This paper evaluates a youth internship program in Yemen. The authors examine the demand for the program, and find an oversupply of graduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and a relative undersupply of graduates in marketing and business.
... See More + Conditional on the types of graduates firms were looking to hire, applicants were then randomly chosen for the program. Receiving an internship resulted in an almost doubling of work experience in 2014, and a 73 percent increase in income. A follow-up survey shows that internship recipients had better employment outcomes than the control group in the first five months after the program.
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Matching grants are one of the most common types of private sector development programs used in developing countries. But government subsidies to private firms can be controversial.
... See More + A key question is that of additionality: do these programs get firms to undertake innovative activities that they would not otherwise do, or merely subsidize activities that will take place anyway? Randomized controlled trials can provide the counterfactual needed to answer this question, but efforts to experiment with matching grant programs have often failed. This paper uses a randomized controlled trial of a matching grant program for firms in the Republic of Yemen to demonstrate the feasibility of conducting experiments with well-designed programs, and to measure the additionality impact. In the first year, the matching grant is found to have led to more product innovation, firms upgrading their accounting systems, marketing more, making more capital investments, and being more likely to report their sales grew.
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Matching grants are one of the most common tools used in private sector development programs in developing countries and have been included in more than 60 World Bank projects totaling over US$1.2 billion, funding over 100,000 micro, small and medium enterprises.
... See More + The Enterprise Revitalization and Employment Pilot (EREP) was designed as a two year pilot project aimed at improving firm capabilities and the employability of recent graduates. The matching grant component provided firms with a matching grant of up to $10,000 as a 50 percent subsidy towards the cost of innovation and business services like finance and accounting systems, website creation, training, marketing, participation in exhibitions, and some associated goods. The program implementation was designed with the lessons of other matching grant programs in mind in order to overcome their problems with take-up: eligibility criteria were kept broad; the application form was not complex and could be done either online or in paper; and the program was well-advertised.
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Matching grants are one of the most common types of private sector development programs used in developing countries. But government subsidies to private firms can be controversial.
... See More + A key question is that of additionality: do these programs get firms to undertake innovative activities that they would not otherwise do, or merely subsidize activities that would take place anyway? Randomized controlled trials can provide the counterfactual needed to answer this question, but efforts to experiment with matching grant programs have often failed. This paper uses a randomized controlled trial of a matching grant program for firms in the Republic of Yemen to demonstrate the feasibility of conducting experiments with well-designed programs, and to measure the additionality impact. In the first year, the matching grant is found to have led to more product innovation, firms upgrading their accounting systems, marketing more, making more capital investments, and being more likely to report their sales grew.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS7462 OCT 29, 2015
This paper evaluates a youth internship program in the Republic of Yemen that provided firms with a 50 percent subsidy to hire recent graduates of universities and vocational schools.
... See More + The first round of the program took place in 2014 and required both firms and youth to apply for the program. The paper examines the demand for such a program, and finds that in the context of an economy facing substantial political and economic uncertainty, it appears there is an oversupply of graduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and a relative undersupply of graduates in marketing and business. Conditional on the types of graduates firms were looking to hire as interns, applicants were then randomly chosen for the program. Receiving an internship resulted in an almost doubling of work experience in 2014, and a 73 percent increase in income during this period compared with the control group. A short-term follow-up survey conducted just as civil conflict was breaking out shows that internship recipients had better employment outcomes than the control group in the first five months after the program ended.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS7463 OCT 29, 2015
This Investment Climate Assessment (ICA) seeks to evaluate the conditions under which the Palestinian private sector currently operates in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza strip.
... See More + This assessment is both an update and expansion on a similar assessment undertaken by the World Bank in 2006. As such, it provides both a snapshot of the investment climate in 2013, as well as a longitudinal view of what has changed in the intervening seven years and, just as importantly, what has not. Where relevant, it also compares indicators of the Palestinian investment climate with those of other countries in the region and beyond. The objective of this assessment is to provide the Palestinian business community, the Palestinian Authority (PA), and the international development community with an empirical analysis of the investment climate under which Palestinian businesses operate. The report describes the key constraints on business and investment and identifies reform priorities for those aspects of the investment climate and constraints which are within the PA's control, as well as some policy recommendations for areas outside of the PA's control, but within the domain of development partner assistance agendas and/or Israeli policies. This analysis is intended to inform Palestinian policy-maker actions to improve the business environment. It can also help inform the actions of other concerned parties, including the international development community, regional actors, and the Government of Israel regarding policies that affect Palestinian economic growth and sustainability.
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Investment Climate Assessment (ICA) AUS2122 JAN 01, 2015
This Investment Climate Assessment (ICA) seeks to evaluate the conditions under which the Palestinian private sector currently operates in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza strip.
... See More + This assessment is both an update and expansion on a similar assessment undertaken by the World Bank in 2006. As such, it provides both a snapshot of the investment climate in 2013, as well as a longitudinal view of what has changed in the intervening seven years and, just as importantly, what has not. Where relevant, it also compares indicators of the Palestinian investment climate with those of other countries in the region and beyond. The objective of this assessment is to provide the Palestinian business community, the Palestinian Authority (PA), and the international development community with an empirical analysis of the investment climate under which Palestinian businesses operate. The report describes the key constraints on business and investment and identifies reform priorities for those aspects of the investment climate and constraints which are within the PA's control, as well as some policy recommendations for areas outside of the PA's control, but within the domain of development partner assistance agendas and/or Israeli policies. This analysis is intended to inform Palestinian policy-maker actions to improve the business environment. It can also help inform the actions of other concerned parties, including the international development community, regional actors, and the Government of Israel regarding policies that affect Palestinian economic growth and sustainability.
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Investment Climate Assessment (ICA) AUS2122 JAN 01, 2014
Yemen's political and security crises have exacted a terrible toll on its people in terms of human losses, poverty, malnutrition, and economic decline.
... See More + Emerging from conflict and violence and moving towards economic recovery, growth, poverty alleviation, and job creation are critically dependent on enabling a growing and increasingly diverse and competitive private sector. Understanding the effects of civil conflict on private businesses and their needs in a conflict-affected environment can provide insights on measures that will assist overall economic recovery. The report asserts that private sector development is crucial to recovery, 'especially if creating jobs and incomes is to outlast donor-funded, short-term emergency works'. The World Development Report (WDR) concludes that, 'author need to put greater emphasis on early projects to create jobs, especially through the private sector.'
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