An ambition to become an employer

Kouagou trained at the Centre des Personnes Handicapées de Péporiyakou and obtained a vocational qualification. Support covered accounting, customer relations and finding markets. He told UNICEF he wanted to open a larger workshop and employ other people with disabilities. His employer, Ruth Simbiannou, said customers were satisfied with his fabrics.

Education and work in northern communities

The government, European Union and UNICEF announced the programme’s launch on 27 April 2023. It aimed to reach more than 40,000 children and young people across eight municipalities through education, vocational pathways and community activities. The initiative addressed exclusion from school and employment alongside tensions affecting northern communities.

NGOs connect training with practical tools

In a separate August 2024 account, UNICEF reported that its partnership with AFRIKEDUTECH had trained 300 young people in Natitingou and Ouaké. Two hundred received financial or material support. Kouagou’s November profile also identified DEDRAS, Educo and SIN’SON among the programme’s NGO partners supporting young people’s integration. [1]