1.2 A case study

International non-governmental organisation (NGO) Action on Livelihoods (AOL) has been engaged to support the Ministry of Education in Uganda with a programme to develop vocational training in the post-conflict northern part of the country. They are expected to work with local vocational training providers, improving their capacity to deliver market-based training for out-of-school youths in 16 districts. The project anticipates that by 2018, 35,000 youths will benefit from training in vocational skills and improved post-training enterprises and livelihood opportunities as a result of the project. The training must be delivered in a coordinated, sustainable and cost-effective manner. This requires partnering with several stakeholders, including:

• vocational training institutions within both the public and private sectors
• an agency to provide skills counselling to youths prior to course selection
• NGO partners who will carry out additional training of youths in enterprise development
• programme evaluators who will conduct baseline and midterm research and an impact assessment at the end of the project
• national government (Ministry of Education)
• local government in each district
• local businesses who provide internships and employment
• local youth councils and special interest groups (e.g. unions for people with disabilities).

Developing this partnership with such a range of stakeholders with different interests and capacities was a real challenge. AOL used the Building Partnerships Map to plan engagement with stakeholders even before they had identified the stakeholders. This helped them to form a clear understanding of each other as well as what was needed from and by each potential partner.