Evidence of Impact

Over more than a decade and around the world, Passport to Success has changed the trajectory of lives and careers for the better. To learn more about its impact, read the success stories; hear testimonials directly from young people, trainers, and employers; and consult our compelling original research.

Having completed technical and Passport to Success® life skills training at the College of Cape Town, in South Africa, 20-year-old Thumeka is an apprentice in motor mechanics. Her supervisor says her educational experience has been effective: "The way she goes about in presenting herself, the way she speaks in the interviews, it’s just something different compared to other learners. Those are the employees you are looking for in a business. They’re very rare."

If we recruit youth from Batam for entry-level staff positions, we find that they still need to be upgraded in term of their attitudes.... These new recruits are different. We can see it, for instance, from their attendance rate and [lack of] absenteeism.

Tia

HR Manager for Philips, Indonesia

Research

Study: The Social Return on Investment of PTS

George Washington University partnered with IYF to assess the impact and identify the monetary value of its signature life skills curriculum, Passport to Success. Using Social Return on Investment methodology researchers found that every $1.00 invested in PTS produces a $7.17 gain in benefits to stakeholders in five years. In other words, PTS generates more than seven times the value invested. A brief summarizes the full report’s findings.

Employer Survey: Hilton

Global hospitality leader Hilton has invested in PTS for thousands of employees around the world. In this survey of supervisors at their properties, learn more about the results they've seen — especially for retention and promotion.

96 percent of Hilton team members that took PTS are still with the company six months after completing the training
40 percent have been promoted

Impact Evaluation: Mexico, South Africa, and Zimbabwe

PTS allows CONALEP, part of Mexico’s national education system, to prepare students to be work-ready with life skills that complement their technical training. In our impact evaluation, learn how it can start by spurring students’ motivation to stay and perform better in school. PTS participants in South Africa and Zimbabwe saw significant increases in employment outcomes and income.

32 percent reduction in dropout rates in Chihuahua, Mexico
3.8 percent increase in semester grade point averages in Chihuahua, Mexico

Measuring Life Skills

According to IYF's Life Skills Framework, there are four domains where youth must cultivate life skills: the identity or mindset domain, the interpersonal or relationship domain, the higher order thinking or intellectual domain, and the community mindset or ethical domain. Within these domains, we have identified 14 life skills that are critical to unlocking youth agency and consequently increasing their economic opportunities. These skills were informed by relevant international and US-based existing life skills resources and frameworks such as those produced by CASEL, UNICEF, USAID, Character Lab and Partnerships for Learning 21st Century Skills.

In 2020, IYF developed the Life Skills Survey Tool (LiSST), a youth self-report survey designed to assess and measure changes in life skills. The tool consists of 49 statements on life skills organized into the four domains.

The survey items are rated on a scale of 1-5 (Almost Never, Once in a while, Sometimes, Often, Almost all the time). Scores are generated by averaging responses in each domain, not by each skill. It can be administered either as a retrospective or pre-post assessment. The survey has been validated with a group of youth from the United States. For more information on reliability and validity, please reach out Linda Fogarty, Director of Measurement, Evaluation, Research and Learning.

This is an open-source tool; if you are interested in using this tool please cite IYF and the LiSST tool.

The curriculum is perfect. The skills it covers fulfill the standards and vision of development, and the length of each lesson—60 minutes—is very doable.

Malang Sambou

PTS trainer, Senegal