Over 400 Afghan youth in Herat and Nangarhar provinces have been provided with soft skills training aimed at activating personal initiative behaviours. This personal initiative training, implemented by Seefar between November 2020 and February 2021 with the support of the World Bank, is the first of its kind in Afghanistan.

Having personal initiative means to be self-starting, future-oriented, and well-placed to overcome barriers. Through this training, youth beneficiaries are expected to understand and learn to apply personal initiative behaviours. This means being proactive and creative, and taking appropriate action without relying on receiving instructions or simply mimicking others.

The training is expected to help young people anticipate potential opportunities and setbacks, and to be proactive about preparing for them. When problems inevitably occur, the training reinforces the value of turning problems into learning and development opportunities. The approach has been developed and tested by MOVE GMBH in a variety of settings in Africa and Central America, with both literate and illiterate beneficiaries, and has achieved similarly positive outcomes.

An evaluation is now underway to assess the efficacy of the training on youth to practice personal initiative behaviours and roll out income-generating and social projects.