Creating Perspectives

Background

High unemployment, particularly in the south of the country, is a persistent problem in Tunisia. In southern Tunisia, a quarter of the people of working age are unemployed, and youth unemployment is as high as 40%. One of the reasons for the growing number of unemployed in Tunisia is that the Tunisian economy does not create enough jobs for the rapidly growing number of young people who enter the labor market each year. To make matters worse, the demands of the labor market do not match the training of young people and entrepreneurial thinking is not widespread in newly created companies. Even children and young people see little perspectives in their home country and wish to emigrate Tunisia in the future, searching for a better life abroad. Tataouine, Medenine and Kebili are among the most disadvantaged provinces in Tunisia, with an unemployment rate of about a quarter of the local workforce. This is why with this project we are contributing to creating perspectives for young people.

Objectives

• Strengthening the Tunisian economy
• Generating and securing jobs (in 82 small and medium-sized enterprises for a total of 306 employees)
• Creating perspectives for local people

Beneficiaries

• 82 start-ups in industry, agriculture, tourism and handicrafts, their founders, 306 employees and their families (~2000 persons)
• 3 business centers in Tataouine, Medenine and Kebili
• 960 students between 10 and 15 years in 16 schools
• the young population of employable age
• Tunisian job seekers (about 620,000 nationwide)

Activities

• Stabilization of newly founded companies: Recently founded companies are strengthened through intensive training. Training is offered in the areas of corporate management, strategy & finance, sales & marketing and internal & external communication. Companies receive personalized feedback through an online survey, which is used in the following 1:1 training sessions.
• Strengthening of business centers and other relevant institutions: Business Centers advice entrepreneurs, founders future founders. By training the employees in the business centers, they are now ready to help the (young) entrepreneurs with the help of founder and entrepreneur-relevant content.
• Promotion of career opportunities locally at schools: Lectures by entrepreneurs, founders and the local team at 16 schools will help 10 to 15 year-olds to learn about career opportunities in Tunisia. The direct exchange with the entrepreneurs awakens the children's interest in a self-designed future. For comparison purposes, before and after the presentations, surveys are conducted on the participants' plans for the future.