German Cooperation Focal Area Sustainable Economic Development
Sustainable Economic Development is one focal area of the German development cooperation in Nigeria. The German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has been funding several projects in Nigeria focusing on employment creation, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), access to finance, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), agricultural value chains and migration. Projects funded by BMZ are implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), and civil society organisations. A process of programme development for this focal area that will define goals and approaches for the sector in Nigeria is under way, together with the development of a Nigeria country strategy by BMZ.
In 2019, GIZ developed a Cluster approach that includes all GIZ projects within the focal area of Sustainable Economic Development. The Sustainable Economic Development Cluster (SEDEC) in Nigeria currently includes seven GIZ programmes which all work on different aspects of sustainable economic development in Nigeria. The cluster comprises of the Pro-Poor Growth and Promotion of Employment in Nigeria – SEDIN, Skills Development for Youth Employment – SKYE, the Green Innovation Centre for the Agriculture and Food Sector in Nigeria (GIAE), Promotion of Agricultural Finance for Agri-based Enterprises in Rural Areas (AgFin), Programme Migration for Development (PME), and Programme Migration & Diaspora (PMD). In addition, the country component of the Tech Entrepreneurship Initiative Make-IT in Africa (MakeIT) is also associated with the cluster.
Skills Development for Youth Employment
The project “Promoting Needs-based Technical and Vocational Education and Training and Youth Employment in Nigeria” also known as Skills Development for Youth Employment – SKYE, is a five-year project which commenced in May 2018. SKYE is funded by German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
The objective of SKYE is to increase the prospects of gainful employment for Nigerian youth aged between 15 and 35 and for returnees in the selected sectors of the economy.
Through the promotion of needs-based technical and vocational education and training, the project addresses the supply and demand sides of the integrated employment approach by focusing on improving the quality of TVET in the labour-intensive sectors, and by promoting public and private stakeholder dialogues about TVET. SKYE also seeks to increase the provision of information and advice on opportunities to enter the job market. And it offers migration and reintegration support to potential and returning migrants through technical and vocational skills development and entrepreneurial training.
To increase the prospect of gainful employment of youths in seven focal states across Nigeria, SKYE focuses on five key components.