When Do Our Beneficiaries Consider Our Support to Have "Worked"?

Recently, as I was preparing a presentation to share my experience and understanding of the obstacles to the professional integration of sub-Saharan youth, I was reminded of the words of a project manager with whom I had recently spoken: "The young people (accompanied towards integration) had understood that we really wanted to help them.”
 
While this touched me, the observation he made also resonated with other testimonies about interventions in Africa after which local collaborators had shared similar comments, echoing the parents of the beneficiaries: "This time, we feel that it works!"

The big question remained: At what point do the (ex-)beneficiaries of our interventions come to this conclusion? Or, more precisely, what conditions must be met for such an evaluation to be made?

​Certainly, insofar as what had been identified as missing—namely, "job" skills—is made available, the provision of training "in line with market needs" seems to be the solution to the youth unemployment that was at the origin of the support request. And so it is at this point that "our" "beneficiaries," or their families, should exclaim, "Victory!"
 
However, apart from the recognition—not to be underestimated!—of having benefited from training, their expressed satisfaction in having new skills and their hope for a "better tomorrow," the "claims" of victory are not necessarily present, which is not overly surprising. Indeed, the tendency of Sahelian youth to regularly request access to a new training opportunity is common: it is through access to new training that hope is born of being integrated into the labor market in the long term.
 
But the lack of expression of relief is more questionable at the end of the support towards integration of the project’s young beneficiaries. This is all the more true if most of the young people who opted for self-employment have effectively launched their activity with the support of the project and that a very encouraging proportion of young people aiming for salaried jobs have been able to find jobs, also benefiting from the integration support provided by the project. No "hurrah!" but, on the other hand, we readily admit, great excitement at the joy of having been able to take possession of certain tools and the hope of success.

​But where does it go wrong?  When do the beneficiaries of our interventions feel secure enough (since that's what it's all about!) to consider that this time, it's done: "It works"?
In all likelihood, when they feel capable of evolving in their professional life in autonomy, whether through salaried employment or self-employment.
 
So, clearly, investing as facilitators to help develop a local economy that would make more permanent jobs available (contrary to the current situation in which fixed-term contracts prevail) or enabling the economic activities of self-employed people is not self-evident. It is a big, complex job, which we are not necessarily always able to undertake.

But, on the other hand, it is possible to :

• ensure that young people are equipped with sufficient skills and knowledge in the field of labor market integration so that they can exploit existing opportunities despite an unfavorable economic context and 
• ensure that those who aim for self-employment understand the process they have embarked on so that they do not systematically consider the difficulties they encounter as signs of failure of their project but as problems to overcome in the life of an entrepreneur.

These measures are clearly more accessible. 
 
And then, as experience has shown, the beneficiaries of our support will realize that it works!
Because even if they are only halfway through their project of entering the job market with the trade they have learned, they have been equipped with the necessary knowledge, skills, and self-confidence for this to happen. Confidence? This is an essential factor for success in an integration project, and it will encourage young people who have been integrated not to give up when they encounter difficulties but to continue to look for solutions, with what they have as professional baggage.
 
Science fiction? Not even! 
So, of course, we need to broaden our vision of support towards integration so that the support we offer is sensitive to increasing this feeling of confidence in the people we support. But insofar as we want our interventions to make a real difference by truly empowering those we support, this is a must. 
 
One more concern, you might think. Not necessarily. What if, instead, we were to talk about a more refined consideration of the problems observed?

On the other hand, isn't it exciting to look at the results of one's commitment and to say to oneself, "Heavens, yes, it works"? For my part, when I think of the successful experiences that I have been told about or that I have had the privilege of living, I smile because it makes me deeply happy. And that's all the bad news I wish us!

Catherine Ukelo, May 2023