Dakar – The Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Senegal, Marek Skolil, and the Chief of Mission of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Senegal, Valeria Falaschi, signed a project agreement financed by the Czech Republic, on November 15, 2023. This new initiative aims to promote youth employability in Senegal, including returnees.

The official signing ceremony took place at IOM Country Office in Senegal, in the presence of Ambassador Amadou François Gaye, Head of the Directorate General in charge of Senegalese Abroad (DGASE). He took this opportunity to reiterate the Senegalese Government’s commitment, through the DGASE, to supporting the project.

This initiative consolidates the gains made in the first phase and targets twenty (20) returnees who have successfully implemented their reintegration project. They will receive integrated support including:

• Increased access to funding, notably through microfinance institutions;
• Access to new technologies and equipment needed to increase productivity or enable the production of new items;
• Vocational and technical training;
• Networking and marketing, as well as constant supervision and close monitoring.

IOM also plans to train two hundred (200) young people and returnees in agribusiness over a period of eight (8) months. The aim is to create jobs for young people in the region. The project’s implementation will leverage the contribution of the Senegalese diaspora in consolidating and developing businesses through its networking capacity and sharing of technical expertise.

“This project, awarded by the Czech Republic to IOM, aims to increase relevant economic opportunities in terms of environmental sustainability and job creation for returnees to Senegal, in rural and semi-urban areas, with a strong focus on diaspora collaboration and support for local development,” said Ms Valeria FALASCHI, IOM Chief of Mission in Senegal.

“The Czech Republic sees migration and mobility in the context of Africa as a complex issue involving security, economic, development and humanitarian aspects,” emphasized H.E. Marek SKOLIL, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Senegal.

The project “Consolidation of achievements in reintegration of returnees to Senegal through integrated support to micro and small enterprises, Phase II” is funded by the Czech Republic through its Ministry of the Interior and amounts to twenty-five million Czech crowns (CZK 25,000,000) or around one million one hundred and thirty-three thousand two hundred and seventy-two US dollars (USD 1,133,272). It will be implemented over a period of eighteen (18) months in the Kolda region of southern Senegal.

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For more information, please contact:

Dakar: Nicoleta URSESCU, nursescu@iom.int, +221 77 287 02 09

Kolda: Yaya DIALLO, ydiallo@iom.int, + 221 77 709 00 66