Policymakers throughout the worldstruggle to boost employment. Creating jobs or giving peoplethe right training to get jobs is not only good economics,but especially in developing countries, it may be a way toreduce social instability and with it the threat of crimeand unrest. In the push to figure out what works,development organizations and governments are looking beyondthe more traditional voucher and microfinance tools todecentralized programs that give cash grants and leave it torecipients to decide how to use the money. At the WorldBank, committed to ending poverty and we are working to helpmeet the United Nations millennium development goals,including eradicating extreme poverty by raising incomes andmaking sure everyone has decent employment. To helppolicymakers judge the effectiveness of different approachesto building employment opportunities, the World Banksponsored an evaluation of a Government of Uganda programthat gave young men and women cash grants to start newbusinesses or get training. Based on mid-term results twoyears after the intervention, the Ugandan program madesignificant impacts: Beneficiaries reported large increasesin skilled employment and incomes, and modest gains insocial cohesion and stability. Researchers and Innovationsfor Poverty Action (IPA) partnered with the Ugandangovernment to evaluate the effectiveness of the youthopportunities program, introduced in 2006 to raise incomesand employment among young adults aged 16 to 35 in thecountry's northern region by offering them cash grantsfor training and busi-ness materials. To qualify, youngadults had to organize in groups of 10 to 30 people andsubmit a proposal for a grant to cover training programs andwhat tools and materials they needed to run a business.Helping young adults find jobs is a key goal of policymakersin emerging economies, where high rates of unemployment area potential social and economic problem. Many countries areworking with vouchers, training programs and microfinance toraise employment opportunities. Uganda, which over the pastdecade emerged from a brutal armed conflict in the north,has been working to alleviate poverty and raise jobs optionsin this hard-hit region. In a new approach, the governmentfunded a program that gave unsupervised cash grants to youngadults who drew up business plans explaining what they woulddo with the money.
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