Key Soft Skills for Cross-Sectoral Youth Outcomes

“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. These skills are applicable across sectors and complement the acquisition of other skills such as technical and academic skills.”

This report highlights the results of an extensive review of research to identify core soft skills that contribute to positive outcomes for youth in relation to: workforce success, violence prevention, and sexual and reproductive health (SRH). As explained in the report, despite growing interest in this topic, there is no clear consensus about which soft skills are likely to produce the greatest benefit to youth. The aim is therefore to identify the top soft skills across three key youth development areas in order to help inform the design and implementation of youth programmes. The report was produced by the YouthPower Action project, which seeks to improve the capacity of youth-led and youth-serving institutions and engage young people, their families, and communities so that youth can reach their full potential.

The report builds on existing research on soft skills required for workforce success by looking, in addition, at research on soft skills as it relates to two additional areas: violence prevention and SRH. In terms of study methodology, the report explains that the authors "reviewed many types of resources, including rigorous empirical studies, meta-analyses, literature reviews, and qualitative literature. The authors also consulted experts in the field, including practitioners and researchers. The evidence gathered included resources that examined the relationship between soft skills and violence prevention outcomes, including general aggressive behavior, bullying and cyberbullying, violent crime, group and gang-related violence, and intimate partner violence (IPV). In addition, resources were gathered that analyzed the relationship between soft skills and key SRH outcomes, including risky and protective sexual behaviors, pregnancy and birth, HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and gender-based violence.”

In brief, the results showed that three critical soft skills were among the top five supported across each of the three domains (workforce, violence prevention, and SRH) and emerged as the most likely to increase the odds of youth success. They are:

• Positive self-concept - this refers to “a realistic awareness of oneself and one’s abilities that reflects an understanding of his/her strengths and potential (and hence, is, positive).” (Lippman et al., 2015). As noted in the report, in the SRH literature this is also referred to as “self efficacy”. 
• Self control - this refers to one’s ability to control and regulate oneself. This includes one’s ability to control impulses, delay gratification, direct and focus attention, and regulate and modulate emotions and behaviours.
• Higher order thinking skills - these include problem solving, critical thinking, and decision making.

The report also highlights additional skills which emerged as critical for one or two of the three outcome areas: Social skills were seen as contributing to violence prevention and workforce success, while communication was key to workforce success and SRH. Skills specific to violence prevention and SRH were empathy (sexual violence) and goal orientation (SRH).  Responsibility and positive attitude received support across all three outcome areas, although to a lesser degree than those described above.

In conclusion, the report makes the point that by focusing on the core soft skills identified in this study, programme implementers “can be assured that they are focusing on the skills that are well supported by evidence to improve outcomes across these three domains of youth development.” In particular, “[T]his study can be used to inform design, implementation, and evaluation of programs for cross-sectoral youth program development, and funders can use this paper to guide investments, with a focus on the following approaches:

• Align youth development programs focused on workforce development, violence prevention, and SRH with the key soft skills recommended in this review.
• Introduce soft skill development strategies as early as appropriate and reinforce as youth age.
• Provide youth with opportunities to practice soft skills across the different types of contexts they will need them for.
• Provide content knowledge that is needed in order to support the practice of soft skills in specific contexts.
• Develop soft skills through a positive youth development approach that also recognizes and engages other personal characteristics, norms and attitudes, important relationships and settings in a youth’s life, as well as the broader social context.”

The report also offers recommendations to strengthen the field’s capacity to effectively measure soft skills, as well recommendations for future research around soft skills.