Livelihood outcomes in a cohort of youth with disabilities following participation in an economic empowerment programme in rural Uganda

Summary

In this paper, we report changes in employability and livelihood outcomes among a cohort of youths with disabilities who participated in an economic empowerment programme in rural Uganda.

These data suggest that a targeted package of interventions comprising vocational skills training, apprenticeships scheme and a start-up financial package can bring some positive livelihood outcomes for young people with disabilities in rural African settings.

However, further evaluations are needed to assess the effect of the interventions in the longer term. There is also a critical need for studies with more rigorous designs, including larger sample sizes and control groups. Studies that integrate cost-effectiveness (or cost-benefit) analyses are of critical importance, in order to assess opportunities for the scale-up of similar interventions.