The purpose of the five-year Promoting Opportunities through Training, Education, Transition Investment, and Livelihoods for Youth (POTENTIAL) Project is to provide Ethiopian unemployed or underemployed youth (defined as ages 15-29 for the purposes of this program) in rural areas and towns with access

credit: John Hopkins Krieger School of Arts and Sciences Department of Economics

to workforce development/livelihood support and resources, tailored to their specific needs and market demand, so that they can a) achieve increased income and b) strengthen skills, knowledge, and social capital required to achieve economic self-sufficiency over the longer-term.

POTENTIAL will engage and support youth service providers and other local institutions to promote linkages and demand-driven skills development to allow for transition into productive adulthood.Expected Results/ObjectivesThe purpose will be achieved by focusing on two core objectives:(1) Enable youth to increase their incomes and quality of employment including family livelihoods.(2) Enable local institutions (TVETs, Woreda TVET Offices, CSTCs, FTCs, private sector and civil society, including youth-led groups) to better prepare youth for work by increasing their ability to coordinate among service providers, to improve the quality of services offered closely tied to market demands, and to target and meet the needs of under-served youth, including young women.