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Glo-Djigb¨¦, November 13, 2024 - The clatter of sewing machines in the huge vestibule of the garment manufacturing unit of the Glo-Djigb¨¦ Industrial Zone (GDIZ) is not distracting Carine Judith Aboua this morning. She concentrates on her sewing machine and the piece of military fatigues under the crowbar of the device and gets busy making braids and outfit pockets. She has to deliver 450 pieces by the end of the day, a task that requires a speed and pressure that many agents of the production unit dread. This is far from being her case, she who left Porto-Novo, the administrative capital of Benin, to find herself in the garment production workshops since July 2022.

Initially registered online as an intern as required by the selection process of the Az?li program, which means path to employment, Carine ended up passing the final test. This was followed by a training period, during which she was introduced to various production processes and quality standards, like other trainees enrolled in this government program supported by the World Bank. The project provides each trainee with a monthly stipend to cover their living expenses, in addition to the free GDIZ training and the guarantee of a job for all who successfully complete the process. Over 5,000 young people have been trained and subsequently recruited in GDIZ's cashew processing and textile industries.

This opportunity to be recruited within the garment manufacturing unit at the end of the successfully completed training course, provides the trainees with a salary, and other benefits granted by the unit to reinforce their position within it.

¡°I can now afford some expenses without necessarily waiting for my husband to work in Natitingou (nearly 700 km from Cotonou). I feel a little more fulfilled and prouder...¡± says Carine Judith Aboua, who benefited from her husband's support throughout the process.

Isaac Gounon, 26, is in a similar situation. Before he landed at GDIZ, his daily life was far from happy for his wife B¨¦atrice: ¡°My husband was living from hand to mouth and this instability was hardly conducive to getting along within the household. Today, things are going better, and the family has no regrets about moving from Bohicon to the Glo-Djigb¨¦ industrial zone,¡± she says.

Turning their backs on precariousness

Not far from there, in one of Benin's cotton processing factories, Mahouton Geoffroy Gb¨¦nou's world changed when he enrolled in the Az?li program. As a smuggled petrol dealer, he seized the opportunity and is taking the training for his retraining.

Like his wife, Bernice Nouta?, who is also training as a machine operator, he is part of this cohort of young beneficiaries, and both hope to turn their backs on precariousness for good. Just four months after starting the training, they see changes in their lives. Dropouts and parents of a little boy, they now pool their energies to meet the needs of the little family. ¡°This job allows us to live better and to be able to manage our expenses. Our child enrolled in a private school is better met,¡± says the mother who was forced to drop out of school to learn after her pregnancy.

Developed by the National Employment Agency (ANPE), which oversees the Youth Inclusion Project (ProDIJ), the Az?li program is, according to Urbain Am¨¦gb¨¦dji, Director General of ANPE, a concrete response to the challenges of youth employment. Specially designed for vulnerable youth, this active labor market program is helping to secure employment opportunities for 25,000 youth, in priority sectors of the government's policy agenda.

Like these beneficiaries, thousands of people aspire to a decent life and would like to have a springboard such as that of the economic inclusion approach for young people with little or no education currently underway in the Glo-Djigb¨¦ industrial zone. According to Urbain Am¨¦gb¨¦dji, the manpower absorption capacity of this experience is a real opportunity.

Testimony

¡°A lot of things have improved in my life since I joined this unit. The two children abandoned to me by their father are now better supported thanks to my income. They go to school and receive proper care when they are sick. In terms of personal development, the Az?li program has provided me with training and know-how that allow me to work and hope for a better life. At first, I lost all hope, but this opportunity gave me the chance to live a new experience in my life.¡±