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Mini TechCamp Tunisia: Fighting Youth Unemployment
September 27, 2016
By Yassine Jaziri, YES 2014-2015, Tunisia, hosted by YFU in San Antonio, TX
For two days in August, YES alumni in Tunisia organized a Mini TechCamp, which gave participants from across the country the opportunity to learn from Tunisian, Moroccan, and American trainers.
The event included intensive workshops on skill development and career building, and gave the trainees a look into various requirements for today’s workforce. The goal of this project was to provide young Tunisians with an opportunity to realize their potential, acquire an entrepreneurial mindset and develop their networking skills. The organizers hoped the Mini TechCamp would help fight youth unemployment in Tunisia.
“It opened me to new perspectives and introduced me to the handy part of the e-world. I met very interesting people that taught me that education is a never ending process and that the more opportunities you take, the better chances you have in the job market.” -Emna Ben Khelifa, participant
Youth Unemployment affects approximately 45% of young people in the country, especially university graduates. Many blame the outdated education system, which offers no extracurricular activities, skills-development projects or professional experiences, and thus fails to prepare the students for the job market,
Not only does this issue hurt the social and economic stability of Tunisia, but it also results in widespread desperation among its youth, leading some to crime, illegal migration and even extremism in order to escape the harsh reality.
A group of Tunisian YES alumni identified this problem and decided to use what they learned from their exchange year to help reduce this rampant problem and help empower their fellow youth. They selected 40 participants from a pool of 130 applicants, and gathered them at the Novotel Hotel in Tunis, where they got to know each other and the trainers. Then, each participant worked on a variety of issues with a trainer from their field of expertise. Participants had to find solutions to the issues by using 21st-century skills and entrepreneurship. Their final work was later presented in front of everyone.
“I was really amazed by the idea of so many versions of the future that I saw in there. The experience was really good and it was critically important to me, as it taught me a lot. It was full of knowledge and fun as well.”- Fatma Bougatfa, participant
“It was an opportunity for me to grow my network. Each participant had a story to tell and many skills to share.”- Yasser Machat, participant
This project was managed by the YES Association Alumni Tunisia (YAAT) in partnership with the U.S. Department of State and AMIDEAST Tunisia.
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