USAID CAREER CENTER

USAID CAREER CENTER QUARTERLY REPORT 3rd QUARTER: October 1-December 31, 2016

Submitted to USAID/Morocco, Economic Growth Office - Development Objective 1: Employability of Target Youth Enhanced By FHI360 Contract Number: AID-608-C-15-00004 / Request Project: REQ-608-14-000023 DISCLAIMER The author’s views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government.

USAID Career Center

35, avenue Lalla Meryem - Souissi

10 170 Rabat

Morocco

ACTIVITY INFORMATION

Activity Title USAID Career Center

Contract Number AID-608-C-15-00004 / Request Project: REQ-608-14-000023

Name of Prime Implementing Partner Family Health International 360

Name(s) of Subcontractor(s)/Subawardee(s)

International Research and Exchanges Board Education for Employment Golden Resources

Activity Start Date February 12, 2015

Activity End Date February 11, 2019

Reporting Period October 1st, 2016 to December 31st, 2016

QUARTERLY REPORT (October – December 2016) i

TABLE OF CONTENTS ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................................ III

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Activity Description ............................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Summary of Key Accomplishments during Reporting Period ...................................................... 2 1.3 Summary of Major Challenges, Learning and Adaptive Management during Reporting Period

.................................................................................................................................................................... 3

2. ACTIVITY PROGRESS .......................................................................................................................... 5

2.1 Progress Narrative ................................................................................................................................. 5 2.1.1. Component 1: Establish Career Centers ...................................................................................... 5 2.1.2. Component 2: Work Readiness .................................................................................................... 11

2.2 Measurable Results to Date ............................................................................................................... 14

3. CROSS-CUTTING THEMES ............................................................................................................. 17

3.1 Local Solutions ...................................................................................................................................... 17 3.2 Gender Focus and Participation of People with Disabilities ....................................................... 18 3.3 Positive Youth Engagement ................................................................................................................ 19

4. STAKEHOLDER COLLABORATION ............................................................................................ 22

4.1 Collaboration and/or Knowledge Sharing with other USAID activities .................................. 22 4.2 Collaboration and Coordination with other Key Stakeholders ................................................ 22

5. LESSONS LEARNED ........................................................................................................................... 26

5.1 Challenges .............................................................................................................................................. 26 5.2 Lessons Learned .................................................................................................................................... 27 5.3 Stakeholder Feedback .......................................................................................................................... 28 5.4 Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Update ................................................................................. 29 5.5 Adaptive Management ......................................................................................................................... 31

6. CONTRACT/AGREEMENT MODIFICATIONS .......................................................................... 32

7. SUSTAINABILITY ................................................................................................................................. 33

8. MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATIVE ISSUES ..................................................................... 34

8.1 Staff changes ........................................................................................................................................... 34 8.2 Budget issues ......................................................................................................................................... 34

9. BRANDING, OUTREACH AND COMMUNICATIONS .......................................................... 35

9.1 Communication Strategy and Branding Awareness ...................................................................... 35 9.2 Success Stories ...................................................................................................................................... 37 9.3 Calendar of Planned Outreach and Communications Events .................................................... 39

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10. PLANNED ACTIVITIES FOR THE NEXT QUARTER ................................................................ 43

11. APPENDICES ......................................................................................................................................... 46

APPENDIX 1 - INDICATOR REPORTING MATRIX ............................................................................ 46 APPENDIX 2 – PHOTOS OF PARTICIPANTS AND ACTIVITY SITES ........................................... 64 APPENDIX 3 – USAID CAREER CENTER WORK READINESS OFFERING ................................. 69

QUARTERLY REPORT (October – December 2016) iii

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS AFEM : Women Entrepreneurs Association ALC : American Language Center AMRC : Moroccan Association for Customer Relations (Association Marocaine de la

Relation Client) ANAPEC : National Agency for the Promotion of Jobs and Skills (Agence Nationale de la

Promotion de l’Emploi et des Compétences) CGEM : Moroccan General Confederation of Enterprise (Confédération Générale des

Entreprises du Maroc) COP22 : Conference of Parties (Climate Change Conference) COP : Chief of Party COR : Contracting Officer Representative DQA : Data Quality Assessment EFE : Education for Employment ESITH : Superior School of Textile and Clothing (École supérieure des industries du textile

et de l'habillement) ESPOD : Point of Departure (Espace pont de depart) FSAC : Faculty of Law, Economics and Social Sciences FJIJ : Finding a Job is a Job GMD : Mechanical Group (Groupe Mécanique Découpage) IFMEREE : Training Institute for Renewable Energy Jobs and Energy Efficiency IMA : Moroccan Aerospace Institute IREX : International Research & Exchange Board ISMONTIC : Special Institute of Jobs in Offshoring and New Information Technologies ISTA : Specialized Institute for Applied Technology ISTAHT : Specialized Institute of Applied Hotel and Tourism Technology IT : Information Technology JCI : Junior Chamber International M&E : Monitoring and Evaluation MELP : Monitoring Evaluation and Learning Plan MOU : Memorandum of Understanding OECD : Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development OFPPT : Office for Professional Training and Job Promotion (Office de la Formation

Professionnelle et de la Promotion du Travail) OPI : Organizational Performance Index PPP : Public-Private Partnerships PPR : Performance, Plan and Report SNA : Social Network Analysis STTA : Short Term Technical Assistance UAE : University Abdelmalek Essaadi UCA : University Cadi Ayyad UMAQ : Moroccan Union for Quality UNIDO : United Nations Industrial Development Organization USAID : United States Agency for International Development USG : United States Government VTC : Vocational Training Center WPS : Workplace Success

iv USAID CAREER CENTER

LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Key activities in opened physical career centers………………….......................................9 Table 2. Virtual career center statistics (ctober 1st – december 31st)………………….....….10 Table 3. Number of beneficiaries of work readiness trainings (october1st – december 31st)....13 Table 4. Usaid career center program key outreach figures (october 1st – december 31st)….40

QUARTERLY REPORT (October – December 2016) 1

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY USAID Career Center is pleased to submit this third quarterly report for its second year of program operations for the period of October 1st to December 30th 2016. During the third quarter, several key activities were implemented to support the program in achieving its objective of promoting an enabling environment for youth employability in Morocco through the creation of pilot Career Centers. The quarter witnessed close collaboration with program partners to support these key activities. As a result of these collaborative efforts, the program successfully launched its first pilot vocational training Career Center in Casablanca.

1.1 ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION

USAID Career Center continued to focus its efforts on supporting key programmatic objectives in the three target regions of Casablanca, Marrakech, and Tangier. These activities included:

• working with host-institutions to supervise ongoing improvement work; • initial training of new Career Center staff and on-going training for other Career Center

staff with an emphasis on identifying needs; • development and delivery of work readiness curricula based on feedback from our industry

analysis reports, youth feedback, trainer feedback and private sector partners’ inputs; • youth engagement and mobilization through outreach events, social media and the Youth

Ambassadors initiative; • continuing outreach to private and public sector partners to support program interests and

activities; and • beginning to discuss with institutional partners and host-institutions the sustainability of the

Career Centers past the life of the program. The inauguration of the vocational training Career Center in Casablanca on December 27th was the culmination of collaborative efforts with USAID and the host-institution Office for Professional Training and Promotion of Employment (OFPPT). Throughout the quarter, the program met with OFPPT representatives to discuss staffing arrangements for the center and to monitor the improvement work on the center. With the opening of this center, three Career Centers are now fully functional and operating in the program’s target regions. Preparations for the opening of the remaining Career Centers continued throughout the quarter with the rest of the pilot Career Centers on schedule to open during the next quarter. The training of Career Center staff in all regions was a major activity this quarter. With the start of the program’s new Career Services Specialist, Career Center staff benefited from several trainings in each of the regions on a range of topics. These included youth workshops on career counseling techniques, monitoring and evaluation, the Youth Ambassador program, and a host of subjects critical for the centers to be successful. New staff received initial trainings, while the second phase of training was delivered to existing Career Center staff. The Career Services Specialist also conducted a Training Needs Analysis and Skills Assessment to design and implement a professional development training program for Career Center staff over the next semester. Improvements and additions were made to the Virtual Career Center to enhance existing content, such as, the Self-Diagnostic section and to make the site more user-friendly with the creation of a new interface to manage requests for training. Overall, the Virtual Career Center dramatically increased its number of visitors (+220.80%) and its number of registered members (+490.27%). The

2 USAID CAREER CENTER

Career Center Management tool was implemented in the opened Career Centers at the beginning of the quarter, allowing for the efficient tracking of Career Center beneficiaries. Following the pilot of the program’s soft skills offering, “Najahi – Prêt pour l’emploi” (Ready for Employment) in October, the modules were finalized and delivered to youth in all three of the program’s target regions in December, 2016 to 1,667 youth. The modules are divided into two courses which introduce youth to soft skills and prepares them for the job search process. Each module consists on average of six to eight hours of in-person instruction built around the concepts of learning centered on the student and the promotion of learning by doing. Throughout the quarter, Career Centers and regional program teams continued to build relationships with private sector, civil society, and other labor market actors, which resulted in several collaborative activities aimed at increasing collaboration between actors and enhancing youth employability. Activities included a Recruitment Day at the Hilton Hotel in Tangier, an event co-organized with the Press House in Tangier on the role the media can play to reinforce youth employability, and the Conference of Youth (COY 12) held in Marrakech in conjunction with the climate conference COP22. These events heavily engaged target youth and demonstrated the success of private sector engagement in fostering a collaborative environment around supporting youth employability in Morocco. During this quarter, the program also began to explore sustainability options for the USAID Career Center though discussions with USAID and program partners. A national steering committee meeting was held on November 30th in which the sustainability of Career Centers was discussed. Additionally, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between USAID and the OFPPT on December 27th. In the MoU, OFPPT committed to fully staffing two of the pilot vocational centers, to integrate soft skills training modules into the general training curricula for all of its vocational training centers, and to disseminate the Career Center model to all of its vocational training sites. At the regional level, the two universities hosting pilot Career Centers in Marrakech and Tangier have expressed their intention to dedicate a budget line to the Career Center.

1.2 SUMMARY OF KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS DURING REPORTING PERIOD

The third quarter of Year Two was a very productive period for USAID Career Center, with several key accomplishments in the following areas:

• The first vocational training Career Center was opened in Casablanca. Over 200 students benefited from Career Center services provided by trained staff at the inauguration ceremony on December 27th. The official opening benefited from excellent media coverage with 17 articles published and reports on the major Moroccan TV channels.

• 1,246 youth benefited from services delivered face-to-face in the three opened

physical Career Centers over the quarter.

• Improved content and new additions to the Virtual Career Center significantly increased the number of visitors throughout the past three months, totaling 11,613 which is a 220.80% increase from the previous quarter. The program also experienced an increase in the number of registered users of the Virtual Career Center, which totaled 2,550 for the quarter, a +490.27% increase.

• 1,667 youth benefited from work readiness trainings over the quarter in the three regions. Since the launch of the USAID Career Center program, over 3,100 beneficiaries have been trained across the three regions. Since December, the program is delivering its


own soft skills training, “Najahi – Prêt pour l’emploi” (Ready for Employment) to youth in Casablanca, Marrakech and Tangier.

• Integration of Work Readiness Offering into Host-Institutions Curricula. The

program has made significant strides in its effort to integrate its soft skills offering, “Najahi – Prêt pour l’emploi,” into host-institution curricula. At the Hassan II University in Casablanca, a training plan has been developed to work with course coordinators in scheduling training. Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech in collaboration with the program, agreed to integrate the soft skills modules into their curricula for Master’s students starting in 2017.

• Positive youth engagement through

social media and the Youth Ambassadors initiative. In total, 65 Youth Ambassadors have been recruited over the quarter and have provided critical support to key events such as the Hilton Recruitment Day and the Media Event in Tangier, or the Conference of Youth (COY12) in Marrakech. The three opened Career Centers reinforced their presence on social media, increasing the number of interactions and of Facebook followers by 48% since the last quarter.

• Private sector engagement. The

dialogue and collaboration between opened Career Centers and the private sector are expanding, with businesses approaching the centers for recruitment needs and the first recruitment event co-organized with a private company for the university Career Center in Tangier in December (Hilton).

• Implementation of the Career Center Management Tool. The Management Tool

was implemented in all opened Centers and all Career Center staff were trained to use this back-office and tracking system, which gathers key data on beneficiaries and allows for the creation of a survey with selected youth after they benefit from Career Center services.

1.3 SUMMARY OF MAJOR CHALLENGES, LEARNING AND ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT DURING REPORTING PERIOD

The program experienced several challenges in relation to: • the establishment of the physical Career Centers; • collaboration with host-institutions in particular on the recruitment of Career Center staff; • monitoring the number of youth receiving online services through the Virtual Career

Center;

• integration of Career Center soft skills training offering into host-institution curricula; • strengthening relationships with local businesses in Casablanca and Marrakech; and • receiving in-kind contributions for Career Centers from host institutions.

While these items represent significant challenges, the program has responded by implementing strategies to overcome these items and to avoid future challenges in these areas. The Career

Youth Ambassadors promoting the Career Center on the campus of the Abdelmalek Essaadi University in Tangier.


Services Specialist conducted a training needs analysis to anticipate skills needs and to develop training priorities for the upcoming year. As a result of the difficulty in integrating the program’s soft skills offering into host-institution curricula, the program recognized the need to collaborate not only with university presidents but also with course and department heads. Several specific actions were also initiated to inform an adaptive management strategy, which includes continuing to develop a robust data collection system to provide a continuous cycle of evaluation, an internal review to evaluate and refine program operations, and the refinement of the Career Center Management Tool which has the ability to survey selected youth after trainings to increase feedback and be used to inform future activities.


2. ACTIVITY PROGRESS 2.1 PROGRESS NARRATIVE

2.1.1. Component 1: Establish Career Centers

With the three university Career Centers now fully staffed, significant progress has been made in relation to the delivery of Career Center services. The vocational training Career Center in Casablanca was officially opened on December 27th by the US Ambassador, the Minister of National Education and Vocational Training and the General Director of OFPPT, in presence of the USAID Morocco Director and representatives of the national business association (CGEM). The Career Services Specialist started in mid-October. She provided a successful initial contribution to the program in her first full quarter with frequent site visits to the Career Centers as she conducted training needs analyses, provided training and established rapport with the Career Center teams. During the month of November, the Career Services Specialist and IREX Program Officer, conducted a Training Needs Analysis and Skills Assessment with the university Career Center staff in all three regions. The analysis identified skills needs across a range of professional competencies including the Career Center strategy and program planning, student advising, delivery of career education workshops, and service evaluation. The Career Services Specialist will use this analysis to determine a continuing professional development training program for all Career Center staff. (Casablanca, November 9th; Marrakech, November 3rd; Tangier, November 7th-8th). New content and new functionalities were added over the quarter to the Virtual Career Center which drastically increased its number of visitors (+220.80%) and its number of registered members (+490.27%). Key activities per region are reported below. Casablanca Vocational Career Center Significant progress was made in preparation for the launch of the vocational Career Center in Casablanca, which was officially opened on December 27th. Weekly site meetings took place with the architects, engineers, the company in charge of executing improvement work and the host institution Office for Professional Training and Promotion of Employment (OFPPT) representatives. Throughout October the project team collaborated with OFPPT to agree on the staffing arrangements for the center. A meeting was held with the new OFPPT Regional Director, in the presence of the USAID COR, to discuss the three OFPPT staff that to be made available for the vocational Career Center (October 5th).

The US Ambassador, the Minister of National Education and Vocational Training, and the General Director of OFPPT cutting the ribbon at the inauguration of the vocational training Career Center in Casablanca (December 27th).


The new staff visited the Marrakech university Career Center on December 7th, meeting with the Marrakech team to discuss best practices in Career Center services, workshop planning and preparation, and the Career Center toolkit. They received the second phase of their start-up training on December 8th and 9th, which included training on the following topics: How to Present Yourself in 60 seconds, Time Management, Career Center Management Tool, Monitoring and Evaluation, and an overview of the Youth Ambassador program. On December 23rd, the staff was trained on the use of the Virtual Career Center and the Career Center Management Tool. As part of the soft launch of the Career Center two events were held.

• A delegation of 20 individuals from the Learning and Knowledge Development Facility of UNIDO and USAID officials were invited to the Career Center. During the event, participants were introduced to the Career Center program and given a demonstration of the Virtual Career Center. Four workshops were also held for the guests: Boost your CV; Prepare for an Interview; Diagnostic; LinkedIn (December 15th).

• Six individuals, from the SOS Children’s Village organization, which provides support to vulnerable youth, were invited to the Career Center to learn more about its services. (December 20th)

On the day of the opening, the Career Center showcased five of its services. Youth had the opportunity to visit four booths to learn more about CV review, preparing for an interview, self-diagnostic tools, and getting noticed online using LinkedIn. A demonstration of the Virtual Career Center was also provided. Over 200 students visited the booths and benefited from these services. Hassan II University Career Center Following previously reported delays to the preparation of the physical Career Center space at Hassan II University, the required structural work was completed by the host-university in December, enabling the improvement work to commence. The complete architectural plans and technical specifications were produced and the first preparatory meeting was held onsite with University representatives, the Career Center Director, the program’s team, the architects and the firm in charge of the improvement work (November 25th). This Career Center is planned to open during the next quarter. Staff preparation also continued during the quarter. They visited the Career Center at Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech to observe the functioning Career Center environment and learn from the experience of the Career Counselors in Marrakech (November 1st). Staff from the Hassan II University Career Center also assisted in the opening of the Casablanca vocational Career Center on December 27th.

Counselors providing vocational students with some of the Career Center’s services, Casablanca. (December 27th, 2016)

Vocational trainees receiving Career Center services at the inauguration of the vocational Career Center in Casablanca (December 27th).


Tangier

Vocational Career Center During the quarter, the project team held several meetings with the OFPPT Regional Director and the Director of the Special Institute of Jobs in Offshoring and New Information Technologies hosting the Career Center to discuss the improvement work and staffing. OFPPT started the required preliminary structural work in the space dedicated to the future vocational Career Center and the program team finalized the detailed architectural and technical plans with contractors. Improvement work at the site started on November 29th. In October, it was proposed by OFPPT that the ISMONTIC Director will serve as the Career Center Director on a part-time basis. The program strongly recommended that OFPPT selects a profile that can be available full time at the Career Center. The recruitment and selection process is still ongoing. Abdelmalek Essaadi University Career Center Career Center service delivery ramped up at the University Career Center with a number of workshops and events delivered during the quarter. CV workshops were held on October 12th and November 2nd, a LinkedIn workshop on October 27th and face-to-face individual counselling was provided to students on the topics of career orientation and how to boost their CV. The Tangier Regional Coordinator and Ghizlane Maamouri, Professor at Ecole Nationale de Commerce et de Gestion, organized an awareness event on the regional labor market on November 2nd and, on November 7th, a book exchange day was organized by the host-university at the Career Center for the World Day of African Writers. The event provided an opportunity to raise awareness about the Career Center among youth, and create an environment for exchanging ideas. Progress was also made in relation to Career Center staffing: USAID granted approval for the Career Center Advisor/Communications Specialist position in replacement of the first counselor who had left her position. She started in November and received her initial onboarding and training. After a meeting between the program team, the USAID COR and the University President to discuss staffing, a new Career Center Director was appointed by the University and joined the team on November 14th. In this meeting, other topics were discussed with the University President including the creation of a line in the UAE budget for Career Center operations, integration of work readiness training into UAE curricula. It was agreed with the President that a working session would be held on soft skills with 30 UAE communications professors and that a meeting would be organized over the next quarter with deans of faculties and heads of courses to discuss the possible integration of soft skills courses into their curricula. Career Center staff professional development continued throughout the quarter, with training on several topics including daily operations of a Career Center, Career Center training modules, the Virtual Career Center, creating a CV and cover letter, methods for searching for an internship or job, and interview techniques. (November 22nd-23rd). Staff received the second phase of their initial start-up training, including training on the following topics: How to Present Yourself in 60 seconds, Time Management, Management Tools, Monitoring and Evaluation, Winning Your Job Search, and Methods for Securing an Internship. (December 5th-6th) During December, the Career Services Specialist also provided training on the methods for animating workshops successfully. The following workshops were reviewed in order to enhance the Career Center staff competencies: Time management workshop, Job fair workshop, Interview workshop, Job search strategies workshop. As with Marrakech, the Career Services Specialist turned her attention to Career Center services planning, management and monitoring. She met with staff to discuss activity planning for the month of January and assisted staff to develop a robust spreadsheet to track Career Center activities by week and month. Furthermore, the University Career Center staff in Tangier developed an annual


2.1.2. Component 2: Work Readiness

Curricula Development This quarter was a very busy and fruitful period for the work readiness function. A name was decided upon for the soft skills offering, following several focus groups with youth and trainers: “Najahi – Prêt pour l’emploi” (Ready for Employment). This will be the capstone name for the catalogue of courses offered by USAID Career Center. Appropriate branding on products are being prepared. (November 29th) The modules are based on labor market research and incorporate the results of various studies and a review of soft skills both locally and selected international experiences. Each module consists on average of six to eight hours of in-person instruction built around the concepts of learning centered on the student and the promotion of learning by doing. In future releases, USAID Career Center will seek to enhance these offerings by integrating e-learning for the creation of blended courses and to integrate this content into the Virtual Career Center. The initial ten modules are deemed to be foundational and are highly recommended for all youth. These modules are divided into two courses of five modules each. The “Preparing for My Career” course provides an introduction to soft skills, addressing topics such as value setting, building confidence and oral and written communication. “My Kit for Employment”, the second course of five modules prepares youth in the job search process. This course orients youth to the marketplace, provides techniques to perform a job search, develop an effective CV and motivational letter and finishes with the elements of the job interview. During this quarter, the ten modules were piloted (October 4th-8th). Training of trainers was delivered (October 15th-16th; 22nd-23rd; 29th-30th) and the initial launch of the new curricula began in all three regions (December 15th). The additional 14 modules are supplemental to the foundational courses and consist of advanced modules covering customer relations, communications, teamwork, time and stress management and skills in problem solving and negotiation. During this quarter, all course development of the supplemental modules was completed. Pilots are scheduled for January and training of youth will begin in all regions this coming February. The collateral materials for the supplemental modules, such as trainer’s and student’s manuals, presentation materials, and handouts, were prepared for the pilot. For a detailed list of “Najahi – Prêt pour l’emploi” work readiness courses currently in development, see Appendix 11.4


Integration of Work Readiness Offering into Host-Institutions Curricula Casablanca Even with the University Career Center not yet open, the efforts of the team in Casablanca to bring awareness of the new work readiness offering “Najahi – Prêt pour l’emploi” and the importance of integration into host-institutions curricula is beginning to gain traction. Meetings were held on November 9th with three vice-deans in charge of pedagogy at Hassan II University faculties: Faculty of Law, Economics and Social Sciences at Ain Chock (November 15th); Faculty of Sciences at Ain Chock (November 17th); and Faculty of Law, Economics and Social Sciences at Ain Sebaa (FSAC) to present the ten foundational modules of “Najahi – Prêt pour l’emploi” (basic soft skills and job search). A first training plan was developed with the vice-deans who will engage coordinators of the Master’s and Professional License program to schedule training on those modules. A follow-up meeting was held with the Vice President of Hassan II University and the Vice Dean of Faculty of Sciences at Ain Chock to discuss training coordinators for the facilitation of the foundational modules. The university will share with Career Center staff a list of groups to participate in the training and a provisional schedule. (November 28th). Marrakech Starting in 2017, soft skills courses are planned to be integrated into curriculum for Master’s students at Cadi Ayyad University; a total of 150 hours per student/year The Career Center, using the work readiness courses developed by the USAID Career Center program, made a proposal to the Pedagogical Committee of the University to pilot these courses. A follow-up meeting was held with the Director of Pedagogy and other potential training institutions working with the University (Seiton Consulting, ANAPEC) to discuss the training offer in detail (November 3rd). The University will make a decision shortly. An overview of the program’s new offering of work readiness curriculum “Najahi – Prêt pour l’emploi”

“The training “My Kit in for Employment” was very interesting. We practiced communication every day, in a spontaneous and intuitive manner. We learned to understand communication, what happens in relationships, how we can avoid many problems and misunderstandings, through communication. The Career Center offers an opportunity for young graduates to adapt to the needs of employers but equally to maximize their chances in the job market. It was a great experience for me. The training was informative, rich, and perfect. Congratulations for the efforts of the program team, our youth needs this program!”


My Kit for Employment 15 40 52 49 133 222

Sub-total 252 411 81 62 320 541

Total (male and female beneficiaries) 663 143 861

Total (all regions) 1,667

2.2 MEASURABLE RESULTS TO DATE

R1: Partners Implication (provision of financial and human resources): • OFPPT provided three staff for the vocational Career Center in Casablanca and will provide

three staff for the Career Center in Tangier. • OFFPT conducted structural work on the vocational Career Center sites in Casablanca and

in Tangier to make them accessible and ready for USAID Career Center to begin improvement work.

• Host-universities assume the salary of the Career Center Directors in the three regions. • Host-institutions contribute to operational costs of the Career Centers, including cleaning

services, phone and internet connection.

R2: Trained Staff that is well-versed in Career Center tools: • Career Center staff have received several face-to-face and virtual training sessions over the

quarter. Trainings covered a range of topics, including time management, monitoring and evaluation, the Youth Ambassador program, etc. A training needs analysis was also conducted.

• In particular, new Career Center staff of the vocational Career Center in Casablanca as well as the new Career Center Director and the new Career Counselor in charge of communications in Tangier have received initial training. Other staff benefited from continuous training provided by the Career Services Specialist and the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer.

R3: Mechanisms and tools for dialogue between companies and universities; vocational training centers are established and formalized:

• After the Social Network Analysis was conducted, training was provided to University professors in all regions to prepare the Social Network Analysis report. The program established the baseline number of connections to be used in the upcoming report as a way to measure the changes in connections between stakeholders.

• Regional coordinators continued to implement action plans established with working groups created during the regional mobilization workshops, based on the “whole system in the room” methodology. In Casablanca, the Civil Society group met to mobilize other civil society actors and the association SOS Village visited the vocational training Career Center for a soft launch. A workshop was held in the Tangier University Career Center by a member of Réseau Entreprendre (Entrepreneurship Network) to share his professional experience with Career Center beneficiaries.

R4: Operational Career Centers used by young people in the three regions:

• The first two Career Centers opened in Marrakech (Cadi Ayyad University) and in Tangier (Abdelmalek Essaadi University). They are fully functional and used by youth. Their staff is trained and able provide workshops and counseling services to youth.


• The vocational Career Center in Casablanca was opened in December and is now used by youth.

• The opening of the remaining three Career Centers is in preparation and planned for the next quarter.

R5: Companies are involved in Career Center activities and are closer to Universities and Vocational training centers: Number of workforce development initiatives completed as a result of USG participation in public-private partnerships

• This quarter, five partnerships with employers were established (Tangier Press House, Hilton Hotel, Lesieur, Heure Joyeuse Association, 118 218).

• Several events were held in collaboration with companies in Tangier, including the Recruitment Day at the Hilton Hotel in which over 700 youth attended. Other companies, including Siemens, SEBN and Daher, attended the event and provided information to students.

• Several employers collaborated with the Career Centers in recruitment efforts in Casablanca and Marrakech including, Heure Joyeuse Association, Xceed, and 118 218.

R6: Young people are engaged, and receive mastery of tools offered by Career Centers:

• Youth have been mobilized through social media platforms (Facebook & LinkedIn) for each open Career Center and through Youth Ambassador activities.

• University Career Centers have organized caravans to mobilize youth and promote the services of the Career Centers. Over 65 Youth Ambassadors have been trained across the pilot regions and serve as a connection to students throughout different university campuses and vocational training campuses.

• 3,049 youth benefited from face-to-face services provided in the three opened Career Centers, 1,246 of which have received advice from Career Center Counselors.

• At of the end of December, 11,613 people1 have received Career Center services through the Virtual Career Center (www.careercenter.ma).

• The program continued to develop and integrate functionalities to better track beneficiaries of Career Center services over the quarter. The Career Center Management Tool also allows the program to conduct event-specific surveys to track youth engagement.

R7: Universities and vocational training centers master and integrate various soft skills learning tools into universities VTC’s curricula

• Meetings were held throughout the quarter to discuss and plan for the integration of soft skills training into university curricula.

• An initial training plan was developed with the Vice-Deans at Hassan II University, who will work with the course and department heads of Master’s and Professional License programs.

• Soft skills courses are planned to be integrated into curriculum for Master’s students at Cadi Ayyad University, a total of 150 hours per student/year.

R8 + R9: Youth become work-ready (employable) and companies employ skilled young people: • 1,803 youth received work readiness training over the quarter. • Several trainings were held to prepare young people for employment. A survey to track

their integration rate in the workplace via the management tool will be conducted next quarter.

R10: Employers improve the working environment to maximize productivity and learning at all levels of their workforce, leading to higher demand for entry level workers:

1This number tracks the total number of visitors to the Virtual Career Center based on IP address.


• The program created a framework for its study on working conditions in Morocco, which will be used to analyze and improve the overall working environment. USAID Career Center will continue work on this study during the next quarter.

R11: Companies are more productive: • Surveys were distributed to three companies following the Workplace Success trainings. One

company, Domino’s Pizza, provided feedback. The Human Resources Director clearly stated that the turnover of new workers is lower than the control group. The trained employees were able to adapt to their new workplace more easily than others and had a lower absentee rate. The Human Resources Director expects that their productivity will be higher due to the training they received and would like to collaborate with the Career Center in other regions as well, regarding training and recruitment.


3. CROSS-CUTTING THEMES 3.1 LOCAL SOLUTIONS

Casablanca In an effort to prepare a possible replication of the Career Center model in other regions and amongst other training operators, a series of discussions were held with Mr. Semaj, Director of the Training Institute for Renewable Energy Jobs and Energy Efficiency based in Oujda (IFMEREE) (October 28th). This institute is interested in the USAID Career Center program and would like to develop a similar model for its trainees. Throughout November, exchanges continued with the Director of this Institute: the initial elements for starting a Career Center were shared, including the Career Center Toolkit, descriptions of Career Center staff positions, and the catalogue of foundational work readiness modules. Two trainers from the institute will be invited to participate in the training sessions that will be provided to staff at the OFPPT Career Center in Tangier. The same trainers will also be invited to the next training of trainer’s session on the work readiness foundational modules. A follow-up meeting is scheduled to advance collaboration over the next quarter. In follow up to the regional mobilization workshop held in June, 2016, a meeting of the Civil Society group was held at SOS Village office (October 6th). The group discussed planning events for youth and how to mobilize other local civil society actors involved with women and people with disabilities.

The Career Center also conducted recruitment for the Association Heure Joyeuse by contacting youth who had completed Finding a Job is a Job trainings. Ten youth were surveyed and five were selected. The Career Center shared their CV’s with the association. Marrakech During this quarter, the Marrakech regional team used the COP22 Climate Conference as an opportunity to exchange with youth associations and private sector actors. The regional team visited the COP 22 Green Zone, an area reserved for private companies, to meet with companies in the region and learn about green jobs (November 16th). To increase the level of collaboration with youth organizations, the Career Center presented its services in a dedicated booth at the Conference of Youth (COY12) and the team met with the President of the Let’s Move association which aims at improving the capacities of youth living in Marrakech through workshops and cultural activities. The program discussed delivering work readiness trainings to youth involved in the association (November 4th).

Tangier Along with work with the private companies of the region (see section 4.2), the university Career Center in Tangier capitalized on the regional dynamic led by certain active members of the community like Réseau Entreprendre, an association that has collaborated with the program since the regional mobilization workshop held in March, 2016. On December 17th, the Career Center conducted its first workshop with a member of this association, Souhail Merroun, a young computer science genius with singular academic achievements, who shared his professional experience with beneficiaries of the UAE Career Center.


As part of the Recruitment Day co-organized with Hilton hotel (see section 4.2), the university Career Center prepared 64 youth beneficiaries of the local association Assadaka, a local civil society organization partnering with the USAID-funded Community project for safety and security (COPA) (December 15th-17th) (see also section 4.1). To encourage all labor market actors to work together towards enhancing youth employability, and following meetings of the “Media Group” of the regional mobilization workshop, the university Career Center co-organized an event with the Press House on the theme “Media: their role in the labor market?”. More than 310 people participated, including journalists, business professionals and youth. During this event, the Career Center promoted its services and fostered a constructive debate to strengthen the involvement of the media in reinforcing information on the labor market and addressing questions raised by youth on employment in the region (December 21st).

3.2 GENDER FOCUS AND PARTICIPATION OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

To achieve its objectives in terms of gender and reduce barriers to women’s participation in program activities and in the workforce, USAID Career Center has continued over the quarter to develop relationships with local specialized civil society organizations in order to design activities with Career Center beneficiaries to raise their awareness on gender equality, as well as, with university faculty involved in gender studies to consult them on topics related to gender equality for ideas and solutions to be implemented inside the host-institution and the Career Center. In all communication and technical tools produced by the program, careful attention is always paid to using diverse images of men/boys and women/girls in equal proportion and to use gender neutral terms in all training modules. The program is preparing, in collaboration with Career Center staff, a social media campaign to promote the role women play as leaders in the Moroccan economy and society. This campaign is one of the activities the program will be implementing to provide youth with working women role models. On participation of people with disabilities, the program initiated contact with an Agadir-based association recommended by USAID, which focuses its action on protecting and empowering hearing-impaired youth (Association de Sauvegarde et Protection des Sourds). Avenues of collaboration with this association might include the use of sign language in program videos or the organization of workshops in the Marrakech Career Center for association beneficiaries. Casablanca In Casablanca, the regional team is implementing a gender strategy in which the Career Center will work with the gender department at Hassan II University and gender-focused associations in the area. A meeting was held with the Dean of Faculty of Arts and Humanities,

to discuss involving students with a gender focus in Career Center activities (October 25th). The program Gender Analysis Report was shared and follow-up meetings are scheduled to determine a plan of action.

A meeting was held with Chadia Mlahfi, President of ESPOD, an organization that promotes female entrepreneurship, to discuss Espace point de départ’s (ESPOD) need for interns and to invite female entrepreneurs as speakers at the Career Center (November 3rd).


testimonials to official representatives and the media, explaining their role and promoting the services of the Career Center. They also assisted in leading mini-Career Center workshops in booths facilitated by Career Center advisors and volunteering in the IT Room for the Virtual Career Center to register participants. (December 27th) The Career Center also participated in the following events over this quarter to mobilize youth:

• The International Colloquium of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Faculty of Sciences at Ben M’Sik: students were introduced to the Career Center and Virtual Career Center services (December 1st).

• World of Equal Opportunities forum, organized by the Moroccan Student Foundation: Career Center Counselors delivered the “My Kit for Employment” training to 16 students in attendance at the event (December 5th).

• A Job Fair organized by the Superior School of Textile and Clothing (ESITH) (December 7th).

• Career Center staff presented the Career Center services at the student integration day of the Faculty of Law, Economics and Social Sciences in Ain Sbaa and Ain Chock and to Master’s students in the Department of Management (October 26th, 27th, 31st).

Youth Ambassador’s Program Throughout the quarter, several sessions were organized at the Hassan II University faculties to present the Career Center Youth Ambassador program and recruit students. (October 26th; November 3rd, 16th, 21st, 23rd, 28th; December 2nd, 7th, 8th, 21st, 26th). The first group of 19 Youth Ambassadors of the vocational Career Center was recruited, trained and prepared for the official opening of the Career Center. Training sessions were provided at the Career Center of the Specialized Institute for Applied Technology (ISTA) Hay Hassani I (December 25th-26th). During the event, they provided useful testimonials to official representatives and the media, explaining their role and promoting the services of the Career Center. They also assisted in leading mini-Career Center workshops in booths facilitated by Career Center advisors and volunteering in the IT Room for the Virtual Career Center to register participants. (December 27th)

Marrakech The university Career Center of Marrakech took the lead in reinforcing their Youth Ambassador program by organizing the first Youth Ambassador team building day on December 18th. 21 Youth Ambassadors participated to this one-day event under the theme “All Connected and Committed to Improving Employability of UCA students”. The workshop was led by UCA Career Center staff with assistance of the Career Services Specialist. The event allowed Career Center staff to strengthen the commitment and involvement of student Ambassadors, create working groups for key Career Center events and create synergy between ambassadors to promote Career Center services. During the last three months, the Career Center caravan visited four schools of Cadi Ayyad University informing 1,530 young people about the Career Center and its services. These efforts have led to an increase in the number of visitors to the Career Center.

Youth Ambassadors Program During this quarter, the Marrakech team worked to build the capacity of its Youth Ambassadors.

The Career Services Specialist and the communication team provided support to the University of Caddi Ayyad Career Center’s team, in preparation for the Youth Ambassador’s Day, “All Connected and Committed to Improving Employability of UCA students.” event and to review the Ambassadors program fundamentals (November 28th). The Youth Ambassador’s Day was held on December 18th


for 21 Youth Ambassadors. A workshop was led by the UCA Career Center staff with assistance of the Career Services Specialist. The objectives of the event were to strengthen the commitment and involvement of student Ambassadors of the UCA Career Center, create working groups for key events, create synergy between ambassadors to promote Career Center services. The first preparation meeting was held for the Alumni Project, to discuss the first steps in creating a University Alumni Association (December 29th).

Four Youth Ambassadors and a Career Center counselor attended training on how to create a Business Plan conducted by the Entrepreneurship Network of Marrakech (October 7th). Youth Ambassadors assisted in a Career Center Caravan at the Faculty of Law and Economics at Cadi Ayyad University (December 21st-23rd).

Tangier In November, the Career Center Caravan engaged students of all schools of the University Abdelmalek Essaadi. During this series of events, the Career Center staff and Youth Ambassadors promoted Career Center services and raised youth awareness about the importance of soft skills. After this caravan, Career Center staff noticed an increase in visitors to the center, more interaction on social media and a strong interest from young people in the Career Center service offerings (November 1st-3rd;15th-17th; 21st).

Youth Ambassadors Program Youth Ambassadors played a crucial role this semester in supporting various events. They participated in mobilization efforts for the University Career Center Caravan by hanging flyers throughout the University and posting on social media sites. They also assisted students that visited the Career Center booth. In total, 11 ambassadors participated in the event. Youth, and in particular Youth Ambassadors, were proactively engaged in the Recruitment Day co-organized by the university Career Center and the Hilton Hotel: more than 700 youth participated to the event, 236 youth attended workshops on job interviewing techniques conducted by Career Center staff and 15 Youth Ambassadors facilitated the organization of the event (December 18th). In addition, 16 Youth Ambassadors also actively participated to the event co-organized with the Tangier Press House on December 21st. They assisted in mobilization efforts including hanging flyers, posting on social media, registering and managing participants. Certificates were presented to ambassadors as a reward for their efforts at the end of this event.


4. STAKEHOLDER COLLABORATION

4.1 COLLABORATION AND/OR KNOWLEDGE SHARING WITH OTHER USAID ACTIVITIES

Casablanca On December 15th, the Moroccan Career Center model developed by the program was presented to an international delegation of 20 individuals from the Learning and Knowledge Development Facility of UNIDO and USAID. During the event, participants were introduced to the Career Center program and given a demonstration of the Virtual Career Center. Four workshops were also held for the guests: Boost your CV; Prepare for an Interview; Diagnostic; Professional Online Profile. Tangier After meetings with the USAID-funded Forsaty program (October 11th) and a representative of Entraide Nationale working with Forsaty, to discuss providing soft skills training to job-seeking youth in the Tetouan region (November 8th), the program conducted a Finding a Job is a Job training session with 41 young job seekers that benefit from the services of the Hassan I Tetouan association, a civil society organization partnering with Forsaty (November 21st-25th). The program team is working on developing the Career Center network with the private sector in the Tetouan region in order to accompany the trained youth in connecting them with potential employers. During an event organized by the USAID-funded Community project for safety and security (COPA), the regional coordinator met the Director of Complexe Assadaka, a local association working with COPA (December 6th). Following this meeting, Assadaka associations’ youth benefited from three “Mon Kit Pour l’Emploi” trainings (December 15th – 17th) to get prepared for the recruitment day co-organized by the Career Center and the Hilton Hotel on December 18th.

4.2 COLLABORATION AND COORDINATION WITH OTHER KEY STAKEHOLDERS

Throughout the quarter, the program team interacted with several stakeholders to increase the level of collaboration between labor market actors and their interactions with the Career Center. Key stakeholders included government partners of the program, private businesses and civil society organizations. Engaging the private sector is a priority to enable the Career Centers to deliver quality services to youth, which respond to the real needs of the labor market. National Government Partners The program held its second national steering committee in Rabat on November 30th with key program partners including the general secretaries of the Ministry of Higher Education and the Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training, representatives of the Office for Professional Training and Promotion of Employment (OFPPT), the Ministry of Tourism, the National Agency of Employment (ANAPEC), the National Observatory of Employment, and the USAID COR. An update on activities of the last semester and on current activities was provided to partners. Participants discussed the Year 3 Work Plan and sustainability of Career Centers. Technical meetings were


planned on various aspects of the program for Year 3: Virtual Career Center improvement, orientation portal, and synergies with ANAPEC in university Career Centers. The following deliverables (French versions) were shared with program partners: Year 1 Annual Report, Year 2 Work Plan, 10-page summaries of the first six industry analyses. The Youth Ambassadors Guide, the Career Center Facebook Guide, and a selection of success stories and highlights were also provided to participants to the steering committee. Casablanca Private Sector The regional team collaborated with Xceed Maroc in a recruitment drive of English License students at Hassan II University. Career Center Counselors conducted interviews with 15 candidates, five candidates were invited to an interview with Xceed and three candidates were selected (October 17th). A meeting was held with President of OutSourcia (offshoring sector) and the Moroccan Association of Client Relations (AMRC) to discuss possible collaboration.

AMRC agreed that two to three of its employees will provide a testimonial to be used in a video promoting the sector, directors from AMRC will prepare a presentation on the offshoring sector for Career Center beneficiaries, an HR Director of AMRC will assist in adapting Career Center work readiness offering, and the Career Center will collaborate with private businesses operating in this sector in recruitment efforts.

Marrakech Private Sector In October, two companies reached out to the university Career Center regarding recruitment. Call Center 118 218 was looking for German speaking candidates and the Amal Association for a Training and Employability Manager.

The Career Center Director attended the signing of an agreement between Cadi Ayyad University and the Moroccan Highway Company. During this event, the Director presented the Career Center services and discussed internship opportunities for students with the company. (November 16th) Throughout December, the university Career Center began preparing monthly sessions for the “Meet a Business” workshops. A meeting was held with the General Manager of Norsys Afrique in the IT sector to discuss his participation in this series of regular events to be held at the Career Center. (December 30th)

Other Labor Market Actors A meeting was held with Injaz to discuss the “Steer Your Career” training module delivered to university students by this association (October 21st). The Career Center plans to deliver “Najahi – Prêt pour l’emploi” training modules for the young people who have participated in the Injaz program.


Tangier Private Sector Several meetings were held with Renault throughout the quarter in Tangier. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Renault and USAID was drafted and reviewed by Renault. This MoU will serve as a model for formalizing relationships of the program and the Career Centers with other private sector actors in the future. Regarding private sector engagement, the regional team in Tangier moved from the stage of the co-development and testing of training modules to the co-organization of activities to connect youth with private businesses and inform them on the needs of the regional labor market.

A Recruitment Day was co-organized on December 18th by the Career Center and the Hilton hotel to fill over 100 open positions. More than 700 youth participated in the event and the Career Center conducted 13 workshops on “interviewing techniques” and assisted youth in registering on the Virtual Career Center. Meetings were also held with the following businesses:

• Coficab, an automotive wiring company (November 23rd). • Garvalplast, an automotive plastic company (November 23rd) • Siemens: A Workplace Success training was delivered to 16 Siemens’ employees by Education

For Employment under funding of Accenture as part of a partnership with the Career Center, in order to collect feedback from this company on the program soft skills offering. (October 31st – November 4th). A follow-up meeting was held with Siemens to measure the company’s satisfaction with the training (November 7th).

• TE connectivity to further introduce the university Career Center service offerings and discuss possible assistance from the Career Center in profiling candidates and organizing company visits for Career Center beneficiaries (December 9th).

• Atlas Bottling to organize business workshops at the Career Center, company visits for Career Center beneficiaries and to plan for assistance from the Career Center in the selection of profiles to be hired in their new factory (the largest in Africa) (December 14th).

• Other meetings were held with automotive sector businesses – Groupe Mécanique Découpage (GMD), SEBN and Renault – to discuss the co-organization of activities with the university Career Center.

Other Labor Market Actors In order to allow young people to improve their language skills for professional use, the regional team worked with the Cervantes Institute and the American Language Center (ALC) to propose language courses at a discount price to Career Center beneficiaries. Over December, 100 new students registered with the UAE Career Center to benefit from the ALC courses (December 15th). The university Career Center co-organized an event with the Tangier Press House, on the role the media can play to increase youth employability. 310 people attended the event, including business professionals, media and youth. Follow-up activities will be conducted with the media to expand the information provided to the general public on the labor market needs, growth sectors and the importance of soft skills for job seekers. Additional meetings were held with civil society actors and other labor market actors, including:

• Réseau Entreprendre (Entrepreneurship Network), a business leaders’ association, to discuss possible collaboration with this association to offer entrepreneurship mentoring and


assistance to Career Center users in the development of business plans (October 27th, November 4th & 29th). The first workshop was organized on December 17th with 13 Youth Ambassadors at the Career Center on job market expectations and on how to create a business model.

• Addictest, an organization that prepares students for admission to Universities in the U.S. to discuss scholarship opportunities for Career Center users who want to complete their studies abroad. (October 5th)

• Cinémathèque representatives to involve the Career Center users in their activities, such as the projection of a series of films and to develop a workshop on careers in the film industry (November 10th).


5. LESSONS LEARNED 5.1 CHALLENGES

Throughout the quarter, the program faced several challenges. In relation to the establishment of Career Centers, the slow progression of structural work undertaken by the Ministry of Tourism on the Career Center premises in Marrakech has created major delays. The ministry failed to deliver, at the end of December, 2016 a space ready for the program to improve, as was agreed in October. While ready to recruit career counselors for this Career Center, the program is waiting for the ministry to officially designate a Career Center director, to plan for staff training and Career Center interior improvement work. Opening this vocational Career Center in the next quarter will prove to be challenging in the current situation. Close collaboration with OFPPT facilitated staffing of the vocational Career Center in Casablanca with dedicated human resources. To date this has not yet happened in Tangier where resources were not yet allocated during the quarter. In this instance, the program has not participated in the staff selection process, which would offer the host-institutions with relevant insight on the capacity of their staff to fulfill their roles in the Career Center. Delays in opening the first Career Centers, for reasons beyond the control of the program and mostly related to space availability for the Career Centers. The fact the two first Career Centers opened just before the summer months, presented challenges for engaging youth in Career Center activities during the first two quarters of Year Two. This was reflected in the results communicated to USAID in October as part of USAID’s Performance Plan and Report indicators. As targets had been defined on the reporting cycle of the program (April to March), these results did not match expectations for the fiscal year (October 2015 to September 2016). During Quarter Three, with two Career Centers fully operational, USAID' Career Center dramatically increased the number of target youth trained and serviced, both in the physical Career Centers and on the Virtual Career Center. Performance from this quarter is showing promising results and leads us to believe the program will achieve its key targets by the end of Year Two (March, 2017). In terms of Monitoring and Evaluation of this performance, targets related to some indicators of USAID’s Performance Plan and Report were redefined with USAID in early December. To address some of the challenges raised by USAID regarding the number of persons receiving quality career services as a result of USAID Career Center’s assistance, the program is working on defining ways to collect qualitative data to monitor the number of youth receiving online services through the Virtual Career Center. While the program has sought ways to respond to ANAPEC’s queries on potential synergies in universities where ANAPEC plans to open offices, defining the level of collaboration in the field was not yet possible during this quarter. Potential collaboration of Career Centers with ANAPEC offices was raised by partners during the program national steering committee in November. ANAPEC and the Ministry of Higher Education representatives agreed to meet in the near future to discuss this point further. Integration of Career Center soft skills, “Najahi – Prêt pour l’emploi”, training modules into existing host-institutions curricula remains a formidable challenge. While the first steps were taken in that direction this quarter with the University of Marrakech and with OFPPT in the Memorandum of Understanding they signed with USAID on December 27th, this process will require continuous efforts from the program at the regional level to advocate for this approach with faculties and training institutions.


In Casablanca and Marrakech, strengthening relations with local businesses has been challenging at times. However, the recruitment of regional business developers in the next quarter will help facilitate the mobilization of potential partners. Over the quarter, the program has faced continuous difficulties in obtaining in-kind contributions for the Career Centers, such as Internet connectivity and telephone lines from host-institutions. The regional program teams are working closely with host-institutions and their IT staff to permanently solve those technical issues. In terms of tracking beneficiaries utilizing online services through the Virtual Career Center, the program faces a challenge in identifying the services specific beneficiaries use. To do so, the program recognizes the need to ensure that each beneficiary that receives training also registers with the Virtual Career Center. This will allow the Management Tool to capture their use of services, including additional trainings, Career Center workshops, or individual counseling sessions. Capturing post-training feedback in a timely manner can be done in an easier manner by utilizing the Career Center Management Tool to conduct satisfactory surveys and deliver certificates. The plan is to improve functionalities of the Career Center Management Tool so that after completion of a training session, youth will be able to go online and give feedback to receive their certificate of completion. Ensuring the Virtual Career Center is a tool widely used by and responsive to youth, the program seeks to enhance the self-assessment tool with the development of a new interactive tool. In the coming months, the program also hopes to partner with other websites offering services to youth, to provide Virtual Career Center content to their user-base.

5.2 LESSONS LEARNED

Through the various challenges faced during the quarter, USAID Career Center noted several key lessons learned: During the quarter, the Career Services Specialist conducted a training needs analysis with Career Center staff in all three regions. As a result of this analysis, four priorities have been identified for the coming year: 1) Substantial training has now been delivered to Career Center staff. A period of consolidation is

now needed to encourage Career Center staff to apply what they have learned and take ownership of their activities. Continuing professional development will therefore be re-focused on hands-on guidance, review of outputs and follow-up support. The Career Center staff, especially needs support in the following areas: Activity Planning, Meeting Planning, Roles and Responsibilities, and Monitoring and Evaluation.

2) Career Center staff training so far has focused on Career Center services. The training needs analysis revealed that some staff lack basic management training. This will be provided in the coming quarter.

3) In Year Two a Career Center Toolkit and Student Ambassador Guide were produced but the training needs analysis revealed that Career Center staff have not taken ownership of these guides and are not using them to their fullest potential. Additional effort will be focused on understanding how these resources can be improved to better support the Career Centers.

4) Focused support is required to assist Career Center staff to understand reporting lines and their roles relative to the wider ecosystem of the program. The multiple lines of reporting and supervision are leading to confusion and resulting in a lack of action in some cases. The


respective reporting lines and responsibilities of the Regional Coordinators, the Career Center Specialist and the Career Center Directors will be clarified during the next quarter.

To achieve the full potential of the program, especially in universities that have large numbers of students and considering the limited resources of the program, it is now important for USAID Career Center to work with host-institutions to integrate the work readiness foundational modules into their curricula. To do so, experience from this quarter shows that it is imperative to work not only closely with university presidents and their staff but also closely with course and department heads to advocate for soft skills training integration. This will include assisting them with content and how to properly plan the delivery of the work readiness offerings. In terms of sustainability (see section 7), the program team and USAID during this quarter explored ways to identify possible solutions for how the program can effectively support the Career Centers in the instances where private sector actors are interested in paying for Career Center training. The framework of a USAID contract and USG regulation does not allow for the program to generate any income. It was agreed with USAID that in Year Three the program will seek to assist host-institutions in defining mechanisms that could allow them to commercialize, after the life of the program, some of the Career Center services to the private sector. Contractually, the program aims at servicing Moroccan university students, vocational students and recent graduates. To date these groups represent the vast majority of the program beneficiaries serviced. As part of its continuous effort to offer these young people with work readiness offerings that are relevant and closely connected to the private sector needs and demands, the program has been co-developing and delivering soft skills modules with a reduced number of private businesses. While understanding the relevance of such an approach, USAID requested the program to stop delivering work readiness training to employees of private businesses until a contract modification could be introduced to allow it.

5.3 STAKEHOLDER FEEDBACK

Positive feedback on program achievements to date was collected from national partners at the national steering committee held on November 30th with key program partners including the general secretaries of the Ministry of Higher Education and the Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training, representatives of the Office for Professional Training and Promotion of Employment (OFPPT), the Ministry of Tourism, the National Agency of Employment (ANAPEC) and the National Observatory of Employment.


• A Data Quality Assessment (DQA) session was held with USAID to assess data collection regarding four Performance, Plan and Report (PPR) indicators and to discuss the integration of additional indicators (November 29th). The feedback obtained during the meeting was positive and it was decided to add one additional indicator: Number of persons completing USG-supported work readiness training programs.

• A second meeting was held on December 12th to clarify targets related to PPR indicators. Since targets were defined on the reporting cycle of the program (April to March), these results did not match expectations for the fiscal year (October 2015 to September 2016) (see section 5.1 Challenges). However, the number of target youth trained and serviced both in the physical Career Centers and on the Virtual Career Center has significantly increased during this quarter, leading the program to believe it will achieve its key targets by the end of Year Two (March, 2017). During the meeting, it was also highlighted that the program has exceeded its target number of private sector partnerships. It was agreed to increase this target for the next fiscal year as well as targets of the following indicator: number of persons completing USG-supported work readiness training programs.

• USAID also raised the point of how the program measures the numbers of visitors to the Virtual Career Center and users of on-line services. A memo will be drafted and submitted to USAID next quarter.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Team also focused on reefing its internal methods for data collection.

• In order to make data collection consistent throughout the program in each target region, several templates were developed to centralize and standardize data collection. These templates are critical because they allow data to be compared across regions, highlighting the performance of each Career Center. Through monthly analysis, this comparison can highlight which activities lead to greater youth outreach, helping staff to better focus efforts on upcoming activities.

• To make data collection better and more accurate, new functionalities were integrated into the Management Tool, including post-training online surveys and post-event surveys. This minimizes the need to manually enter data, consequently reducing data error by creating an online data registry for each participant. This registry eliminates the risk of counting beneficiaries twice.

In addition to data collection, the program focused efforts on its systemic approach in analyzing the role of the Career Center as an intermediary in the flow of information in the labor market.

• This analysis is conducted through the use of the Social Network Analysis (SNA) tool. During this quarter, the baseline number of connections between labor market actors was established at 165. This baseline is crucial to analyze the evolution of links between labor market actors through the intervention of the Career Center. It will be used in the first SNA report, which is planned during the next quarter to highlight the number and quality of links between actors in the labor market system as well as the evolution of these connections. To further efforts on preparation of the report, the Monitoring and Evaluation expert held a follow-up meeting at the UAE Career Center with the professors who showed interest in conducting the SNA study on the regional labor market.

• Training was also conducted with new Career Center staff to introduce staff to the program’s theory of change and the role of Career Center as an intermediary between labor market actors: in Tangier (December 6th) and in Casablanca (December 14th).


5.5 ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT

As reported last quarter, USAID Career Center strives to invest in building strategic relationships with key stakeholders, notably youth, in all target regions in the interest of creating and maintaining a positive feedback loop to inform program management and consequently effective implementation strategies. For the program leadership to be effective, there needs to be a concerted effort to gather critical data that informs this process from all stakeholders and an internalized process to maximize the utilization of that data to inform management planning. Specific actions were initiated during the quarter to inform the adaptive management strategy as well as planning that occurred during the quarter for future actions going forward:

• The program Monitoring and Evaluation team continued to develop a robust data collection system to inform the cycle of continuous evaluation for program management. While still in the early stages of providing detailed data, this information will be critical to key management decisions;

• Data collected during the quarter (qualitative, quantitative and anecdotal), including the industry analysis report data has been used to inform program management and adapt some of the Career Center services, as well as curriculum development and the naming of the work readiness curriculum;

• Additionally, an internal review of systems was conducted during the quarter to evaluate administrative, financial and human resources aspects of program management;

• In regards to adaptive management for the Career Centers, the first design of the Career Center Management Tool was refined during the quarter. The Career Center management tool gathers key data and now provides the ability to create a survey with selected youth after they benefit from Career Center services. In the future, these services will be invaluable for gathering key data about youth receptivity to services and products and will help to adapt Career Center management in the future design of activities;

• Efforts were made during the quarter to encourage youth, in particular program Talent Cloud Fellows and Youth Ambassadors, to be more involved in the management of the social media platforms, including content production that includes their input.


7. SUSTAINABILITY In a meeting on December 16th, USAID and the program team extensively discussed the approach to be adopted to foster sustainability of the pilot Career Centers and of the program outcomes. A sustainable Career Center is a Career Center that has the necessary resources to operate efficiently and to continue to grow to respond to the needs of the market. Beyond the life of the USAID-funded program, these resources can come from direct funding from host-institutions, both at the local and central levels; sponsorship from the private sector or public institutions; and income generation by Career Centers. Over the past quarter, the institutional partners of the program were receptive to the idea of supporting the Career Center in its sustainability. At the national steering committee held in Rabat on November 30th, the general secretaries of both the Ministry of Higher Education and the Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training expressed their intention to sustain the pilot Career Centers. Furthermore, in an MoU signed with USAID on December 27th, OFPPT committed to fully staff two of the pilot vocational centers, to integrate soft skills training modules into the general training curricula for all of its vocational training centers, and to disseminate the Career Center model to all of its vocational training sites, which constitutes a major step towards sustainability of the Career Centers and of their work readiness offerings. At the regional level, two of the universities hosting pilot Career Centers, in Marrakech and in Tangier, expressed their intention to dedicate a budget line to Career Center operational costs. Such a commitment from partners is based on the perception they have of the strong Career Center brand and of the quality of services Career Centers are able to provide to enhance youth employability. The program will aim in Year 3 at starting to work closely with its institutional partners to design a sound sustainability and scaling plan for the Career Centers.


9. BRANDING, OUTREACH AND COMMUNICATIONS

9.1 COMMUNICATION STRATEGY AND BRANDING AWARENESS

Promotion of the Career Center Product, Brand and Services Communications and Outreach, including event planning, youth mobilization, social media, media relations, coordination with partners (OFPPT and ministry) played a significant part in the successful opening of the vocational training Career Center in Casablanca on December 27th. Several coordination meetings were held with the Vocational Training Department at the Ministry of Education and with the OFPPT communications team and Director of Development in November and December to prepare for the opening. For this opening but also to support Career Centers in their outreach and mobilization efforts, the program continued to develop new communication material over the quarter, including Career Centers’ modular booths used in the regions in fairs and events, a new Career Center flyer and poster promoting the four services of the Career Center, signage for the new vocational Career Center in Casablanca Three videos providing various youth testimonials on Career Centers were shot during outreach events and shared on Career Center social media platforms (Conference of Youth 12 in Marrakech in November 28th, recruitment day organized with Hilton in Tangier on December 18th, and at the official opening in Casablanca). Youth Mobilization through Social Media Opened Career Centers reinforced their presence on social media this quarter, increasing the number of their Facebook followers by 48% since the last quarter. Interactions on the social media platforms (comment, like, share) have been also dramatically increased (see table below). The Facebook and LinkedIn pages of the Casablanca Vocational Career Center were launched early November in preparation of the Career Center opening. The program conducted its first online sponsoring campaign for two weeks in October to promote the Career Centers’ animated video on Facebook. This campaign facilitated the recruitment of new followers on the Facebook pages of the two university Career Centers in Marrakech and Tangier. Ten additional videos on jobs have been produced and shared over the quarter on the Career Centers’ social media pages and on the Virtual Career Center. Career Centers have continued to diversify the content they offer on their social media platforms with for example live coverage of outreach events, like the COP22 climate conference by the Marrakech University Career Center or live coverage of the official opening at the Casablanca Vocational Career Center. Such videos, pictures and testimonials offered on social media increase interactions among youth followers and contribute to raise the profile of the Career Center brand on social media.


9.2 SUCCESS STORIES

Soft Skills: A Real Cultural Change for Morocco

USAID Career Center strives to assist young students and graduates with the transition from education to employment through the establishment of Career Centers. These centers provide youth with important skills to prepare them for the world of work while helping them identify opportunities in sectors that have the greatest potential for growth. The USAID Career Center work readiness training consists of modules designed to meet the needs of the youth to be competitive in the Moroccan labor market. These modules require the active participation of youth, employing a “Learning by Doing” pedagogy, in courses with improved job search techniques and soft skills needed to ensure their employability. These courses are designed for Moroccan youth at the university level or participants in vocational training programs throughout the country (with a focus on Casablanca, Tangier and Marrakech initially). While using existing curricula available in Morocco, such as Finding a Job is Job (FJIJ) and Workplace Success (WPS), the program developed its own modules to respond to private sector needs and the Moroccan context overall: “Najahi – Prêt pour l’emploi,” which translates in English to “My Success – Reading for Employment.” The modules are based on labor market research and a review of soft skills at a local and international level. The modules are considered foundational and are divided into two courses of five modules each. The “Preparing for My Career”, course provides an introduction to soft skills, addressing topics such as value setting, building confidence and oral and written communication. “My Kit for Employment”, the second course of five modules prepares youth in the job search process. Since the program’s launch, there have been over 3,100 beneficiaries trained across the three regions. Since November, the Preparing for My Career course has been delivered in all regions to train youth on basic soft skills, such as assessing one’s career, personal values and goals, and communication techniques.

“The three days of Career Center training helped me enormously. I know how to speak to a recruiter, how to shake his hand, and how to present myself. I was ignorant of all of these things. I have already conducted some job interviews before this training and they did not go very well. I was very stressed. But now, I think that an interview would go well.”


"Thanks to the Career Center I now know how to write a CV and present myself. When I will be in need of an internship or a job, I will go to the Career Center to find guidance.”

After finding out about the Career Center on social media, wanted to participate in a soft skills training. He

gathered a group of students to attend the course by explaining to them the importance of soft skills. After the training, he applied to become a Career Center Ambassador. Since becoming a Youth Ambassador, he has been an important support for Career Center staff and has participated actively in the Career Center Caravan that was organized on the various university campuses throughout the quarter.


10. PLANNED ACTIVITIES FOR THE NEXT QUARTER

Establishment of Remaining Career Centers • Finalize improvement work at the University Hassan II Career Center in Casablanca and at

the vocational Career Center in Tangier. • Depending on the advancement of structural work conducted by the Ministry of Tourism,

start and finalize improvement work at the Marrakech vocational Career Center. • Organize official opening of the university Career Center in Casablanca, and the vocational

Career Centers in Tangier and Marrakech. Career Center Staffing and Training

• Discuss with the Ministry of Tourism the possibility for the Ministry to provide the two Career Counselors as well as the Career Center Director for the vocational Career Center in Marrakech. If not, finalize recruitment of Career Counselors. Provide initial training to all staff for this Career Center.

• Train future staff of vocational Career Center in Tangier. These staff remain to be appointed by OFPPT.

• Organize the first Career Counselors Day (January). This will be an opportunity for the Career Center Advisors to meet one another and share best practices from their respective regions and centers. The program plans to organize this workshop on a quarterly basis. Similar two-day workshops will be organized for all the Career Center Directors.

• Continue Year 3 curriculum training plan and the assignment of consultants. • Appoint Short-Term Technical Assistance (STTA) to support the development of the

Career Center Toolkit. • Conduct IT trainings for all Career Center staff. • Begin preparations for professional study tour wherein Morocco Career Center Directors

and counselors will visit US career centers in person. • Explore possible participation of the Tangier University Career Center staff in a five-day

study tour to Egypt as part of GIZ’s YouthMatch initiative, which will explore the impact of career counseling on students. (February 2017)

Virtual Career Center

• Adapt the “Career Centers in the regions” page and improve the design of the event sheet. • Improve and adapt the registration button to generate traffic and increase the number of

registrations. • Improve the design of the News and Upcoming Events sections. • Create a relational database about careers, trainings and institutions, particularly related to

private higher education institutions. • Continue to add new positions to the job repository section. • Research e-learning platforms for soft skills. • Improve the design of the registration space.

Work Readiness

• Deliver Industry Analysis training course to all Career Center staff and begin the development of an industry analysis in all three regions.

• Supplemental modules:


o Conduct pilot training o Adapt pilot changes to the curricula o Select training of trainer candidates from each region o Conduct training of trainers in the three regions as courses are required o Rollout supplemental modules incrementally

• Work with regional teams to continue curricula integration in host-institutions o Obtain agreement with host-institutions on the type of soft skills integration that is

appropriate for their situation o Identify soft skills champions in each region o Provide an overview of all modules o Conduct training of trainers for soft skill champions in each region o Provide follow-up support to trainers

• Follow-up with the Moroccan Aeronautics Institute (IMA) regarding the integration of soft skills training in their curriculum.

• Initiate a pilot gender training course in Casablanca that develops self confidence in young women and could be a base for another module offered in all three regions.

• Implement Application Program Interface between the Accenture soft skills training platform and the Virtual Career Center.

• Develop a rolling three-month schedule for courses within each region • Recruit a local Work Readiness Specialist and ensure knowledge transfer with international

Work Readiness Specialist, Dan Butler, who is planned to depart at the end of April, 2017. Gender and Participation of People with Disabilities

• Continue to pay close attention to gender equity in the delivery of Career Centers’ and program services.

• Run a social media campaign highlighting the role of women as business leaders or in the labor market.

• Design gender-focused activities with youth or faculty to be conducted in the opened centers with the collaboration of civil society actors or private sector representatives.

• Conduct a preliminary internal study on actors involved in activities related to the participation of People with Disabilities in the Moroccan workforce.

• Initiate a pilot gender training course as part of the new work readiness offerings. • Continue to prepare information tools for youth on labor rights (to be published on the

Virtual Career Center).

Communication and Outreach • Prepare for and organize official opening events of the Tangier vocational training Career

Center and Hassan II University Career Center (promotion, event planning, media relations, social media, etc.).

• Produce all communication tools for the Tangier vocational training Career Center and Hassan II University such as brochures, posters, signage, and Career Centers’ tools.

• Create social media accounts for the remaining Career Centers. • Run new Facebook sponsoring campaigns to promote the Career Centers. • Produce additional videos of youth and private sector testimonials on the Career Centers to

promote the Career Center brand and services on social media. • Further train vocational Career Center staff on communication, youth mobilization and

social media. • Support Career Center staff in their communication and mobilization planning and efforts. • Continue to manage social media accounts and to build the capacity of Career Center staff

to manage their platforms. • Organize visit of USAID Official, Joseph Foltz to the UAE Career Center. (January 9th)


Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning • Clarify ways to collect qualitative data to monitor the number of youth receiving online

services through the Virtual Career Center. • Revise Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan and complete needed information in the

results Matrix. • Prepare note for USAID regarding how Career Center beneficiaries using online services

are tracked. • Test the new Management Tool functionalities and launch online surveys to track youth

placement. • Develop organizational performance index and submit to USAID. • Follow-up with the Social Network Analysis working group to prepare the first analysis

report. • Continue to provide Monitoring and Evaluation training to Career Center staff. • Assist Career Center staff in defining and implementing their own Monitoring and Evaluation

Plan.

Youth Engagement • Continue to implement the Youth Ambassadors program in new Career Centers and to

reinforce the initiative in opened centers. • Implement the Career Center action plan and host youth events in Casablanca. • Continue Career Center Caravan across Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech with

workshops.

Local Solutions • Casablanca regional team to follow-up with the Oujda Institute for Training in Renewable

Energies and Energy Efficiency (IFMEREE) regarding the creation of their Career Center. • Organize business workshops in Tangier to be conducted by different guest speakers from

the private sector. Staffing

• Finalize replacement of Regional Coordinator and Regional Program Officer in Marrakech (Marie Guillot, Regional Program Officer, is currently acting Regional Coordinator).

• Finalize recruitment of the Marrakech and Casablanca Business Developers. • Recruit regional work readiness Training Coordinators for Tangier and Marrakech (EFE). • Recruit local Work Readiness Specialist. • Reinforce program communications team with a local Communications Officer and Social

Media Officer.

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TRENDS AND DEVIATIONS

Will be reported annually.

INDICATOR AND/OR TARGET ADJUSTMENTS

The following indicator target has been adapted: Number of persons completing USG-supported work readiness training programs. During a meeting with USAID on December 12th, this target was changed from 14,500 to 4,500 Beneficiaries for Year 2 (March 2017). According to program expectations and after collecting initial field data about work readiness training, the program estimates that the given MELP target for Year 2 were too ambitious and suggests to reduce this target by 10,000 for the whole program, beginning in Year 2;

DATA QUALITY

Will be reported annually.


APPENDIX 2 – PHOTOS OF PARTICIPANTS AND ACTIVITY SITES

Casablanca

“Job Search Skills” training at EFE in Casablanca (October 15th-16th)

Student orientation day at the Faculty of Law, Economics, and Social Sciences of Hassan II University in Casablanca. training at EFE in Casablanca (October 26th)

Outreach event (Study Day) at the Superior School of Technology in Casablanca (ESTC) (November 30th)

Youth Ambassadors Activity in the Faculty of Law, Economics, and Social Sciences at Hassan II University (November 17th)

Global Day of Equal Opportunities at the National School of Business and Management (December 5th)


Initial training of vocational training Career Center staff (December 12th)

Learning and Knowledge Development Facility event at the vocational training Career Center with USAID and UNIDO (December 15th)

Outreach event in the Faculty of Science and Technology at Hassan II University (November 23rd)

Inauguration of vocational Training Career Center in Casablanca (December 15th)

Career counseling sessions at the official opening of the vocational Training Career Center in Casablanca (December 15th)

Inauguration of vocational Training Career Center in Casablanca (December 15th)


Tangier

Youth Ambassadors at the Recruitment Day at Hilton Hotel (December 18th)

Recruitment Day at Hilton Hotel (December 18th)

Press House Event in Tangier (December 21st)

Press House Event in Tangier (December 21st )

Self-Diagnostic Workshop at the UAE Career Center (December 7th)

Job Search Strategies workshop at the UAE Career Center (December 29th)


Delivery of Finding a Job is a Job certificates to Abdelmalek Essaadi University students (November 25th)

Youth Ambassadors active in the Career Center Caravan at Abdelmalek Essaadi University (November 1st)


APPENDIX 3 – USAID CAREER CENTER WORK READINESS OFFERING

“NAJAHI – PRÊT POUR L’EMPLOI” My 1st Step into the Professional Environment

A. Preparing for My Career

A1. Assessing My Career Objectives:

• Reflect on personal and professional development in terms of life cycle • Assess strengths, areas of improvement, opportunities and threats • Understand importance of positive thinking in professional

development A2. Zoom on My Values and Goals

Objectives: • Reflect on values and how they have been developed • Examine what you want and reflect on what is needed to get there • Analyze how strengths, skills and abilities contribute to professional

development • Create personal and career goals • Determine the steps needed to achieve goals

A3. Job Attitude Objectives:

• Understand strategies on respecting self and others • Apply rules of professionalism to appearance (self) and relationships • Apply positive attitudes to promote working well with others

A4. Better Written Communication Objectives:

• Provide relevant overview to communication skills and its importance in work place

• Apply proper etiquette when sending/receiving emails • Increase vocabulary by developing a clear and precise lexicon • Explore importance of writing clearly using appropriate language and a

professional standard

A5. Better Oral Communication Objectives:

• Provide relevant overview to communication skills and its importance in work place

• Apply proper etiquette when using phone • Understand strategies to apply in different verbal interactions

(meetings, working with clients, presenting information) • Explore impact of nonverbal communication versus verbal

communication


B. My Kit for Employment B1. My Place in the Job Market Objectives:

• Analyze professional objectives to create career plan • Reflect on skills and knowledge • Understand the influence of emotions and energy on self and the job

market

B2. Efficient Job Search Objectives:

• Apply effective strategies to conduct job search (start to finish) • Examine effectively job descriptions • Understand how to apply skills and knowledge to market yourself to

employers • Understand how to write effective professional emails

B3. Boost my CV

Objectives: • Explain the importance of CV from employer perspective and with

your goals • Apply rules in order to write a strong and accurate CV

B4. Stand Out Cover Letter Objectives:

• Explain the importance of motivational letter • Apply rules in order to write a strong and accurate motivational letter

B5. My Successful Job Interview Objectives:

• Understand the basic structure of a job interview • Know how to approach an interview from the perspective of

interviewer and interviewee • Understand the logic behind standard questions asked during an

interview • Be able to prepare responses to standard questions • Know how to conduct necessary follow-up after an interview


One More Step Towards Success

C. My Integration into Business

C1. Manage My Emotions and My Stress Objectives:

• Analyze and understand impact of one’s lifestyle choices on personal development

• Understand stress, including causes, symptoms and treatment

C2. Learn to Organize Myself Objectives:

• Gain introductory understanding of time management (value of and strategies)

• Gain introductory understanding of individual financial management

C3. The Basic Rules of Professional Conduct Objectives:

• Understand and apply the concept of personal integrity in relation to the work place

• Identify personal integrity challenges and strategies to address them • Analyze approaches to preventing personal integrity issues from arising

in the workplace C4. Working in a Team Objectives:

• Define the role and the importance of collaboration in the business world

• Explain the skills and attitudes an individual needs to be a member of a productive team

• Understand the value and how to identify and implement team goals • Apply problem solving strategies to address conflict in a team

environment

D. Managing Client Relations

D1. Client Approach Objectives:

• Develop an introductory understanding of customer service • Understand the different strategies needed to promote customer-

oriented attitude • Develop an introductory understanding of how to communicate

effectively with customers

D2. Customer Support Objectives:

• Identify and analyze the different types of customers and behavior patterns

• Develop skills to handle challenging customer service scenarios • Understand how customer service can contribute to an individual’s

professional development


E. On My Way to Professional Growth

E1. I Develop My Professional Projection Objectives:

• Understand additional areas that contribute to career planning • Apply networking strategies to advanced professionally • Apply negotiation strategies in professional development • Identify the impact of gender on one’s professional development and

career path • Understand the value of positive impressions throughout one’s career • Understand the value of balancing career and life balance

E2. I Develop My Efficiency Objectives:

• Analyze and understand value of time management in the context of the work place

• Describe how to prioritize work and the benefits of being organized for professional development

• Understand strategies around motivation in the work place and using them for professional development

E3. I Develop My Excellence Objectives:

• Review of existing knowledge and skills that contribute to one’s professional development

• Understand key qualities that promote standards of excellence in the work place

• Apply strategies to develop standards of excellence, such as taking initiative, attention to detail, and other concepts

F. For Better Client Communication

F1. Oral Communication Techniques Objectives:

• Review of customer-service basics (aligned with level one modules) • Examine on an introductory level key marketing and selling concepts • Analyze behavior of buyers and suppliers • Understand and apply techniques to communicating effectively with

customers: over the phone (distance), face to face, etc.

F2. Written Communication Techniques Objectives:

• Review and analyze further marketing and selling concepts • Identify and apply strategies to promote positive customer service

using writing • Understand how to respond to customer service requests online and

by email • Understand how to interact in writing with internal clients and

customers (suppliers, buyers)


G. Reinforce My Adaptability

G1. Open to Change Objectives:

• Describe the various forms of structure that can exist within an organization

• Discuss organizations change and why employees may resist such change

• Develop change management skills • Describe the importance of communication in the change management

process • Develop skills that help employees cope with change.

G2. Me and Problem Solving Objectives:

• Identify different problem solving styles • Identify methods appropriate for solving problems • Apply methods to specific problems • Apply problem-solving skills when in the work place.

G3. Negotiate with Gusto Objectives:

• Identify possible negotiation outcomes. • List the steps of the negotiation process. • Understand and identify different behavioral styles and adapt as

necessary. • Apply techniques for successful negotiation by successfully answering

case studies and participating in practice cases. • Recognize dirty tricks and tactics. • Demonstrate the use of successful concession making. • Develop an action plan to improve negotiation skills.

USAID CAREER CENTER

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