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Supporting employment in Burkina Faso: First basic qualification certificates awarded

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Published on 13/05/2020
Health and human development
EDUCATION AND SOCIO-PROFESSIONAL INTEGRATION

Burkina Faso

As part of the Programme of Support for Employment in Border and Peripheral Areas in Burkina Faso funded by the European Union, the Ministry of Youth and Promotion of Youth Entrepreneurship has made the basic qualification certificate (CQB) operational with support from Expertise France. The CQB is a sort of pre-professional qualification that makes it possible to acquire or reacquire the basic skills needed to do a job. It aims to contribute to improving the employability and therefore the vocational integration of young people and women in the three regions of the North, Sahel and La Boucle du Mouhoun.

Since July 2017, Expertise France has been implementing the Programme of Support for Employment in Border and Peripheral Areas in Burkina Faso (North, Sahel and La Boucle du Mouhoun) funded by the European Union. Through this programme, 33 civil society organisations and local authorities have received financing and close technical assistance to train and support the employment of 8,000 young people and women.

Young people and women are particularly vulnerable to the continuing deterioration of security and social conditions in these regions. There are now also the economic consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. Access to a permanent job, and therefore to a reliable source of income, is an important vehicle for stability and hope for these people.

 

The CQB, a recognised professional qualification

To ensure the quality of the training and the sustainability of the project results, Expertise France and the Burkina Faso Ministry of Youth and Promotion of Youth Entrepreneurship have decided to make an unprecedented level of certification in Burkina Faso operational: the basic qualification certificate (CQB), a sort of pre-professional qualification that makes it possible to acquire or reacquire the basic skills needed to do a job.

This certification is a first for the country and gives all people without a prior qualification, or with a low level of qualification, the possibility of having a recognised professional qualification in their field of activity.

 

What is the CQB?


This qualification tool was initially created by Presidential Decree in 2012. It is a qualification that certifies the professional skills acquired through learning. The CQB could therefore make it possible to reacquire literacy and prequalify for specific activities (construction, agriculture, mining, mechanics…). This will restore confidence to young people and women excluded from the school system and allow them to develop their professional experience, create their own activity and resume a higher education course (CQP) if they wish to.

Certification campaign launched in 2020

After developing 25 training and certification reference standards with the Ministry and professionals from the relevant trades (electricity, mechanics, hairdressing, sewing, preschool assistance, cereal processing, livestock farming, etc.), the programme’s 33 implementing partners have trained over 8,000 young people and women since October 2018. This training was to end with a certification campaign concerning over 3,000 young people and women in the programme’s three regions of operation.

This certification campaign started in February 2020 with support from the Permanent Secretariat of Certification (SP/CNC), the Directorate-General of Vocational Training (DGFP) and the implementing partners of the Programme of Support for Employment.

 

70 students certified in the Sahel region

Due to the measures to fight against the spread of Covid-19, only the project led by the Regional Directorate of the National Employment Agency (DR-ANPE) of the Sahel has managed to organise the certification exam for its beneficiaries. Following this first certification session, the results are conclusive. 70 of the 75 students registered for the certification exam were present and passed the exam.

The beneficiaries of the project led by the DR-ANPE of the Sahel region were thereby certified in tiling, solar electricity and painting.

Opening of subjects and organisation of the certification exam

 

These results firstly show the quality of the training and, secondly, the interest of the project beneficiaries in this professional qualification.

The 3,000 participants in the CQB training of the other projects of the Programme of Support for Employment are now waiting for the certification sessions to resume so that they can have their first professional qualification. Expertise France and its partners responsible for the certification have already set a timetable for the resumption of the certification campaign in mid-June 2020. This date is to be confirmed depending on developments in the health situation in Burkina Faso.

 

More about the programme

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