Right Track Africa (RTA) have been a Learning Partner to the CAP-Youth Empowerment Institute (CAP YEI) is an NGO funded by MasterCard Foundation. CAP YEI implements training programmes for underprivileged youths in Kenya to prepare them for employment and entrepreneurship using the Basic Employability Skills Training (BEST) since 2011. In the first – Demonstration – CAP YEI establishes and operates a training centre where the youth are trained. In the second – Replication – CAP YEI conducts the training in a hosting institution. In the third model – Capacity Building – CAP YEI offers the training to instructors of public/private institutions who are then expected to use BEST elements in their programs. The RTA study was an exploration of how the capacity-building model has been implemented, and the lessons that can be drawn to improve its continued application.
RTA used principles from the Utilization Focused Evaluation (UFE) for the study, and the recommendations are grouped around four primary uses that had been identified by the commissioners of the study (CAP YEI Management), which were: To learn how to select counties to engage with, To learn which VTCs to recruit trainees from, To learn how to support the adoption of BEST Steps learned and To identify external assumptions for adoption and uptake of BEST model.
Kenya’s new constitution has devolved governance of many national services to the county level and the TVET education system is one of those functions. CAP YEI usually introduces an overview of the BEST model to TVET county directors and VTCs managers. CAP YEI staff then develop an interactive relationship with selected VTC instructors to discuss institutional challenges that can best be addressed by the BEST training process. It is useful to note that following the introduction of BEST to the TVET trainers (managers and instructors) they had freedom to choose steps they were interested in, fitting or aligning them into the TVET training cycles. This varied uptake is the most prominent characteristic of the Capacity Building model and the study findings provide great detail and recommendation about this aspect.