ENTREPRENEURSHIP CLUBS IN TUNISIAH I G H L I G H T S F R O M O F F E R I N G S O F T S K I L L S T R A I N I N G

J U N E 2 0 1 7 | Y E S ! I N F O C U S N O . 1

W R I T T E N B Y M O U R A D H E N T A T I | P R O G R A M M A N A G E R , T U N I S I A

ABOUT YES!The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation (TCCAF) has partnered with Mercy Corps, Harambee and

other local and global partners to launch the Youth Empowered for Success (YES!)

program. YES! is a bold initiative which seeks to develop a tested, scalable model along

with government, business and civil society partnerships to improve the employment and

entrepreneurship of 500,000 vulnerable youth by 2022. In Phase 1 (2015-2018), YES! aims to

impact 25,000 youth in six countries across Africa: Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, South Africa,

Tunisia, and Uganda. Phase 1 is dedicated to: i) developing and testing a Core YES! model;

ii) the identification, incubation and scaling of innovative business and digital solutions to

youth employment; and iii) research and thought Leadership.

For more insights on youth employment follow:

www.youthempoweredforsuccess.blog

@yesyouthglobal on Twitter

Rawdha Ouhichi, Director of CFA| Mercy Corps, 2017

YES! InFocus No. 1 Page 1

YES! IN TUNISIA

In Tunisia, the YES! program takes a unique

implementation approach in that it works

almost entirely through government,

partnering with the Agence Tunisienne de la

Formation Professionnelle (ATFP) to establish

Clubs Entreprendre (Entrepreneurship Clubs)

in vocational training institutes across the

country. Entrepreneurship Clubs are about

more than just setting up a business; they are

based on evolved concepts of

entrepreneurship  about building people’s

ability to turn ideas into action.

There is increasing global awareness that this

competency is critical in the modern labor

market, and there is strong evidence that

entrepreneurship training builds a number of

transferable skills relevant to the labor

market   (see box 1) . Despite this, the OECD  

found that only 41% of Technical and

Vocational Educationa Training (TVET)

institutions in Tunisia offered

entrepreneurship training, mostly as part of

formal courses, but in some cases as an extra-

curricular activity. While there is strong

enthusiasm for enhanced integration of

entrepreneurship training from within the

government, there have been few scaled

programs to do this across the country.

European Commission. "Entrepreneurship in higher education, especially within non-business groups," 2008. OECD. “Supporting entrepreneurship in the vocational training system in Tunisia: an assessment of entrepreneurship support in vocational training centers under the Tunisian agency for vocational training,” 2014.

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Building on an earlier Mercy Corps program

which piloted Clubs Entreprendre in 2015,

YES! has scaled the approach and now works

in 42 of the 136 TVETs operated by the ATFP

across the country (see map on the left).

These clubs seek to provide an out-of-

classroom forum for youth to develop the soft

skills that employers and the market

demand. 

Drawing from a range of sources,

the OECD (2014) summarized the

impact of entrepreneurship:

    - “Increased problem-solving

and decision-making abilities;

   - Improved interpersonal

relationships, teamwork, money

management, & public speaking

skills;

- Enhanced social psychological

development (i.e. self-esteem, ego

development, self-efficacy);and,

- Improved creativity, self-

confidence, sense of responsibility

and their ability to work in a

team” 

Figure 1. Map illustrating YES! Clubs Entreprendre in Tunisia

Box 1

YES! InFocus No. 1 Page 2

THE CLUBS ENTREPRENDRE MODEL

The YES! program starts by working with a

Steering Committee at the ATFP to agree on

an overarching framework for the Club

Entreprendre methodology, which lines up

with their pedagogical development goals. As

Mustapha Lakhal, the Director of Projects at

ATFP, explained, “The objective of the Clubs

Entreprendre is to develop the autonomy of

the youth, and their employability”. Then, the

partners collaboratively identify ‘YES!

Ambassadors,' passionate faculty members

at each of the TVET centers, who are trained

and supported to establish Clubs at their

centers. 

The critical principle of the Clubs is that they

are youth-led, providing a space for young

people to engage on their own terms –

developing action plans which will enable

them to develop the skills that they are keen

to build, and identifying the resources that

can help them to grow in the way that they

want to. As well as the Steering Committee,

young people are encouraged to contribute

through other committees such as the

communication group, senior trainers

committee. and a group focused on ensuring

the continuity of the youth-focused

approach.

The role of the YES! Ambassadors is to

facilitate, coach, mentor, and ensure that the

Club can elect its own leadership. YES!

Ambassadors are also trained in the 25-

module YES! curriculum, combining modules

in Transferable Skills (life skills such as goal-

setting, confidence, and teamwork), Work

Readiness Skills (such as customer service

and preparing a CV), Business Skills, and

Financial Literacy, and are ready to provide

training on the modules decided by the

Clubs. 

In addition to the 42 ATFP-run TVETs, YES! has

established Entrepreneurship Clubs in eight

Institut supérieur des études technologiques

(technical schools or ISETs) and in two

Community-based Organizations working

with youth. Over 4,400 youth have been

engaged in the program so far. Recently, we

caught up with a bunch of key stakeholders

in the YES! Program in Tunisia, as well as over

70 members of various Entrepreneurship

Clubs in three cities, to find out more.

This brief article is not a comprehensive

evaluation, but an initial insight into what

youth value in the program, and what key

stakeholders think of the approach.

The objective of the Clubs

Entreprendre is to

develop the autonomy of

the youth, and their

employability.

Mustapha Lakhal, Director of Projects, ATFP

The Clubs are  also encouraged to arrange

activities such as visits to innovative

businesses, presentations by loan-giving

micro-finance institutions, networking events,

and more. Each Club’s activities look slightly

different, but are driven by the principle of

developing the sorts of skills that are not

traditionally learned in the classrooms of

Tunisian TVETs.

YES! InFocus No. 1 Page 3

We met youth in three locations, conducting

participatory evaluation methodologies to

understand exactly what young people felt

about their Clubs. We started with a simple

game which required small groups to

brainstorm impacts that they have felt from

the program, and then to work as a group to

rank them from the most important to the

least important, discussing why they ranked

them in the way they did.

WHAT WE LEARNED FROM YOUTH PARTICIPANTS

Club Members during the activity| Mercy Corps, 2017

Figure 2. Top four benefits of the program cited by Club members

The table below shows the top five from each

group. From this completely unguided

activity which could have resulted in

absolutely any Club-related impacts to be

reported, there is a surprising level of

cohesion in terms of the perceived benefits of

the program: a range of soft or transferable

skills.

Figure 3. Table of program benefits cited by five groups of Club members

ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT

DISCIPLINECONFIDENCE

RESPONSIBILITY

*discrimination is common in that region

YES! InFocus No. 1 Page 4

Discussions with the participants about the

topics highlighted revealed some interesting

consistencies:

When you become someone

more confident and more

approachable, then your

ambition becomes higher and

you grow.

Lazhar, 21, from Medenin

Surprisingly, ‘discipline’ featured highly in

discussion among the youth-led group. Many

youth saw the Clubs as their first opportunity

to hold positions of leadership, to organize

events, and to engage with professional

institutions. This exposure then built their

confidence to apply these skills to the

workforce: Lassad Chouirhi, 20, from Medenin

explained, “When you… know how to

communicate yourself, that will allow you to

speak with people, work with them in order

to reach your goals, whatever they are –

finding a job or being an entrepreneur.” In the

same group, Mejda Bakhir, 22, explained: “I

now know how to organize events, and have

started speaking with future partners like

banks and other networks."

Jolanar, 22, explained that from being in a

Club where they plan their own activities, the

biggest thing was that she would always ask

herself ‘what next’ – she would be setting her

objectives and goals for the next step

consistently. This discipline, she explained,

she can apply in any future work: “Now,

whenever I start doing something, I have the

drive to finish it… after all the activity, now I

succeed in everything I want to do… You have

to start, if you want to reach your goal. With

that skill I am now a new person – more

evolved and growing still.”

Confidence

Confidence, self-esteem, and courage feature

heavily. Through participation in group

activities, engagement with different people

(often from separate classes and school

years), and a range of leadership

opportunities to make decisions, participants

learned that their academic learning had

applicability in the real world of work.

Moreover, they realized how important their

existing personal skillsets were. Lazhar

Bouznif, 21, from Medenin explained the

implications of this increase

confidence, “When you become someone

more confident and more approachable, then

your ambition becomes higher and you grow.

Ambition is the combination and result of

hard work”. This included resilience and

confidence in the face of failure – he went on

to explain that, “Now I know how to make

failure become success.”

Problem-solving and

entrepreneurial spirit

Connected to the above, the ‘ability to

improvise’, problem-solving, and the broad

‘entrepreneurial spirit’ also came up

frequently. An example of that came from

Jolanar Torkhani, 22, from Borj

Cédria (pictured on pp.5). She explained that,

historically she has applied for jobs using the

traditional approach of going to offices, but

she would never be let into the compound

beyond the guard. Through the program, she

has learned about how to identify contact

points and use networks to get meetings with

recruiters, HR staff and hiring team members,

“I won’t let anyone become a barrier between

me and someone recruiting – I believe that

we can do it.” Jolanar explained that this is a

perfect example of a transferable skill: “These

are the ABCs of your life – they are applicable

in every day and routine of your life.”

Responsibility, discipline,

and teamwork

YES! InFocus No. 1 Page 5

WHAT WE LEARNED FROM STAKEHOLDERS

It is clear that the successes of the

Entrepreneurship Clubs are being driven by

passionate individuals. Kilani Henchir, the

Director of the Centre de Formation

Professionnelle en soudure in Medenin in the

south of the country, first heard about the

program before his school even opened in

2016. “I was convinced of the value of such a

club,” he explained, “I committed to setting

one up when the TVET opened.” Mr Henchir

selected one of his administrative staff, rather

than the usual trainers to be the YES!

Ambassador, as she had a passion she could

explore by supporting the groups in their

extra-curricular activities. However, he makes

sure not to be too intrusive, as he is a strong

believer in the methodology: “It should be run

by youth… even if I have a good idea, I don’t

want to go and tell them what to do – it is for

them to run!” 

Similarly, on Djerba Island in southern

Tunisia, lies the Centre de Formation and

Apprentissage, a technical school for 16-19

year olds who do not finish school, which

provides training and linkage to industry in a

range of trades related to tourism and

hospitality. Rawdha Ouhichi, the Director

(pictured in the article header), sees soft skills

as critical to the success of these youth in

their later lives:  “We miss this in Tunisia… even

for graduates (of technical training) – they

think they will succeed but there are still

many things that they need to learn.” She

explained that the YES! training is particularly

important in the south of the country which

is more conservative, particularly for young

women:  “at the beginning of the year, they

don’t feel confident… that is why it is so

important,” she explained.  Having been one

of the inspirational drivers of the program

since it started in her school 18 months ago,

she is more sure than ever about the

importance of the program: “They develop

these soft skills [through the YES training] – it

means that when they get older they cannot

fail. If we don’t do this, people will stay

jobless."

Jolanar Torkhani, 22, from Borj Cédria

[The Club] should be run

by youth....I don't want to

go and tell them what to

do -- it is for them to run!

Kilani Henchir, Director of the Centre de

Formation Professionnelle en soudure in

Medenin

YES! InFocus No. 1 Page 6

Over the next year, YES! expects to reach 5,500 youth in Tunisia through Entrepreneurship

Clubs. In addition to this, 100 youth micro-entrepreneurs will be reached through MFIs and

100 additional youth inside community-based organizations. We will begin an end line survey

in early 2018 to measure exactly what impacts these activities have achieved, according to

YES!’s four domains of change; 

We also expect to supplement these initial findings with a more robust exploration of the

outcomes from youth participation in the Entrepreneurship Clubs, and soft skills training.

WHAT'S NEXT

THE GAPS

We did not visit a large sample of Clubs, and

our existing YES! participation data does

show quite significant variability of youth

participation among different clubs, with

some young people participating in as many

as eight different activities. Further research is

required, including from YES!’s rigorous

endline evaluation, to ascertain

commonalities across all of the many Clubs.

The critical question we did not answer in

this research is ‘so what?’ Among the TVETs

that we visited, there is strong perception

among youth that they are learning highly

valuable skills, and that these are the main

impacts of the program. Interestingly, no-one

stated ‘got a job’ as a key impact – this is

largely because the school year is still in

session, but a critical follow-up will be to

understand if these skills really do help them

to secure jobs. 

Most TVETs in Tunisia have existing career

centers and connections to industry, thus

YES!’s focus in Tunisia has been primarily on

soft skills and capacity development, rather

than on linkages to jobs.

Moreover, the YES! program will work over

the next year on quality control across the

breadth of TVETs across the country. This

means cultivating enthusiasm across the

board, to enable genuine policy change to

take place. At the Centre de Formation

Professionnelle en Mécatronique in Borge

Cedria, 45 minutes out of Tunis, 200 members

have signed up in the last two months. Mr

Lakhal from the ATFP was not yet satisfied “I

hope that by next year it will have 600

students!” he explained.

i) Skills: includes work readiness as well as technical skills, which are critical to long-term livelihoods potential.  ii) Work Security: indicated by the stability and/or diversity of work portfolios, as well as viability of youth businesses iii) Income and savings:  indicated by the Net Additional Income Change (NAIC), and financial management capacity.  iv) Meaningfulness: indicated by work satisfaction and retention, confidence in employment and entrepreneurship potential, and presence of supportive environment

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The Youth Empowered for Success Program (YES!) is an initiative of The Coca-Cola Africa

Foundation. This article does not represent the views of The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation or

any of its partners.

CONTACT

Results , Learning and Research Coordinator|YES ! ateyie@mercycorps .org

ALEXIS TEYIE

Program Manager| YES ! Tunisia

mhentati@mercycorps .org

MOURAD HENTATI