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Digital skills for employment

Empowering Women Through Digital Skills: Our Journey Towards Gender Equality in the Digital Space

In 2019, the African Center for Equitable Development (ACED) and its partners launched an ambitious initiative to address the stark gender digital divide in Benin and empower young women with the digital skills necessary for modern employment. Our program targets the deep-seated challenges of high youth unemployment and societal barriers that disproportionately affect educated young women.

Program Highlights

  • Comprehensive Digital Skills Training: Participants undergo a structured curriculum designed to equip them with essential digital competencies.
  • Personalized Mentorship: Experienced mentors support each trainee, providing career advice and helping them apply their skills in the real world.
  • Community and Support: We foster a supportive community where participants can network with peers and access ongoing support even after program completion.

Our Approach

Our approach is evidence-based and participant-focused, ensuring that the training we provide is relevant and responsive to the needs of young women in Benin. We continuously refine our strategy based on feedback and the evolving digital landscape.

Our impact

Since its inception, our program has made significant strides:

  • Trained Hundreds: Over 700 young women have completed our intensive digital skills training, gaining knowledge in computer literacy, internet navigation, and digital communication.
  • Robust Mentorship: Each participant benefits from our unique mentorship component, receiving personalized guidance to navigate the job market effectively.
  • Proven Success: Our graduates have seen a marked improvement in their employment rates, with many securing quality jobs that leverage their new digital skills.

Program publications

Skills mismatch in the agricultural labour market in Benin: vertical and horizontal mismatch

Securing employment is increasingly difficult for most agriculture graduates despite employment opportunities in the agricultural sector in Benin. The lack of adequate skills development was identified as one of the main challenges to it. Therefore, the present empirical research aims to explore the mismatch between the supply of and demand for skills in the agricultural labor market.

Impact of mentoring on the likelihood of getting jobs in the agricultural sector in Benin

This study evaluates the impact of mentoring programs on the likelihood of getting a job in the agricultural sector after a one-year experiment conducted in Benin. The program provides graduates in agriculture-related fields with capacity building (digital skills, job search skills, and interpersonal skills) – as well as the support of a professional who is either a junior (junior model) or a senior (senior model) – as they seek jobs.