Abuja – 6 October 2020
The United National Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the ECOWAS Commission and the International Training Center of the International Labour Organisation (ITC-ILO) have launched a joint training of trainers to develop a pool of qualified trainers to help support enterprise creation and growth in the West Africa region.
The new initiative, implemented in the context of the West Africa Competitiveness Programme (WACOMP) which is funded by the European Union, involves a training of trainers to deliver ILO’s “Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB)” training package. Participants from training institutions in each ECOWAS Member State (as well as Mauritania) will undergo a full trainer development cycle. Given the current restrictions in place to mitigate the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, the SIYB training of trainers will be held in a virtual format, which will be the first of its kind delivered in West Africa.
The online training programme will strengthen the capacity of training institutions to deliver entrepreneurship training in the 16 countries of the region. Thus, the EU, UNIDO, the ECOWAS Commission and ITC-ILO reaffirm their commitment to support the development of enterprises in the ECOWAS region during the COVID-19 pandemic by using modern, innovative and accessible technologies.
“With a view to supporting business survival, recovery and restart, the ILO Global SIYB team in collaboration with the ILO International Training Centre in Turin developed a set of SIYB online tools (“e-SIYB”) to support the global network of trainers and to facilitate the delivery of the SIYB programme where face-to-face training is not possible. The new e-SIYB tools will be used for the first time to support a training of trainers in West Africa and will ensure that trainers from ECOWAS countries and Mauritania can deliver SIYB face to face training to local entrepreneurs, but are also prepared to support those entrepreneurs through a combination of e-learning materials, webinars, and online/offline assignments” said José Manuel Medina, from ITC-ILO.
“This initiative, implemented by UNIDO in partnership with the ECOWAS Commission and ITC-ILO, is an outcome of the agreement reached with the European Commission to further deliver capacity building work under the WACOMP, despite the numerous restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Making best use of online distance learning to equip training institutions with strong training skills will contribute to the development of entrepreneurs and start-up companies in West Africa, including those owned by women and young entrepreneurs“ added Bernardo Calzadilla-Sarmiento, UNIDO Managing Director of the Directorate of Digitalization, Technology and Agribusiness.
For more information, please contact:
José Manuel Medina, ITC-ILO (j.medina@itcilo.org)
Rafik Feki, UNIDO (r.feki@unido.org)
Christian Kafando, ECOWAS Commission (nkafando@ecowas.int)
