Since 2011, the political and economic transition in Tunisia has shown that employment deficits remain the main threat to social justice and equitable development. The complexity of the employment situation in Tunisia, marked by both quantitative and qualitative deficits, requires a shift from focusing on active policies related to the initial transition from school to work for young graduates, towards a multidimensional and cross-cutting employment strategy, addressing the full spectrum of employment gaps and vulnerable groups. Past experience in Tunisia has also shown that what is beneficial for growth is not automatically beneficial for jobs and that dispersed interventions and multiple programs have not led to lasting results.

It is in response to these challenges that KOICA and the ILO, a tripartite UN agency, have partnered on the project "Strengthening the impact of employment policies and supporting ICT-based job creation for youth and women in Tunisia". The signature of the agreement for project’s implementation framework took place on 1 December, 2021 in the presence of Ms. Rania Bikhazi, Director of the ILO Country Office for Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia, and Mr. Hanvit Kim, the Acting Country Director of KOICA in Tunisia.

This four-year project (from 1 December 2021 to 30 November 2025), funded by KOICA and implemented by the ILO, is a continuation of the EDJEF project implemented by the ILO, aiming to promote decent work for young people and women in Tunisia. The new cooperation project is fully in line with the Tunisian context, in particular the Social Contract (2013) and the Tunis Declaration for Employment (2016), as well as the international context, mainly the Sustainable Development Goals and the new United Nations Cooperation Framework 2020-2025.

The project aims to achieve visible changes in labour market outcomes for young people and women, in the medium and short term, through:

1. Support to local authorities and social partners for the adoption of a decentralized approach to promote employment, through the development of 10 regional employment plans that translate the National Employment Strategy locally ;
2. Capacity building of institutions involved in the formulation of employment policies for an effective implementation of these policies at national and local levels ;
3. The identification and development of three ICT value chains (in the governorates of Tunis, Sousse and Sfax) with high potential for job creation and economic development, and which are facing growth constraints due to the scarcity of required skills (both quantitative and qualitative) ;
4. The development of professional and interpersonal skills of Tunisian job seekers through technical trainings on ICT, entrepreneurship and behavioural trainings such as soft skills.