In Burkina Faso, according to the results of the 5th General Population and Housing Census (RGPH, 2019) 77.9% of the population is under 35. In the medium and long term, this demographic configuration represents a major asset for development, provided that young people are trained and integrated into the labor market. However, the country’s socio-economic reality is characterized by a lack of job opportunities, while the number of young people of working age is increasing at a galloping rate: The working-age population is that aged 15 or over. It represents 54.7% of the total population. Of this working-age population, only 42.9% are employed, compared with 53.8% outside the workforce. This situation is due, among other things, to :
- A lack of appropriate educational provision for young rural people who are out of school or excluded from the education system and exposed to the rural exodus: the proportion of children out of school stands at 15.0% for the country as a whole. Moreover, 39.1% of children aged 6-16 have never been to school. The proportion of children who have never attended school is highest in rural areas (46.2% vs. 14.9% in urban areas);
- Poor access to vocational training for poor and vulnerable young people: the majority of vocational training centers are private training workshops and the training center of the Agence Nationale de la Formation Professionnelle (ANFP). The poverty level of parents, particularly farmers, means that they are unable to pay the cost of vocational training and to cover the inherent expenses (accommodation and catering) to enable their children to develop their professional skills. As a result, young people have little access to vocational training;
- The low entrepreneurial capacity of young people to access decent incomes: A relatively small number of young people benefit from entrepreneurial capacity-building, which would be very useful in preparing them for self-employment and creating jobs for other young people. These training courses are very often aimed at young university graduates, and therefore not very accessible to the young, poor peasantry;
- In terms of security, Burkina Faso has been faced with terrorist attacks since 2016, which to date have resulted in more than 2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), with young people losing their schooling and becoming unemployed; – Since 2008, Burkina Faso has seen an explosion in both industrial and artisanal gold mining. Instead of being a source of fulfillment for young people, these traditional gold-mining sites contribute to emptying classrooms of their pupils, leading to a drop in the school enrolment rate in gold-mining areas.
To change this, Solidar Suisse, through its Economy and Work program, is working to improve young people’s access to the job market and to decent incomes. The aim is to facilitate the integration of vulnerable young people into promising occupations through access to vocational training, entrepreneurial training and support for setting up micro-businesses.
With a view to increasing the chances of success of young beneficiaries, Solidar Suisse uses innovative approaches that help to strengthen the motivation and skills of young people to follow the training courses provided and better cope with the job market. These include :
- Establishing a training monitoring and evaluation plan with the master craftsmen: this monitoring plan enables the parties involved (the training workshop and the association responsible for implementing the project) to ensure that progress is being made in the acquisition of skills that are necessary and useful for the young people’s employability;
- Training in financial education, personal development and life skills: these courses are designed to equip selected young people to strengthen their mindset and create an environment conducive to their socio-professional integration;
- Strengthening existing businesses: this activity involves supporting ailing businesses belonging to former project beneficiaries who are having difficulty getting their business off the ground. In the long term, these companies benefit from additional equipment and their managers receive training in personal development.
