Empowering Young People Through Entrepreneurship in Togo

4 minutes

In Togo, employment is a social problem which has long created a lot of uncertainty for young people facing unemployment. Every year, over 150,000 young people enter the job market. Despite their qualifications, the vast majority of these young people do not meet the needs of this market, because they are not trained to be self-employed or to become entrepreneurs who will generate other jobs and create wealth.

Young Scouts from Togo take part in a reforestation project. They carefully plant young shoots in a field, under the benevolent gaze of an overcast sky. Their colorful jerseys stand out against the surrounding green, illustrating their dynamism and commitment to the environment.
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World Scout Bureau

In light of this situation, entrepreneurship appears to be one of the answers to the problem of youth employment. Aware of this challenge, the Association Scoute du Togo (AST) has placed the self-employment skills of young people at the heart of its concerns, as they are striving to make scouting the youth organization most capable of bringing about positive change in communities across the country. With this in mind, AST has been launching initiatives to enable young people to support themselves, with the goal of making them self-sufficient and increasing their potential to create jobs.

To this end, and as part of the implementation of its scouting development plan, of which youth entrepreneurship is an important pillar, AST turned to the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM). Through the Africa Support Center, AST received financial support to implement a project entitled "Capacity Building for the Promotion of Entrepreneurship among Young People".

This project is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in particular goal no. 8, target 8.3: "Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services". The aim of the project was to build the capacity of young people to increase their chances at employment, as well as to promote entrepreneurship among young people by facilitating access to the resources needed to create businesses, to ultimately reduce unemployment.

A group of Togolese Scouts collaborate in an agricultural activity, united in the effort to cultivate their land. They set a fine example of teamwork and community dedication, in harmony with the natural world around them.
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World Scout Bureau

The project goal was to support around 150 people. In the end, 195 participants took part in the project, 110 of which were Scouts, 50 other young people and 35 Adults in Scouting. The project was aiming for 75 beneficiaries but by the end of the project, it rose to 100. The project has been a resounding success with young people and adults alike and has contributed greatly to the visibility of Scouting in Togo. During the course of the project, requests were made to two Togolese towns to grant farmland to the Togo Scout Association, which will then implement agricultural projects for young people in these areas.

In order to ensure that the project's achievements are not lost after its conclusion, AST has also decided to accompany 20 young people, gathered around themes of common interest, with advanced training courses offered by AST's Youth Scout Training Center (CSFJ-AST). The selected themes are sewing and design, market gardening, and the preservation of fresh tomatoes.

Eighteen (18) young people benefited from practical training in market gardening and fresh tomato preservation, and two (2) in sewing and design.

New capacity-building and coaching opportunities for young people are already planned for early 2024. The themes for those are waste management and environmental protection. They were chosen by another team of 5 new young entrepreneurs.

In a soberly lit room in Togo, two adult Scouts concentrate on sewing scarlet fabrics using traditional sewing machines. The seriousness of their work and their craftsmanship contrast with the simplicity of their surroundings.
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World Scout Bureau

This project focused on training young people in job creation and social entrepreneurship, supporting youth leadership initiatives and mobilizing funds for incubation mechanisms to finance youth-led projects. This has also benefited the personal development and employability of young people.

This is a beautiful example of how Scouts are helping reduce poverty in Togo through the "Capacity Building for the Promotion of Entrepreneurship among Young People" project, thanks to funding from the Messengers of Peace program and support from the World Organization of the Scout Movement.

For more inspiration or to share your youth-led community projects, visit: sdgs.scout.org

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