COUNTRY: Algeria
CLIENT: European Commission
PROJECT DURATION: 19.09.2014 – 18.12.2018
OVERALL PROJECT VALUE: 7,323,135.00 €   

Background 

Over 60% of Algeria’s population is under 35. Social and professional inclusion of young people is therefore of great importance. Major issues are also seen within this group in terms of access to jobs, and gender, geographical and qualification-related inequalities. In common with other Maghreb countries, there is a high rate of unemployment amongst young college graduates.

It is essential to introduce an effective national youth policy (PNJ) that addresses the needs of young people to achieve lasting social cohesion in the country.

Objective and results

The overall aim of the Youth-Employment Programme (PAJE) is to support the Algerian Government in its national youth inclusion and employability policy and the efforts made by civil society to take young people better into account in society.

The results expected of the PAJE are:

R1: strengthening the intersectionality between players involved in implementing the PNJ (capacity building of players, and the development of methodological analysis tools)

R2: strengthening support for young people and participation in civil society with a view to their social and professional inclusion (one-stop information and guidance services for young people, regional NGO expertise pools, support to associative projects, and building up the capacities of NGOs)

R3: strengthening support for the creation of activities, mainly by developing social, solidarity-based and innovative economy (ESSI) (support in developing the ESSI as a sector providing employment, support for innovative business projects).

The PAJE is implemented centrally and in four pilot regions - two rural and two urban. A support fund (CODEVA) has been set up to support the local initiatives with grants. The total PAJE budget is €26m, co-financed by the EU (€23.5m).

Contract purpose

The purpose of this contract is to provide support to the national PAJE department (DNP) in scheduling, running and coordinating stakeholders, and managing the programme. This support takes the form of a programme support unit (UAP) made up of a permanent team based in Algiers and in the four pilot regions, and an ad hoc pool of experts.

Type of Services Provided

• Management of the UAP technical assistance team, mainly four key experts, eight permanent junior experts based in the four pilot regions, one permanent communications expert, and a short-term pool of experts
• Support to the National Programme Director DNP and beneficiaries in scheduling, organising, supervising and monitoring all PAJE activities
• Support to the DNP in preparing and introducing programme estimates (both annual and closing)
• Support to the DNP in preparing and launching calls for tenders relating to the goods and service contracts (i.e. preparing terms of reference, calls for tender packages, setting up evaluation committees, and assistance in monitoring EU procedures). Also, support in preparing and launching a call for proposals for civil society (i.e. preparing guidelines and training potential candidates). Furthermore, support in assessing bids and allocating contracts
• Support to the DNP in closing the PAJE and in designing and introducing a strategy to exit the programme