At 32 years old, Aché decided to change her life. Married just after her high school degree, she has juggled several low-paid jobs as she lacked employability skills – like many women in Faya in northern Chad.
“When you look around the city, you see a lot of men working in offices. This is because as women, we never had the opportunity to learn the required skills”, said Aché.
Aché’s situation changed when she enrolled in the first-ever Information Technology (IT) training course offered by the Faya Technical and Vocational Training Centre.
“I chose to learn IT skills to have a better future. I will go as far as possible and earn a diploma, which will give me access to more opportunities. Today, if you don’t know how to use a computer, you cannot get a good job”, she said.
The centre is the only structure of its kind in northern Chad. It was renovated by IOM through its Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programme that offers young people qualifying courses in French, including in IT, tailoring, auto mechanics and electrical engineering as well as solar panel maintenance.
“The centre was established in 2009, but because we did not have a functioning space or any equipment, it remained deserted,” explained Mahamat Allatchi, Director of the Centre. “Now that it has been renovated, equipped and teachers have been hired, we are seeing a growing interest among youths to learn new skills. This gives me hope for a better future.”
Women and girls, who make up nearly half of the Chadian population, are predominantly underemployed due to the lack of opportunities to acquire key skills for their socio-economic autonomy.
Most young girls are married after high school and cannot continue learning. This is why they are among the most disadvantaged and underemployed.
The predominantly rural northern area of Chad, which includes the provinces of Borkou, Ennedi-Ouest and Tibesti, has the country’s lowest human development indicators. Low literacy rates combined with limited specialized training have resulted in high unemployment rates among youth.
Faced with an alarming precariousness, a slow job market, and scarce opportunities to learn technical skills, some of the youth in northern Chad decide to migrate to Libya in search of better opportunities.
As was the case of Hamid, who, at 16 years old, decided to drop out of secondary school and go to Libya.
“Friends told me I could find a good job, so I left everything to leave without even telling my parents,” he explained.
After four unsuccessful attempts to reach Libya, Hamid decided to give up on his migration ambition to stay at home, but he faced a dilemma.
“I couldn’t go back to high school because I was too old compared to the others,” he explained.
For him, participating in the technical and vocational training programme is an opportunity to start anew. He was selected in a community mapping exercise that IOM conducted with leaders to identify young people.
“When I heard of the vocational training programme, I applied immediately to study electrical engineering because I saw it as an opportunity to acquire skills and rebuild my life,” he said.
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The technical and vocational training programme is part of the project “Empowering youth in central Chad to become peacebuilding agents” is funded by the UN Peacebuilding Fund and is implemented jointly by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the World Food Programme (WFP) in Chad.
