Africa: Benin – a Win-Win Partnership for the Inclusion of Young People With Little or No Education

Glo-Djigbé — STORY HIGHLIGHTS

More than 5,000 young people with little or no education have found jobs thanks to the partnership between the National Employment Agency (ANPE) and the management company of the Glo-Djigbé industrial zone in Benin, through the Azôli program. This active labor market program, supported by the World Bank-funded Youth Inclusion Project (ProDIJ), is helping to secure employment opportunities for 25,000 young people from, among others, fragile areas of Benin. The targeted sectors are mainly textiles, cashew nut processing and other related activities.

The clatter of sewing machines in the huge vestibule of the garment manufacturing unit of the Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone (GDIZ) is not distracting Carine Judith Aboua this morning. She concentrates on her sewing machine and the piece of military fatigues under the crowbar of the device and gets busy making braids and outfit pockets. She has to deliver 450 pieces by the end of the day, a task that requires a speed and pressure that many agents of the production unit dread. This is far from being her case, she who left Porto-Novo, the administrative capital of Benin, to find herself in the garment production workshops since July 2022.

I thrive in my work environment Carine Judith Aboua

Initially registered online as an intern as required by the selection process of the Azôli program, which means path to employment, Carine ended up passing the final test. This was followed by a training period, during which she was introduced to various production processes and quality standards, like other trainees enrolled in this government program supported by the World Bank. The project provides each trainee with a monthly stipend to cover their living expenses, in addition to the free GDIZ training and the guarantee of a job for all who successfully complete the process. Over 5,000 young people have been trained and subsequently recruited in GDIZ’s cashew processing and textile industries.

This opportunity to be recruited within the garment manufacturing unit at the end of the successfully completed training course, provides the trainees with a salary, and other benefits granted by the unit to reinforce their position within it.

“I can now afford some expenses without necessarily waiting for my husband to work in Natitingou (nearly 700 km from Cotonou). I feel a little more fulfilled and prouder…” says Carine Judith Aboua, who benefited from her husband’s support throughout the process.

Isaac Gounon, 26, is in a similar situation. Before he landed at GDIZ, his daily life was far from happy for his wife Béatrice: “My husband was living from hand to mouth and this instability was hardly conducive to getting along within the household. Today, things are going better, and the family has no regrets about moving from Bohicon to the Glo-Djigbé industrial zone,” she says.

My recruitment was a breath of fresh air Isaac Gounon

Turning their backs on precariousness

Not far from there, in one of Benin’s cotton processing factories, Mahouton Geoffroy Gbénou’s world changed when he enrolled in the Azôli program. As a smuggled petrol dealer, he seized the opportunity and is taking the training for his retraining.

Like his wife, Bernice Noutaï, who is also training as a machine operator, he is part of this cohort of young beneficiaries, and both hope to turn their backs on precariousness for good. Just four months after starting the training, they see changes in their lives. Dropouts and parents of a little boy, they now pool their energies to meet the needs of the little family. “This job allows us to live better and to be able to manage our expenses. Our child enrolled in a private school is better met,” says the mother who was forced to drop out of school to learn after her pregnancy.

My salary is a huge relief Bernice Noutaï

Developed by the National Employment Agency (ANPE), which oversees the Youth Inclusion Project (ProDIJ), the Azôli program is, according to Urbain Amégbédji, Director General of ANPE, a concrete response to the challenges of youth employment. Specially designed for vulnerable youth, this active labor market program is helping to secure employment opportunities for 25,000 youth, in priority sectors of the government’s policy agenda.

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Like these beneficiaries, thousands of people aspire to a decent life and would like to have a springboard such as that of the economic inclusion approach for young people with little or no education currently underway in the Glo-Djigbé industrial zone. According to Urbain Amégbédji, the manpower absorption capacity of this experience is a real opportunity.

Testimony

This opportunity has given me the chance to live a new experience Joie Alapini

“A lot of things have improved in my life since I joined this unit. The two children abandoned to me by their father are now better supported thanks to my income. They go to school and receive proper care when they are sick. In terms of personal development, the Azôli program has provided me with training and know-how that allow me to work and hope for a better life. At first, I lost all hope, but this opportunity gave me the chance to live a new experience in my life.”

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