Sub-Saharan Africa is home to a number of global challenges: the youth of its population, the reduction of inequalities between men and women, environmental challenges, job insecurity…

To meet these challenges, the IECD implements high-impact projects, expands into new countries, develops specific projects aimed at women and strengthens its intervention in the field of training and professional integration.

IECD’s action in favour of gender equality has been recognised by the AFD CAD 2 qualification of three major projects:

• In Central Africa, the RELIEEF regional project – Reinforcer l’Insertion par l’Emploi et l’Entrepreneuriat des Femmes – focused on the objective of promoting the socio-professional integration of young women was launched in 2023 in 4 countries of operation: Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo.
• Activities in Liberia are in full swing, with the human and material resources needed to implement training and employment integration initiatives in industry, the energy sector, agriculture and the hotel and catering industry.
• The project in the Central African Republic came to fruition and took off in 2023 with the IPAJ project, which focuses on integrating young women through vocational training and integration, entrepreneurship and agricultural development.

In Madagascar, training in the catering trades has been launched. In Cameroon, thanks to the support of the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training, the IECD has come to the aid of public training centres in the food industry. With a view to future actions, the IECD has carried out feasibility studies in the areas of fish farming in the Republic of the Congo, and industry and energy in Cameroon.

The entrepreneurship support programme is benefiting from a strengthening of its collective action with the rise of the Réseau Entreprises Développement (RED), which brings together implementing partners in Madagascar, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon and Ivory Coast.