The Spanish Cooperation Agency is driving youth employment in five West African countries

The ministries of employment and youth of Mali, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal and Cape Verde will be responsible for implementing the action plans

The Spanish Cooperation Agency will promote the creation of job opportunities for young people in five key countries in West Africa as part of a pilot scheme in which the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Public Administrations and Policies (FIIAPP) will be participating.

The project, called “Support for developing national action plans for youth employment in member states of  ECOWAS’, will be implemented by the ministries of employment and youth of Mali, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal and Cape Verde. With a budget of 120,000 euros, a number of national action plans will be prepared to address issues relating to sustainable youth employment.

The action, by which the Spanish Cooperation Agency will be supporting ECOWAS to implement its regional youth employment policies, will provide a first group of countries with assistance. This pilot scheme will serve ECOWAS as a model to replicate the action and generalize the development of this type of plan in all countries in the region.

Roadmap

The first meeting of the project’s Steering Committee, held in Abuja, served to establish this body formally. It consists of the ECOWAS Commission, the AECID, the FIIAPP and representatives from the five beneficiary countries. The event also served as the official presentation of the initiative to Mali, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal and Cape Verde. In addition, the first part of the roadmap that will be applied was agreed and designed. This will now result in the approval of project proposals that will be formally submitted by the five states.

This development initiative by the Spanish Cooperation Agency falls within the framework of the APIA Programme (Support Programme for Inclusive African Public Policies) of the Spanish Cooperation Agency (AECID) dedicated to helping African countries to prepare, formulate, execute, and monitor inclusive public policies as part of a process to create more equitable and cohesive societies.