Supporting Mongolian youth on their education-to-employment transition.
The problem: Mismatch in skills and demand is evidently the biggest challenge for Mongolian youth employment. More than half of the graduates from higher education institutions do not meet the requirements of employers due to inadequate skills. Three in five Mongolian youth are enrolled in higher education institutions, but the universities are unable to capacitate them with the necessary skills to gain meaningful employment.
Our intervention (2019 – 2022): Lorinet Foundation partnered with Zorig Foundation on their “Sustainable Employment for Youth Programme” (SEYP) pilot. SEYP was a pioneer programme tailored to the needs of youth who were unemployed for over 6 months despite graduating from university. SEYP primarily targeted youth who lived in ger districts of Ulaanbaatar or those who migrated from rural provinces to the capital city. SEYP was designed to support a total of 6 cohorts through 5-month intervention by:
- Equipping youth with skills required for securing employment such as job searching, resume writing, job interview, English language, business letter drafting, presentation skills etc.
- Providing actual work experience through 3 months internships, or direct probation period employment at organisations that participants are interested in
- Assisting youth with further career development through one-on-one counselling
Results:
- The programme graduated a total of 121 youth, having 83% female participants.
- 81% of graduates were engaged in full-time employment within 6 months after graduating
- 90% of participants were placed in either internships or probation employments via partnership with 82 employers
- 79% of graduates increased their financial circumstances within 6 months after graduating
- 92% employers reported to have seen an increase in participant’s skills and abilities
Highlight: Considering the positive feedback from participating youth, Zorig Foundation worked with the National University of Mongolia to establish Career Guidance Centre for all students. This implies scaling up of SEYP and availability of similar services to 15,000 students every year.