Latin America and Caribbean

This paper explores the "Scholas Occurrentes" pedagogical approach to addressing dropouts. "Scholas" focuses on the voice of students. It seeks to act positively on their motivation by listening to them, creating spaces for discussion, and strengthening soft skills and civic engagement. This paper presents "Scholas" work with three examples from Paraguay, Haiti, and Argentina. It analyzes the positive impacts that the "Scholas" intervention had on the participants.

This Knowledge Brief shares lessons on how the World Bank’s Promoting Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Social Protection and Employment Programs project team in Haiti worked to enhance the identification of persons with disabilities and provide them with skills for service sector jobs. The Brief highlights the importance of focusing on demand-driven skills, working with mainstream training providers, and proactive outreach to employers.

This report explores the labor market outcomes and returns of SCPs, examines their providers, and identifies the practices adopted by the best programs. Relying on unique data that includes a novel survey of short-cycle programs (SCPs) directors in five LAC countries, it finds that while SCPs generate, on average, good labor market outcomes, they vary greatly in quality. Drawing on these findings, this report discusses how to create an environment where good programs are offered and students have the interest and means to attend them.

Mobile phone network coverage has increased worldwide over the past two decades. In advanced and emerging economies alike, young people are much more digitally connected than older generations. Digital technologies offer an opportunity to communicate with youth and collect data at a low-cost. Using digital methods like SMS has become more relevant to obtain timely data and information, especially with the current COVID-19 crisis.

This note highlights how the Mexico Youth Labor Market Inclusion (MYLMI) project used four strategies to incorporate youth voice in the design of their program. The project focuses on generating evidence on interventions that promote the labor inclusion of low-income youth into formal quality jobs in strategic productive sectors. The project is being implemented by the World Bank and the Government of Mexico in the state of San Luis Potosi.

This report summarises the digital landscape and the main digital support sources for young entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean and identifies opportunities in these markets.

This handbook shares best practices and experiences for the benefit of youth entrepreneurship practitioners, covering a range of areas: Outreach and Entrepreneur Selection, Training, Mentoring, Access to Finance, Access to Markets & Business Support and Aftercare Services.

This study examines whether entrepreneurial activity can be taught, in particular whether business training can lead to increasing numbers of businesses started or expanded. This question is answered by analyzing the results of business training programs that TechnoServe held in Central America during 2002–05.

This report focused on the challenge of economic engagement among Brazilian youth. In the context of a fast-aging population, Brazil’s greatest economic opportunity is to increase its labor productivity, especially that of youth. This report documents important new facts about the extent of the youth economic disengagement, while at school and at work.

This report seeks to redress the current paucity of information on growth-oriented women entrepreneurs in the Caribbean region by drawing on various data sources to estimate their numbers and sectoral focus.