Assessing Your Program

Assess the characteristics of your learners and program by completing this brief 17-item questionnaire. You may email the results, or print a formatted version from the next page. A PDF version of the assessment is available here.

This tool provides program designers the opportunity to identify characteristics of curriculum materials that would best fit with overall program goals, needs of potential participants, and demands and opportunities of the local economy. The assessment will summarize a list of characteristics that will help you identify materials appropriate for your situation; complete the e-mail field to receive a copy of your answers. If no results are returned with your assessment, try using fewer search terms with the Curriculum Filter.

Potential Participants

When choosing an instructional model and related curriculum, it is important to know as much as possible about the types of participants you hope to attract to the program. The following questions will guide you in assessing your program’s current approach to working with youth.

Age: The target group's age range is:

13-17

18-28

To consider: Materials that have been developed for older youth may not be appropriate for younger participants.

Gender: Does the program target only female or male youth? Leave blank if the answer is "No":

Young Men

Young Women

To consider: Are there specific cultural or religious practices relating to youth, women, or mixed-gender groups that you need to take into account?

Location: The geographic location of the program is:

Rural/small villages

Medium-size towns

Urban

Literacy Levels: The literacy and numeracy level of the participants:

Minimal or no literacy and numeracy skills

Functionally literate (having the reading, writing, and math skills that are needed to get by in everyday life)

To consider: Even if you are not concerned with formal schooling, it is still important to have a general sense of the reading, writing, and math abilities of participants. You may need to adapt the curriculum materials to meet the literacy and numeracy levels of your group.

Work: The employment and/or livelihood status of targeted participants is:

Unemployed with no source of income

Employed by a business or another person

Self-employed

Working in family livelihood (such as agriculture or small business)

Working and in school

To consider: We know that most youth, whether in-school or out, are economically active. That is, they contribute to the economy of their family household, either through family chores and responsibilities in the family livelihood, through part-time paid employment, or income-generating activities in the informal economy.

Skill Areas: The targeted youth's skill area needs in the four broad areas used by Preparing for Work is/are:

Life skills: focus on personal development and leadership, health and general well-being, financial literacy, interpersonal communications skills

Employability or work readiness skills: focus on the same life skills as above in addition to work-related skills including health and safety at work, work habits and conduct, worker rights and responsibilities, customer service

Entrepreneurial skills: include conducting market analyses, planning, managing, and sustaining small businesses or income-generating activities

Technical/vocational skills: focus on sector-specific skills needed for specific occupations or small businesses

To consider: Potential participants may be strong in one or two areas, and need focused training in one of the other areas. For example, youth who are enrolled in a straight technical course may be looking for an entrepreneurship course or a work readiness course to help them with post-technical course employment.

Goals: What do your target participants seek to gain from the training? The broad goals and objectives that are common to some of them are:

Gain or improve basic literacy and numeracy skills

Complete primary or secondary school

Develop employability skills and gain employment/access to career opportunities

Gain entrepreneurial and small-business skills

Gain specific technical skills

Program Approaches

Selecting a curriculum is also a process of finding a good match for the strengths of your program and the skills of your staff.

The setting/context in which we currently work with young people is:

Upper-primary or secondary schools

Colleges or universities

Government-sponsored vocational/technical schools

Local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) or community-based organizations (CBOs) through community-based learning centers

Private sector schools or training centers

The timing of my courses is:

Short courses (1-3 months)

Medium-length courses (3-6 months)

Longer courses based on academic calendar (6-12 months)

My program’s approach to teaching and learning is:

Traditional teacher- or trainer-led

Learner-centered using participatory and experiential learning activities

Transitioning from traditional teaching methodologies to active, participatory approach

Learned self-directed using online/Web-based modules

The facilitators:

are experienced in formal school settings.

are experienced in out-of-school settings.

have experience working with youth.

have strong facilitation skills.

They are flexible and able to adapt instructional guides and materials to the group.

They need guidance, help and structure.

Community Needs and Opportunities

Selecting an appropriate curriculum is also a process of matching education and training courses to the opportunities and needs of the community at large and of the local economy. The following questions will help you determine your broader needs, but do not help affect your curricula search.

Do you know the market opportunities and needs in the communities in which the program will work?:

Yes

Somewhat

Do you know the market opportunities and needs in the surrounding region?:

Yes

Sometimes

Community youth congregate in the following places:

School

Place of worship

Market

Places of entertainment

Youth group/club meetings

Other

To consider: How can you build upon this?

The opportunities that are youth not taking advantage of are:

Training institutions

Projects

Lending opportunities

Existing jobs

To consider: How can you direct them to these opportunities or assist them in successfully taking advantage of them?

The following are primary barriers to youth gaining employment or developing livelihoods in the community:

Limited job opportunities

Limited training opportunities

Youth are underqualified and underexperienced

Youth expectations are not aligned with workplace realities

Employers have poor perceptions of youth

Cultural norms or stigmas that prevent youth from pursuing certain available jobs

To consider: How do employers perceive youth? How do youth perceive employers? If there is a gap in perception, how can this be addressed?

Email Results to:

Email the answers of this assessment to the designated email address. Sorry the formatting will look better when you print and save from the next page!