Vocational and technical training and employability

Context

In Senegal, the vocational and technical training sector faces a major challenge: the integration of young people into the workforce. While approximately 300,000 new job seekers enter the labour market each year, only around 30,000 new jobs are available, and the unemployment rate is estimated at 19.5%. At the same time, both the insufficient access capacity of training institutions — due to a mismatch between training provision and economic needs — and the limited support mechanisms for youth integration further exacerbate the situation.

In this context, support for the modernisation and expansion of training institutions is essential, as is the establishment of a new training dynamic that is better targeted to the needs of local economies, focused on the acquisition of rapidly applicable skills and complemented by mechanisms that guide young people towards decent and sustainable employment.

In support of the implementation of the national sectoral policy, the Vocational and technical training and employability programme contributes to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, which ensures "inclusive and equitable quality education and promotes lifelong learning opportunities for all", and indirectly to SDG 8, which recognises the importance of inclusive and sustainable economic growth and decent, quality employment for all.

Objectives

Based on territorial diagnostics, the programme aims to support the establishment of partnerships between training institutions and the private sector, promote block-release schemes between training centres and companies, foster the development of rapid-impact training in high-potential sectors, and strengthen mechanisms supporting the transition of young people aged 15 to 24 into employment.

The programme is structured around four key areas of intervention:

• expanding access to vocational and technical training in priority sectors of the economy;
• professionalising and adapting training provision;
• developing and strengthening post-training support mechanisms to facilitate the integration of trained youth into the workforce;
• enhancing governance of the sector at both central and decentralised levels.

Beneficiaries

The beneficiaries are young people aged 15 to 24, particularly young women.

Targeted geographical area

The intervention area of the Vocational and technical training and employability programme covers seven regions of Senegal (Diourbel, Fatick, Kaffrine, Louga, Kaolack, Matam and Saint-Louis), which together account for around 7 million inhabitants — approximately 40% of the Senegalese population — as well as the departments on the outskirts of Dakar and the Lycée technique de Thiès.

Stakeholders

LuxDev provides technical support at the national level to the Ministry of Vocational and Technical Training and to the bodies under its supervision, such as the Fonds de financement de la formation professionnelle et technique and the Office national de la formation professionnelle, as well as to decentralised technical services. At the regional level, the main stakeholders are the departmental councils, businesses and civil society organisations.