Do Employability Skills Help Prevent Crime and Violence among Youth?
An Examination of the Evidence in Support of the USAID Youth Workforce Development Learning Agenda
This brief analyzes whether programs that incorporated employability skills development activities prevented or reduced youth crime and violence. The brief presents the results of a literature review and landscape analysis of interventions that include any of the four employability activities: Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), competency-based business training, entrepreneurship programs, and focused employability support as part of reintegration programs.
The brief summarizes the complex economic, political, and social challenges faced by young people and the theory of change connecting employability interventions to preventing and reducing violence among youth. The brief also provides an analysis of implementation and evaluation reports that specify crime and violence prevention or reduction as a goal or outcome.
This brief is intended to help USAID staff, Missions, and implementing partners understand what interventions or strategies hold the potential to prevent crime and violence in youth employability programs and to build a broader evidence base to inform future programs.