A Youth Service Learning Program in Palestine: A Mixed Method, Experimental Pilot Examining Young Adult Employment Readiness and Volunteerism

Back ground & Purpose: Employment opportunities for young adults are at critically low levels in the Middle East, where unemployment rates average 25 percent for this age group. Unemployment rates for Palestinian youth 15-24 are 37 percent; the female unemployment rate almost double that of young men (54.8 and 32.4 percent, respectively). An estimated 61 percent of the West Bank’s residents are under 24 years of age. Tomorrow’s Youth Organization (TYO) is an American 501c3, non-governmental organization that works in disadvantaged areas of the Middle East and uniquely targets this risk group in the West Bank. Urgent youth focused programs are needed in the Arab world focusing on three areas of challenge including education, employment, and civic participation. Our goal for this presentation is to examine the effect on young adult self-efficacy and attitudes toward employment of a community-based program model of informal education focused on the psychosocial needs of children and adolescents, incorporating young adults as volunteers in the West Bank.

Methods: This presentation describes an intervention pilot design, using a quasi-experimental, mixed method approach to make inferences of program effects on employment readiness of young adults (18-29) by comparing the Youth Service Learning (YSL) volunteers to a control group. Participants were recruited from a pool of 296 volunteers in 2014 and randomly assigned to intervention (n=55) or control (n=51) conditions. Pre- and post-focus groups volunteer (n=8) and control (n=8) were conducted. This presentation will examine results from baseline and 3-month follow-up survey and focus groups focused on self-efficacy and attitudes toward employment in Palestine.

Results:  While both conditions saw some improvement in factors associated with employment, the TYO’s YSL program participation was significantly associated with an increase in self-efficacy in employability skills (ESSO) (p=0.02) as compared to a control group (p=0.055); an increase in optimism toward potential job opportunities (p=0.02), the perception of gender equal opportunities in Palestine (p=0.001) and equal access to job opportunities regardless of social, religious affiliation (p=0.02). The Control arm demonstrated an increase in Exhaustion scores (p=0.0036) while the intervention group scored significantly higher on protective factors (p=0.04). Qualitative analysis produced evidence related to family and environment stress that impacts young adult insecure perspectives on future employment opportunities.

Conclusion & Implications: A strong association was identified between YSL participation at TYO and increased self-efficacy in employability skills, optimism toward potential job opportunities, a perception of gender equal opportunities in Palestine and with enhanced protective factors that may be utilized for coping with a stressful environment. The feasibility of conducting community-based participatory research in this resource-challenged area experiencing on-going regional conflicts was noted while giving evidence to support the on-going usefulness of the YSL program to address mentoring of young adult’s educational and psychosocial needs in Palestine.

Future studies are needed to inform essential program components and contextual factors for funders, policymakers, universities and non-governmental organizations designing programs to enhance employment readiness for young adults in Palestine and, potentially, other Middle Eastern regions.