Youth across Pakistan face challenges in gaining relevant skills that prepare them for employment. Youth in unstable areas like Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) are at a particular disadvantage, with comparatively fewer job opportunities than other areas of Pakistan. However, a growing ICT market offers a unique entry point for both skills training and employment. The Skills for Youth Project (SYP), was a $2.9 million pilot project funded by USAID with a 1:1 resource match from Cisco. SYP marked the first Global Development Alliance (GDA) initiative in Pakistan. The GDA mechanism is unique in that it enables the collaboration of corporate and non-profit sector organizations, for the leveraging of assets, innovations, field experiences, and networks, in order to creatively solve complex problems.During its period of performance from June 16, 2016 to May 31, 2018, SYP worked with Pakistani youth living in the critical stabilization areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) to equip them with certified and employable Information Communication Technology (ICT)skills. The project was designed to contribute towards improving long-term stability, economic growth, and social development of the targeted communities in KP and FATA. SYP was administered by World Learning (WL)in partnership with Cisco and the Government of KP (GoKP). As a key outcome, the project established Cisco training academies at 40 higher, vocational, and technical education institutions across nine stabilization districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including: Peshawar, Nowshera, Swat, Malakand, Lower Dir, Kohat, Karak, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan. The project installed Cisco networking training equipment at all the partner institutions and trained 132 IT teachers (113 men, 19 women) as Cisco academy instructors to cascade the ICT skills training to students.

The Cisco academies established through SYP enrolled 4533 students, of which 3592 completed their training during the life of the project.The trainees included 1443 students (531 girls; 912 boys) trained in IT Essentials, 1945 students (155 girls; 1790 boys) trained in CCNA-Routing and Switching and from this group, 204 students (15 girls; 189 boys) were selected for additional training in CCNA-Security.

These ICT training courses are in great demand in the national and international industries. Besides the Cisco training in ICT, the project trained all trainees in soft skills featuring CV writing, cover letter writing, job interviews, job search and self-employment. As a result, over 900 students completed their Cisco profiles, with more uploading the same as the project neared its completion date. On the employment side, and SYP engaged with 200 firms and 31 HR managers/recruitment firms to link graduates to employers.

Three employment linkages activities were conducted, including a career-fair in coordination with Abbasyn University that resulted in over 800 SYP graduates/students in attendance. To date, 45 students have procured jobs, and over 200 have either been interviewed or are being tapped by employers for participation in an interview process. Another major accomplishment of the project is the creation of a Cisco Academy Support Center (ASC) at the University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Peshawar. The ASC is designed to provide technical and operational support to the 40 Cisco academies created through the project.