Technical assistance to the National Fund for Support to Employability and Apprenticeship in the Congo

To increase business competitiveness and young people’s qualifications, the Congo has set an ambitious objective of diversifying its economy. This requires a quantitative and qualitative strengthening of its capacities for training and innovation. The ambitions set out in the new National Development Plan (PND) 2022-2026 highlight the need to create the conditions for a strong, diversified and resilient economy.

The ecosystem of skills training and employment, which is led by the Ministry of Technical and Vocational Education, Skills Training and Employment (METPFQE), suffers from a significant lack of management, competences and information. It is today unable to address the needs of employers and issues related to the diversification of the economy.

To improve this situation, since 2019, the Government has undertaken several key reforms in the sector, including the creation of the National Fund for Support to Employability and Apprenticeship (FONEA) and the Congolese Employment Agency (ACPE). These new structures need to be accompanied and aligned with an ambitious employment policy which remains to be built and implemented. Since 2020 and 2021, respectively, expert support financed by AFD has been set up at FONEA and ACPE through Expertise France.

Find out more about the technical assistance to support the operationalisation of the Congolese Employment Agency 

FONEA’s objective is to promote employability and apprenticeship through skills training and support for self-entrepreneurship. This public administrative institution was set up in 2019 following the dissolution of the National Employment and Labour Office (ONEMO). It is under the supervision of the Ministry of Technical and Vocational Education, Skills Training and Employment (METPFQE).

To achieve its objective, FONEA is implementing a number of missions:

• Finance the employability of jobseekers through training and integration programmes
• Finance the retraining and reintegration courses
• Finance the creation and upgrading of job training centres and professional qualifications
• Finance capacity building for master craftsmen
• Support vocational training operators by financing development training for their trainers, developing innovative strategies and appropriate educational engineering, and improving their teaching tools for training
• Seek financing to promote and manage employability
• Contribute to promoting the apprenticeship of trades in all business sectors
• Contribute to the identification of needs in terms of vocational training and apprenticeship.

It works closely with a large number of private and institutional actors in the employment and vocational training sector in the Republic of the Congo.

In response to a request from the Congolese ministry, Agence Française de Développement mandated a mission covering the support and assistance to FONEA, which was carried out by Expertise France. This mission made observations and recommendations which led to the establishment of a roadmap for the operationalisation of FONEA.

Technical assistance is being implemented to assist the management of FONEA and the other actors in the ecosystem with the deployment of these activities. Its objective is to:

• Facilitate the introduction of the apprenticeship tax collection mechanism and the management of its transfer
• Provide FONEA with appropriate, transparent and efficient procedures
• Organise consultation between employers’ organisations, employee organisations and the State to adopt a joint governance adapted to the issues of all the actors
• Support the deployment of the key personnel of the new structure through coaching and training activities.  

Following the project, the apprenticeship tax will be collected by the National Social Security Fund and transferred to the accounts of FONEA. A large share of this tax will be used to finance the vocational training needs of companies. The project will also have led to the creation of a Career Guidance Commission for Employment and the establishment of an economic model to control operating costs.