Interview with Myriam Dossou, Minister of Grassroots Development, Youth and Youth Employment, whose mission is to promote access to basic basic necessities for the population by 2032.
What projects and programs is the government implementing for the benefit of grassroots populations and young people?
Our missions are to support the efforts of different categories of the population to find answers to their specific needs in order to achieve the common minimum subsistence level, to contribute to reducing disparities and imbalances between localities, to work to provide young people with adequate technical, professional and social skills to enable them to make the most of the structuring projects implemented within the framework of the PND and the government roadmap.
Specifically with regard to grassroots populations, since 2018 we have been implementing various projects and programs mainly through the National Agency for Support to Grassroots Development (ANADEB), including:
– Multifunctional platforms, real tools for the empowerment of rural women which provide an energy solution to reduce the arduousness of work, of agri-food processing in isolated areas.
– Basic socio-community infrastructure such as markets, health centers, drinking water boreholes, within the framework of the Community Infrastructure Microproject Support Program (PSMICO), have created the conditions for better education for children, promoted hygiene and health and income generation opportunities for the benefit of the market populations at the grassroots level.
– The implementation of the agreement signed in April 2017 between the Togolese government and the World Bank for $29 million to finance social safety nets and basic services (FSB) projects for employment opportunities for vulnerable youth (EJV), has made it possible to intensify the cash transfer project for the most vulnerable households and to extend the school feeding program in the poorest villages, as well as to promote the economic inclusion of thousands of rural youth.
Regarding youth (70% of the population), it is a priority for the President of the Republic and the government. Thus, for the past ten years, the Ministry responsible for youth has been implementing targeted support mechanisms for young people with the aim of making them independent and facilitating their integration into the economic fabric of our country.
These are more specifically volunteering and entrepreneurship support programs, with an emphasis on raising awareness of entrepreneurial culture, structuring and technical support for young people. For example, the Youth Economic Initiatives Support Fund (FAIEJ), the Grassroots Development Support Program (PRADEB), the National Inclusive Finance Fund (FNFI), the National Agency for the Promotion and Financial Guarantee of SMEs (ANPGF) or the project to support the employability and integration of young people in promising sectors (PAEIJ-SP). The deployment of digital innovation and creativity incubators is one of the projects intended to boost entrepreneurial culture among Togolese youth in all regions of the country.
Furthermore, the Togolese government, through the National Coalition for Youth Employment (CNEJ), signed a bipartite agreement with the Embassy of the United States of America for the establishment of a Resource Center for Social Entrepreneurship and the Social and Solidarity Economy (CeRES), which supports Togo in its ambition to become the Hub for the social and solidarity economy and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in West Africa.
This center supports the establishment and improvement of the ecosystem of this aspect of entrepreneurship, which places people and their environment at the center of its actions. To this end, an international conference on social enterprises and corporate social responsibility is organized annually in partnership with the Ecobank Group, ETI, and the Embassy of the United States of America. The results of these conferences have led to the establishment of a mentoring program for social entrepreneurs, support from the French Development Agency (AFD) in mapping social and solidarity economy (SSE) stakeholders, and an operational action plan for promoting the SSE in Togo.
As part of the promotion of CSR, a CSR magazine called "MIABOH" has been launched, a biannual information journal dedicated to CSR. The objective of this initiative is to unite stakeholders around a common culture: corporate social responsibility. With this in mind, the first edition of the CSR Trophies will be organized in 2022 to reward companies for their good practices and initiatives in CSR in Togo. This initiative will also highlight companies that support the government in addressing social challenges.
Togo is accelerating initiatives to adopt a framework law on the social and solidarity economy and corporate social responsibility by 2022. The ministry's mission is also to provide young people with the socio-educational, cultural, and sporting framework necessary for their development, civic education, and active participation in development. The program to build and rehabilitate youth centers and houses, the useful and civic vacation program, excellence internships, and civic and citizenship awareness programs are the main channels for fulfilling this mission.
How do you envision social and solidarity economy (SSE) models for the Africa of tomorrow?
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a wake-up call for all paradigms of economics and management. Management rigors and rigidities have been weakened, and many other myths have been dispelled. This has led to a humble recognition of our limitations, but above all, a renewed awareness of the major role of humanity, and that everything must now revolve around humanity. We remain convinced that no economic activity can prosper sustainably, regardless of the level of investment, technology, or productivity, if the majority of the population does not have the capacity to consume and participate in this economy. This crisis, although it has reduced countries' ambitions to ensure sovereign missions for the survival of populations and social balance, has revealed the strong resilience of social enterprises and their contributions in terms of options and opportunities.
The social and solidarity economy, at the crossroads of the public and private sectors, and which carries out missions of general interest alongside the State, is expected to experience significant growth. It is imperative that African states partner with responsible businesses and a dynamic civil society to win the battle for inclusion.
What is the Togolese model heading towards?
Since 2008, Togo has resolutely committed to a dynamic of consolidation and amplification of actions to become the Hub of the social and solidarity economy and corporate social responsibility in West Africa.
This commitment is clearly reflected in the government's 2020-2025 roadmap on a cyclical level, but also on a structural level thanks to the innovative concept of grassroots development, the implementation of which is an expression of the effectiveness of social inclusion in Togo.
The SSE model in Togo is therefore intended to be a model where people are at the heart of development and which is based on the Head of State's vision of leaving no one behind. This inclusive model allows for the liberation of populations' capacities to opt for wealth-generating activities within their communities, and for the most vulnerable to deploy social safety nets through cash transfers.
The government has structured a series of coherent programs, with a strong and real impact, measurable, allowing no one to be left behind.
Whether cyclical or structural, these programs are designed to reduce poverty while supporting beneficiaries in their transformation and empowerment. They are based on a hands-on approach with a management capacity building component.
The government's roadmap has fully integrated Togo's commitment to the "Pact for Impact," the broad outlines of which can be seen in the reforms and projects. It provides for a series of reforms that concern support for SMEs and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), public administration with a new labor code, and more generally create the conditions for a business climate favorable to the development of the solidarity economy; create a legal framework for the development of CSR by businesses; and strengthen the CeRES/ESS, which provides the administrative secretariat for CSR/ESS in Togo.