Senegal : students’ professional integration in retail and distribution

The DISCOM project was selected for the second edition of the “Academia Partnerships Africa-France” Programme. It is supported by the Université Iba Der Thiam de Thiès in Senegal and the Université de Lille.

In your view, what are the main challenges to be met to foster the professional integration of young students?  

Souad Djelassi: There are two main challenges in the African context. On the one hand, difficulties in accessing quality job-oriented training heavily restrict opportunities for professional integration in Africa. Distance training needs to be mobilised for many young people living in areas that provide no training offers. On the other hand, partnerships with the socioeconomic world are rare, even though these are key to professional integration. This means that driving such partnerships in Africa crucially requires close dialogue between training centres and companies.

Mbaye Diallo: The low rates of professional integration are primarily linked to the near or total absence of structuring regulatory and co-financed schemes that promote youth employment either during or right after training. Courses are few and far between and apprenticeship is almost non-existent. Yet, these present two opportunities to integrate young graduates. States should thus seek to put in place incentives to develop these schemes in Africa. 

See also: Swordplay for sport, and to deal with delinquency in Senegal

Which schemes can or could promote their professional integration, notably in Senegal?

Mbaye Diallo: I think, first, a national apprenticeship strategy must be set up and financing must be stepped up for the organisations in charge, such as the Fonds de Financement de la Formation professionnelle et technique (3FPT) in Senegal. Without financial support, companies will find it hard to recruit apprentices that need training and who are not present in the company for half of the time. Then, the system of courses needs reforming to encourage formal or informal MSMEs, which account for about 80% of companies in Senegal, to take on trainees, mainly during school holidays.

Souad Djelassi: For me, it’s important to work on the teaching staff, who must be trained in the rationale of professional insertion. The intervention of professionals must be strongly encouraged. Also, teaching methods should be changed, for example, by having students discover the different professions they are training for, through field visits, conferences given by professionals, etc. Student entrepreneurship also needs to be mainstreamed into all training programmes. Graduate students must be capable of creating their own company after or even during their training.

See also: Basic Education: a Prerequisite for the Future

Can you tell us more particularly about the alternance training scheme you have set up under the DISCOM project?

Souad Djelassi: Right from the candidate selection phase, we contacted several partner companies (chambers of commerce, ESTEVAL, Auchan, CICES…) to communicate on the advantages of alternance for the student (professional integration), the company (training of future employees) and the training organisation (additional resource). Auchan, who is partnering with the Université de Lille (IAE Lille), was receptive to this scheme, already well-established in France. We also asked the 3FTP, equivalent to the French OPCOs (skills operators), to partner the DISCOM project in order to anticipate financing. Once the DISCOM project was assured, we signed a tripartite agreement –backed by Auchan’s firm commitment to hire students at the end of their apprenticeship – to concretise the project for a three-year professional bachelor’s degree that integrates alternance training.

Mbaye Diallo: Legally speaking, since apprenticeship already exists in Senegal in secondary school, mainly for the BTS, we were able to build on this basic framework. The expertise of IAE Lille also helped to set up alternance training in Senegal. We replicated the model, with a work contract for the student and dual monitoring by the apprentice master and the university tutor. Local and national media were also widely used to heighten the visibility of the DISCOM project and the partner company, Auchan, who is thus innovating its recruitment policy.