Launched four years ago, Togo’s Employment Opportunities for Vulnerable Youth (EJV) project has come to an end. It received a “Highly Satisfactory Rating” from the World Bank, which supports the initiative, on April 29, during a closing workshop in Lomé.
Besides the World Bank and the Ministry of Grassroots Development, the meeting brought together various actors and beneficiaries, including representatives of beneficiary communities.
Throughout its deployment, the initiative, implemented by the National Agency for Support to Grassroots Development (Anadeb), has impacted 14,500 young poor or vulnerable people, helped create 225 literacy centers, and launch 200 micro-projects, according to the meeting’s report.
Based on the project’s results, its resource distribution model, and the way it boosted social cohesion in target communities, the World Bank believes that it deserves to be institutionalized by the government, like the school canteen program.
For her part, the Minister in charge of grassroots development, Myriam Dossou d’Almeida, was pleased with the “important achievements” of the initiative.
“The success of the project is no longer to be demonstrated. The living testimonies are there. And these testimonies come from the beneficiaries themselves, their relatives, and the beneficiary and non-beneficiary communities. The EJV project, through the THIMO (High-Intensity Labor Work), training, grants, and coaching, has transformed lives,” she added.
Overall, CFA9 billion was spent to finance the EJV project.
