Mamadou Touré, Minister for the Promotion of Youth, Professional Integration and Civic Service, and Kesete Admasu, CEO of Big Win

Creating millions of quality jobs for young people in Côte d’Ivoire

The Big Win:

The government of Côte d’Ivoire has put in place a bold new growth strategy that aims to create 3.4 million quality jobs for young people by 2025. This strategy is anchored on the government’s territorialization agenda, which aims to distribute economic opportunities to regions across the country. It also seeks to harness the potential of the country’s growing youth population to transform the Ivorian economy.

The government’s partnership with Big Win Philanthropy aims to accelerate the implementation of the territorialization strategy and create 1 million quality jobs in three targeted districts – Abidjan, Lacs, and Yamoussoukro – which collectively make up 30 to 40% of the country’s total population.

3.4 million quality jobs for youth nationwide by 2025
1 million quality jobs to be created in three targeted districts

The Partnership

A three-year package of technical assistance from Big Win, launched in 2022, will focus on seven key areas critical to achieving the government’s target of creating 3.4 million jobs for young people by 2025.

1. Rolling out a smart territorialization agenda

Big Win is working with the Ivorian government to conduct a review of the current territorialization strategy, which seeks to provide economic opportunities for youth in regions across the country, reducing the need to migrate to the capital, Abidjan, to find employment. Through this review, we will identify regional economic comparative advantages and binding constraints limiting economic growth. Our support will then enable the government to identify high-impact regional interventions, accurately quantify regional job creation potential, and attract private investments that can accelerate the creation of thousands of quality jobs.

2. Elevating the ambitions of the Youth Employment Agency 

Big Win is supporting the government to elevate the ambitions of the Youth Employment Agency, an implementing arm of the Ministry of Youth, to align with the job creation requirements of the territorialization strategy. Big Win will support the review of the Youth Employment Agency’s delivery chain to set ambitious targets, design a fit for purpose structure, and close critical capacity gaps.

3. Ensuring that the government can effectively track progress

We are supporting the government to revamp its existing, fragmented monitoring and evaluation systems to bring them under one roof. The unified tracking and monitoring system will include customized dashboards—sitting within the offices of the Prime Minister and Minister of Youth—to effectively monitor progress, inform decision making, and enhance accountability for all key stakeholders working in the youth employment ecosystem.

4. Strengthening coordination of youth employment initiatives

The youth employment landscape incorporates a broad range of stakeholders, including government ministries, local and regional authorities, the private sector, and civil society groups. Big Win’s support will help close coordination capacity gaps and provide the government with the tools to effectively coordinate implementation and direct stakeholders towards high impact interventions.

5. Optimizing the integration of young people into professional opportunities

By working in collaboration with the Ministry of Technical and Vocational Training (TVET), Big Win is supporting the government’s ambition of integrating young people into TVET and public works programs as a viable pathway for employment. Optimizing this linkage is critical to absorb a large number of unskilled and semi-skilled young people into the workforce in Côte d’Ivoire.

6. Strengthening branding and communications

Support from young people is crucial to the success of the program. Big Win is supporting the government to review current communications initiatives to help all stakeholders to speak with one voice and ensure alignment of key messages to the expectations of the youth. We are working with the government to develop a comprehensive plan aimed at communicating with young people and collecting unfiltered feedback about their needs and priorities.

7. Closing critical implementation capacity gaps

We are supporting the government to close critical technical capacity gaps within the Ministry of Youth and provide the Minister with the support he needs to translate his vision into actionable tasks and deliverables. A team of experts will sit within the Minister’s office but work across the government to help drive the cross sectoral implementation of the territorialization strategy.