Youth employment: more than 5,000 new businesses created

Access to decent work is a solution against social exclusion in a globalized economy. Job creation is mainly based on the steady growth of businesses. For this reason, the International Labor Organization (ILO) assists governments, employers 'and workers' organizations as well as other organizations in intensifying management training and establishing support systems to meet the needs of SMEs. Over the years, ILO has developed expertise, credibility, worldwide networks, tools, and considerable experience through their program, Manage Your Business Better (GERME), aimed at young companies and micro-businesses, along with entrepreneurs.

The Cameroonian government, through the PEA-program (National Program for the Promotion of Agro-pastoral Youth Entrepreneurship), aims to, over the period 2015-2021, create at least 20,160 direct jobs, in ten vegetable and animal sectors, across the Center, Littoral, North-West and South regions. It is with this in mind that the International Labor Office (ILO) has signed a technical partnership with PEA,  in the form of an ILO Technical Assistance Project. This technical assistance is financed by the Government of Cameroon on loan from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

To date, the ILO Technical Assistance Project has improved the supply of entrepreneurship training in the agro-pastoral sector of 17 implementing partners. The Project has provided nearly 80 facilitators and business advisors from all or some of the ILO's Better Business Management (GERME) training kit. In 2017, these facilitators helped close to 750 young people in setting up their business plans, and 50 young people improved their management skills. The PEA program has recognized a substantial improvement in the quality of business plans since ILO's intervention in 2017, compared to 2016. Almost 50% of the beneficiaries supported in 2017 have already set up their businesses with funding received from Rural Finance Institutions partners,  resulting in the creation of at least 300 jobs

The ILO Technical Assistance Project is aimed at promoting entrepreneurship and formalizing businesses in rural areas. Thus, it intervenes in the following two of the four components of the National Program:

The development of agro-pastoral enterprises;

Access to financial services, improvement of the entrepreneurial environment along with  Coordination, Management, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Knowledge Management.

lLO brings expertise when it comes to improving the business environment in the agro-pastoral sector. ILO further strengthens the skills of the PEA implementing partners and provides them with the tools they need to develop their entrepreneurial skills. These implementing partners are local associations that mobilize young people and help them generate innovative business ideas until they are transformed into bankable business plans.

The program has generated innovations by adapting the GERME tools as well as the generic Enabling Environment for Sustainable Enterprises (EESE) methodology to the agro-pastoral sector. The assessment of the business environment in the agro-pastoral industry is underway and will lead to a much-awaited reform plan by the government.

The sustainability of the technical assistance is ensured by the transfer of knowledge and the development of tools, rather than the establishment of a national network of young agro-pastoral entrepreneurs and the participation of the network in the national dialogue for the defence of their interests.