Employment Effects of Skills Trainings in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review of Recent Randomized Controlled Trials

Abstract

This study provides a comprehensive systematic review of recent randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate the employment effects of skills training programs in sub-Saharan Africa. The review focuses on studies conducted between 2019 and 2024, a period marked by a significant increase in the number of RCTs of training interventions in this region, and we thus fill a gap left by earlier reviews that did not reflect this recent surge in experimental studies. We employ the standard SPIDER approach for defining search terms and the PRISMA procedure for search and selection to systematically analyze the impact of these training programs on employment outcomes. The findings reveal a shift towards a more optimistic assessment compared to previous analyses, suggesting that many recent skills training programs do contribute to improving employment-related outcomes. © The Author(s) 2024.

Keywords

Author Keywords

Systematic review Sub-Saharan Africa Randomized controlled trials Skills training

Index Keywords

optimization skilled labor comparative study literature review experimental study Sub-saharan africa

Author Affiliations

Rheinisch-Westfaelisches Institut fuer Wirtschaftsforschung Essen, Essen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Gottingen, Niedersachsen, Germany

Funding & Acknowledgements

Bundesministerium für Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung, BMZ

Funding text 1: The authors gratefully acknowledge funding from Germany\u2019s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). This paper was written as part of the R\u00E9UsSITE project, which provides research support to the Ministry\u2019s Special Initiative Decent Work for a Just Transition (Invest for Jobs).; Funding text 2: Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. This work was supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) of Germany (Forschungsvorhaben \u201CWissenschaftliche Begleitung und Erforschung der Wirkungen der Sonderinitiative Ausbildung und Besch\u00E4ftigung\u201D).

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Employment Effects of Skills Trainings in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review of Recent Randomized Controlled Trials

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