ECES, through the Shawiri Project, Organizes the Signing of a Multi-Party Agreement to Strengthen the Role of Municipalities in Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship in the Comoros, 8 October 2025.
As part of the Shawiri Project, the European Centre for Electoral Support (ECES) organized a multi-party memorandum of understanding (MoU) signing ceremony to strengthen the role of municipalities in guiding young people towards training, employment, and entrepreneurship.
This agreement aims to empower local authorities to better support young women and men in their communities, helping them pursue education, professional development, and business creation. By reinforcing the capacities of municipalities, the initiative contributes to building a more inclusive society where young people can access opportunities for a dignified and sustainable livelihood.
The institutions signing the MoU include ECES, the Employment House, the Associations of Mayors of Ngazidja, Ndzuwani, and Mwali, the Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Crafts, the National Coordination of CLACs, and the Msomo na Hazi Project, also funded by the European Union.
The ceremony was attended by Mr. Pavlos Evangelidis, Head of the European Union Office, who congratulated the project for establishing this important cooperation framework that reinforces support for youth employability and entrepreneurship in the Union of the Comoros.
As the Project Manager highlighted, this initiative “responds to the strong expectations of both the Comorian population and the Government of the Union of the Comoros. It aims to strengthen the protection and participation of women, youth, and civil society by building on existing national initiatives that already support pathways to employment, training, and entrepreneurship. The Shawiri Project capitalizes on these efforts by connecting young people to them through the key leverage of municipalities.”
Six pilot municipalities will benefit from this initiative. In addition to training social mediators who will act as links between local support mechanisms, co-working spaces will be established to facilitate the pre-incubation of small enterprises in collaboration with the chambers of commerce.
The Shawiri Project is implemented in the Union of the Comoros by a consortium led by ECES, together with the French Red Cross/Comorian Red Crescent Movement, the NGO MAEECHA, and EarthEcho Communications. The project seeks to strengthen social protection and civic participation among women, youth, and civil society across the country.
9 October 2025
