering reaching out to more youth networks for staff and organizational development. They outlined courses that are vital to organizational progress such as communication and external relationship skills, resource mobilization and fundraising techniques, donor mapping, institutional governance, networking and development of strategic plans.

2.        Youth led organizations to consider having a focus programmatic area that it intends to implement. This would increase the effectiveness of its young men and women empowerment endeavor.

3.        Youth activists and youth organizations that work on advocacy activities is paramount for them to develop and implement an advocacy strategy plan; this would need to be based on the organizations’ strategy and reviewed on regular basis to ensure it remains relevant and fit for purpose.

4.        To improve on its capacity, youth networks and organization need to develop further its staff knowledge on key processes of governance. In addition, for effective and efficient organizational development, the organizations should adopt and documents financial management, administration, operations and procurement and human resources policies.

5.        During the group discussions, the participants recommended that youth organizations to improve on M&E. Most of the members recommended youth organizations to consider doing M&Es for each project that they are implementing.

6.        Youth organizations should consider developing a fundraising/resource mobilization strategy. This is significant as it would help them in identifying the organizational resource needs, potential resource providers and their focus areas/interests.

7.        As a way of sharing information and knowledge amongst the staff, youth organizations should consider establishing regular forums for staff interaction wherein more experienced staff can share their knowledge with those less experienced. This way, the youth organization and activists will continue to diversify the skills of its workforce and ultimately make it more attractive to development partners.

8.        During the training, it was realized that strong Human Resource is very important for every organization. Members proposed that it is important to have annual capacity building programs as well as performance appraisal. It was recommended that youth organizations to consider inexpensive ways of building capacity of its staff such as identifying free online courses and encouraging its staff to enroll into these; other suggested measures of mentoring and coaching of staff.

Conclusion

The trainings on the four major courses were concluded on 14^th Dec, 2023 after successfully running for a period of six week. The trainings filled a critical gap in literacy, numeracy, life skills, business skills and youth networking among young people in Somalia and it was greatly appreciated by the trainees. Over 550 beneficiaries from South west state were equipped with the skills that will have positive impact in their life. A total of 311 males and 239 females among them 41 PWDs and 84 IDPs benefited from these trainings.

Therefore, the communities especially the youth, women, IDPS, PWDs and minority groups are requesting for more trainings that will target larger audience since most of their friends are left out due to limited number of the participants.

Beneficiaries Summary per courses

Training

Total      No.     of

Beneficiaries

No.        of

Males

No. of Females

PWDS

IDPs

Numeracy, Literacy, Basic Computer and Life skills

training courses (1)

100

52

48

3

16

Training on Numeracy Literacy, Basic Compute and Life skills training courses

(2)

100

64

36

14

33

Life skills and Peace building (3)

100

46

54

4

15

BDS

(4)

100

72

28

3

9

BDS

(5)

100

50

50

15

11

Capacity

Building for Youth Org.(6)

50

27

23

2

0

Total

550

311

239

41

84