The study under the project “Youth Employment – Community Support Program” is being implemented by “Zerkalo Central Asia” LLC within the framework of the “Mountain Community Development Support Program of Kyrgyzstan” (MSDSP). The project is financed by the Japanese Social Development Fund (JSDF) and aims to support innovative solutions for economic activity and employment of 4,000 young women and men in the communities where the CASA-1000 power transmission line project is being implemented in Kyrgyzstan.
Within the framework of this project, “Zerkalo Central Asia” is conducting a value chain analysis (VCA) to identify youth- and gender-sensitive value chains that will inform the project’s investment decisions. The study is being carried out in 75 villages in Osh, Batken, and Jalal-Abad regions.
The “Youth Employment – Mountain Communities Support Program” prepares young women and men for the labor market by developing their entrepreneurship skills and competencies related to local labor market needs in target areas. In addition, the project will support youth-oriented production and distribution chains and create new opportunities for micro and small enterprises.
The study utilizes Robert Merton’s (1995) “Opportunity Structures” approach, which aims to explore the relationship between an individual’s position within a social structure and the “culture” domain, understood as local values or norms. It should be noted that the distribution and access to various opportunities in society tend to be significantly influenced by:
- Social categorizations, such as age, gender, class, or ethnicity;
- What is considered culturally acceptable goals for someone to pursue.
These configurations are generally subject to social agreements, and tensions may arise between different collective agreements and individual expressions.
At the first stage of the research, “Zerkalo Central Asia” conducted a desk study in two directions:
- Identifying potential gender-sensitive and youth-oriented value chains based on key socio-economic indicators.
- Identifying modern effective value chains with the highest youth engagement in global practices.
The desk study data will be verified with field data for viability and relevance. After that, the team will analyze and interpret them based on criteria such as relevance, effectiveness, scalability, and growth potential.
Additionally, a labor market analysis was conducted to identify industries and sectors in Kyrgyzstan where youth are most represented. Industries were ranked by the proportion of labor from citizens aged 18-29.
The following products were developed and presented within this work:
- A list of value chains considering the domestic economy.
- A list of value chains considering international experience.
After the methodology is approved by the Client, “Zerkalo Central Asia” will conduct testing of the selected value chains for viability through:
- Interviews (10-15) with private sector representatives, including local entrepreneurs and representatives of small and medium businesses currently operating in agriculture, processing, and IT business development, including informal employers;
- In-depth interviews (10-15) with representatives of leading companies to understand the barriers to business development;
- Focus group discussions (6 in total, 2 in each target region) with youth in target regions;
- Key surveys/interviews with local authorities who have a mandate to facilitate business development (5-6).
At the final stage of the work, the collected data will be analyzed using a unified qualitative data analysis procedure, which includes identifying key themes, organizing data, content analysis, and processing. The qualitative data analysis process will include the following steps:
- Summarizing key points from interview notes;
- Sorting data by research group;
- Each category and theme will be analytically examined, clarified, interpreted, and described according to the corresponding value chain.
