Mamadou Touré
“We need to invest massively in training.”

To make this happen, the government implemented a PJ-Gouv 2023-2025. Twenty-five ministries are involved in three areas: integration, civic engagement and well-being. Here's an update from the programme's key player.

AM: How many young people are there in Côte d'Ivoire today, and what age bracket is taken into account?

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Mamadou Touré: According to the latest population census, which dates from 2021, we have a population of nearly 30 million. Of these 30 million, 75.6% are young people, i.e. almost 22 million citizens. A young person is anyone between the ages of 15 and 35. According to the previous census, they represented 67% of the population. Their numbers are obviously increasing. The average age in our country is 21. And our growth rate is around 2.5 points.

Côte d'Ivoire has set up a PJ-Gouv (Government Youth Programme) 2023-2025, and 2023 has been declared the ‘Year of Youth’. What are the initial results of your policy?

When President Alassane Ouattara declared that 2023 would be the Year of Youth, his wish was to amplify government initiatives in favour of this section of the population, by creating synergies between sectoral actions in the areas of sport, culture, entrepreneurship and so on. Twenty-five ministries worked on the PJ-Gouv, targeting 1.7 million young people by 2025, at a cost of just over 1.7 billion euros (1118 billion CFA francs). In 2023 alone, the target was 700,000 young people at a cost of 361 billion CFA francs, or around 500 million euros. The results at 31 December 2023 show that we have far exceeded this target. We were able to reach 1.105 million of them, and mobilised 534 billion CFA francs.

When you say ‘reached’ these young people, what exactly is the impact on them?

The PJ-Gouv has three main pillars. The first concerns training, entry into the workforce and entrepreneurship; the second focuses on civic engagement and citizenship; and the third involves improving well-being. With regard to the first pillar, 74,000 young people have been included in the training or retraining programme. Just over 86,000 others have benefited from our various entrepreneurial support programmes, in terms of financing. A further 209,000 have found paid employment. In addition, fourteen vocational training establishments have been upgraded or are in the process of being upgraded. And if we look at the programme's second pillar, 30,000 volunteers have been mobilised by the government to help make the 2023 African Cup of Nations a success! Just over 2,000 others have passed through civic service centres. In addition, seven agoras, multi-sector centres where young people can play sport or take part in cultural activities, are being built across the country. There are also five training institutions for women, which are currently being renovated or built. To sum up, nearly 300 billion CFA francs have been earmarked for infrastructure, and nearly 200 billion CFA francs have been injected directly into training, integration and entrepreneurship projects. And that's without counting the 42 local secondary schools that have been built over the period, or the ten high schools of excellence for girls.

Are there any problems specific to young Ivorians?

The problem that affects all young people in African countries is the level of qualifications. In Côte d'Ivoire, we enjoy a strong economic dynamic, with a growth rate that has been around 7 to 8% for more than ten years, and an increasingly diversified private sector, with numerous industries setting up and new services emerging. The real problem we face is the shortage of skilled labour. We're trying to address this by investing massively in training, both skills training and vocational training.

You mentioned colleges for young girls. Is their inclusion still a concern?

And if so, why? It is a concern. In my ministry, we have ensured that at least 40% of the beneficiaries of all integration programmes are girls. In some of these programmes, like those involving labour-intensive work, girls account for more than 60% of the beneficiaries. In addition to my own sector, the Ministry of Education, in line with government policy, has focused on getting girls into school. This year, for example, for the Junior Certificate, we have more female than male candidates. Our proactive policy of promoting young girls, which President Alassane Ouattara has been pursuing for over ten years, is bearing fruit.

You said you would focus on salaried employment. How do you intend to go about this?

We have already activated several mechanisms. Today, we offer entrepreneurship programmes, but not all young people are entrepreneurs. To respond to the problem of skilled labour needed by the growing number of companies, we felt that, in conjunction with the Ministry of Technical Education and Vocational Training, we needed to provide education that would enable young people to meet the needs of the productive sector and find paid employment.

With a system for matching training to jobs?

Absolutely. In fact, technical education reform, which has been under way for more than eight years, prioritises partnership with the private sector. The aim is to develop training modules that correspond to demand. Our economy is highly structured, and we know the growth sectors for the coming years and those in which the State is mobilising investors. Whether in higher, technical or vocational education, we are putting curricula in place so that the young people we train can easily find work.

You were in Paris for the VivaTech trade fair. There is talk of a real revolution in start-ups and new technologies in Côte d'Ivoire. Why is that?

The country is making great strides in this sector. We even have a dedicated ministry for Digitalisation and Digital Transition, run by my colleague Kalil Konaté, who attended the fair with me. The internet penetration rate in Côte d'Ivoire is rising. Digital technology is becoming a way of life and can open up opportunities for wealth creation, growth and, above all, job creation. The government has therefore decided to focus on these start-ups with their innovative projects. One of the flagship measures of the Year of Youth 2023 was the adoption by Parliament of the law on digital start-ups, as well as the creation of Start-up Boost Capital, a fund mobilised by my ministry to the tune of nearly 1 billion CFA francs, which will be increased to 2 billion this year. It provides support for start-ups to accelerate their development. By 31 December 2023, nearly thirty of them had benefited from this funding, and some were able to come to Paris to forge partnerships.

There is much talk about illegal emigration, which also affects your country. What are you doing about it?

It's a matter of concern to us, of course. Out of 22 million young people, around 8,000 leave. According to the IOM (International Organisation for Migration), 85% of young would-be emigrants had a job in Côte d'Ivoire. They generally leave because they believe in a better future, not because they have no prospects. So we're focusing on raising awareness. And the government has taken measures against the clandestine mafia networks that organise the departures. Last year, in the wake of the crisis in Tunisia, where many foreign nationals were the victims of deplorable acts of racism, Côte d'Ivoire saw large numbers of migrants coming back. My ministry has profiled these people, and we have put in place mechanisms to support their integration. We are raising awareness among young people and cracking down on the networks. Because today, given our economic dynamism, there is no justification for these departures. For the same amounts spent by some would-be emigrants, which range from €1,000 to €10,000, many young people in our country set up their own businesses and manage to make ends meet.

What sort of results are you seeing in the fight against people smugglers?

The Ministry of Security is working with the countries that receive migrants. I know that a real strategy is being developed between certain European countries and ours to step up this fight, at least against those who are in Côte d'Ivoire.

You are also President of the Haut-Sassandra Regional Council, where you have led local initiatives. Are there any specific issues affecting young people in your region?

Daloa, the capital of Haut-Sassandra, is the second most common town for young people to leave (6%), after the economic capital (60%). Then come Bouaké, Man and Korhogo, which all have between 3% and 5%. For some years now, we have been paying particular attention to the situation of young people in Haut-Sassandra. In two years, nearly 20,000 of them have gone through our various programmes. Today, at Regional Council level, we are trying to amplify the government's youth initiatives. We have benefited from considerable resources, under the World Bank's youth employment programme and also from the French Development Agency, which are enabling the region to pursue a real strategy for integrating young people and getting them to settle in our region.

If you had one wish related to your work, what would it be?

Two things. First, the civic service programme. Despite all the mechanisms that have been put in place with convincing results, we know that working on changing the mindset of young people is the most important task. We are in the process of perfecting and expanding this civic service programme, which can radically change mindsets, particularly among those who were once considered lost. Secondly, we have put in place well-oiled integration levers. Today, the country is held up as an example for the effectiveness of the programmes we have been running with AFD and the World Bank, and implemented by the government over the past ten years, such as those on entrepreneurship, internships and support for integration. As for the Youth Employment and Skills Development Project (PEJEDEC), which we are running with the World Bank, we obtained $50 million for each of the first two phases in 2012 and 2016. And for the third phase, we're going to triple that to $150 million. I will be proud to hand over this credible and effective scheme, which can provide long-term support for the integration of young people. But we need to continue to mobilise resources, given the number of young people in our country, because unfortunately some of them are still waiting. Lastly, we have set up a series of actions with the other sectoral ministries. As youth issues are cross-cutting, it's not always easy to avoid stepping on each other's toes. But Côte d'Ivoire has achieved something unique: it has fostered this governmental synergy, enshrined in a decree signed by the Prime Minister, in which more than twenty ministries join hands to work towards a single goal: the well-being of young people.