AjeSud
Supporting young people to employment in southern Senegal
Field project
Senegal

The AjeSud project aims to promote the employment and professional integration of young people in migrant departure areas through better access to financial and non-financial resources.

AjeSud is part of the EU’s “Developing Employment in Senegal” (DES) programme, in complementarity with the ACEFOP (OS2) component of the programme – aimed at facilitating young people’s access to vocational training – and with its OS1component aimed at strengthening the local business fabric. Based on a framework for consultation between the stakeholders concerned (ACEFOP partners, BDS organisations and financial service providers), the objective of the project is to strengthen synergies between stakeholders and to provide financial and non-financial support systems to young self-employed people and SMEs in the Ziguinchor, Sédhiou, Kolda, Kédougou and Tambacounda regions. The selection of non-financial business support service providers and financial institutions that will receive methodological and financial support throughout the project in order to build their capacity over time also helps to envisage the continuation of the services provision after the end of the project.

The project plans to target self-employed people aged 15 to 35 who benefit from vocational training as part of DES OS2, as well as microbusinesses -including EIGs and cooperatives – that are supported and enhanced as part of DES OS1.

 

The project approach is underpinned by the following activities and results:

End result: the systems implemented as part of the project improve access to finance and contribute to promoting employment and professional integration of young people in areas of migrant departures.

Intermediary result 1. A system for consultation with the partners of the Developing Employment in Senegal (DES) programme makes it possible to identify the specific needs of the target audiences and contributes to making the services set up sustainable.

Intermediary result 2. Existence of sustainable mechanisms for professional integration and support of young self-employed people and EIGs/cooperatives.

Intermediary result 3. Existence of sustainable microfinance and financial products suited to the needs of self-employed people and EIGs/cooperatives.

 

From a quantitative point of view, in all, the project plans that:

  • 1,450 young people benefit from support in advance of financing
  • 315 young self-employed people benefit from micro-loans on trust
  • 180 young self-employed people benefit from a loan
  • 40 microbusinesses (EIGs/cooperatives) benefit from a loan
Project completed
Start date 01/01/2018 end date 31/12/2020
Budget : 2 162 500 €
Project partners