Steering committee sets ambitious 2026 roadmap
Brazzaville’s high-level steering committee for the Social Protection and Productive Inclusion of Youth Project, PSIPJ, closed its third regular session on 26 December with one message: scale up. Backed by World Bank financing, the programme now pledges direct support to 45,000 young Congolese by 2026.
With youth unemployment hovering in double digits, the initiative—formerly branded Lisungi—adds a labour-market layer to Congo-Brazzaville’s social safety net. Its dual mandate blends short-cycle technical training with seed capital for micro-ventures, an approach World Bank evaluations class as “productive inclusion” rather than classic cash transfer.
44 bn CFA work plan and funding mix
The 2026 work plan and budget, adopted during the session, schedules 58 activities for a cumulative 44.12 billion CFA francs, roughly 71 million dollars at prevailing rates. Disbursement remains performance-based, aligning tranche releases with verified milestones to limit the fiscal burden on domestic coffers.
World Bank concessional credit supplies the bulk of financing, with a counterpart allocation flowing through the Ministry of Economy, Plan and Regional Integration. Officials stress that no sovereign guarantees beyond the existing portfolio have been requested, preserving debt ratios well below CEMAC convergence thresholds.
Entrepreneurship and vocational training targets
Numerically, PSIPJ will channel grants and coaching toward 40,000 aspiring self-employed youth, while 5,000 others enrol in vocational modules covering trade skills such as welding, agri-processing, hospitality and coding. Inclusion criteria prioritise households already registered as vulnerable through the evolving national social registry.
Digital social registry still under construction
That registry, a cloud-based demographic and poverty database, remains under construction. Integrating legacy Lisungi files, census rolls and community validations is proving slower than forecast. Steering-committee minutes show less than 60 percent of provinces fully onboarded, limiting the programme’s ability to target benefits rigorously.
Procurement and logistical hurdles
Procurement bottlenecks equally weigh. Contracts for training providers and business-coaching agencies were retendered after initial bids failed compliance tests, pushing field deployment into the second half of 2025. The Ministry now operates on a compressed calendar to shortlist firms before the next academic intake.
Logistics add another layer. Import permits for toolkits, laptops and didactic materials require coordination among customs, finance and sector ministries. Delays have translated into staggered delivery windows, with some rural workshops still sharing equipment sets originally budgeted for ten trainees each.
Participants also flag intermittent payment of transport and nutrition stipends. Mobile-money disbursements, intended to reach phones within forty-eight hours of attendance validation, sometimes stretch to one week. “Cash flow gaps inside the escrow account explain part of the lag,” a project accountant observed.
Government and lender perspectives
Opening the session, Sylvain Lekaka, chief of staff to the Minister of Economy, described the plan as “strategic for social cohesion and human-capital competitiveness”. He urged line agencies “to close operational gaps so that every franc translates into a job-creating opportunity”.
World Bank liaison officers, connecting via video link from Yaoundé, reiterated that the project aligns with the institution’s new Country Partnership Framework prioritising digital identification, female economic empowerment and climate-smart livelihoods. Continued disbursement, they noted, will hinge on timely procurement and data-quality audits.
Private sector engagement opportunities
Private operators see room to engage. Telecom firms compete to host the mobile-payment rails, while agri-equipment suppliers position packages tailored for subsidised youth clusters. Consultancy houses specialising in impact measurement have equally expressed interest in conducting the independent tracer studies required by donors.
Operational risks and gender balance
Yet risk factors persist. Extension to 45,000 beneficiaries will strain supervisory capacity if coach-to-youth ratios remain unchanged. External evaluators recommend digital dashboards with geotagged attendance to curb ghost trainees, a measure that hinges on stable electricity in peri-urban centres and partner schools.
Gender balance deserves scrutiny, experts add. While programme design targets a minimum 50 percent female enrolment, cultural norms in certain departments affect uptake. Field facilitators are piloting evening training slots and childcare support to make participation more accessible for young mothers.
Alignment with national development priorities
PSIPJ dovetails with Congo’s National Development Plan 2022-2026, which lists human capital as a top pillar alongside infrastructure and diversification. By tying cash transfers to skills acquisition, authorities aim to shift public discourse from welfare dependence toward a productivity-centred narrative that reassures investors.
Monitoring indicators and timeline
Key performance indicators for 2026 include start-up survival after twelve months, earnings differentials versus control groups, and digital-registry coverage. Data collection will rely on household surveys and administrative feeds. Results are scheduled for publication every quarter on a public dashboard.
If the identified bottlenecks are resolved within the first semester of 2026, officials project that the programme could reach full capacity by September. Such timing would allow two training cohorts before year-end, setting the stage for a comprehensive impact review early 2027.
Investment takeaway
For now, the takeaway is clear: PSIPJ remains a flagship platform where development finance, technology and public policy intersect. Investors able to supply training, equipment or monitoring solutions will find a structured demand—and a government keen to showcase measurable progress on youth employment.
