To equip youth with practical skills: Interim employment minister launches professional training programme.

The initiative, dubbed “Un Jeune, Un Métier, Un Employ” JEME, roughly translated as “One Youth, One Skill, One Job”, was unveiled in Yaounde recently. 

The minister said the goal is to equip young Cameroonians with the practical skills needed to enter the labour market. He said with a budget of 17.720 billion FCFA, the programme will adopt an integrated import-substitution model for the agropastoral and fisheries sectors.  

The approach emphasises the power of combining training, job placement, and community-based support, positioning vocational training as a key driver of competitiveness and economic inclusion.

The official said the programme, JEME, aims to serve out-of-school and low-skilled youth through local training centres that offer modular, hands-on, and certification programmes. 

It also plans to create community digital hubs and mobile apprenticeship systems to provide pathways into new trades, including in remote areas with limited infrastructure.

The scheme includes establishing training centres and workshops that enable learners to gain skills through production activities, operating under the principle of “learning to do, doing to live”. 

Minister Foutsou has described the initiative as a response to the structural challenges faced by rural areas, where gaps in training limit economic potential and employment opportunities. 

He said the programme seeks to rebuild social and economic ties by fostering an ecosystem where the government, local councils, businesses, families, and communities work together to support youth employment and stimulate regional growth.

The launch event also included the signing of a cooperation agreement between the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training and Saya Sarl, a company specialised in agricultural equipment.

Through the partnership, public vocational training centres received equipment packages to strengthen hands-on learning and operational efficiency, with facilities such as SAR SM in Kamba, Mefou, and Afamba benefiting from items including tractors, molding machines, wheelbarrows, picks, toolboxes, helmets, protective coats, safety shoes, and humidity testers.

Officials noted that the equipment support will enhance practical training capabilities, improve value-chain productivity, and help align local skills development with national production targets, and with this investment, authorities aim not only to increase youth employability but also to boost rural economic activity by promoting professional training within communities.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3642 of Monday December 01, 2025