EU, AU Sign € 8 Million to Enhance SIFA Program

Addis Ababa May 7/2011 The European Union (EU) signed an agreement with German International Cooperation Agency (GIZ) in support of the Skills Initiative for Africa programme with the aim to train youth in Africa in skills and vocation training.

The “Skills Initiative for Africa” (SIFA) program with 8 million Euro grant to the African Union's was signed on the margins of the bilateral dialogue between the African Union and Germany.

The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel´s Personal Representative for Africa,Guenter Nooke pointed out that the German government highly welcomes the European Union and Germany are joining forces to support AUDA-NEPAD initiative after having committed an additional 18 million Euro for the Finance Facility of SIFA.

Guenter Nooke underlined that "In the end it is private companies, start-ups, service providers which will generate the jobs needed for the young people on the continent.”

“With this initiative we want to strengthen the cooperation between the private sector, government institutions and TVET providers to come up with innovative ideas for high-quality training which is at high demand on the labor market," he added.  

CEO of AUDA-NEPAD, Ibrahim Hassane Mayaki, welcomed the expansion of the SIFA program and its commitment to tackle youth employment holistically with both financial and technical tools to help strengthen TVET capacities within the Member States.

EU Ambassador to the African Union, Ranieri Sabatucci, on his part indicated that the support is one of the milestone deliverables of the commitments made at the 5^th AU-EU Summit held in Abidjan in October 2017.

It is expected to complement the other ongoing and newly initiated actions implemented under the framework of AU-EU Strategic Partnership, he stated.

The ambassador further underscored that the initiative is part of the renewed commitments under the New Africa Europe Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Job Creation.

The new engagement of the European Union will not only scale up the current tasks of SIFA but also kick start new areas of action for the program.

As new technical partners the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the European Training Foundation (ETF) will join the initiative and implement the activities related to labor market information systems in selected AU member countries as well as the development of an African Continental Qualification Framework.

SIFA was initiated in 2016 to tackle the challenge of youth unemployment on the African continent.