Ensuring equal opportunities and social cohesion through education

In El Salvador, we are implementing the AGUSTINE project, a large-scale initiative to reduce social vulnerability to violence and delinquency by strengthening education systems. Financed by the European Union, the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, UNESCO and UNICEF (€18 million), this programme is being deployed in 129 priority districts where inequality and violence especially affect young people. The project supports national strategies, including the Institutional Strategic Plan 2025-2029 of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, the “Mi Nueva Escuela” reform, and the Education Sector Plan 2022-2030. It is working on three main drivers: increasing access to education, integrating the dimensions of psychological well-being and equal opportunities, diversifying education provision to improve productive skills and occupational integration, and establishing plans for the prevention of sexual violence and the promotion of equality in schools. At the same time, major national reforms, such as the redesign of technical programmes and the development of online courses, are strengthening the resilience of the entire education system.

Special emphasis is placed on civil society and dialogue between communities to facilitate the integration of the specific local conditions and ownership of these reforms. The project is thereby using schools as a place of socialisation and a space for participation and discovery, in combination with the private sphere, where a Family Education Programme aims to strengthen parenting skills.

The ultimate objective is to expand the education services offered for the development of psychosocial and socio-emotional skills, the positive transformation of conflicts, and civic participation. The gender component aims to enable schools to introduce a policy of equity and equality between young men and women and apply an education model that supports the eradication of discriminatory attitudes and practices towards women.
Another objective of these activities is to put this education into practice, by providing the keys for better occupational integration, the last link in an essential chain for empowering young people and addressing abandonment, which is a source of conflict. In this respect, support systems are being set up for young people, through work on reforming school programmes, to enable them to identify their skills and strengthen them with a view to applying for employment opportunities.

Africa is on the frontline of the challenges of training and employment. There is a shortage of skilled labour in many countries, despite a rich pool of young people, sometimes working in the informal sector, sometimes with no qualifications.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where half of the working age population is under 29, more than 300,000 young graduates enter the labour market every year, but only 15% of them find stable employment in the year following their graduation.

To address this issue, initiatives such as the Higher Education Support Project (PAES), financed by Agence Française de Développement (€15 million) and implemented by Expertise France, aim to modernise and professionalise training programmes, in particular for engineering courses, to facilitate access to them and improve their vocational aspect. Launched in 2024 for a five-year period, it has two objectives: improve the quality and relevance of higher education and strengthen academic research. To this end, it is based on the renovation of the facilities of eight Congolese universities (buildings, libraries, digital access, sustainable energy), the creation of Franco-Congolese partnerships, the development of gender units, and support for young researchers and doctoral students. By targeting both training and research, PAES aims to provide the DRC with a higher education system able to meet the economic and social needs of the regions of Kinshasa, Tshopo, South Kivu, Haut-Katanga and Lualaba, while promoting gender equality.