Monthly Report and Quarterly Report for May-June 2012 for the USAID Tunisia Information Communications Technology (ICT) Competitiveness Program

The project focuses on increasing the number of jobs by building up the ICT sector and improving the preparedness of Tunisian ICT workers for those jobs through workforce development. The goal of the project is to promote development of the ICT sector as a vanguard industry that presents Tunisia at its most competitive and innovative and embodies the spirit and aspirations of the Arab Spring. The project will focus on three components essential for ICT development: increasing and developing ICT entrepreneurship, growing and developing Tunisia's ICT labor force, and developing ICT policy and regulatory reform. Component 1: Increasing and Developing ICT Entrepreneurship aims to expand employment in international ICT firms in Tunisia and help Tunisian SME ICT firms to better assess international market opportunities, forge deals, and sell more competitive services in those markets and internally. The project is improving access to finance by focusing on innovative lending and equity approaches, including encouraging commercial banks to increase SME financing by shifting away from collateral-based lending toward risk-based lending. The project is also increasing ICT entrepreneurship and SME development along two tracks. First, it aims to expand employment in international ICT firms in Tunisia. Second, it is helping Tunisian SME ICT firms to better assess international market opportunities, forge deals, and sell more competitive services in those markets and internally. The project is providing matching funding for training programs that achieve measurable results in training students and unemployed graduates who are successfully placed in jobs. Component 2: Growing and Developing Tunisia's ICT Labor Force is providing vocational training to ICT students and placing them in sustainable jobs. The project is working broadly in the ICT vocational education area to improve curricula, widen the practice of seeking commercial certification, strengthen ICT training institutions, improve labor market forecasting and analysis, improve ICT job-matching websites, link employers to university career centers, address any regulatory barriers to internships, and build organic institutional relationships between the private sector and training institutions. Component 3: Developing ICT Policy and Regulatory Reform is improving the ICT-specific legal and regulatory environment, as well as addressing economy-wide issues that particularly impact small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the ICT sector. The project is identifying the legal/regulatory constraints impeding ICT investment, growth, exports, and job creation, and will develop a strategy to eliminate identified constraints on a prioritized basis. The project will also provide targeted technical training and institutional consensus-building support to public- and private-sector stakeholders, including the Ministry of ICT. The project held a roundtable with ICT associations on June 27, 2012, to introduce the project, initiate relationships with associations, and disseminate a skills gap survey. Representatives from six organizations attended and all expressed interest in working with the project. The roundtable was a success and represented an important first step in initiating a dialogue on building a dynamic ICT industry in Tunisia. The project made progress towards establishing partnerships with key private sector firms, including Microsoft, Via Mobile, and INFOTICA. The team also conducted a rapid ICT assessment and identified target market segments for project activities, including ICT market segments, non-ICT sub-sectors, small and medium enterprise (SME)-oriented financial firms, and 60(³,&7XSVWUHDP´ firms. The project faced both technical and operational challenges in its first month, including the economic downturn, limited expansion of the TACT program, hiring Tunisian staff, and finding suitable apartments for expatriate staff. The project is exploring broadening the types of jobs and subsectors that will be targeted and expanding the partner base for training activities.