Y2y mru publication

The Youth to Youth Fund
in West Africa
A Joint Program of YEN and UNIDO

Acknowledgements
• Financial support: The authors of this report thank UNIDO for their support in printing this publication.
• Editing: We would like to thank Doris Hribernigg, Julia Rohe, Matteo Landi and Maria Anna Kloss at UNIDO as well as Susana Puerto Gonzalez at
YEN for their assistance with the editing of this publication.
• Field support: We would not have been able to write this report without the help of our project staff and partners in the four Mano River
Union countries. A special thanks to Zuo Taylor and James Sumo in Liberia, Kabba Sesay and Juliana Fornah in Sierra Leone, Patrice Bogna and
Marie Laure Assirifix Dedoh in Côte D’Ivoire and Sitan Keita in Guinea.
• Authors: Tendai Pasipanodya, Sharon Kennedy, Manuel Mattiat, Boubacar Diallo
The reproduction of the whole or any part of this document is permitted with the citation of the author.
For further information:
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization
Vienna International Centre
Wagramerstr. 5, P.O. Box 300
A-1400 Vienna, Austria
Tel: +43 (1) 26026-0
Email: unido@unido.org
Or visit our site:www.unido.org
Youth Employment Network Office for West Africa
ILO Office in Dakar
Immeuble EPI, Boulevard du Sud x Rue des Ecrivains
Point E, B.P. 414, Dakar, Senegal
Tel: (221) 33 825 9336
Email: yen-wa@ilo.org
Or visit our site: www.ilo.org/yen
This report is a joint publication of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the Youth Employment Network.
August 2011

Table of Contents
Foreword ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 4
What is the Youth to Youth Fund ................................................................................................................................................................................. 5
Why Do We Do This? ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7
The Challenge in West Africa................................................................................................................................................................................... 7
The Problem With Some Solutions............................................................................................................................................................................ 7
Why Our Approach is Different.....................:.......................................................................................................................................................... 8
Results from the MRU Pilot Round .............................................................................................................................................................................. 9
Outlook ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 12
Country Profiles
Guinea .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 14
Liberia .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 20
Côte d’Ivoire .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 28
Sierra Leone .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 34
1

Foreword
In 2004, Kofi Annan stated that “tens of millions of youth across [Africa] lack
prospects of decent work. This is not only a tragic waste of a precious human
resources; it can also have security implications for almost every country in Afri-ca.”
Seven years on, the problem persists - substantial improvements regarding
the pressing challenge of youth employment are still lacking and young people
are dissatisfied with the half-hearted efforts in addressing the youth employ-ment
challenge. Simply put, they want to see more tangible results.
Young people are demanding decent jobs. This is no small request in a region
such as the Mano River Union. Here, ongoing political instability has created no-job
economies where youth have often fallen prey to warlords, criminal gangs
or illegal migration syndicates in efforts to survive. Yet somehow, we must find
a way to operate in these difficult circumstances and create sustainable and de-cent
jobs. That is why YEN teamed up with UNIDO to pilot an innovative way to
create employment in the four post conflict countries of the Mano River Union.
We shared a common belief that youth had to play a more active role in tackling
the youth employment challenge and that business as usual would not provide
us with real impact - the sustainable decent jobs youth were demanding.
It is crucial to note that the Youth to Youth Fund is creating long-term jobs that
have continued to exist till today, over a year after the end of the pilot. Young
people made it clear that they were tired of training after training that did not
lead them to employment. So we threw the question back at them. How could
they create employment for young people in such an environment? I am sure
you will find their responses, summarized in this report, relevant and very inter-esting.
Susana Puerto
Acting Manager
The Youth Employment Network
Over the past decade and a half, the Mano River Union countries have been
exposed to multifaceted challenges, including civil war and unrest, which have
produced widespread economic and social disarray and insecurity. As long as
sustainable solutions for these challenges are not found, peace and security
remain fragile, as the latest events in Côte d’Ivoire have shown. The sub-region
has one of the world’s youngest populations: Nearly three out of four people
are under the age of 30 and youth unemployment remains one of the most
pressing issues.
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has devel-oped
a comprehensive strategy for the establishment of tailor-made funding
mechanisms for marginalized youth and young entrepreneurs. Youth-led busi-ness
start-ups, when provided with various forms of financial and non-financial
assistance, can effectively lead to the creation of successful businesses, gener-ating
profit and income. These, in turn, increase consumption and tax revenues,
stimulate overall economic growth and thereby bring benefits to all sectors of
the economy.
The Youth to Youth Fund, a joint initiative of the Youth Employment Network
(YEN) and UNIDO, follows this strategy and has yielded highly positive results.
Youth-led organizations have increased their capacities, beneficiaries are better
off than before, and youth entrepreneurship has established itself as a bright
reality.
Youth are the most precious resource for the future. Providing for youth is not
only our moral duty but also an economic necessity. The creation of productive
work for youth can help prevent present and future economic, social and hu-manitarian
disasters and lead to healthy and competitive economies.
Kandeh K. Yumkella
Director-General
United Nations Industrial Development Organization
3

Introduction
The Youth to Youth Fund in West Africa is a joint programme of the Youth Employment Network (YEN) and United Nations Industrial Development
Organization (UNIDO) that is aimed at enabling youth-led organizations to actively participate in employment generating projects for young people.
The pilot round of the fund was launched in December 2008, in the four countries of the Mano River Union (MRU), namely Côte
d’Ivoire, Guinea, Libe-ria,
and Sierra Leone. It was funded by the Government of Japan, the World Bank and Swedish SIDA as part of the “Multi-stakeholder Programme on
Productive and Decent Work for Youth”. The success of the pilot round of the Fund led to subsequent rounds of the programme in Guinea, through
the support of the United Nations Peace Building Fund (PBF), the International Olympic Committee and the World Bank and in Sierra Leone, through
the support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Austrian government. YEN has also expanded
the programme to East Africa, in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda through the support of the Danish-led Africa Commission.
This report focuses on the results of the pilot round in the MRU. It begins with a general overview of the approach of the Youth to Youth Fund in
West Africa. It explains the programme cycle of the Fund, the key results and the lessons learned from the pilot round and offers an outlook of the
programme’s future application. Finally, the report also provides profiles of all the projects supported by the pilot round.
4
About UNIDO
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is a
specialized agency of the United Nations mandated to promote and ac-celerate
sustainable industrial development in developing countries and
economies in transition. The organization cooperates, in particular, with
low income countries to support poverty reduction through the promo-tion
of productive activities. To this end, it provides both policy advisory
and technical cooperation services. UNIDO enhances Women and Youth
Entrepreneurship Development and ensures the mainstreaming of Pro-ductive
Work for Youth & Gender Equality in its activities.
About YEN
The Youth Employment Network (YEN) is a partnership of the United
Nations, International Labour Organization, and the World Bank set up
after the Millennium Summit in 2001 to find new and durable solutions
to the youth employment challenge. YEN aims to promote innovation
and youth participation through youth challenge funds and by broker-ing
partnerships through an online space for the global youth employ-ment
community. YEN also promotes a culture of results measurement
for youth employment policies and programmes trying to broaden the
evidence on what works and fostering informed policymaking. YEN is
managed by a permanent secretariat hosted by the ILO in Geneva with
field offices in Dakar, Senegal, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The Youth to Youth Fund is a grant scheme for youth-led development
with three principal objectives:
1. To build the capacity of youth-led organizations and enable youth to
move from being passive recipients to become active participants in
the promotion and creation of youth employment.
2. To facilitate the testing of new innovative ideas and approaches that
enable young people to gain experience and decent employment as
start-up entrepreneurs.
3. To learn from lessons and significantly expand on approaches and in-novative
business ideas that work.
The Fund is a real laboratory of ideas that come from youth – from be-ginning
to end – and promote local economic development. At its core,
the Fund is about meaningful youth participation. By seriously engaging
youth in finding solutions, significant value can be added to the youth em-ployment
challenge. The Fund enables youth-led organizations to come
up with innovative youth employment projects that target young people
aged 15 - 35 years.
As shown in figure 1, the Fund offers grants and capacity-building support
to youth-led organizations that have an innovative youth employment
proposal. The youth-led organizations are selected through a grant com-petition
that is open to all registered non-profit and youth-led1 organiza-tions.
The selected grantees receive funding as well as capacity-building
support and training on project design and implementation. In addition,
there is a network of project assistants in each region that support and
monitor the organizations as they implement their projects.
1 By “youth-led” organization, we mean an organization in which young people
aged between 15 and 35 represent the majority of the management and/or decision-making
body (i.e. trustees’ board, board of directors, management team, etc.) as well
as the majority of members or employees.
The grantees will typically provide their final beneficiries with a compre-hensive
training programme that includes soft skills, technical skills and
entrepreneurship. They help the projects start up the micro-enterprises
by endowing them with the tools and materials to begin their business.
What is the Youth to Youth Fund?
5

The Challenge in West Africa
The youth employment challenge in this sub-region, where over 62% of the pop-ulation
is aged under 25, is significant2. While the youth unemployment rate is
fairly high, around 13% on average, it masks the gravity of the problem, as it does
not take into account underemployed workers, discouraged workers, or those
who lack decent employment. Furthermore, young people in Sub-Saharan Africa
are about twice as likely to be unemployed as adults3.
Of those youth who are employed the majority can be considered as “work-ing
poor”. According to the World Bank, on average 72% of youth in Sub Saha-ran
Africa live on less than 2 USD a day. Furthermore, between 65% and 90% of
youth in West Africa earn under the minimum wage. These bleak statistics often
translate into feelings of frustration and anger amongst youth in the sub-region,
which leads to high levels of migration and increased political instability. The is-sue
of political instability is particularly important in the four Mano River Union
(MRU) countries, where youth in the past have been easily manipulated for
political gain, further exacerbating tensions and insecurity.
A major difficulty in West Africa and in the MRU is that most countries are “no
job economies”. That is, they are countries where the number of jobs available
is far below the number of people seeking jobs. In such economies, people are
pushed into self-employment, petty trade, and micro entrepreneurship in the
informal sector. In this case, many entrepreneurs are necessity entrepreneurs
rather than opportunity entrepreneurs. Necessity entrepreneurs cannot find
other forms of employment, they remain small-scale, informal and have a low
contribution to employment creation. Opportunity entrepreneurs, on the other
hand, are better educated; they seize opportunities, manage growth-oriented
enterprises, and have a high contribution to employment creation.
2 World Bank, 2008/09, “Africa Development Indicators 2008/09, Youth and
Employment in Africa – The Potential, the Problem, the Promise”.
3 ILO, 2010, “Global Employment Trends for Youth 2009.”
The Problem With Some Solutions
The Youth Employment Inventory (YEI) is an initiative of the World Bank,
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and YEN which
tracks youth employment projects around the world. According to this invento-ry,
about 40% of youth employment projects failed to yield positive impacts. This
figure rises to between 56% - 67% when cost effectiveness is taken into account.
This observation is all the more worrying in the context of West Africa and post-conflict
countries where youth are already frustrated and marginalised. Many
young people are going through youth employment programmes but subse-quently
fail to find employment. Anecdotal evidence supports this and often,
youth complain that they go through a training programme and fail to find sus-tainable
employment with their newly acquired skills. The YEI showed that if
training is not comprehensive, for example if it does not include complementary
soft skills, on the job training and mentoring as well as job matching or access to
start up resources, it is more likely to have no impact.
According to a survey by YEN of over 300 youth employment programmes in
West Africa, one of the most popular interventions implemented by organiza-tions
tackling youth employment is training. In West Africa, training is often
not comprehensive. Furthermore, training is often based on a standard set of
trades that do not necessarily reflect the market realities or help youth to ven-ture
into new and innovative areas. Finally, the vast majority of programmes do
not meaningfully engage youth in their projects. Consequently youth are pas-sive
recipients who have little say in the design and implementation of projects
that target them.
Why Do We Do This?
7

Why Our Approach is Different
As further detailed in Figure 1 (page 6), the Youth to Youth Fund gives grants and
capacity building support to youth-led organizations so that they implement in-novative
youth-led projects that create employment for young people. The Youth
to Youth Fund tries to learn from the lessons of hundreds of youth employment
programmes consolidated through the YEI and aims at having a greater impact
on the outcomes of young people’s lives. This is done by incorporating the fol-lowing
aspects into the programme design:
• Promoting and testing innovation: During the grant competition, innovative
youth employment project ideas are screened in three rounds of selection
and those which are most likely to lead to a new and viable business idea are
ultimately funded.
• Strong youth participation: We promote youth-led development by only
funding projects that are for young people (aged 15 - 35 years) and created
and implemented by young people.
• Comprehensive training: During the capacity building training seminar for fi-nalists,
we ensure that their project proposals are sufficiently comprehensive
and viable. We select projects that aim for a young person to go into the
project and come out with a decent and long term job rather than just a skill
which may lead to a job.
• Strong support network on the ground: We have a network of project assis-tants
who work to monitor the projects and serve as a first point of contact
for the grantees and as an early warning system in the case of problems with
projects implementation.
• Encourage microenterprises to be cooperatives: Due to the fact that most
of the projects are targeting necessity entrepreneurs rather than opportu-nity
entrepreneurs, we encourage the grantees to help their beneficiaries to
form cooperatives. This way, they can pool their competencies, resources
and risk.
8

In December 2008, the pilot round of the Youth to Youth Fund was
launched in Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. The pilot
round tested our model of giving youth a chance to design and imple-ment
youth employment projects. The pilot was successful and provided
valuable lessons on how to improve subsequent rounds in West Africa.
The pilot round provided over 450,000 USD to youth-led organizations
in the MRU. Figure 2 shows how the funding was distributed between
the four countries. Of the 270 applications that were received, the 14
most innovative projects were funded. The majority of projects that
youth submitted did not just stop at training. They typically were train-ing
programmes which would also equip the trainees and provide them
with practical work experience so that they would be able to run their
own micro-enterprises by the end of the project.
The following provides an overview of the key results of the pilot
round.
Beneficiaries
There are beneficiaries at two levels:
• The intermediary beneficiaries are the 14 youth-led organizations
that received grants. One hundred percent of grantees stated that
the Fund had significantly increased their organization’s capacity.
They found the range of tools provided during the programme, such
as the financial monitoring sheet and the monitoring and evaluation
templates, to be of particular value as well as the seminar on proj-ect
design and management. Many of the grantees said the grant
increased their credibility and over 50% have already acquired new
funding since their grant from the Youth to Youth Fund.
• The end beneficiaries are the 724 disadvantaged youth aged 15-35
that the grantees selected for their projects. Interviews with the
beneficiaries have shown that their living conditions improved sig-nificantly
since they began participating in the Youth to Youth Fund.
They have seen an increase in their income and employability due
to the newly-acquired business knowledge, soft skills and work ex-perience.
They repeatedly stated that they were proud to own their
micro-enterprises and that their standing in their community and
self-esteem had significantly increased.
Results from the MRU Pilot Round
9
Figure 2: Grants by Country

Young women
In the pilot round approximately 60% of beneficiaries were young
women and nine of the fourteen organizations specifically target-ed
young women. While this is a good start it is important to en-sure
that in subsequent rounds more young women participate as
project coordinators. Further steps are being taken to ensure that
young women participate fully in a project.
Microenterprises and Jobs
The project helped the beneficiaries create 61 youth-led microen-terprises.
The microenterprises cover a vast range of sectors from
agro-processing to arts as shown in figure 3. The Country Profile
section further elaborates on the details of the various microenter-prises
that were created. The majority of these are cooperatives.
The average profit per month of each enterprise is estimated at 530
USD.
To date, 75% of beneficiaries continue to have a job they obtained
through the projects. This figure is impressive especially consider-ing
the high level of social, economic and political instability in the
Mano River Union over the last two years. The beneficiaries report-ed
earning between 40 USD and 130 USD per month or 43 USD on
average. The recent crisis in Côte d’Ivoire significantly impacted on
the projects. Several sites were pillaged and destroyed which led to
a significant loss of livelihoods.
Cost Benefit Ratio
The youth-led project offers a favourable ratio as one job created
costs around 500 USD (including all direct costs). Youth-led orga-nizations
were able to deliver jobs for young people at a relatively
low cost. Their role as valuable intermediaries is underscored by the
fact that not only are they well placed to design successful and innovative
youth employment programmes; with the right support they can also do this
at a low cost.
Urban vs. Rural
There was a slight bias towards urban projects in the pilot round. Of the 14
projects seven have at least one project site in a rural area, and 10 have a proj-ect
site in at least one urban area. Three grantees indicated that they have a
site in both urban and rural areas. Subsequent rounds of the Fund have seen
an increase in the participation of rural youth projects. This is in part because
of the increase in project staff based outside the capital cities, which have
helped disseminate the call for proposals in rural areas
Figure 3: Sector of Jobs Created
10

Key Accomplishments Lessons Learned
• The Youth to Youth Fund engages youth as partners in development
and employment creation rather than as passive recipients.
• The Youth to Youth Fund is promoting and testing innovative solu-tions
to the youth employment challenge; furthermore those that
prove to be successful can be easily replicated.
• 85% of all beneficiaries had a job by the end of the project. Despite
the significant instability in the sub-region, 75% still had a job one
year after the end of the project.
• The majority of the micro-enterprises are sustainable and continue
after the first year of funding from YEN.
• The Youth to Youth Fund has created social capital by facilitating a
web of interactions between over 70 different actors, including cen-tral
and local governments as well as private and non-profit actors.
• The projects are in line with local and national government priorities.
All projects have been endorsed by local government, with over 20
local authorities supporting the grantees.
• The selection process was open, transparent and widely accepted.
• There is strong demand for the activities of the Youth to Youth Fund.
In subsequent rounds, YEN/UNIDO opted for a three-step selection
process inviting applicants to hand in short concept notes and then
asking short-listed candidates to present fully fledged proposals and
undergo an interview.
• The projects would not have taken off without the seed money
provided because the target group of underprivileged youth is not
reached by other commercial or non-commercial support services.
• YEN and UNIDO staff have provided close support and guidance at
every stage of the grantees project implementation; from project de-sign,
to implementation to monitoring. This has been crucial to the
success of projects and should be continued and further strength-ened
in future rounds.
• Grantees have found the various project management tools that
were provided to them helpful. In subsequent rounds, a training
course on these and other projects management tools was provided
before grantees began project implementation.
• Having the support of local governments has proved to be key in en-suring
that the projects can be easily implemented. When notified in
advance local governments tended to be very supportive. In some
cases, they have helped secure key resources such as land.
11

Outlook
Entrepreneurship and self-sustainable businesses can generate employment for youth while stimulating economic growth in both
the formal and informal sector. With access to funding and the necessary technical support, the possibilities and success opportu-nities
of this younger generation are truly unbounded, as the present report clearly demonstrates. Based on these positive expe-riences,
mechanisms must be developed to replicate the success stories on a larger scale and result in even greater impact.
Youth employment is an important tool for conflict
prevention as it contributes to socio-economic de-velopment
and political stability. Particularly in post
conflict crisis situations, the Youth to Youth Fund can
be a viable solution to reintegrate ex-combatants,
involve youth in development processes and en-gage
them by securing decent income and employ-ment
for their future. The Youth to Youth Fund is a
tool that effectively captures this quick impact and
strengthens social cohesion by working with youth-led
organizations.
Much has been achieved with the 450,000 USD ini-tially
provided to youth-led organizations in the
Mano River Union by the Youth to Youth Fund in
2008; 565 decent jobs have been created and 61 vi-able
enterprises have been set up. In light of the
excellent results that were achieved through this
pilot round, the programme has been replicated in
Guinea, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.
The lessons drawn from this round helped to im-prove
the project structure and implementation and
are the basis for even more solid results in the ongo-ing
projects. In Guinea, 16 projects were selected in
December 2010 and are expected to create 468 jobs
with a funding of 260,000 USD. In Sierra Leone, sev-en
projects were selected in 2011 and an investment
of 115,000 USD is expected to lead to the creation of
205 jobs. In East Africa YEN has received 1,5 million
USD for grants over a five year period.
To date, five Youth to Youth Fund competitions have
been held in 12 countries. Consequently, a growing
pool of innovative business ideas are being identified
and tested. At the same time, a network of youth-led
organizations are gaining significant project manage-ment
experiences. This testing and capacity building
process is the first phase of the Youth to Youth Fund.
The second phase will build on the most successful
project ideas in the following ways;
• Expanding the project: the same youth-led organi-zation
will implement the same project for a new
set of beneficiaries. This is starting to happen as
the grantees receive funding from other donors
to further expand their successful projects.
• Replicating the project: a new organization can
reproduce the same project, either in a new re-gion
or a different country at a similar scale. The
Youth to Youth Fund grantee can serve as a mas-ter
trainer and also earn a fee from the new orga-nization
for site visits and various project tools.
This also allows for further testing and identifying
ways of adapting the business idea to different lo-cal
contexts.
• Scaling-up the project idea: a large organization
such as a national training centre or UN organiza-tion
could take one idea and replicate it at a large
scale. The grantee again could work closely with
the organization to ensure the successful replica-tion
and improvement of the projects.
Consequently, while Phase One is about creating
hundreds of jobs through the identification and test-ing
of innovation, Phase Two is about creating thou-sands
of jobs through the expansion, replication and
scaling up of the best ideas. Over the course of the
coming year, UNIDO and YEN will undertake the next
steps:
• Continue finding new ideas through subsequent
rounds of Youth to Youth Fund (Phase 1);
• Start replicating the most promising ideas
through a second window in subsequent rounds
of the Funds (Phase 2);
• Identify partners to cooperate with in order to
pave the way for significant replication and ex-pansion
(Phase 2).
The results of the first phase have been encouraging
and proved that youth can play an active role in tack-ling
the youth employment challenge. The ideas they
have come up with are innovative and have managed
to create sustainable jobs despite the challenges
these post conflict countries have faced. Future ac-tivities
of the Fund will build upon the central con-clusion
of this report: Youth-led organizations can ef-fectively
support youth to start-up their businesses,
generating profit and income for the most vulnerable
and marginalized groups in society.
12

13
Youth to Youth Fund Grantees
Mano River Union 2008
On the following pages are selected profiles of
the fourteen Youth to Youth Fund projects from
the pilot round. For each organization, the key
objectives from their project plan are given and
the current situation of the project is described.
The beneficiary spotlights emphasise the per-sonal
impact of each project on a young person
either as a beneficiary or a project coordinator.

Guinea
G.U.I.D.E.
Project Plan
Name of The Project: Commercial Exploitation of the Moringa Tree
Grant Size: 30,305 USD
Type of Organization: Cooperative
Partnership: Association for Family Welfare (AGBEF /
Labe)
Project Idea: The Moringa tree is famed for being a
nutritional dynamo. GUIDE wants to grow
the plant in Pita and Labé, Guinea. They
planned to make a health supplement with
the plants’ leaves that they would sell both
at markets and through a network of 100
health centers in the 2 regions.
Expected Results: 90,000 Moringa trees planted
20 beneficiaries trained
22,500 sachets of Moringa powder produced
per harvest, of which at least 19,500 sold.
Current Situation
Project Manager: Cherifou Diallo, 27 years old
Beneficiaries: 20
Jobs Created: 20
Monthly Salaries: Approximately 60 USD
Description of Jobs:
All the cooperative members work together to grow and harvest the
plant, process it into powder, and market and sell it.
Number of Cooperatives: 1
Monthly profit: Approximately 1150 USD
Description of Cooperatives:
The cooperative had its first harvest in February 2011 and has now
completed a third harvest. From the raw plant, they produce Moringa
powder, a nutritional supplement. They sell to wholesalers and directly
to their clients in Conakry, Labé, and the environs of Labé. They have
been able to sell all they produce and hope to expand their production
into Moringa oil.
Impact on Organizational Capacity:
The organization found the management training and practical experi-ence
very useful and they are curretly negotiating further internships
with NEPAD and the German Embassy.
w
Implementation
Challenges:
Animals partially destroyed part of the crop, so they are working to
repair the fields.
Successes:
GUIDE successfully helped young women to produce and sell three har-vests
of Moringa and expect to reach 4 or 5 harvests in the next year.
“When you are involved in agriculture it’s like you plant a seed
and then there is the satisfaction of the harvest, it’s like a baby,
we are very proud, the fact that we are able to see the job cre-ation,
in this environment, it is truly rewarding, and has given us
credibility. It is a powerful thing to these jobs in a rural area.”
- Cherifou Diallo, Project Manager (translated from French)
14

Spotlight on:
Mariama Diallo
Mariama has been involved since the beginning of the project. Along with the other
19 beneficiaires, they formed the Moringa Cooperative Nafa Noussy. Nafa means
satisfaction with oneself in Peuhl the main local language in Labé.
Mariama works along side her fellow co-workers with all the activites related to
commercialising the Moringa leaves from planting and harvesting to drying and
processing the powder. The women of the cooperative did not know each other be-fore
but they have become very tightly knit and can rely on each other.
Now that she has started earning regular payments with each harvest, Mariama
believes that she will continue to earn money through the cooperative. Because the
plant does not need to be replanted with each harvest, she can continue with other
activities on the side such as market gardening. She is able to cover health costs,
she can buy more food and she feels a sense of solidarity with the other women in
the cooperative.
Beneficiaries:
• 20 beneficiaries in total
• 18 women and 2 men
• The oldest is 28 and the youngest is 18
Location:
Noussy prefecture is 20km from Labé. There
is a dirt road that leads to Noussy that is in a
poor but useable condition. There is one ben-eficiariy
from each small village (sector) of
Noussy. The are some hills and vallies and ag-riculture
is the primary activity. The principal
crop grown is fonio, a grain used as a staple
food. In addition, there is some vegetable
farming as well as goat, sheep, and chicken
rearing. Commercial activity is limited to small
commercial trade activities.
GUIDE
“The project has helped raise my standing in the commu-nity.
I am independent and people now look up to me.”
15

Guinea
SOS Miskines
Project Plan
Name of The Project: Recycling plastic waste
Type of Organization: Youth led NGO
Partnership: Burgeap International
Project Idea: SOS estimates that Guinea’s capital Conakry
produces over 600 tonnes of plastic waste
a day of which only 40% is collected and
disposed of. SOS planned to organize youth
into 5 trash collection companies and pay
them for the trash they collect. SOS would
process the plastic waste into pellets that
they could then sell to companies that pro-duce
plastic products.
Expected Results: 10 cooperatives and 37 direct jobs created
2000 households served by the project
490 tonnes of plastic granules sold
w
Current Situation
Project Manager: Moussa Kane, 36 years
Beneficiaries: 37
Jobs Created: 15 permanent staff and about 2000 mobile
collectors
Monthly Salaries: Average: 52 USD
The central recycling center hires permanent staff to operate the ma-chines
to convert plastic waste into plastic pellets. The cooperatives
employ youth to collect the plastic waste and transport it to the recy-cling
centre.
Monthly profit: Approximately 1,500 USD
The seven cooperatives were trained and equipped to collect plastic
waste. They also pay households and independent collectors for their
plastic waste. These cooperatives then bring this waste to the recycling
centre and receive a portion of the profits from the sale of recycled
plastic.
SOS Miskines is currently negotiating a partnership with the Ministry of
the Environment. They hope to increase their capacity by acquiring a
truck to transport plastic, a spin dry machine for the washed plastic, and
an electrical transformer to reduce their consumption of carburant.
Implementation
Challenges:
The organization is still looking for funding to purchase additional ma-chinery
to increase their production. Another challenge is the high cost
of transporting waste to the processing site.
Successes:
Over 2000 independent garbage collectors receive an income from sell-ing
their plastic waste to the organization.
“Our work contributes to the development of a largely untapped
field in Guinea, but nonetheless a source of growth. This type of
centre should be replicated elsewhere within the country. Also, we
would like to participate in meetings to exchange experiences and
training in the treatment and recovery of waste.”
- Moussa Kane, Project Manager (translated from French)
16

Spotlight on:
Macky Conté
Macky is 23 years old and started working for SOS Miskines in August 2010.
When he joined the organization, he was trained on the collection and treatment of
waste. At the end of the training, he was given the necessary tools and protective
clothing such as boots, gloves, and a face mask. Macky started collecting plastic
waste and soon became the supervisor of the group of youth collectors in his
neighbourhood.
Before he started working with SOS Miskines, Macky was unemployed. Now he
consistently makes 312,000 Guinean Francs (47 USD) per month. “As long as there
is garbage, our work will continue,” he said. With this salary, he is able to help sup-port
his small family.
Macky thinks the project can be improved by reinforcing the operational capacity of
the recycling factory. Stable affordable electricity and a reliable means of transpor-tation
are the two factors that could increase the revenues of the organization.
Beneficiaries:
• Youngest beneficiary is 17 years old and
the oldest is 36 (the coordinator)
Location:
SOS Miskines operates in Matoto, a sub-pre-fecture
of the Guinean capital, Conakry. The
population of Conakry is just over 2 million
people and growing. There is very little for-mal
employment, and the few jobs that exist
are mostly in the public or mining sectors.
Meanwhile, although almost all of the coun-try’s
small manufacturing occurs in or near
the capital, growth in this sector is severely
strained by water and electricity shortages.
SOS Miskines
“Before, no-one wanted to do this work. Today, everyone
envies us because of the income we’re making.”
17

Guinea
Association Des Volontaires Pour La Gestion Des Ressources Naturelles (AVGRN)
Project Plan
Name of The Project: Reforestation Project
Partnership: Association Guinéenne pour le Développe-ment
Intégré et Durable (AGUIDID)
Project Idea: AVGRN’s project aimed to train rural youth
in basic business management and forestry.
The training programme would be led by
young forestry graduates. Following the
training the youth would set up 5 enterprises
to maintain the trees and sell the fruit trees
within the areas of Koubia and Labé.
Expected Results: 70 youth trained in agro-forestry (fruit and
forest trees)
5 cooperatives formed
15,000 forest trees planted and 15,000 fruit
tree seedlings grown and sold
Current Situation
Project Manager: Mamadou Coumbassa, 55 years
Beneficiaries: 76
Jobs Created: 60
Monthly Salaries: Highest: 62.5 USD (urban)
Lowest: 43 USD (rural)
10 urban youth were employed directly by the organization for the dura-tion
of one year to assist in establishing the cooperatives. The 60 rural
youth plant and maintain nurseries of seedlings and sell them in their
communities.
Monthly profit: Approximately 300 USD per cooperative
The five cooperatives operate in two different regions, raising and sell-ing
seedlings. They offer seedlings for forest and fruit trees.
This was AVGRN’s first time managing such a large project, so they
benefitted from the management tools they gained and used through
this grant. They are trying to improve their financial management and
continue to apply for new funding.
w
Implementation
Challenges:
While the installation of the nursery went well, the organization had
trouble selling all the seedlings so they replanted more lucrative crops.
Successes:
AVGRN considers their biggest success to be the reinforcement of their
organizational capacity, as well as bringing employment to many youth
in only one year. They are keeping these youth from unemployment and
stemming the rural exodus.
“The grant scheme gave us confidence
in our capacity for innovation and for
large scale project management.”
18 - Mamadou Counbassa, Project Manager

Spotlight on:
Amadou Sidi
Gadigo
Amadou is 32 years old, married, and started working under this project in 2009.
He previously obtained a diploma in forestry in Faranah and has been without em-ployment.
The main activities now include planting trees (reforestation) and com-mercializing
fruits which were harvested from the fruit tree plantation. The project
first of all allowed him to acquire skills in installation of tree nurseries, logistics,
business and management techniques.
Amadou has also gained financial independence due to this self-employment: he
got married and bought himself a car which he uses as a taxi. He believes that his
job is sustainable and together with the taxi revenues will secure him sufficient
income for the future.
Beneficiaries:
• 10 beneficiaries were hired on a tempo-rary
basis in Conakry, and 60 permanent
rural jobs were created by the project’s
enterprises
• 22 of the beneficiaries are women and 48
are men
• Their ages range from 18 to 35 years
Location:
The project is located in Labé which is in one
of the seven regions of Guinea and mainly
consists of rural areas. The earth is particular-ly
fertile here, hence an ideal location for tree
planting and fruit production. The problem is
that water sources are providing less and less
water and that the current fruit production
cannot cater for the demand in the region.
Projects which protect the environment and
increase fruit supply are thus crucial.
AVGRN
19

Liberia
Better Future Foundation (BFF)
Project Plan
Name of The Project: Bricks for Life Project (BLP)
Type of Organization: Youth development NGO
Partnership: Guidance from the National Ministry of Youth and
Sports
Project Idea: BFF proposed to train youth in the production of
red clay bricks. The bricks have been tested by BFF
and are a good substitute to the standard bricks
most commonly used in Liberia. The beneficiaries
would receive on the job training in making these
red clay bricks and then be employed by the project.
Expected Results: 21 youth have brick making work experience
250,000 bricks produced
250,000 bricks sold
Current Situation
Project Manager: Joseph Kenneh, 31 years
Beneficiaries: 22
Jobs Created: 22
The youth manufacture the bricks and sell them.
Monthly profit: Varies according to site
Each coop was provided with one bricklaying machine, one wheelbarrow,
two shovels, and 125 USD in cash. They manufacture high quality bricks and
sell them in three different communities around Monrovia.
BFF has since received funding from the EU and ECOWAS for a project on
regional trade integration, as well as from GEF and UNDP for a biodiversity
Implementation conservation project.
Challenges:
The main challenge was selling the bricks. Since the bricks were higher qual-ity
than the mud bricks (they had cement mixed in), the higher price made
the sales slower than expected. Another area for improvement is ensuring
adequate storage for the bricks during the rainy season.
Successes:
The most valuable part of the training for the beneficiaries was the technical
training and management of personal finances.
“[Our most significant accomplishment is]
instilling in the youth the culture of work, dis-cipline
to save money, and training in bricks
production.”
- Belvis O’Diaji, Programme Mentor
20

Spotlight on:
Jamel Washington
Jamel is 23 years old. He started working with the Bricks for Life project in Janu-ary
2009. When he first joined the project he had just finished high school and was
waiting to go to university.
Through the Bricks for Life project, he received training on how to mold the bricks
and promote them. At the end of the training, he became self-employed on a con-tract
basis using the organization’s brick-making machine.
This was his first job out of high school, and he was able to make around 5,000 Libe-rian
dollars (69 USD) per month. He has been saving his earnings for university, and
he will be starting his studies in Biology in Fall 2011. Without this income, he doesn’t
think he would be able to attend university.
Beneficiaries:
are men
• The youngest beneficiary is 16 years old
and the oldest is 33 years old
Location:
The Bricks for Life project is located in com-munities
around Monrovia. The project train-ing
location was in Peace Island, a region just
outside of Monrovia, which has experienced
rapid growth in the past decade. The coop-eratives
are located in other areas around
Monrovia where a lot of reconstruction is
taking place.
BFF
“When I came out of high school I had nothing to do… I
just want to thank you, YEN and the UN, for helping us to
improve our lives a bit.”
21

Liberia
Youth Action International (YAI)
Project Plan
Name of The Project: Centre for Women’s Empowerment
Partnership: Humanity Unites Brilliance (HUB)
Project Idea: YAI has developed a Women’s Empowerment cur-riculum
in consultation with a group of top universi-ties
including Harvard University. The multi-disciplin-ary
programme combines counseling, life skills and
vocational training. YAI’s training planned to teach
young women skills in one of four areas: jewelry
manufacture, shoe production, synthetic hair manu-facturing
and tie dying.
Expected Results: 300 women trained in vocational skills and business
management.
300 women trained in basic literacy skills
50 new enterprises assisted through micro-loans
Current Situation
Project Manager: Kimmie Weeks, 29 years
Beneficiaries: 176
Jobs Created: 176 - either directly employed or received micro-credit
loans
Monthly Salaries: Varies according to business
The women were trained to work in various professions, such as tailoring,
cosmetology, jewelry making, interior decorating, and baking/pastry mak-ing.
Monthly profit: Varies according to site
Each of the cooperatives consists of 10 women who were trained in the
same field. In addition to the technical and management training, the coops
receive micro-credit loans to start their businesses.
The grant allowed the Centre to expand their activities and run the pro-grammes
for one year. They have already secured funding from Chevron-
Liberia to continue the programme.
Implementation
Challenges:
The training was conducted in two terms, but with only one recruitment
and selection period. For the second term, many of the women who had
been selected were no longer available or interested.
Successes:
YAI will continue to run the training following a model of smaller, commu-nity
based centres.
“The before and after stories we have heard from
the women are our greatest accomplishments.
Almost all of the women tell moving stories about
how they had no skill and no opportunities before
entering the centre, but are now able to get a job
and apply the skills”
22 - Kimmie Weeks, Programme Manager

Spotlight on:
Decontee Walker
Decontee Walker, enrolled at YAI’s Centre for Women in the first semester. She en-tered
as a 25 year old single mother. Although she had graduated from high school
a few years earlier, Decontee had little opportunities to continue her education and
very few options for being able to feed her child. When she first heard about the
centre, she immediately applied and was accepted.
During her time at the centre, Decontee enrolled in the cosmetology class. She par-ticipated
heavily in extracurricular activities and was a star in the drama club, and
volunteered for community engagements. While at the centre, she quickly excelled
to the top of her class and became one of the school’s best hair stylists. Long
before she had graduated, she was already taking on small contracts to do hair and
makeup for young women in her community.
Immediately after she graduated, Decontee went to work for the Patlyn Beauty
Home where she earns LD$7,500 (103 USD). Because of high demand for her service
as a hair stylist, she is frequently contracted to do engagements, weddings and
other special events. As a result, her tips very often triple her base salary.
The centre is proud of Decontee Walker, who continues to return to campus to
work with new students.
Beneficiaries:
• Of the 300 beneficiaries who were recruit-ed
for the programme, 176 completed the
training
• All of the beneficiaries were women
• YAI’s core staff ranges from 21 to 31 years
old, and trainers range from 21 to 56
Location:
Youth Action International’s Centre for Wom-en
was run in a centralised location in Mon-rovia
for the duration of the Youth to Youth
Fund grant. However the Centre has received
additional funding from Chevron to continue
their training activities in a number of smaller,
community based centres.
YAI
23

Liberia
iEARN
Project Plan
Name of The Project: Creative Arts For Sustainable Empowerment (CASE)
Partnership: Trokon’s Production
Project Idea: CASE proposed to train youth from a slum in
Monrovia to acquire the creative skills to produce
portraits, murals and graphic signs for commercial
sale. Their training would also include a six month
internship and upon graduation the participants
would receive an art and design tool kit.
Expected Results: 20 marginalized youth trained in sign-making,
graphic design, t-shirt printing, and ICT.
A technical working environment and tools to
enhance the outcome of Graphic and Fine Arts Skills
Training.
Current Situation
Project Manager: Leroy M. Beldeh, 31 years
Beneficiaries: 15
Jobs Created: 5 directly employed and 10 self-employed
Monthly Salaries: Minimum 40 USD
After the training, five of the beneficiaries were selected to work at the
newly formed cooperative (The Art Shop). Their activities include t-shirt
making, logo design, sign writing, and graphic design. The other ten benefi-ciaries
work on independent contracts or on other personal activities.
Monthly profit: 285 USD
The Art Shop solicits contracts from companies and organizations to design
and print materials. If the contracts are too much work for the five perma-nent
employees, they may sub-contract the work to the other beneficia-ries
who completed the training. The cooperative has printed at least 100
t-shirts and 10 billboards or banners per month.
iEARN has also received funding from the US Department of State to con-duct
a student exchange programme. They also offer teacher literacy train-ing
with support from the Ministry of Education. They would like to expand
the Art Shop and offer ongoing training.
Implementation
Challenges:
Of the 25 original participants, 5 participants, all female, dropped out of the
programme due to domestic problems. Another five did not complete the
apprenticeship.
Successes:
Employees of the Art Shop are considering using their own funds to offer a
second round of training programme for other youth.
“We have also gained a lot from the YEN/
UNIDO grant implementation module monthly
expenditure plan, regular project evaluation
and monitoring which have made us to be re-sponsible
project managers.”
24 - Leroy Beldeh, Project Manager

Spotlight on:
Bill Gibson
Bill is 21 years old and started working with iEARN Liberia and the Art Shop project in
October 2009.
During his training with iEARN, he participated in two training sessions. The first
one was on large sign-making and the second was on computer design programmes
including MS Word, Publisher, Corel Draw, and Adobe Photoshop. He then partici-pated
in a six month long apprenticeship to solidify his skills. He was then hired at
the Art Shop, where he works with the four other selected beneficiaries.
Before getting involved in iEARN, Bill was not formally employed and made about
1000 – 2000 Liberian dollars per month (about 13.80 - 27.60 USD). Now, he makes
3000 – 3500 Liberian dollars per month (41.40 - 48.30 USD) and feels confident that
his salary will increase as the Art Shop gets more contracts and clients. He also feels
that he has grown up a lot – he can feed his family, his status in society has changed,
and people are proud of what he and his colleagues are doing in the Art Shop.
Even though he’s working now, Bill still thinks of himself as a student because there
is a lot he still has to learn. He would like to continue his training in graphic design to
keep up with new trends and new skills to be able to produce more modern designs.
Beneficiaries:
• 5 received long-term employment in the
Art Shop
• Two of them are women and three are
men
• The youngest is 18 and the oldest is 25
years old
Location:
The Art Shop is housed in a cement building
in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, situated
on the Atlantic coast. During the 1990s, many
people fled Monrovia to escape the violence
and pillages of the civil wars. The population
has now been restored to just over one mil-lion
people.
iEARN
25

Liberia
Youth Education Foundation Initiative (YEFI)
Project Plan
Name of The Project: Transition from School to Work (Job-Shop)
Partnership: Agency for Economic Development & Empower-ment
(AEDE)
Project Idea: YEFI planned to create a database of jobs and well
trained candidates. The organization would offer
well qualified graduates complementary training
in life skills, job search skills, computer literacy
and basic management. YEFI would then market
their trainees and provide them with 3 month paid
placements and assist them in securing long term
employment.
Expected Results: The Job Shop registered and started operations as a
recruitment, training and placement agency
30 unemployed youth provided with classroom and
on-the-job training
At least 90% (27) of the participants placed in long-term
jobs.
Implementation
Challenges:
The main obstacles were finding job vacancies, getting a firm commitment
from employers for the three month placement, and getting the funding in
time for payments.
Successes:
The business skills and ICT training were the most valuable to job seekers.
Four beneficiaries were able to obtain jobs even before the end of the train-ing.
Current Situation
Project Manager: J. Guankerwon Gweisah, 29 years
Beneficiaries: 26
Jobs Created: 30
Monthly Salaries: Varies by employer
The Job Shop provided three training programmes: Business skills, Life
Skills, and ICT. Beneficiaries received a monthly stipend of 40 USD during
the training and 100 USD monthly during their first three months of on the
job training. Of the 30 jobs obtained by the beneficiaries, most are office
assistants, a few are field jobs, and four of the participants went into micro-businesses
for themselves.
Number of Cooperatives: None
The organization does not currently have active projects as the Project Man-ager
is attending a training programme in the US.
“Because this was our first time to imple-ment
such an important programme, we had
challenges that YEN/UNIDO actually helped
in correcting them.”
26 - J. Gweisah, Project Manager

Spotlight on:
Weyah Massaley
Weyah is a young woman, 26 years old, who is currently working full time as a
financial assistant. She applied for the YEFI Job Shop when she had just graduated
university and was finding it very difficult to get a job.
She started the training in November 2009 but did not complete the training be-cause
she found a job after only a few months. The training helped make the link
between school and the outside world by upgrading her skills with training in man-agement
and office skills.
Before the training she was unemployed, and in her current job she is earning about
100 USD per month. She thinks the Job Shop project should be continued, since it
helps people straight out of university to access the job market.
Beneficiaries:
• 30 beneficiaries started the programme
and 26 finished
• Of those who started, 12 were women and
18 were men
• The beneficiaries’ ages ranged from 20 to
29 years old
Location:
The YEFI Job Shop takes place in Monrovia.
The participants were recruited from impov-erished
communities such as New Kru Town,
West Point, and Logan town. The training
itself took place in the facilities of each of the
training providers hired by YEFI.
YEFI
“The training helped me to start my life.”
27

Côte d’Ivoire
Fraternité Solidarité Jeunesse (FSJ)
Project Plan
Name of The Project: Raising and processing Giant African snails
Partnership: The Mayor of Agou (provision of land and office
space for training)
ANADER (Agence Nationale d’ Appui au Développe-ment
Rural)
Project Idea: Fraternité Solidarité Jeunesse (FSJ) wanted to train
young women in breeding snails and simplified
accounting. FSJ would construct a shed for snail
breeding and provide the young women with 500
snails to start breeding. Snails are very popular in
the commune of Agou where the project is based
and FSJ believed that with the training and starter
set of snails the young women would be able to
produce 15,000 snails for sale.
Expected Results: 15 young women trained in cultivating achatina
snails
Cooperative formed consisting of 15 young women
15,000 full grown snails ready for sale after 5
months of the project
Current Situation
Project Manager: Mohamed Compaoré
Beneficiaries: 15
Jobs Created: 15
The beneficiaries are all women, and their work is raising giant African
snails, and then selling them on the markets and directly to food services.
Monthly profit: Approximately 2,200 USD
The cooperative is in Agou. At the end of the project, the snail farm was
handed over to the women who continue to operate it independently.
FSJ has received new funding from CEDEAO and Spain for a project on mi-grations
and development.
Implementation
Challenges:
The delay between the announcement of the grant recipients and the first
disbursement was very long.
Successes:
FSJ felt that the project significantly improved their organizational capacity
and they continue to apply for additional funding.
“[This project] gave us the chance to share an
enriching experience with the beneficiaries –
that of working in a rural environment.”
- Mohamed Compaoré, Project Manager (translated from French)
28

Spotlight on:
Mohamed
Compaoré
Mohamed is 33 years old and project coordinator for FSJ. He has a bachelor’s de-gree
and gained an additional two years of higher education in communication and
business. Mohamed was particularly delighted to launch this project as it affects
central Côte d’Ivoire, a region which contains a high concentration of unemployed
rural youth.
The political crisis was thus a grave threat to the continuation of this project and
the coming months all efforts will be made to re-launch it.
Beneficiaries:
• All the beneficiaries are women
• Youngest beneficiary is 18 years old and
the oldest is 37
Location:
The project is located in Agou which is a small
town located near the city of Adzopé. The
mayor of Agou has supervised the promo-tion
of the project in the villages surrounding
Agou, the final selection process and also
provided the land for escargot cultivation.
FSJ
29

Côte d’Ivoire
GNIHONDE
Project Plan
Name of The Project: Construction of 30 ovens for smoked fish
Type of Organization: Youth development NGO
Partnership: Mayor of Grand Bassam (provision of land)
Club Shalom
Project Idea: Gnihonde planned to introduce the Chorkor oven
to thee towns in Côte d’Ivoire. This oven has been
proven to reduce, by over 50%, the amount of wood
fuel required to smoke fish, increase the quality of
the smoked fish, and reduce the negative health
impacts related to smoking fish. Gnihonde’s project
targeted young women who were already work-ing
in this sector. Gnihonde would build 30 ovens
for the beneficiaries and train them on how to use
them. Furthermore, during the construction phase
five young masons would gain on-the-job training
on building the Chorkor ovens thus creating addi-tional
employment opportunities for young people
in the area.
Expected Results: 30 smoking ovens built (10 in Grand Bassam, 10 in
Duekoue, and 10 in Bangolo)
30 marginalized young women employed
5 young masons employed (short-term employ-ment)
2 unemployed university graduates employed as
trainers and mentors (longer-term employment)
Current Situation
Project Manager: Willy Franck Oula, 29 years
Beneficiaries: 60
Jobs Created: 60
Five young men were hired to build the ovens, which was a temporary posi-tion.
Sixty young women were trained in the technical skills for fish smoking
and also basic business skills like simple accounting. Each oven is shared by
two beneficiaries to produce the smoked fish.
Monthly profit: 105 USD
Each of the three cooperatives is in a different location: Grand Bassam,
Bangolo, and Duékoué. The cooperatives buy the raw fish and resell them
locally twice a week after smoking them.
The organization is now working in partnership with another NGO special-izing
in fishing for their supply of fresh fish. They are also working on a
project to acquire freezers.
Implementation
Challenges:
There were some delays in the disbursements of funding, which in turn dis-rupted
the activities of the organization. In addition, two of the sites were
destroyed in the recent crisis so only one cooperative remains functional.
Successes:
Gnihonde was able to double their number of women beneficiaries due to
the high demand, as well as create numerous indirect jobs.
“Our most important achievement is that
through this project we were able to improve the
standard of living and working for these young
women […] and create direct and indirect jobs.”
- Nahi Joëlle, Project Manager (translated from French) 30

Spotlight on:
Koné Jenève
Koné is 28 years old, married and mother of two children. She started working un-der
this project in 2009.
Up to that point the family income had come from her husband’s work as a wood
cutter in the forest and from her fish smoking job. She had used the traditional
method of preservation for smoking fish and the sources of income had been mea-ger.
The new work in a cooperative, using more technically advanced ovens and pres-ervation
methods, allowed her to earn more income. The only hindrance was the
perception of these advanced fish smokers in the community, as the traditional
smokers feared competition. The aim was, however, to integrate more and more
fish smokers as the project expanded.
With the political crisis in the country, the project was interrupted but is hoped to
be resumed once the situation has stabilised again.
Beneficiaries:
• 6 men and 54 women
• Youngest is 18 years and oldest is 35 years
Location:
The three cooperatives are located in three
different areas of Côte d’Ivoire – Bangolo,
Grand Bassam, and Duékoué. Bangolo and
Duékoué are in the interior of the country, in
the west, while Grand-Bassam is on the coast
to the East of Abdijan.
Gnihonde
31

Côte d’Ivoire
Union Des Jeunes d’ILO-Vanou (UJIV)
Project Plan
Name of The Project: Beach cleaning and tourism development
Type of Organization: Youth entrepreneurship
Partnership: Mayor of Port-Bouet (provided land)
Project Idea: Union de Jeunes de l’Ilot Vanou (UJIV) have 3 km
of beach front property that they planned to use to
create new employment opportunities for youth in
the area. UJIV proposed to clean this land and pre-pare
for welcoming tourists. The youth association
would hire youth with experience in the hospitality
industry to work in and manage the beach, restau-rants
and bungalows.
Expected Results: 46 direct-employment opportunities created
3 km of beach cleaned and restored
6 restaurants and 20 bungalows established on the
beach
Current Situation
Project Manager: Jean-Louis Boua, 29 years.
Beneficiaries: 27
Jobs Created: 19
Monthly Salaries: Highest: 110 USD
Lowest: 66 USD
Ten youth are employed in maintaining the cleanliness of the beach. The
other nine jobs are in the one restaurant that was constructed, including
cooks, servers, accountant and manager. The remaining eight beneficiaries
should be employed in a second restaurant, but the construction has been
delayed due to the post-election crisis.
Monthly profit: 1,758 USD
The cooperative operates a restaurant and bungalows on a 3 km stretch
of beach. The youth cleaned the beach and maintain it, and they built and
equipped the restaurant and bungalows. All the youth were trained in basic
business skills and assisted in the construction of the restaurant.
The training that the Fund provided and the management experience of the
project gave the organization the necessary skills to confront the various
challenges of the project.
Implementation
Challenges:
Given the slow implementation of the project, some of the participants lost
their motivation and dropped out. Furthermore, during the post election
crisis the restaurant was pillaged and robbed, so currently all the activities
of UNIJ are on hold.
Successes:
UNIJ was able to overcome various obstacles (such as obtaining the re-quired
permits) to construct and run the restaurant.
“Before the YEN/UNIDO grant, we were just beginners. But now the proj-ects
have enabled us to have more experience, to better understand the
issues related to project implementation and to provide effective solu-tions
to address them.”
- Jean-Louis Boua, Project Manager (translated from French)
32

Blaguet is 33 years old and started working under this project in 2009.
Previously she had been trained in how to operate a cash register in supermarkets
and pharmacies but had been without work since 2000. She was born in rural Côte
d’Ivoire and moved to Port-Bouet in 1999. Her background allowed her to work in
the main restaurant constructed under this project where she can apply business
and accountancy related skills.
Her goal is to save enough money and open up a cosmetic store in the future. Due
to the political crisis, this project has also been on hold and will hopefully be re-launched
after the situation has calmed down.
Spotlight on:
Blaguet
Mireille
Beneficiaries:
are men
• The youngest is 18 and the oldest is 34
years old
Location:
The project is situated on the beachside of
Port-Bouet near Abidjan. The plot of land
given to the project by the mayor of the mu-nicipality
is large with tall palm trees growing
in rows and the water provides for excellent
surfing conditions.
UJIV
33

Sierra Leone
Klin Salone Waste Management Association (KSWMA)
Project Plan
Name of The Project: Employment Promotion and Private Waste Manage-ment
Partnership: German Technical Cooperation (GTZ)
Project Idea: The Klin Salone Youth Umbrella Association helps
youth to organize themselves into functional
groups with the view of engaging them in sustain-able
income generating activities in the private
waste management sector. Klin Salone provides
technical and organizational assistance to the
groups including training in waste management,
organizational development, marketing and book-keeping,
coaching of their marketing activities, and
assistance in obtaining contracts with private and
public clients.
Expected Results: 150 youths in Bo, Makeni and Freetown trained and
employed
3000 households in Bo, Makeni and Freetown sub-scribed
to private waste collection
15 private waste collection initiatives are organised
and follow common professional standards.
Implementation
Challenges:
It is essential to provide more training to beneficiaries and do larger scale
marketing; expansion of activities to operate in Makeni and the acquisition
of a skip truck is a target.
Successes:
A cleaner Sierra Leone and job creation for highly disadvantaged youths; an
awareness has been created to clean up neighbourhoods and increase the
level of youth participation in community projects.
Current Situation
Project Manager: Musa Sesay
Beneficiaries: 100
Jobs Created: 100
80 of the youth work as waste collectors and 20 work as marketers.
Monthly profit: Approx. 120 USD per cooperative
Each cooperative deals with all aspects of waste collection: reaching out to
potential clients, coordinating collectors, conducting collection and delivery
to waste collection sites.
Capacity of member groups was built by providing them with start-up tools,
equipment and technical support. The organization is now better placed to
mobilize additional funding and has already done so.
“Through the grant, employment was created for some of the most marginalized
and impoverished youths in Freetown who are now earning a decent income.”
- Musa Sesay, Project Manager
34

Spotlight on:
Daniel K. Sesay
Daniel is 25 years old and started working as a waste collector under this project
in August 2010. Most of his fellow youths involved in waste collection work in
desolate conditions: their income can hardly sustain their livelihoods , they are not
protected against the dirt and they constantly breathe in the smoke from burning
rubbish on Freetown’s biggest waste disposal site.
Before starting to work, Daniel was provided with new tools and equipment and
other protective gear such as boots, a nose mask, hand gloves and a medical kit. He
also received training in the how to use the equipment and was familiarized with
the business idea: marketing strategies to attract more clients. Daniel’s income be-fore
taking on this job amounted to around 35 USD a month and has now increased
to around 58 USD.
The waste collection services offered by the cooperatives have been widely accept-ed
in the Freetown suburbs and demand is rising. The only problem is the percep-tion
by other youth waste collectors who are employed by the public services and
earning significantly less. Daniel hopes that as the project is expanding and access-ing
new markets, a greater number of youths can be absorbed and also benefit
from this initiative.
Beneficiaries:
• 100 beneficiaries
• 25 are women and 75 are men
• The youngest is 19 and the oldest 35 years
old
Location:
The 80 waste collectors and 20 marketing
agents are distributed over 10 cooperatives
in both Freetown and Bo (5 in each town).
The need for waste collection services is high
in these cities where public services cannot
meet the large demand. The project was also
meant to be launched in Makeni but the city
council has postponed authorization until an-other
skip truck can be purchased. But pros-pects
are good for getting started in Makeni
after the 50th anniversary celebrations.
Klin Salone
35

Sierra Leone
Kafoima Youth Development Organization (KAYDO)
Project Plan
Name of The Project: Mapaki Youth Training And Manufacturing Centre
Partnership: Centre for Development and Peace Education
Project Idea: KaYDO’s project planned to offer a training pro-gramme
in manufacturing. Afterwards, the more
entrepreneurial youth will receive a start-up loan.
Those youth trained in construction would receive
both on-the-job training as they assist in building
KaYDO’s Youth Center and the option to be hired
by one of KaYDO’s partners, a local construction
company. The remaining youth would be employed
by KaYDO’s production and marketing center which
will produce goods for sale through their network
of fair trade distributors in North America.
Expected Results: 100 youth trained in small-scale manufacturing
35 youths contracted by YakoYako, 35 youths in
KYDO cooperative, and 30 youth recieve microloans
Current Situation
Project Manager: Patrick Umar Koroma
Beneficiaries: 90
Jobs Created: 6
Carpentry, tailoring, soap-making, gara-tie dyeing, weaving, blacksmithing
and basic IT work for marketing purposes.
Monthly profit: Approx. 70 USD in total
Each cooperative has an average of 500 USD inflow every month. One deals
with vegetable processing (250 USD inflow) and clothing (20-25 USD), one
with carpentry (25-50 USD), weaving (50 USD) and soap making (100 USD)
and another with blacksmithing (150-200 USD).
The grant was used to increase the capacity of youth beneficiaries, provid-ing
them with livelihood skills, equipment and space to learn and do busi-ness.
The organization’s capacity in project management and implementa-
Implementation tion was significantly increased
Challenges:
Refine budgeting and reporting modalities for each cooperative to strength-en
the internal M&E work; liaise more closely with Ministry of Education and
multilateral organizations to win support (under CSR schemes) and expand
the business.
Successes:
An established and operational centre for vocational skills training; 90 youth
beneficiaries trained; participatory planning and implementation within the
community.
“The grant scheme benefits youth who otherwise would have highly
limited access to funding. Our beneficiaries obtained valuable reporting
and financial management skills and improved their quality of life.”
36 - Patrick Koroma, Project Manager

Spotlight on:
Adama Thullah
Adama is 28 years old and has been working under this project in Bombali District
since August 2009.
He is dealing with multiple tasks concerning the manufacturing of goods: tailoring,
gara-tie dyeing, soap-making and occasionally blacksmithing. Adama is grateful for
receiving technical training and the opportunity to start his own business. He has
become self-reliant because of this project and is able to take care of his family, in
particular allowing his children to attend school.
Before being employed under this project, Adama earned less than 12 USD a month
and is income has now increased to around 46 USD a month. Adama is confident
that the business will expand in the near future with access to funding so that more
equipment can be purchased for the workshops.
Beneficiaries:
• The youngest is 18, the oldest 32 years old
Location:
The project’s cooperatives are located within
Paki-Masabong Chiefdom, Bombali District.
KAYDO
37

Sierra Leone
Kenema District Youth Development Agency (KEYDA)
Project Plan
Name of The Project: Women In Sustainable Bee-Keeping Activities
Partnership: Kenema District Youth Council
Project Idea: KEYDA aimed to train young women in six chief-doms
to become bee keepers. In addition to an in-depth
training programme the young women would
receive the necessary equipment to start collecting
honey and wax.
Expected Results: 60 youths trained in sustainable bee-keeping.
600 catcher boxes installed for bee-keeping activi-ties.
7,200 gallons of honey collected, transported and
sold
18 large containers of wax sold
Current Situation
Project Manager: Mark M. Gbongo
Beneficiaries: 60
Jobs Created: 60
The 60 youth are involved in all stages of beekeeping: each one is in charge
of 10 hives and carries out maintenance, harvesting, honey production and
marketing.
Monthly profit: Approximately 58 USD
Each cooperative has 100 catcher boxes from which they produce honey.
They sell approximately 150 gallons of honey every month, and are hoping
to expand into other areas such as selling the bees’ wax.
It has increased significantly and further funding - 20,000 USD - was secured
Implementation from the Sierra Leone Business Bomba Award in 2011.
Challenges:
Securing bees to stay in hives and provide cover against rain. At the begin-ning
the bees did not stay in the hives during the rainy season and produc-tion
fell dramatically. The bees were recollected and the hives were given
special protection.
Successes:
The organization was able to overcome the initial challenges and the busi-ness
has become very profitable. They have received further funding to
expand their activities (such as entering the market in Freetown).
“The grant scheme allowed a large number beneficiaries
to obtain business skills, management abilities and led to
wealth creation in rural communities.”
38 - Mark Gbongo, Project Manager

Spotlight on:
Watta Kallon
Watta is 23 years old and was employed under this project in September 2009.
She says that she received adequate training in bee keeping and management and
was supplied with 10 hives and protective material. Before starting to work as bee-keeper,
Watta earned around 20 USD a month, which has now increased to around
38 USD.
The project has not only had an impact on her life in terms of increased income but
also given her confidence to maintain employment. Watta feels that the acquired
management skills and sense of responsibility as a self-employed person will allow
her to shape her professional future, generate enough income and help improve
living conditions in her community.
Beneficiaries:
• 60 female beneficiaries in total who were
trained and received long term employ-ment
• The youngest is 16 years old and the old-est
in her late thirties
Location:
The beekeeping cooperatives of this project
are located in the five chiefdoms of Kenema
district: Nongowa, Dama, Gaura, Koya and
Malegohun in Eastern Sierra Leone. These ru-ral
communities are characterized by mainly
agricultural activity with many people living
underneath the poverty line.
KEYDA
39

Youth Employment Network
for West Africa
Dakar, Senegal
(221) 33 825 9336
yen-wa@ilo.org
www.ilo.org
United Nations Industrial Development
Organization (UNIDO)
Vienna International Centre
P.O. Box 300, 1400 Vienna, Austria
(43) 26026-0
unido@unido.org
www.unido.org

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