Young Leaders Committed to Good Local Governance in Mali
Young people in Mali face employment challenges. Fewer jobs are created in the economy than are needed to keep pace with the growing population. All of this leads to high levels of unemployment. Yet, there is a mismatch between skills acquired through education and the needs of the markets. There is a demand for skilled people in key labour intensive economic sectors. The project ‘Youth employment create opportunities at home in Mali’ aims to train 8,620 young people, including 2,586 women and 1,293 returnees and create 6,472 jobs.
Mali
Start project2018
In order to address youth unemployability, ICCO and its partners are working on the project ‘Youth employment create opportunities at home in Mali’. In this project we develop value chains in key labour intensive economic sectors, like horticulture and waste management.
The project aims to train 8,620 young people to run their own business, including 2,586 women and 1,293 returnees. The project ‘Youth employment create opportunities at home in Mali’ (EJOM, acronym for the French title ‘L’Emploi des Jeunes crée les Opportunités ici au Mali’) aims to have 75% of these young people working by 2021 in the regions of Koulikoro, Kayes, Gao and the district of Bamako.
At first, more than 31,000 young persons (aged 18 to 40) applied (13 times the number of openings available for the entire year). From this number, 2,400 youth were selected and received training, of which 42% were women. A second call in November 2018 led to the selection of 3,000 youths in the Kayes and Koulikoro regions.
Despite the complex circumstances, everything indicates that EJOM’s approach is successful. Of the 2,500 young people who were trained in 2018, almost everyone started their own business. The 3,000 participants who were selected for the 2019 trajectory have started the training program in April.
The selected youth follow training in their selected branch of activity, among waste management, horticulture, food processing and handicrafts. Besides the technical trainings, youth also receive business management and life skills. In addition, they are coached during the whole process to help them succeed. At the end, youth receive a stipend that they can use to buy inputs and tools that will allow them to kick-start their career or activity (for example setting up a start-up).
The first year of implementation, APEJ, the Malian governmental agency in charge of youth employment and a partner of the project, was solely responsible for the entire selection process. In January 2018, the agency launched a call for applicants which was broadcasted on TV, radios, social media and worship places. The applications were registered at all the administrative levels (communes, cercles and villages) then centralised and examined by a central selection committee.
The selected youth follow training in their selected branch of activity, among waste management, horticulture, food processing and handicrafts. Besides the technical trainings, youth also receive business management and life skills. In addition, they are coached during the whole process to help them succeed. At the end, youth receive a stipend that they can use to buy inputs and tools that will allow them to kick-start their career or activity (for example setting up a start-up).
The response of young people to join the program has been overwhelming: more than 31,000 young persons (aged 18 to 40) applied to the first call! That is 13 times the number of openings available for the entire year. From this number, 2,400 youth were selected and received training, of which 42% were women and 58% men. All the project specific areas received applicants, with food processing receiving the highest number of candidates (38%).
A second call was launched in November 2018 which led to the selection of a new cohort of 3,000 youths to be trained and coached so they can start their revenue making activities. This time, ICCO and APEJ shared responsibilities for the selection process in the Kayes and Koulikoro regions which are under ICCO’s responsibility. Training has yet to start for the second cohort.
In the horticulture training, the participants learn about good agriculture practices, soil preparation, spatial planning and fencing, grafting methods as well as the maintenance of cultures in theory and practice.
The waste management skills training focuses on two specific topics: composting and waste collection. In composting, the young people learn about waste, sorting, the composting process and the use of compost. The practical course for pre-collection focuses on collection equipment, the importance of using protective equipment, logistics and transport, waste disposal as well as customer (household) search techniques.