Key Soft Skills For Cross-Sectoral Youth Outcomes

This paper seeks to identify which soft skills enjoy the most support for predicting positive outcomes for youth across the three fields of workforce development, violence prevention, and sexual and reproductive health (SRH). Soft skills refer to a broad set of skills, behaviors, and personal qualities that enable people to effectively navigate their environment, relate well with others, perform well, and achieve their goals. The aim of this study is to identify skills that should be cultivated as part of strategies to create positive outcomes across the three fields of workforce success, violence prevention, and SRH. Skills that emerge as enjoying the most support across sectors are recommended as targets for youth development programming employing a common skills approach. This knowledge can inform and guide the major investments that USAID and other funders make in youth development programs, which increasingly recognize common interests among sectors in cultivating those skills.