LI-WAY Addis Abeba Livelihoods Improvements for Women and Youth (2017-24)

Key Results To date, the LIWAY program has successfully improved incomes for 276,509 target group members (women and youth) in Addis Ababa, which represents 108% of its overall target. Among these, 229,654 (83%) are youth, with 152,937 (55.3%) being women, 205 013 (74%) are new jobs and 71496 (23%) are maintained jobs. Contributions from different systems include: -93,222 (34%) from the MSE system, with significant contributions from digital marketing services and public-private partnership bazaars. -69,816 (25%) from the skills system, with a strong emphasis on technical and employability training. -57,884 (21%) from the labour system, with a focus on digital job matching and childcare services. -55,587 (20%) from the MLE system, primarily through waste recycling and production management interventions. The program has contributed to the establishment of 13,702 new MSEs and improved business models for 30,316 service provider and users. In addition the program has leveraged 370,2M ETB (-25MSEK) from implementing partners working with 107 private partners and 65 public partners. The program has surpassed most of its targets with higher targets reached in the case of young women 189% with less results achieved in reaching adult women 49% and young men 84% of target. Higher Order Results LIWAY uses the Adopt-Adapt-Expand-Respond AAER framework to demonstrate that the program has facilitated systemic changes, ensuring sustainability and scalability of its interventions. Some of these results include: Adopt: Different actors change their behaviors with support from the program, leading to initial impacts. -Digital Job Matching Innovations: Platforms like Afriwork, GoodayOn, and HaHuJobs have enhanced job-matching services, increasing efficiency and access to labor market information particularly for LIWAY target groups- low skilled women and youth- as nannies and household staff. -Childcare Models: Tiny Totos Kenya established affordable childcare centers, empowering local women to run businesses and improving service quality. -PPP Bazaar Service: Created a monthly quality bazaar model, successfully attracting buyers and supporting MSEs to market thier handcrafts. -Waste Recycling Business Model: Established an independent market system addressing input supply shortages, creating employment opportunities for women and youth. -Vocational Counselling and Guidance Model: Implemented vocational counselling in 12 TVET colleges, training over 30 experts and helping 2,513 women and youth access employment. Adapt: Actors continue and adapt these behaviors independently, without further support from the program. -Masero's Growth: Expanded into Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, improving job matching success and launching a freelance job channel. -GOnline's Adaptation: Formed strategic partnerships and integrated digital payment options, improving user experience. -Revenue Diversification: Platforms like GoodayOn and Afriwork generate revenue through employer fees and subscriptions, ensuring sustainability. -Ashengo and the PPP Bazaar: Implemented flexible pricing strategies and introduced large, well-promoted events during holidays. -Expanded Waste Recycling: Practices expanded to various regions, including using natural waste for paper production. Expand: More people benefit from the intervention as it expands and is replicated by other actors. -Digital Job Matching Landscape: Platforms like SabiJobs and GeezJobs are improving service quality and expanding job opportunities. -Childcare Sector: Government mandates for public centers and successful models in industrial parks are expanding, benefiting working women. -Item-Based Loan Model: Gained traction in Addis Ababa, attracting interest from financial actors and NGOs. -Ongoing Soft Skills Training: Kepler International continues to provide employability and soft skills training to graduates at two public polytechnic colleges, -Replication of Professional Nannies Training: Over five private colleges have adopted the professional nannies training model, providing market-oriented training and linking certified trainees with job opportunities. -MSEs in Shegar City have continued their strong engagement in the waste collection and aggregation business. The practice of waste recycling, which originated in Addis Ababa, has expanded to various regions, creating jobs for women and youth. Respond: Other market actors change their behaviors in response to the changes in the market system Government Initiatives: The Ethiopian government launched initiatives under its Digital Transformation Strategy, including digital payment systems and streamlined business processes. -Childcare and Employment Support: The Addis Ababa Education Office partnered with public childcare centers to improve job grading and funding for professional nannies. -Integration of Soft Skill Training: Work ethics training has been formally incorporated into the TVET curriculum, and a soft skill training course for TVET trainers has been recommended by the federal TVET institute. -The Ministry of Industry is reorganizing waste collection systems and addressing waste management challenges by promoting waste separation at the source. Access to Finance The access to finance intervention created jobs and income opportunities for 15,979 individuals, including 12,198 youth (76%) and 9,207 women (58%). Less favorable results have been achieved in catalyzing access to loans for MSMEs. Only 2,818 loans were disbursed out of the 14,600 targeted. Loans have been disbursed to SMEs through two initiatives: the Non-Collateral loan and the item-based loans, amounting to 234,861,567 ETB (16,434,864 SEK). Average loan sizes vary from 30,000 to 100,000 ETB. Of these, 2,050 loans were disbursed through RAY MFI. The item-based loans through RAY MFI include a unique scoring system that has encouraged collaboration from other institutions, including anticipated tranches from CBE and Dashen Bank. Three major banksCommercial Bank of Ethiopia, Awash Bank, and Ahadu Bankhave recently piloted digital lending platforms for MSMEs. These platforms provide non-collateral cash flow-based loans and inventory management tools to alleviate financial service hurdles faced by local MSMEs while minimizing risks through an insurance facility. All the pilots are still in their infancy, with some already showing positive progress. However, the lack of organized data on digital enterprises (DEs) has hindered access to finance in the digital space. Lessons from the Solid Waste Recycling Intervention, Environmental impact and increased incomes. This is one of LIWAYs highly successful interventions, not only because of the jobs and income generated, but also for the systemic influence the programme has had on the sector. The solid waste intervention reached 55,011 individuals creating wage employment for 5,045 individuals and 36,626 new self employed people and maintained existing employment for 13,340. The waste collection pilot was implemented in five sub-cities and scaled to all sub-cities and sheger city, forming new cooperatives with allocated free spaces. Sub-cities adopted LIWAY container designs, and microfinance plans were initiated. Shredding machines were introduced to address high-volume waste disposal challenges at sub-cities. MoUs were signed with the Addis Ababa Cleansing Management Agency (AACMA) and the Ministry of Industry to promote recycling through behavioral change and regulatory improvements. Waste associations are flourishing across Addis Ababa. Recycling companies in Addis Ababa are aware of the model and are engaging with the waste collection MSEs. With the support of LIWAY, more than 580 waste-collection micro-enterprises have generated aggregate sales of nearly $10 million. In 2023 alone, these businesses collected and aggregated more than 41,800 tons of paper and plastic and strengthened the supply chains and number of jobs created in 20 recycling companies. Estimated earnings for individual members ranges between 7000 ETB to 10 000 ETB. An interesting learning from the results is that while LIWAYs initial aspiration was job creation at the recycling firms, the bulk of the jobs were created through self-employment at the level of individual waste pickers that sell to the MSEs. This intervention helped with import substitution for at least 20 MUSD in the first 3 years of the program alone. Paper recycling firms are no longer importing raw materials because they are able to operate at near capacity with locally sourced paper waste. The recent corridor projects has had a negative impact on this initiative shifting aggregator sites to areas outside of the city. Policy and Practices in the TVET system LIWAY decided to purposefully and proactively target policy change in its MSD approach and has had success in doing so across its focal systems contributing to critical policy changes for low-income urban women and youth in Ethiopia. The program focused on areas where the government mandate and incentives are aligned with the objectives of LIWAY. Improving the capacity of TVET trainers has been one crucial challenge for the skills system. An MoU was signed between LIWAY, The National TVET council, MoLS, Ethiopian Chamber of Sectoral Association, and Small and Medium Manufacturing Promotion Authority to work together on developing manuals to guide selected processes in the TVET colleges. Under this partnership, the following manuals and directives have been developed: Vocational Guidance and Counselling Guidelines: Establishment of Career Development Centres (CDCs) in TVET colleges to improve job readiness. Cooperative Training Manual: Implementation of a manual to enhance industrial placements for TVET trainees. Piloted in six colleges and 21 industries, now implemented in all public TVET colleges. TVET Trainers Industry Attachment Programme: TVET trainers undergo 30-day industry attachments to learn modern techniques, enhancing practical training. Institutional Internal Assessment Manual: Development of a manual to improve TVET management and assessment processes. Assessment and Certification Management Manual: Introduction of a manual to ensure quality in certification processes. Ethiopian Educational and Training Policy 2023: Recognition of business models in public TVETs and separate trainer skills development. Demand driven skills service delivery: Partnership with Addis Ababa TVET Agency where a coordinated labour market assessment was conducted to collect information from the private sector about skills gaps and demands. Addis Ababa TVET Agency continues this assessment on an annual basis to help TVET colleges deliver demand-driven skilling. Digitalisation for Development LIWAY has partnered with several implementing partners to introduce digital tools with the possibility to catalyse job and income increase incomes for the targets groups. These include Digital Job Matching Platforms: Platforms like Afriwork, GoodayOn, and HaHuJobs significantly increased income and created wage employment opportunities, particularly for young people. E-commerce Platforms: Initiatives like Helloomarket enables small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to set up online stores, manage inventory, and process payments. It has helped many businesses expand their customer base beyond local markets. Digital Financial Services: The introduction of digital financial tools like "Borsa" A digital wallet and financial management tool that allows users to save, transfer money, and make payments securely. It has been particularly beneficial for women entrepreneurs who need access to financial services. Low digital literacy among job seekers and MSEs and access to affordable internet still hinder the full potential of these initiatives. Affordable Childcare: A Key to Womens Economic Empowerment One of the challenges facing women in Addis Ababa is the burden of household chores and caregiving, which limits their ability to work. LIWAY recognized that improving access to affordable childcare could create a double benefit: it would allow more women to enter the workforce while also creating job opportunities for other women as trained caregivers. LIWAY tackled this by working on two fronts: improving access to childcare and raising the quality of caregiver training. The team focused on three key problems: outdated training materials, weak job connections for trained nannies, and too few training providers. To solve these issues, LIWAY a) Partnered with NAVE College to modernize nanny training. b) Connected training providers with job agencies to help graduates find better jobs. c) Ran awareness campaigns to encourage more institutions to offer nanny training d) Supported evidence-based revision of National Childcare Standards and Operational Guidelines,through engagement with MoWSA, UN-Women, CIPE, e) Piloted public-school, public-private partnership, and community-based franchise models expanded to home-based/day-mothers model. Results: -From a total of 3512 trained nannies, 2798 women secured jobs after training at NAVE many had been unemployed for a long time. -Nannies working in private households earn between 2,500 and 5,000 ETB and those working in childcare centres earn on average 6,000 ETB. Nanny jobs facilitated via GoodayOn or Etalem earn 10,000 12,000 ETB. -NAVE has become a leader in the childcare training sector. -Eight new institutions now offer nanny training. -New partnerships and financing models are making training more accessible. -Childcare is gaining recognition as a formal profession, and demand for training is rising. -The revised National Childcare Standards were approved by Parliament. -The Ministry of Women and Social Affairs and Ministry of Education mandated Kotebe University of Education to deliver a revised nanny training curriculum. -The City Administration allocated a substantial budget for Early Childhood Development, demonstrating high-level institutional commitment -LIWAY's pilot models led to numerous schools, TVET colleges, industrial parks and ministries/bureaus establishing childcare centers Efficiency The program has raised incomes for 276,509 people Total expenses from SWE 177 352 202 SEK. Total expenses from EKN 1 975 309 EUR (22 051 915 SEK). Total expenses 199 404 117 SEK This implies a cost of approximately 721 SEK per person impacted

The expected outcome for the 8-year programme is to substantially improve livelihoods for at least 257 000 women and youth in Addis Ababa. To achieve this, the program facilitates improved employability and increased access to wage and self-employment opportunities for youth and women by working closely with relevant market actors. The program envisages changing market systems so that they work better for poor women and youth in Addis Ababa. In practice, this involves changing the behavior of people and organizations (market actors) within those sectors/market systems. This will help to ensure ownership and scaling by the key market players beyond the project period. Four organizations in a consortium leads these efforts: Each consortium partner is responsible for the development of a specific sector: • SNV leads the consortium and responsible for the micro-enterprises sector development with the objective to reduce constraints of starting & growing MSEs for target groups • Mercy Corpse leads labour market sector development and also manages Innovation Fund with the objective to reduce constraints in input supply & labour productivity • TechnoServe is responsible for medium to large manufacturing firms (growth sector) development; with the objective to reduce constraints in input supply & labour productivity • Save the Children International is responsible for skills market development with the objective to improve standards & quality of skills delivery, and aligned curricula to meet the skills demanded by employers In addition the RADET intervention introduced in 2022 aims to strengthen the digital entrepreneurship ecosystem by addressing systemic constraints of digital enterprises. More specifically it aims on addressing constraints prioritizing access to finance/business development services and enabling environment (enterprise regulations) i