Mauritania Youth Employability Project Additional Financing

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The project will seek to improve employment outcomes for vulnerable youth in Mauritania, taking into account the main constraints faced in accessing jobs: low job creation in the formal sector; employment concentration in low-productivity economic activities; and limited access to skills, capital, and information. The project will be centered around the provision of an integrated package of services for vulnerable youth. These services will be designed to facilitate economic inclusion and boost productivity by alleviating the most pressing constraints faced in accessing employment. In addition, with the activation of CERC activities, the project will also respond to the emergency flooding of 2022 and strengthen the government's capacity to respond to future floods through the purchase of essential flood response and management equipment. The project will achieve its objectives through five components: Component 1: Orientation, job counseling and life skills training enrollment, orientation; Component 2: Technical skills training and internship; Component 3: Fostering micro-entrepreneurship for income generating activities (IGA); Component 4: CERC which is activated to respond to the flooding emergency; and Component 5: Project Management, monitoring and evaluation. Component 1 finances activities related to the communication and awareness campaign, intake and enrollment, the development and implementation of the life-skills training modules, training of trainers, contracting of specialized training providers, the upgrading of information and communication technology (ICT) equipment, and stipends for project beneficiaries. Component 2 focuses on the employability of the youth through the provision of technical skills training and on-the-job training through subsidized internships both in the formal and informal sector. It also provides TA to the National Institute for the Promotion of Technical and Professional Training. Component 2 fund training and internships who have successfully completed the life-skills training under component 1. Component 3 will fund the development of training material, technical assistance, and micro-entrepreneurship training for vulnerable youths who have completed the life-skills training under component 1. It will also provide cash grants to support them in the launch of IGA . Finally, Component 5 ensures the day-to-day management of the project through the hiring of key personnel (fiduciary, safeguards, Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E), etc.), the financing of operating equipment (IT, office, etc.) and technical cost, technical assistance to the Coordination unit for Employment Project (Unite de Coordination des Projets d’Emplois – CPE), training for project staff, M&E and reporting functions, among others. Component 4 which is the CERC was activated to respond to the emergency flooding is funding the purchase of sewer trucks, vacuum tracks, backhoe loaders, generators, tractable motor pumps, pipes, and other related flood response and management equipment. The equipment is purchased through the Project, but ownership is transferred to ONAS as the government agency responsible for flood management.