Morocco/Boujdour youth platform, a lever for promoting employability and entrepreneurship

The Boujdour province youth platform, set up as part of the 3rd phase of the National Initiative for Human Development (INDH), is a genuine economic inclusion tool designed to promote the employability of the province's young people and stimulate their entrepreneurial spirit.

This structure, set up by INDH in 2020 as part of its "Improving income and economic inclusion for young people" program, in partnership with the Boujdour Moubadara association, which manages the platform, offers its services to young people in the province, enabling them to develop their personal and professional skills and abilities.In addition to helping them realize their dream of self-entrepreneurship, the platform is also helping to create a virtuous socio-economic dynamic throughout the province.

Requiring an investment of around 1.78 million dirhams (MDH), this platform, which covers an area of around 400 square meters, has welcomed some 1,123 young people since its launch, and supported 325 project leaders.

It offers reception, listening and guidance services, training and support in finding employment opportunities, a training and entertainment area, and a "job fair".a training, animation and support area for cooperatives, as well as skill-building areas for young jobseekers.

This establishment, which caters for young people aged 18 and over, has three main areas of intervention: support for youth entrepreneurship, employability in this category, and support for social economy projects.

Young people from the province of Boujdour have benefited from training sessions given by the platform's supervisors, focusing on feasibility studies, financial and technical studies of the project, product marketing procedures, marketing and sales.These included feasibility studies, financial and technical studies, product marketing procedures, business plans and information technology, as well as capacity building in languages, media, job search techniques and personal development.

With regard to the entrepreneurship support axis, financial and technical support amounting to around 6 MDH has been provided by INDH, during the 2019-2023 period, to implement 59 projects for the benefit of 212 beneficiaries.

The services offered by this platform include pre-creation technical support for projects lasting 3 to 6 months, and financial support capped at MAD 100,000, with this support representing 60% of the project cost, while the project owner's contribution amounts to 40%.

There is also post-creation technical support for projects lasting from 12 to 24 months in the case of financing.

As for support for the social economy, more than 4 million dirhams have been allocated to 58 projects benefiting 313 beneficiaries.beneficiaries, as part of a partnership between INDH, the Phosboucraa Foundation, the Mohammed V Foundation for Solidarity, the Agence du Sud and the Boujdour Provincial Council.

This initiative aims to support the social and solidarity economy, with a view to developing and promoting promising sectors in the province that have a major impact on youth employment and economic integration, while taking into account the gender approach.

Successful applicants benefit from technical support in the area of production capacity development (technical support in the area of brands, quality labels and certification, etc.), as well as financial support for selected projects up to a maximum of 60% of total project costs, without exceeding the threshold of 300,000 dirhams.

In terms of employability support, the platform aims to include young people in the job market and develop their career paths by organizing workshops on the job market and soft skills.

As part of the implementation of the 3rd phase of the INDH, in particular the program to improve income and economic inclusion for young people, the Boujdour provincial human development committee has approvedduring the 2019-2023 period, a total of 117 development projects benefiting 525 young people, including 205 women, with a budget of 24.4 MDH, according to data from the Division de l'Action Sociale (DAS) reporting to the province of Boujdour.

Most of these projects, to which the INDH Fund has contributed 14 MDH, concern different sectors, namely handicrafts (42), industry, trade and services (48), agriculture (13 projects), sea fishing (11) and tourism (3).

In short, the Boujdour youth platform contributes to the implementation of the third INDH program, by strengthening the employability of young people and facilitating their integration into the labor market, as well as supporting entrepreneurship.

Source: www.mapexpress.ma