[2006] JARAMILLO, Miguel; DIAZ, Juan José. An evaluation of the peruvian “Youth Labor Training Program” – Projoven. Washington, D.C.: BID. 39 p. Working paper OVE/WP-10/06

The “Youth Labor Training Program” (Programa de Capacitacion Laboral Juvenil – PROJoven) is an ongoing job-training program created in 1996 by the Ministry of Labor (Ministerio de Trabajo y Promocion del Empleo) in response to the precarious conditions of youth in the Peruvian labor market. The goals of the program are to improve employment opportunities of youth in poverty and to promote competition and higher quality of services in the vocational training system.

By design, PROJoven finances vocational and training courses for its beneficiaries, but the services are provided by private and public training institutions (Entidades de Capacitación – ECAP), which compete in public calls to get funding for their course offerings.

The type and content of courses (technical phase) provided by these ECAPs are driven by demand, since a requirement of the program is the existence of a written commitment by private firms to provide paid internships, so beneficiaries can acquire on-the-job experience (practical phase) for a period not shorter than three months. Part of the payment received by ECAP is contingent upon documenting that the trainee is performing job training at a private firm. This is the program’s strongest instrument to ensure the pertinence of course offerings.