Empowering a Brighter Future: Benin’s Youth Uncover World Bank’s Winning Strategies to Eradicate Poverty

(Protection of the coast, training and integration of young people in debate)

As part of the ‘END Poverty Day” which is celebrated on October 17 every year, the World Bank representation in Benin introduced young bloggers and climate activists in Benin to various results of works funded by the END Poverty Day Investing in the Resilience of Coastal Zones in West Africa WACA ResIP-BENIN. On the occasion, the 2024 report on poverty was unveiled followed by discussions on youth integration and vocational training policies in Benin.

Bidossesi WANOU

Made up of members of Benin’s youth community for change, young bloggers and climate activists, the youth delegation discovered and touched the results of the Investing in Coastal Areas Resilience Project in West Africa (WACA). As part of the said project financed by the World Bank, construction work was carried out on skins and related developments for the coastal defense of the Benin-Togo transboundary coastal segment. Therefore, WACA financed a cross-border coastal defense infrastructure over 42 km, including 23 km in Benin, consisting of eight rock structures called “groynes”, from the border with Togo to Grand-Popo in Benin. This work, completed within a contractual period of 17 months compared to 19, made it possible to gain 11 kilometers of beach including 5.3 out of 200 meters gained thanks to WACA-ResIP work, informed Doctor Moussa Bio Djarra, Littoral Technical Specialist from the project noted: “at the moment we have 1.7 km of reconstituted space”. This is around 17,600 homes protected from coastal erosion. This work also includes a social-community aspect indicated by the creation of public toilet modules for the benefit of local residents. These defense works, which include fighting nature with nature, are an option for the Beninese government which has invited the provision of mixed solutions, which are synonymous with success. “In Africa, we are not going to be proud by saying that this is part of the first experiences. We pushed the sea back but that is one of the successful experiences in West Africa,” testified Dr Bio Djarra. As proof, several delegations from coastal countries have already come to the Benin school. Stéphanie Adja, after taking part in the visit to the installations, recognized and welcomed the impact of the project on the coasts and populations of Grand-Popo. “Instead of advancing from the sea, we saw the reoccupation of the shore with the techniques used by WACA-ResIP”. This feeling of satisfaction is shared by Olivier Assinon, Blogger who also took part in the visit. “…It is an effective response, a climate change resilience project that is being observed here. Populations benefit from more space, with a protected coast and can therefore carry out their activities more peacefully, homes close to the coast are under less, if not almost more, threat. I could tell that this was a great first because the skins were combined with movements on the coast. This is proof that the World Bank provides concrete responses to people’s problems. ” Furthermore, the WACA project also funded 3,590 people. Consisting mainly of local populations, they have benefited from funding to carry out income generating activities.
In Gadomè in the Comè community, Sylvain Tinigo, a farmer from the Djodoudou cooperative in Gadomè, took advantage of this support to install his floating cages. Here, the project supported the reception and installation of floating cages, which made it possible to strengthen the productive capacities of the farm, increased to almost 2.5 tons per month (twelve tons of fish in five months) which allows partially reduce the shortage on the market. Satisfied with this support, Sylvain Tinigo thanked the WACA for its contribution of capital use in the development of his production.

Training, jobs, poverty report 2024, young people infused

On Wednesday October 23, 2024, the young people gathered participated in a panel that included various social and government actors on the reform of the technical education and vocational training sector in Benin and then the professional integration of young people. Moderated by Claude Borna, CEO of the Sèmè-City Agency, Fructueux Aho, Director General of the Technical Education Development Agency, Urbain Stanislas Amégbédji, CEO of the National Employment Agency, Kaliza Karuretwa, head of private sector specialist, Zacharie Ngueng, Senior Specialist Education, Saint-Martin Mongan, Social Protection Specialist, the discussions followed the presentation of the report on Poverty, Prosperity and the Planet, 2024 edition which depends on “Ways to escape the “polycrisis””. On the occasion, the actors present reviewed the reform of the technical education and vocational training sector in Benin through the vocational training and entrepreneurship for employment (FP2E) project, highlighted the successes of the Youth Inclusion Project and discussed the impact of the security threat to young people in northern Benin. According to the report presented, progress towards shared prosperity around the world has slowed. The same is true of the reduction in extreme poverty in the world, which has almost stopped. This is evidenced by the number of people living on $6.85 a day which has stagnated since 1990. Therefore, “the period 2020-2030 should be a lost decade. This position has been justified by the many crises the world is facing. According to the report, eradicating poverty and promoting shared prosperity on a sustainable planet requires trade-offs to make progress towards achieving interconnected goals. In terms of action, they count where it matters and it counts as a priority.

Programs and barriers to youth employment

When responding to the employment situation in Benin, young people pointed out the limitations and obstacles that do not always allow everyone to take full advantage of it. In supporting this thesis, Bakary Sambe, CEO of the Timbuktu Foundation, recalled that there are a series of programs in our countries but these policies have remained theoretical for some young people. There is nepotism and other social evils that plague programs, preventing young people from benefiting from them. In some places, social conflicts and inequalities also punish young people, as sometimes happens in Northern Benin. For their part, the heads of government agencies present invited young people to be curious and to come closer to public services to discover the range of solutions to facilitate their integration. At the end of the discussions, Mamadou Tanou Balde, Temporary Resident Representative of the World Bank in Benin, welcomed the invited actors’ organization. Based on the report in general and the specific case of poverty in Benin, he remembered the objective of this report. “…Statistics on poverty were presented at the beginning of the session. The idea is how to reduce this poverty. With the directors and panelists present, we saw what is happening in Benin. This is part of the population, especially young people who are not part of the job market but are underemployed. But I believe that if we really want to benefit from this growth that we are seeing in Benin, moreover, and increase it, we need a significant participation from young people.” This will strengthen growth. “On the one hand, this will make it possible to increase the pie and above all to distribute it better. The idea is through participation. When we look at the rate of vulnerable employment in Benin, it is much higher. The idea, in all the projects that colleagues have presented, to us, is what we do to improve cohesion. We cannot have sustained economic activity in the long term and worry about cohesion.” This session was an opportunity to review what the government is doing to encourage and increase youth participation, reduce vulnerability and fight poverty.