Context
The lack of prospects for young Tunisians is recognised as one of the main causes of social tension and political unrest. The country’s unemployment rate stood at 15.9 per cent in mid-2013 and almost a fifth of all women and as many as a third of all university graduates are without work.
Objective
The number of self-employed or employed workers in the sectors and regions supported by the project has increased.
Approach
On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), GIZ is initiating, financing, promoting and implementing a number of cooperation arrangements designed to increase employment with the assistance of an open regional fund. It is working closely with the private sector and civil society to carry out projects that will create employment prospects for young Tunisians. As an example, Tunisian construction company Bouzguenda Frères is tackling the acute lack of specialist skills in building construction and civil engineering by providing particularly practical and flexible training that involves having ‘mobile classrooms’ attached to the construction site itself. This means that employees can be given intensive training in the very skills that are required, thereby ensuring that the demand for specialist skills is met and giving young workers employment prospects in a recession-proof industry.
As well as creating work opportunities for young Tunisians, the projects are at the same time developing concepts that will improve the structure of the labour market. The projects that the fund supports are selected by a fund steering group whose members represent all the key players in the labour market such as the private sector, civil society and the state.
The fund’s activities seek to fulfil four key aims:
1.to improve on-the-job education and training, and as a result better fulfil the needs of the private sector.
2.to professionalise the placement of workers and staff management, thereby creating a better match between business needs and the skills of those seeking employment.
3.to support business start-ups and boost entrepreneurship.
4.to increase the attractiveness of skilled trades as career options by improving working conditions, human resources management and the image of such jobs.
Nine projects are currently underway:
1.Retraining – to tackle the mismatch in the labour market
2.Drywall construction – great potential for creating jobs
3.Natural wonders of the Sahara – resources for creating jobs
4.Specialised tourism training
5.Seeking skilled workers in agriculture
6.From training to work – employment prospects for everyone
7.Reinventing traditional weaving techniques in Gafsa
8.Rediscovering the craft of glassblowing
9.Mobile training in the construction industry