The business association CGECI (Confédération générale des entreprises de Côte d'Ivoire) is back with a vocational training project on renewable energies and energy efficiency in Côte d'Ivoire. This training project is carried out in partnership with the German International Development Cooperation Agency (GIZ).
The Ivorian government wants to meet the challenges of electrification of all localities in Côte d’Ivoire by 2025. It also wants to increase the share of renewable energies in the country’s electricity mix to 42% by 2030. To achieve these objectives, the government, with the support of the German government, via the German International Development Cooperation Agency (GIZ), set up the project for vocational training in the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors in Côte d’Ivoire (ProFERE) in 2019. The problem of a qualified workforce, however, remained. Against this backdrop, ProFERE’s Promotion of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) component was entrusted to the general Confederation of Côte d’Ivoire Businesses (CGECI).
The CGECI, also known as the Ivorian employers’ association, and the GIZ signed a cooperation agreement on the 12th of March 2020. This concerns the reinforcement of capacities for SMEs on renewable energies and energy efficiency. This training aims to increase the availability of skilled labour in the country.
Continuing education and training…
SMEs will benefit from continuous training, “improved and adapted to the needs of the private sector in the field of renewable energy and energy efficiency”. Dynamic partnerships between local SMEs and public and private vocational training institutions in the fields of renewable energy and energy efficiency will also have to be established. Companies will also be trained to disseminate solar and energy efficiency technologies. “Three results are expected at the end of this training. The experts trained in the various professions related to renewable energies and energy efficiency should be able to carry out energy audits and the maintenance of photovoltaic equipment. Companies should also see a reduction in their energy bills,” explains Stéphane Aka-Anghui, the CGECI’s Executive Director.
ProFERE is part of the diversification of the training offer in line with the reform of technical education and vocational training undertaken since 2009 in Côte d’Ivoire. “The ProFERE initially financed to the tune of 5 million euros (over 3 billion CFA francs) by the German government and implemented by GIZ over the period 2019-2021 has recently benefited from an additional fund of 8.9 million euros, i.e. over 5 billion CFA francs. This fund brings ProFERE’s current funding to 13.9 million euros (more than 9 billion CFA francs),” said Traoré Béma, representative of the Secretary of State of the Ivorian Ministry of Technical Education and Vocational Training.
Inès Magoum
