An apprentice in the GIZ training container in Tunis, where craftsmen are trained
Copyright© Ute Grabowsky/photothek.net
Core area “Sustainable economic development, training and employment” Improving job opportunities for young people
German development cooperation activities therefore focus on promoting SMEs and business start-ups, boosting export activity, fostering innovation, and strengthening vocational education and training.
Financial Cooperation measures implemented in Tunisia primarily benefit micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). They account for a large part of the jobs in the country, yet they can often not fully harness their development potential because they lack the investment capital. KfW provides reduced-interest loans, for instance, to Tunisian banks, which they in turn can use to give loans to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. And Tunisia is receiving support to help it establish sovereign guarantee mechanisms with a view to protecting the banks against risks of default.
Under Technical Cooperation, the BMZ's Tunisian partners are being advised on demand-oriented services for businesses and mobilisation of private investment. And GIZ is working with enterprises there to develop practice-oriented vocational training formats.
Enabled by the BMZ's Special initiative “Transformation of Agricultural and Food Systems”, a green innovation centre in Tunisia is helping small farmers to join together in producer groups and thus tap into new earning opportunities.
Copyright© Ute Grabowsky/photothek.net
Tunisia: production of electronic components for the automotive industry
Special Initiative “Decent Work for a Just Transition”
The aim of this BMZ special initiative is to promote private investment in Africa and thus create jobs and training places. To this end, the BMZ is working closely with German businesses and is promoting university-business partnerships.
The focus of the Initiative in Tunisia is on the automotive and aviation industries and the digital economy.
Center for Digital Transformation
The DigiCenter, as it is called, was founded in 2019 to pool existing German-Tunisian cooperation activities in the field of digital technology.
As part of the special initiative “Decent Work for a Just Transition”, the Center supports companies in the development of customised digital solutions and promotes the creation of jobs in the IT sector. It also provides advisory services for the Tunisian government with regard to digital transformation.
Impacts – selected examples
In the period from 2011 to 2019, Germany's support helped to provide training and advanced training for some 57,000 young people. Around 75,500 jobs were newly created or preserved. Some 600 small and medium-sized businesses were given support and more than 500 new businesses received start-up assistance. Around 33,000 borrowers benefited: with the financial support they received, they were able to newly create or preserve some 49,000 jobs.
Making migration work for development
Opened in Tunis in 2017, the Tunisian-German Information Centre for Jobs, Migration and Reintegration has been developed further and is now a Centre for Migration and Development. It is an important point of contact for advisory services regarding employment, further training, legal migration and voluntary return and reintegration.
The centre is at the core of the BMZ’s efforts for pro-development cooperation on migration. Its mission is to promote regional mobility on the continent and open up opportunities for regular migration.
Tunisian migrants returning from Germany to their home countries receive support in finding a job or training place, for instance. Moreover, the centre supports the placement of (skilled) workers, who are urgently needed in Germany.
The pilot project “Towards a Holistic Approach to Labour Migration Governance and Labour Mobility in North Africa” (THAMM Plus) assists the relevant authorities in Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt in managing labour migration in such a way that it benefits migrants, countries of origin and the German business sector alike.
As at: 15/04/2024