How can trust be built between young graduates and businesses? This is the central question of the new digital campaign on the FIT! PAIJEF Action initiative, which kicks off with six episodes in six regions of Senegal, led by senegalese influencer Cheikh Moustapha.
The aim is to debunk common myths about youth employment and shine a spotlight on a challenge that is crucial to the country’s future. What holds young people back is not a lack of skills, but the difficulty of accessing a first formal job opportunity—one that allows them to enhance the skills they have acquired and turn them into a driver of development.
This campaign does more than tell stories: it seeks to spark shared reflection among young people, businesses, and communities, fostering open and constructive dialogue. Only through this relationship of trust can a first job be transformed into an opportunity for mutual growth, capable of generating economic and social development.
The campaign draws on the tangible results of the FIT! PAIJEF Action initiative, which between September 2024 and June 2025 supported the placement of 951 young graduates (519 women and 432 men), including 12 young people with disabilities, through 528 internships carried out in 345 companies across the country’s 14 regions. The project also includes a component involving 423 young people who were placed in or converted to fixed-term contracts.
This first phase has involved strategic sectors such as agri-food, tourism, hospitality, trade, and services, creating internship opportunities for profiles ranging from agri-food technicians to graphic designers, from IT specialists to executive assistants, also in view of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games.
The initiative, led by the Ministry of Employment and Technical and Vocational Training (MEFPT) and co-financed by the European Union and the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), aims to promote formal employment by placing 3,000 young people and supporting 750 local companies by 2026.
Discover the first video by clicking here.
