The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) recently signed a US$80,000 agreement with the African Cultural and Development Association (ACDA) that will allow it to execute the ‘Improving Access to Opportunities for Vulnerable Youth’ project.
According to a press release IDB Representative in Guyana Marco Nicola, on behalf of the Social Inclusion Trust Fund (SITF) signed the agreement with ACDA Executive Member of the Steering Committee, Eric Phillips. The project builds on lessons learnt from a similar operation currently being implemented by the Bina Hill Institute and other like initiatives throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. In its final format the project is supported by the SITF and should be executed over a 24-month period.
The project has three components: a three-day “Focus on Youth Workshop” the first of which will be a planning exercise involving youth in both its delivery and function. “Youth participants will prioritize programme objectives, initiatives and outputs effectively tailoring how they wish the programme to work for them based on their collective needs, vision and goals,” the release said.
The second component titled “Youth Development Training” entails producing a structured and comprehensive skills development programme facilitated by local experts hired by the project. Complementing the skills programme is an innovative youth and community development model designed to boost skills through community-driven initiatives that tap into existing development opportunities. The third phase of the project, titled “Monitoring and Evaluation” entails integrating a number of assessment strategies into the project’s design to increase its response capability to arising demands and needs. It will also track their performance during and after the project closes.
The final exercise in the project will be a comprehensive final evaluation that reports on all aspects of project delivery, results and sustainability. This is the second collaboration between the IDB and ACDA.
