The conference room of the Al-Rahma complex hosted last Thursday a fund-raising ceremony for the benefit of eight young promoters of business projects, from different neighborhoods of the Balbala district. The initiative is part of the Youth Employment and Handicrafts Project (PROPEJA), set up by the Djibouti Social Development Agency (ADDS) to improve the accessibility of young people and women. opportunities for income and job creation. The said program was funded by the Japan Social Development Fund (SDJD), which is administered by the World Bank.

Contributing to the eradication of poverty among vulnerable groups is the main mission of the Djiboutian Agency for Social Development (ADDS) which, since its creation on November 26, 2007, multiplies the actions with the support of its official partners, for to provide adequate opportunities for young people from economically precarious families in urban and rural areas of the country.

The ceremony, held last Thursday at the Al-Rahma complex, was precisely to grant start-up funds to eight young promoters of business projects in the Balbala district. The main beneficiaries are winners of the PROPEJA Cycle Three business plan competition.

The event brought together on the spot the president of Balbala commune, Waberi Nour Eleyeh, the director general of ADDS, Mahdi Mohamed Djama, the charge d’affaires of the Japanese Embassy in Djibouti, Takanari Kakuda, accompanied by its co-operation section chief, Namba Yuji, and CPEC Acting Director of Microfinance, Kadra Omar Kamil.

The acting head of PROPEJA, Abdoulatif Mohamed Abdillahi, parents and young beneficiaries of this project were also present in the conference room of the Al Rahma complex.

Unlike the other ceremonies, the ADDS counted this time distinguish the beneficiaries of the second promotion exercising the best income-generating activities, by the delivery of the certificates of recognition and the awarding of the prizes of the contest in the form of order a transfer of 400 000 FDEC from the CPEC to the winners of this third promotion.

After reciting a verse from the Holy Quran, the president of Balbala commune spoke first. Waberi Nour Eleyeh first thanked the ADDS and its financial partners for their constant support to vulnerable families in his commune. He later called on young entrepreneurs to show responsibility and rigor in carrying out their business plans.

Speaking in turn, the project leader, Abdoulatif Mohamed Abdillahi, said that PROPEJA is funded by the Japan Fund for Social Development to the tune of 2,730,000 US Dollars, or about 483,210,000 FDJ). « It is administered by the World Bank and executed by the ADDS, for a period of 3 years and it will end on May 20, 2019, » he added. On this, the public followed the projection of a short film on the projects realized by 4 laureates of the second promotion of the beneficiaries of this project.

In her address, the Acting Director of Microfinance at the CPEC, Kadra Omar Kamil, emphasized that these young people will be accompanied by the ADDS and will be able to obtain additional funding from the CPEC.

She also called on the other sectoral ministries that finance this type of program to harmonize the means and their efforts with this project. « We finally want to thank the Japanese government that financed this project, but also the electrification of the Dikhil orphanage, » she concluded.

For his part, the charge d’affaires of the Japanese Embassy, ​​Takanari Kakuda, was convinced of the result and congratulated the participants of the project. « I am convinced that you have invested so much effort to achieve this result, » said the Japanese diplomat to his interlocutors. He then took the opportunity to convey a message of solidarity and sympathy from the Japanese government and people to the victims of the cyclone Sagar that hit our country on May 19 and 20 before committing to support the cooperation projects of the Government and the people of Djibouti in its quest for socio-economic development.

It should be recalled that the project aimed at promoting youth employment and handicrafts has the essential objective of improving the accessibility of young people and women to income and job creation opportunities through the supply of services. training, support, as well as the provision of financial support for the implementation of their income-generating activities.

It is for the ADDS to set up an exit strategy from poverty and to facilitate access to financing through basic training on entrepreneurship, competitions on micro-projects and support to women artisans in the field of production up to the field of marketing.

At the end of this ceremony, the officials first gave certificates to the four young people who managed their income-generating activities well. They then awarded each of the 8 winners of this third promotion a transfer order of 400,000FD from the CPEC.