Inauguration of the first Youth Employment Fair in northern of Côte d'Ivoire

BOUNDIALI (ILO News) - The Confédération Générale des Entreprises de Côte d'Ivoire (CGECI), the ILO, UNICEF and the IOM are organising an ‘Employment Fair’ in each of these regions on 13, 17 and 20 April 2024 in Boundiali, Ferkéssédougou and Korhogo.

The aim of the fair, the first of its kind in northern Côte d'Ivoire, is to promote job opportunities for young people in the Bagoué, Tchologo and Poro regions.

© François Gombahi / OIT

© François Gombahi / OIT

More specifically, the Fair aims, among other things, to create a framework for promoting salaried employment and self-employment, to highlight job and training opportunities in the Tchologo, Bagoué and Poro regions for beneficiaries from U-Report, the Guinguereni civic service centre, ProAgro YOUTH and CNJ-CI; identify actions to be implemented to improve the resilience and competitiveness of very small enterprises (VSEs), small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large companies in the Tchologo, Bagoué and Poro regions, in order to build solid businesses that will create sustainable jobs.

Alain Djédjé, Secretary General 1 of the Prefecture of Boundiali and acting Prefect of the Bagoué region, explains what is at stake in this Employment Fair: "Organising this Employment Fair will enable young graduates from the Bagoué region to find opportunities. It will also enable entrepreneurs to strengthen their entrepreneurial skills through the setting up of stands that will serve as panels run by entrepreneurship and employment professionals."

A number of companies specialising in banking, microfinance, agro-industry, construction and public works (BTP), hotels, agricultural cooperatives, health, agri-food and distribution took part in the fair, offering job opportunities to young people.

For the Director of Commissions and Advocacy at CGECI, the Employment Fair responds to a number of imperatives: "Young people do not have access to a formal job market due to a lack of skills in line with the needs of the job market." Indeed, explains Ismaël Fanny, "while companies are often looking for skills they can't find, on the other side of the coin there are many young people with a certain level of skills who are unable to find a job." That's why, he stresses, "the job fair we're organising today should be a pretext for us all to work together to make the most of all the opportunities that exist in the region. In fact, all the regions of Côte d'Ivoire have the capacity to offer jobs to young people and keep them in their home areas. We need to work together on this, with the political support of the government, which will have to create the conditions to make the most of local opportunities."

Generation Unlimited

This travelling fair in the Tchologo, Bagoué and Poro regions is part of the overall framework of the Generation Unlimited (Gen-U) programme, a joint United Nations programme implemented by UNICEF, ILO and IOM with the support of Switzerland and in partnership with the Ivorian government.

Generation Unlimited is a global commitment by the United Nations to ensure that every adolescent and young person is in school, in training or in employment by 2030. It is presented as a dynamic new model that aims to co-create innovative solutions with and for adolescents and young people. Génération Sans Limites is a response to sustainable development goals four (4) and ten (10), enabling everyone to benefit from quality education and reducing inequalities.

According to the National Employment Survey (ENE) carried out in 2019, 2,322,383 young Ivorians aged between 15 and 24 are neither in school, nor in training, nor in employment, i.e. 27.9% of young people in this age group. The lack of access to quality school education and satisfactory job prospects represent major challenges for young people in Côte d'Ivoire, leading to an increased risk of social exclusion in adolescence, with its consequences in terms of poverty, marginalisation, delinquency and vulnerability to radical and violent discourse. Young people and adolescents in the north of Côte d'Ivoire are particularly exposed to these risks, given the region's particularly sensitive socio-economic and security context.

Roland David Bissié, speaking on behalf of UNICEF, the ILO and the IOM, notes that it is in response to all these challenges that the three agencies are "joining forces to deploy the Generation Unlimited commitment in the north of Côte d'Ivoire, a region where the socio-economic and security situation makes young people and adolescents particularly vulnerable. I would like to thank Switzerland, the donor of the programme, without whom the organisation of this Fair would not have been possible, as well as our implementing partners, the Government of Côte d'Ivoire and CGECI, whose action through this Fair demonstrates a concrete achievement of public-private collaboration in favour of young people. It was very important for us to be able to come together to meet young people in the North using a travelling approach to facilitate their access to the event."

© François Gombahi / OIT

© François Gombahi / OIT

First of it's kind

This type of action is one of the first to be carried out more than 600 km from the Ivorian capital. "In addition to the success of this Fair, we hope that it will encourage other initiatives that place young people at the heart of public-private partnerships and decisions relating to their personal development, for a greater impact both for themselves and for future generations in the north of Côte d'Ivoire," concludes Roland Bissié.

The collaboration between the United Nations and the CGECI focuses on key issues, including job creation for young people, apprenticeships, and the promotion of an environment favourable to sustainable businesses that create productive jobs, generate wealth and improve the living and working conditions of the people of Côte d'Ivoire.