Youth Employment through Skills Enhancement (YES)

Achieving success with professional and social skills

Barely out of school – with or without qualifications – many young people in the underdeveloped interior of Tanzania have little choice but to cultivate a small plot of land, either their own or someone elseʼs. Around 70 per cent of the working population of Tanzania live, for better or worse, from agriculture. Secondary school qualifications are required in order to learn a trade, but many families cannot afford this or the schools are too far away. Moreover, for many people the existing training opportunities are prohibitively expensive and not geared to the local labour market.

In view of the growing population, the number of young, unqualified jobseekers is expected to rise sharply over the coming years. Helvetas in Tanzania has therefore launched a series of practical short training courses for 11 trades so far that do not require the young women and men to have school qualifications. The aim of the courses is to provide them with the skills and competences they need to gain a foothold in the employment market. In the practical part of the training, they learn practical skills such as installing electrical circuits, breeding bees or erecting walls. In the theoretical part of the training, they learn how to, for example, design circuits, prevent dampness in walls using damp-proof courses, or the basics of modern honey production.

TRACKING PROGRESS: EMPOWERING YOUTH, DRIVING EMPLOYMENT, CREATING SYSTEMIC CHANGE

Reach, Training & Business Formation: During Phase II (2022–2025), the YES Project collaborated with a diverse set of partners including vocational training institutions, local artisans, agribusiness providers, and entrepreneurship trainers. Across the four years, 3,597 youth (2,035 female and 1,562 male) were trained and graduated in various occupations, representing 99.9% of the phase target of 3,600. The project supported the formation and registration of 229 youth-led businesses in Dodoma, Singida, and Mbeya, spanning trades such as beekeeping, poultry, horticulture, welding, tailoring, beauty salons, retail, and mobile phone repair. Of these, 79 businesses completed full formalization, securing Tax Identification Numbers, business licenses, barcodes, registered names, and Entrepreneurship IDs.

Gender Inclusion & Systemic Influence:  72% of graduates earned gainful income within three to six months of training, surpassing the 65% target. This achievement reflects careful selection of market-relevant occupations, strengthened training quality through project-led capacity building, quality benchmarking, and accountability mechanisms such as the Results Based Financing (RBF) model. Female participation steadily increased, rising from 51.2% in 2022 to 64% in 2025, supported by gender-responsive measures such as childcare provision and targeted sessions that built confidence and action. Systemic influence also grew — the project's approaches were presented at the Donor Committee for Dual Vocational Education (DC dVET) and received recognition from the Tanzania Education Authority (TEA), which expressed interest in adopting the RBF model within its Skills Development Fund in partnership with the World Bank. Engagements with NACTVET and the newly established Ministry of Youth Development further positioned YES for the institutionalization of its tools and approaches.

Challenges, Adaptation & Way Forward: Contextual shifts shaped implementation. Political reforms following the 2025 elections introduced risks of civic space contraction but also opportunities through the creation of a dedicated youth ministry. Economic fluctuations, including inflation and rising training material costs, posed challenges — yet the reinstatement of district council loans and entrepreneur IDs in 2024 provided critical support for youth businesses. The project addressed the challenge of rising training material costs by renegotiating training fees with service providers, ensuring continued access to quality vocational training. These adaptive measures have strengthened YES III's foundation as it embarks on its next phase (2026–2029), building on lessons learned to scale impact and deepen systemic change in Tanzania's vocational training ecosystem.

Reaching even more young people through innovation

Since long distances or caring duties often present an obstacle to training, Helvetas wants to develop mobile learning units that can be completed through self-study by mobile phone – at any time and at the learnerʼs own pace. This also benefits those with a small school rucksack.

The aim of these short courses is not simply to provide training, but to give trainees the skills they need to find a well-paid job or to start a successful business. That is why training is combined with entry into the labour market. This is a model that was developed by Helvetas in Nepal 10 years ago and then successfully transposed to an African context in Ethiopia: vocational training institutes – both state and private – receive the last instalment for the costs of training only once their graduates are making enough money to secure their livelihoods or are successfully self-employed. This motivates the trainers to teach young people the skills that are actually in demand on the labour market, and to assist them in finding work or establishing their own business.

Cooperation is the key to success

As with all educational projects, Helvetas has involved the relevant government agencies, the private sector and civil society from the start. The idea is that good experiences at a regional level will be transposed to a national level so that many more young women and men than those involved in the YES project can benefit from practical short courses in Dodoma and Singida. The chances of this are good, as YES is contributing to the Tanzanian governmentʼs Vision 2025, the aim of which is to develop Tanzania into a middle-income country. The short training courses help to combat poverty and give young people and coming generations new prospects for the future.

Contact

YES Project
2nd Floor, NBC Building
Nyerere Road
Po. Box 2978 Dodoma, Tanzania
+255 (0) 26 232 1345