March 30, 2016
Youth Entrepreneurs: Supporting an engine of growth and jobs in San Pedro, Côte d’Ivoire

By  Youssouf Diarra, Communications Analyst, United Nations Development Programme Côte d’Ivoire and Karen Newman, SDG Fund Secretariat

Life has not always been easy for young people seeking to find gainful employment and ways to improve livelihood options in Côte d’Ivoire. Lingering memories from the post-electoral violence of 2010 which forced around 300,000 people into exile have challenged the already vulnerable region. At the same time, with heightened security concerns amid the recent violence on the coast --there are strong signs of optimism and resilience among young people in the region.
 
The SDG Fund, along with the national and regional government and the UN Systems, are pleased to see so many young people flourishing through the joint programme on poverty reduction in the San Pedro region. Launched last year, the training program has helped imagine the future for young Ivorian entrepreneurs. In fact, more than 300 young people, including 115 women who participated in the two-month training recently celebrated the first phase of the programme. This initiative is part of an ongoing effort to support workforce development and promote entrepreneurship for young people in San Pedro via a unique joint collaboration between the local Chamber of Commerce and Industry and UNDP. This holistic program provides a variety of skills training to support young people with the necessary tools to initiate and grow their own business. In addition as part of the programme, 150 of these determined participants will be shortlisted based on the quality of their proposals and eventually selected to be financed by the project partners. Others will continue to benefit from ongoing guidance and technical support for implementing their projects.
 
In an official ceremony held on March 10th, it was clear that this novel integrated approach would go a long way to support and strengthen skills needed for viable livelihoods in the region. "This project aims to create economic opportunities and sustainable employment for target populations,” said Luc Gnonlonfoun, Deputy Director for the UNDP Country office. For the many young people, especially women, the hands on training provides important skills to improve literacy, facilitate leadership and enhance rural production. Additional support and counseling linked to key issues such as rural land rights and cooperative management were also provided. In addition, the program includes an important networking component to help women with the critical skills needed for basic Income generation activities for young girls who have dropped out of school.
 
The Côte d’Ivoire initiative is part of the vast Poverty Reduction Joint Programme which was launched in December 2014 by the SDG Fund (SDG-F), UNDP, UNICEF, FAO, and the road maintenance Fund for the Port of San Pedro. The program was initiated to meet the needs of a particularly vulnerable region, which despite a vibrant agricultural sector, the lack of access to health care, education, and food security have been exacerbated by the relatively high rates of unemployment, particularly for youth which was estimated at 50% during the election crisis. The program is now in its implementation phase and as part of the SDG-F overarching priorities, will work to tackle inclusive growth, namely to create decent jobs with a critical emphasis on targeting skills training for young people, including women and girls. Looking forward, the spokesperson for many of the project beneficiaries, Celestine Sanou reiterated the need to offer programs that create opportunities for mentoring and  training to improve livelihoods and provide more entrepreneurial skills, “Thanks to this training, regardless of the project to be presented to them, they will have no difficulty managing the business plan.”