A Social Impact of FATA Development Authority Skill Development Programin Khyber Agency
Keywords:
This study tries to investigate the assessment of the FATA Development Authority’s skill development program offered for FATA youth. The aim is to explore the social impact of the FATA Development Authority’s skill development program in Khyber Agency and to critically analyze the three main objectives of these programs which are: to impart new skill in the youth and to make them more competent, to increase the employability level of the youth and lastly to promote the entrepreneurial spirit in order to start their own business. The trainings were broadly divided into hard and soft skills trades, which were planned in more than 35 different trades and covered the entire FATA region. These trainings were also conducted in Khyber Agency in these different trades. Due to unavailability of data, confidentiality and loss of archival data, only 6 different trades with three each for hard and soft skills have been taken in Khyber Agency. Trainings for these trades were conducted in the financial year 2013-14 and 2014-15. The data have been collected through semi-structure interviews with the trainees and then it were analyzed descriptively. Total of 35 out of 51 trainees were interviewed for the study in selected trades. Finding of this study shows that only 26% of the trainees learned new skills, 20% of the trainees got employment or self-employed and 17% of trainees started their own business.Abstract
This study investigates the assessment of the FATA Development Authority’s skill development program offered to FATA youth. The aim is to explore the social impact of the program in Khyber Agency and critically analyze its three main objectives: to impart new skills to youth and enhance their competence, to increase their employability, and to promote entrepreneurial spirit to encourage starting their own businesses. The trainings were broadly divided into hard and soft skill trades, planned across more than 35 different trades and covering the entire FATA region. These trainings were also conducted in Khyber Agency across the various trades. Due to unavailability of data, confidentiality issues, and loss of archival records, only six trades—three each for hard and soft skills—were included in the study for Khyber Agency. Trainings for these trades were conducted during the financial years 2013-14 and 2014-15. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with the trainees and analyzed descriptively. A total of 35 out of 51 trainees were interviewed for the selected trades. The findings indicate that only 26% of trainees acquired new skills, 20% gained employment or became self-employed, and 17% started their own businesses.
