Tunis: The Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training, represented by the National Agency for Employment and Self-Employment (ANETI) and the Tunisian Agency for Vocational Training, signed two cooperation agreements with the European Institute for Cooperation and Development (IECD) on Monday evening in Tunis for the benefit of 1,000 young men and women aged between 18 and 30 who have dropped out of school or training. This agreement with the IECD is part of the "New Chance" programme initiated by the ministry and launched Monday with the signing of the agreement, Abdelkader Jammali, chief of staff to the Minister of Employment and Vocational Training and acting head of ANETI, told reporters. He was speaking on the sidelines of the signing ceremony chaired by Minister of Employment and Vocational Training, Lotfi Dhiab. The programme aims to improve the employability and integration of young people by accompanying and mentoring them at all levels, he said, noting that this age group will be provided with complementary training as their age does not allow them to benefit from other mechanisms. Within the next two weeks, the candidates will be invited to individual interviews and categorised according to their skills and potential, he said. For his part, Director General of the Tunisian Agency for Vocational Training, Marwan Ben Slimane, told TAP that the mentoring and training will provide this age group with social and psychological specialists to rehabilitate their skills and enable them to succeed in life and make the right choice. For her part, Zeinab Fourati, head of the IECD's Tunisian branch, said that the "New Chance" experiment is expected to be launched as a pilot project in the governorates of Sousse and Kairouan through the establishment of two training centres for this purpose, after the needs of these two governorates have been identified through a study carried out by the institute in 2020 and 2021. She added that the training will last for three years at the rate of 300 young men and women per year, noting that the trained youth will choose to either obtain a job opportunity, vocational training or start a project. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse