COOPERATION

This regional program aims to support youth entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector by enabling young people to develop new, innovative, and sustainable projects that can create employment opportunities in promising agricultural sectors in Algeria.

The program is implemented by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) of the United Nations Organization, with oversight from the relevant ministerial sectors. The Agency is a key partner in this program, alongside the National Office for Rural Development Studies (BNEDER), the public accelerator A-Venture, the National Agency for Microcredit Management (ANGEM), and the National Employment Agency (ANEM).

In 2024, the Agency contributed to organizing a business plan competition targeting project owners, enabling them to enhance their entrepreneurial skills and launch economically viable activities in the agricultural sector, predefined according to value chains: potatoes in Mostaganem, aquaculture in Biskra and dairy production in Guelma. Participants also benefited from technical support to develop a viable business plan and finance their projects, depending on the situation.

The program witnessed significant participation, unveiling several innovative project ideas. Participants benefited training sessions that strengthened their capacities in preparing business plans, improved their entrepreneurial skills, and their experience in the targeted agricultural field. The program also honored the top winners from the three concerned wilayas, who will benefit from the Agency’s support to create their microenterprises.

The program is a regional project of the International Labour Organization (ILO), funded by the Directorate-General for Neighborhood policy and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR) at the European Commission, and supports the transition from the informal to the formal economy through tripartite social dialogue in Arab countries, with a special focus on Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, and Palestine.

The project aims to increase employment for workers and the productivity of enterprises in the formal sector, which contributes to decent work for all, poverty reduction, and the building of more equitable and cohesive societies. To achieve this, the program seeks to strengthen the capacities of the ILO’s tripartite constituents: governments, employers’ organizations, and workers’ organizations, to act through social dialogue at two main levels:

• Developing comprehensive policies for the transition to the formal economy
• Developing national training systems and skills recognition, with a focus on youth and women in the informal sector

The “Social and Solidarity Economy for Sustainable Economic Inclusion of Youth Entrepreneurs in Algeria” program aims to encourage youth employment and contribute to wealth creation through establishing a supportive ecosystem for the development of the social and solidarity economy (SSE).

To achieve this, the project includes several key components, each operating at different levels of this ecosystem and targeting the various stakeholders involved, focusing on two main objectives:

• Strengthening the social and solidarity economy ecosystem
• Supporting the creation and development of social and solidarity economy enterprises

The program operates under the auspices of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the supervision of relevant ministerial sectors, where the Agency acts as a key partner, it contributes to accompanying the creation and expansion of microenterprise projects within the social and solidarity economy in line with the defined objectives.