In Côte d’Ivoire, an embedded evidence lab within the Directorate General of Employment to support national policy development

The Directorate General of Employment (DGE) has identified four obstacles to the development of an inclusive and sustainable economy:

• insufficient access to employment opportunities for vulnerable people
• weak incentives for employment and small businesses in the formal sector
• lack of investment in promising sectors (green jobs, information technology, agro-industry, etc.)
• the absence of an Employment and Training Observatory

In its national strategy plan, the DGE identified priorities related to:

• the improvement of the working and living conditions of workers and the production of decent, high-quality and higher-paying jobs
• the availability of reliable and relevant labour market information
• the rationalization of the intervention framework for the main actors in the labour market implementation of the integrated national strategy for transition to the formal economy
• the strengthening of the synergy of governmental action and the coordination mechanism of the National Employment Policy

In an attempt to address these weaknesses, the Ministry of Employment and Social Protection seeks to rely on statistics and evidence to inform its decisions.

The Directorate General of Employment (DGE) develops, in partnership with the NGO Innovation for Poverty Action (IPA) an embedded evidence lab within the DGE in order to improve the Ministry of Employment and Social Protection’s results.

With proven experience in several countries, IPA is, on one hand, building the DGE’s capacity to make evidence-based decisions and integrate this approach into its operational procedures through workshops, and on the other hand, supporting the DGE in identifying and implementing opportunities to scale up promising employment growth strategies.

If the approach of this intervention, financed by FID, is proven, the lab will be institutionalized within the DGE and the full ownership of the data analysis processes will be transfered to the Directorate.

Through this lab, the DGE is equipped to develop effective national employment policies and achieve the following impacts:

• Ability to collect quality employment data (participatory pre-diagnosis process, development of recommendations, roadmap and timeline)
• Timely use of data (monitoring plans, identification of pilot projects, implementation)
• Promotion of a culture of data-driven decision making (creation of a research advisory committee composed of Ivorian academic advisors who will evaluate the programs developed and ensure that the policies designed incorporate the data collected)
• Improved employment outcomes in Côte d’Ivoire

Specifically on gender impact:

With the objective of increasing the participation rate of women in the labor market in Côte d’Ivoire, the embedded lab will collect and analyze gender-disaggregated data for geographic areas, sectors of activity, and types of jobs where gender disparities are significant. This data will inform gender-transformative public policies.