SIM! - Skills for Youth in Mozambique

Mozambique‘s fast population growth is a pressing concern, and youth unemployment, especially of women, is very high (43%). This is particularly concerning in the northern provinces of Nampula, Niassa and Cabo Delgado, which are prone to climate shocks and have been severely affected by the insurgence movement in Cabo Delgado, impacting youth’s access to education and income generating opportunities. The main challenges for youth unemployment in rural and peri urban areas are a) limited accessibility to skills training; b) centralized and ineffective (self) employment support services; c) regulatory frameworks detached from the informal economy; d) lack of jobs. Most projects focus on formal training. Youth from rural and peri-urban areas, particularly women and other vulnerable groups, continue to be broadly excluded.

To address these challenges, SDC designed the Skills for Youth in Mozambique project, with a focus on northern Mozambique, which will improve traditional apprenticeship systems. These local vocational training systems at community level will be supported by local and national stakeholders to ensure upscaling and sustainability. This will allow to reach excluded youth where they are, upgrading and using a model that is familiar to them and recognized by the communities. This intervention will build on Switzerland’s long-standing experience in context adjusted, non-formal education solutions for vulnerable and marginalized youth and adults, as well as experiences from the Swiss education system in addressing basic literacy/numeracy gaps for youth/adults.

Primary: 6000 young Mozambican women (at least 50%) and men aged 15 – 35 in North Mozambique, especially school dropouts in rural and peri-urban areas. The project expects 65% of trained youth to become (self-) employed.

Secondary: are the actors that need to transform to be able to achieve the results at primary beneficiaries' level, such as the artisans, and the strategic stakeholders needed to promote a systemic change, such as public local and national agencies in charge of skills development and youth employment.

1.    Young men and women from rural and periurban areas acquire market-relevant and good quality technical, social and personal competencies, including basic literacy/numeracy skills, entrepreneurship and business skills, conducive to their (self-) employment.

2.    Mechanisms to support young men and women’s transition from training to (self-) employment are operational and effective.

3.    National training and employment policies are conducive to youth’s socio-economic inclusion.

Resultados previstos:  

1.1)    Non-formal literacy and numeracy catch up training is available and accessible to youth with basic skills gaps.

1.2)    Good quality and market-relevant non-formal vocational skills development courses are accessible to rural and peri-urban youth who are excluded from the formal offer.

2.1)    Labour market information, career guidance services and job placement tools are available to youth in transition.

2.2)    Schemes to improve employability of recently trained youth are in place.

2.3)    Post-training support is available to youth who wish to start their own business.

3.1)    The realities and needs of rural and periurban youth in terms of accessing affordable, good-quality skills training are reflected in national training and employment policies.

Resultados de las fases anteriores:  

Learnings from the inception phase showed the need for:

a)    a local, non-formal and inclusive training system, that is flexible and adaptable to rural contexts, market opportunities and individual’s profiles. It should include literacy and numeracy components for youth lacking these skills;

b)    more localised ways of support for the transition to the labour market within the community and an effective link with further posttraining services;

c)    an approach that not only includes technical skills, but also life, soft and entrepreneurial skills, since there are few jobs.

SDC projects: private sector and value chain development, Futuro bank, Economic Policy for Inclusive Growth, Decentralization, Social Cohesion.

Other donors: World Bank, German Cooperation.

Public sector partners in charge of training and youth employment. Local private sector.