All eyes on Janna7 project with FNF Tunisia and Libya

 After the Tunisian revolution, the economic situation in the young Tunisian democracy remains problematic. Difficult living conditions and a high employment rate of more than 15% creates an existential challenge for many people. In some regions, almost a third of the population are without employment. Particularly young people with higher education are affected, whose transition from education to employment poses a real challenge, even more so for young, well-educated women. 

Therefore, many Tunisians look for opportunities abroad, where already about 12% of the population lives. Germany is one of the favorite destination countries, besides France and Italy. However, many of them do not chose the path of regular (labor) migration. Indeed, the coastal region of Bizerte is considered one of the hubs for irregular migration to Europe. 

 Often, young people tend to be unaware regarding their opportunities for education and employment in their home country. At the same time, Tunisian companies report difficulties in finding qualified employers, and many positions remain vacant. In this context of this often-cited mismatch on the labor market, a lack of soft skills represents a significant challenge that this project with the Friedrich-Naumann-Foundation seeks to address. 

The FNF Tunisia has established themselves as an actor with strong expertise in the area of employability and has set up a strong network of diverse partners in different regions of the country.  In Partnership with the GIZ Tunisia, they have started a new project called Janna7.

The objective of the project is to strengthen the employability of young Tunisians in the region of Bizerte through various soft skill trainings, in order to enable them to create a professional perspective for themselves, either through job placements or entrepreneurship. At the same time, the intervention will enhance the capacities of the support structures in the region in order to ensure the sustainability of the project. In this context, the business center of Bizerte is playing a leading role.

The project consists of 2 parts: following a first common qualification for all participants organized in Bizerte on the 3rd of March, 2020 with the presence of more than 60 participants, the program divided them into 2 groups, each following a different specialization track. Specialization Track 1 focuses on the reinforcement of their employability with the objective of placing them into employment, while the specialization Track 2 supports the other group in setting up their own businesses. 

The innovative core of the project is a job and entrepreneurship fair that will be organized by the participants themselves. In this process, they will be accompanied by experienced trainers from the business center of Bizerte. This activity draws on the extensive experience that the foundation and the Bizerte business center have acquired together in the context of the project Vis’Avenir, a similar self-organized event. 

The job and entrepreneurship will be open to all young people in the region of Bizerte. It will not only create additional employment effects but will also allow the participants to develop their sense of initiative and responsibility and earn some practical experience in event management. In so doing, it will create a network of young people who, reinforced by this experience, are likely to become active members in the civic life of the region. This emphasis on self-responsibility underlines the ownership-approach of the project and is also reflected in other projects of the Friedrich-Naumann Foundation - Tunisia Office. The hereby created network also positively impacts on the sustainability of the project.