The Programa Para o Futuro (PPF) program PPF was methodology developed by FHI 360 in Recife Brazil under a USAID-funded pilot program with 50 youth. The project was then scaled up to reach approximately 1,000 disadvantaged adolescent girls and young women with funding from the Nike Foundation in collaboration with ADE Brasil. FHI 360 then adapted and piloted the methodology in Mozambique. It was developed as a comprehensive, integrated, positive youth development (PYD) approach to support disadvantaged youth to build employability, technical, social and basic education skills to help them transition into a productive and healthy adulthood.

With funding from USAID Capable Partners Mozambique, FHI 360 implemented the PPF methodology and reached approximately 500 youth ages 15-17 from 2010 to July 2016. Additional program components were added to the methodology (e.g. peer education, youth clubs, optional vocational training). In FY 17, the YouthPower Action/ PPF- MZ built on the successes of the programs in Brazil and under the Capable Partners project, to provide support to older orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) to gain an integrated set of employability and technical skills and improve their basic education competencies so that they can build better futures through quality livelihoods, improved health and civic engagement in Beira, Mozambique. It is important to note this was an OVC program funded by PEPFAR and is part of a broader strategy to provide OVC with key supports and support part of a large capacity building for Mozambican non-governmental organization (NGO) to help support PEPFAR goals.

Objectives of the Rapid Assessment 

YouthPower Learning, in collaboration with YouthPower Action, conducted a rapid assessment of the PPF-MZ in November 2016 to complement a previous, independent evaluation. Through the rapid assessment, YouthPower Learning sought to understand the key elements that contribute to PPF-MZ’s success and challenges by answering the following questions:

a) What are the most successful elements of the project, and why?

b) What are the key challenges and barriers to project success, how were they addressed, and how could they be addressed for future programs?

c) What are the key elements needed to successfully engage youth in project design, implementation and analysis? What are the barriers?

d) What gender considerations does the project take into account?

e) What are key lessons learned from a project design and implementation perspective?

The results of this rapid assessment contribute to expanding the knowledge base about learnings from YouthPower investments and the challenges that hinder the success of a positive youth development program.