Background – Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world. Major impediments to economic development include an unfavorable climate—around two-thirds of the land is desert—and grave health risks including AIDS, malaria, and hepatitis. Unemployment and underemployment are widespread and more than half of adults are illiterate. Income distribution is very uneven. More than 70 percent of the population survives on less than US$1 per day. Training young people in crafts and agriculture can play an important role in Mali’s development, creating jobs and income while making use of local resources.

Project – Since 1999, Swisscontact has advised local public and private partners on how to set up a national vocational education system. Alongside education on the job, there is also an emphasis on attending vocational schools that offer training in specific vocational subjects plus reading, writing, and essential matters such as preventive health. Almost 4,000 young people in all nine regions of Mali are employed in various trades, from motorcycle mechanics to tailoring and electronics to hairdressing, just to name a few.

Apprentices attend school once a week at training centers, which are mainly located in and near towns. But the project is reaching out to rural areas as well, fostering education in locally demanded professions, including agricultural fields such as the production of fish, vegetables, milk, and meat, as well as other professions like machinery repair, bricklaying, and metal construction. The project also provides further training for teaching staffmaster craftsmen and craftswomen, and in this way it is helping to build capacity within local businesses. Vocational teachers are being trained in the specific qualifications needed for their tasks. In addition, Swisscontact is helping the training centers create teaching plans, prepare educational materials, and organize training itself.

Since 2008, the vocational training system has been fully financed by the Mali government. This system will provide a qualified workforce for Mali’s economy, and these workers will either become skilled laborers at existing firms or will open new small businesses, creating additional job opportunities. Only through increased employment will the country be able to free itself from the trap of poverty. Crafts and agricultural labor are central to social life in these communities, and a way for those who are working to build self-esteem—an essential step to self-help.