In Nicaragua, 65% of the unemployed are under 30. Services provided by training institutions, employment agencies, and other workforce development actors are only weakly aligned with the demands of employers and job-seekers, and there is little apparent collaboration among them. This provides scope for LINC’s Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) tool to be a critical means to assess existing relationships, and identify opportunities for youth workforce development network strengthening.

The USAID-sponsored “Workforce Connections” Community of Practice awarded LINC a learning grant to test the application of Organizational Network Analysis as a systems-based youth labor market assessment tool. Applied at the stakeholder / systems mapping stage of labor market assessment, LINC’s Organizational Network Analysis tool is used to assess the structure of labor market networks, identify key actors and relationships, and inform youth workforce development program design. The activity is being undertaken in three distinct labor market networks in Nicaragua. LINC’s ONA methodology and results are planned to be shared across the Workforce Connections community of practice, including a number of consultation and learning events in both Washington and Nicaragua, and integration of the ONA into the Workforce Connections toolkit, available online at www.wfconnections.org.