Amra Notun Network (ANN)—an initiative of BRAC’s Social Innovation Lab (SIL)—is an inclusive platform to develop dynamic, enlightened, skilful, and empathetic citizens of tomorrow. Using a quasi-experimental method, this study attempted to assess the impact of ANN on the program participants in three districts—Dhaka, Khulna, and Rangpur. Our study finds that ANN had a significant positive impact on some behavioural aspects of the participants. More specifically, ANN brought positive changes in some aspects of their thought process and mindset. For example, their confidence level has increased. ANN has also helped them get support for choosing a career path, expand their social network, develop soft skills, and gain practical skills.
Researchers: Tahsina Naz Khan; Fathema Zhura Khatoon
Partners: BRAC
Timeline: 2018-2019
Status: Completed
Contact: Narayan C Das; narayan.das@bracu.ac.bd
Context
About 40 per cent population of Bangladesh are youth. So, youth development is critical for our country’s progress. BRAC’s Social Innovation Lab (SIL) initiated the Amra Notun Network (ANN) with an aim to develop dynamic, enlightened, skilful, and empathetic citizens of tomorrow. ANN offers a package of training, project work, and mentorship to the participants—university students or recent graduates. Counselling is also provided throughout the program. However, as it is an innovative program, SIL started the program in three districts as a pilot project. Dhaka, Khulna, and Rangpur were deliberately chosen as they cover a wide range of variabilities across districts. Evaluation of ANN’s impact in these districts will help BRAC decide whether to expand the program. The study was intended to examine the impact of ANN on the employment, behaviour, attitude, and lifestyle of the participants.
Objectives
The objective of the study was to evaluate ANN’s success in creating enlightened young citizens by helping them become a) good humans, b) competitive to join the labour force, and c) change-makers in their own communities. Specifically, the research sought to answer the following questions:
This study is relevant to SDG 4 (Quality Education), particularly to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
Methodology
It was mixed-method field research. We used a quasi-experimental method—difference-in-difference (DiD) regression technique—to assess the impact. Among those who registered to participate, non-eligible applicants were screened out (e.g. those who are not university students). Then the eligible applicants were interviewed to select the final participants. In our study, the final participants of ANN are considered as the treatment group and the eligible applicants who were not selected are considered as the control group. We collected baseline and endline data from both the groups, 322 individuals in total.
We conducted six focus group discussions (FGDs) with the participants to learn about their opinions about ANN, their network, and their beliefs about the reasons why the youth of Bangladesh lag behind. We also conducted 22 in-depth interviews (IDIs) with community project participants to learn whether they could create an impact in the community through these projects.
Findings and Recommendations
Our quantitative analysis revealed that ANN had a statistically significant positive impact on participants’ perceived freedom to choose their career path. It had a significant impact on some of their behavioural aspects, for example, the use of social media for career development as well as for making new friends or communicating with new people. ANN had an impact on their psychological well-being (e.g. decline in frustration arising from personal matters). ANN also improved their empathy, tolerance, and confidence.
Aspiration for personal development (e.g. acquiring new skills) is the main motivation for participating in ANN. Our descriptive analysis shows that most of the participants want more training classes. And among the three main components—training, project work, and mentorship—project work seemed to be the most important component of ANN to the majority of the participants.
Our qualitative survey reveals that participants believed that the program had changed their thought process with positive changes in behaviour. ANN opened up the door of practical learning for them, an opportunity they did not get in their academic arena. Experience in community projects made them more outgoing, confident, and cooperative. They have started to think about their career constructively. They have become comfortable interacting with people and expand their network.
However, we found moderate or no impact on some important indicators of success for ANN, such as aspiration to become high-performing citizens (e.g. entrepreneurs and change-makers), attitude on social issues, and awareness about the appropriate use of social media. In fact, we found a negative impact on some of the crucial indicators, such as job involvement, attitude towards gender discrimination and gender-based violence, and reading habit. But as the study was short-term with a small sample size, we cannot draw a conclusion. As this pilot has found some positive impacts, we recommend further longer-term studies with a larger sample size to better understand ANN’s impact.
