In Togo, the battle for employment also runs through the recognition of skills. Behind the draft bill to create a professional certification agency, examined by the Council of Ministers on October 22, 2026, lies an ambition that touches the daily lives of thousands of workers: to give official value to know-how and to offer qualifications a stronger place in the national economy.
This initiative places human capital at the heart of the development debate. For a country cannot sustainably transform its economy if the skills of its artisans, technicians, workers, and professionals remain difficult to have recognized.
Talent exists on the ground. What is still needed are mechanisms capable of identifying it, assessing it, and granting it the necessary credibility.
That is precisely the challenge of this future agency. By promoting more reliable and more transparent certifications, the government intends to create useful benchmarks for both companies and workers.
For a young person seeking a first job, a recognized qualification can strengthen an application. For a professional who has learned their trade over the years, the validation of their experience can open new prospects.
For a company, consistent certification criteria can make it easier to select profiles and improve the match between positions and skills.
This reform also has a social dimension. In many trades, technical mastery is acquired as much in workshops, on construction sites, and in small businesses as in training rooms. Recognizing this reality means giving a place to merit, experience, and practical learning in career paths.
The ambition therefore deserves particular attention. Its success will nonetheless depend on clear rules, rigorous assessments, accessible procedures, and close cooperation with companies and training organizations. Workers in the informal sector must also be able to access mechanisms suited to their reality.
Faure Gnassingbé is thus launching a project that can strengthen trust between training, employment, and economic activity. True success will be measured by the ability of this future agency to turn skills into concrete opportunities, bring workers and employers closer together, and make Togolese know-how a recognized driver of prosperity.
Chantal TAWELESSI
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