Research and analysis
Mafita Apprenticeship and Community-based Skills Training programmes (HTML)
Published 8 March 2022
© Crown copyright 2022
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mafita-apprenticeship-and-community-based-skills-training/mafita-apprenticeship-and-community-based-skills-training-programmes-html
1. Mafita Apprenticeship and Community-Based Skills Training Programmes
- A five-year, £36 million initiative delivering training and skills development opportunities for around 4,000 vulnerable youth.
- Targeted economically and socially vulnerable youth and adolescent girls
- Increasing youths’ incomes through employment
- Decreasing engagement in crime and violence
- Two key programmes under Mafita: The Apprenticeship programme and vocational training programme delivered through Community Skills Development Centres.
2. Methodology
- Two randomised controlled trials (RCTs), one for each programme, in three Northern Nigerian states: Kaduna, Kano, Katsina
- A follow-up 6-9 months after the interventions had ended.
- Impact evaluation was complemented by a qualitative evaluation to understand mechanisms through which the outcomes occurred and a cost-benefit analysis to measure the cost-effectiveness of the programmes.
3. Findings
- Both programmes demonstrated strong positive effects on participants’ employment and productivity, job search behaviour, and economic welfare. -For both programmes, improvements in outcomes related to income-generating activities appear driven by female participants.
- Mixed evidence of impact on non-material outcomes, with the exception of participants’ professional social networks, which shows strong positive impacts for both programmes.
- Neither programme appears to have had positive impacts on basic literacy and numeracy skills, though qualitative evidence suggests participants had positive perceptions of both the foundational and trade-specific skills training.
- A preliminary cost-benefit exercise suggests that the Community Skills Development Centres programme was most cost-effective.
4. Impacts
- The results from the trials are feeding into further collaborations between the government and World Bank on the next generation of government-led apprenticeship support programmes in Nigeria.