Togo First
Telecom regulator ARCEP starts national sensitization tour
Togo’s telecom and post regulator, ARCEP, started on Thursday a national tour to inform and sensitize consumers’ associations about its mission: protecting and defending consumers’ interests.
Topics to be discussed include service quality, tariff rules, users’ identification, and the decree that puts a limit on the number of SIM cards a given user can hold.
The ARCEP explained the campaign saying that “several issues in the provision of mobile communication services, relative to the quality of service and tariffs, were recorded.” At the end of the tour, the institution added, consumer associations will be able to “efficiently trace complaints” about irregularities in the services provided by mobile operators.
Last May, the regulator imposed on Moov Africa Togo a CFA600 million fine for not meeting the obligations of “permanence, continuity, and availability of services, as set out in its specifications.” A few months earlier, in February, Togocel was fined CFA1 billion by the ARCEP for violating its on/off-net tariff differentiation rule.
Esaïe Edoh
Togo: International conference on corporate social responsibility postponed
Initially scheduled to take place on September 9-10, the 4th international conference on social enterprises and corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been postponed to September 16 and 17. This was announced by the Center for Social Entrepreneurship Resources (CeRES) on Twitter.
The conference is organized by the ministry of grassroots development and youth employment, and the US embassy in Togo. It will gather several actors and experts of the social entrepreneurship and CSR domains.
Just like last year, this year’s edition will be held online. The talks will focus on how social entrepreneurship can contribute to the economic development of local communities.
COFINA and MIFA team up to finance agricultural actors
COFINA will back local agricultural actors with a CFA10 million facility. The related agreement was signed Wednesday between the company and the Agricultural Financing Incentive Mechanism (MIFA).
COFINA will support the mechanism with its expertise and experience in terms of financing SMEs. It will also support the MIFA in promoting and valorizing the agricultural sector.
The agreement palliates the lack of financing faced by agricultural actors. “COFINA’s ambition is to significantly contribute to transforming our Togolese SMEs into the African multinationals of the future. They are our future champions, and that’s why we support them today,” said Charles-Eric Moulod, Managing Director COFINA, during the signing.
The agreement, the two signatories said, aligns with the second axis of the national development plan (PND). This axis focuses on industrial development in value-adding sectors; sectors that are export-oriented.
A few days ago, COFINA signed with CUBE, an incubator, a partnership agreement to finance expanding businesses.
Esaïe Edoh
PM Dogbe urges concerned actors to better handle the Covid-19 crisis
Togolese Prime Minister, Victoire Tomégah-Dogbé, met last Tuesday with the various actors engaged in the fight against Covid-19 in the country. She told them to implement safety measures more efficiently.
Amid a resurgence in the number of cases and deaths tied to the virus, the PM urged actors concerned to “reinforce the safety measures and remobilize populations for their efficient implementation, to slow the pandemic and reverse the curve.”
The number of active cases has quadrupled with more than 5,000 people infected. Deaths keep rising, said Prof. Didier Koumavi Ekouévi, Chairman of the Scientific Council. From June where only four people were reported to have succumbed to the virus, this number rose to 22 and 33, in July and August respectively.
Thus, “stricter measures were proposed to keep under control the situation which is getting concerning,” the actors present at the meeting with the PM said.
Measures introduced by the government to curb the pandemic include the obligation to wear a face mask, the closure of land borders and worship places (which are only partially opened). On September 7, 200 deaths, 4,810 active cases, 17,822 recoveries, and 22,832 confirmed cases had been reported.
Togo is second in Africa, and 15th in the world to handle the Covid-19 pandemic best, according to a study conducted by the Lowy Institute.
Esaïe Edoh
Togo will soon have a community college to get the youth more jobs
The pilot phase of WAEMU’s community college project will be launched in Togo. The workshop to validate the technical document for the project commenced on Sept. 8 in Lomé.
During the four-day workshop, regional experts will validate the legal framework that will ease the project’s implementation and draw a list of professions falling under the pilot phase. This phase will be carried out at the regional center for technical education and professional training located in the coastal region.
“The difference between a community college and other vocational training institutions is that at community colleges, there is flexibility in training offerings that are modulated to the needs of the community,” said Sow Essoyobawè, who coordinates Togo’s mutualization entity.
The project, let’s note, aligns with various education-focused actions that the Togolese government took in recent years via its Education and Development Agency (AED).
Let’s also recall that the AED is in charge of the construction and management of training schools providing sandwich courses focused on development (IFAD).
Klétus Situ
Gvt’ announces social measures in the health and education sectors
With its social partners in the health and education sectors, the government of Togo held last Tuesday, in Lomé, a special session of the National Council for Social Dialogue (CNDS). After the talks, the authorities took measures aimed at keeping tensions down within these two sectors - health and education.
Regarding health, Lomé said it would disclose, this week, the results of the last exam held to recruit 698 medical, paramedical, and administrative workers. The government added it would look into the issue of the arrears of the rapid intervention and sampling teams, and set up a new mechanism to ease dialogue between actors in the sector.
Still, in the health sector, the government talked about having talks with actors regarding: the provision of scanners to University Hospitals (CHUs), concerns of under contract staff, health workers’ special statuses, and the recruitment of experts to assess the contract-based management model of hospitals.
In education, the government said it would soon publish the results of the latest exam held to recruit public teachers and career advisors and launch the second phase of the reimbursement of funds collected from auxiliary teachers. Talking about special or regular premiums, the State assured of its will and commitment while emphasizing the need to assess and operationalize all measures related to premiums and wage increases at the global level, following the overhaul of the general status of the public administration. Measures were also taken for retired civil servants.
“All these measures and initiatives,” the government said, “prove that we are open-minded and open to dialogue, to preserve a peaceful social climate and foster social cohesion.”
In recent years, let’s recall, Togo has experienced social crises and multiple protests in the health and education sectors.
Esaïe Edoh
In Togo, microfinance entities made a profit of CFA1.8 billion last year
Togolese microfinance institutions made 1.8 billion of profit in 2020, amidst the health crisis that negatively impacted business activity in the country. The figure was disclosed in the latest annual report of the Banking Commission of the West African Monetary Union (WAMU).
Total assets in the microfinance sector were valued at CFA266 billion over the period, up 5.7% compared to 2019’s CFA251 billion.
By asset value, Togo ranked 4th in WAMU last year. It was behind Senegal (CFA868 billion), Côte d’Ivoire (CFA499 billion), and Burkina Faso (CFA448 billion), but came ahead of Benin (CFA239 billion) and Niger (CFA16 billion).
While the region’s net result dipped by 38% from CFA30.3 billion in 2019 to CFA18.8 billion in 2020, Togo was the fifth in terms of profit made. Senegal, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, and Benin were the first four with respectively CFA8.5 billion, CFA5.4 billion, CFA4.2 billion, and CFA3.2 billion. Mali and Niger, however, recorded losses of CFA2.9 billion and 1.4 billion.
Togo adheres to UN’s Safe Schools Declaration
Togo has adhered to the UN’s Safe Schools Declaration, SSD. This was disclosed by NorwayUN, the permanent mission of Norway in the UN.
Adhering to this declaration will allow Togo to have more projects aimed at protecting and maintaining education (and education actors) amid potential armed conflicts.
In line with the declaration’s implementation, Togo and 110 other countries will attend the annual conference scheduled to take place on October 24 and 25, in Abuja, Nigeria.
Access to education for all children is a priority for the Togolese government. Many programs were launched by Lomé in this regard. These include making primary school free since 2008, taking care of examination fees, a school canteen program, and more recently the cancellation of school fees in public middle and high school in the next academic year.
Esaïe Edoh
FAO seeks local experts to restore forest landscapes in Togo
The Togolese representation of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is looking for local consultants for its forest and landscape restoration project in the country.
Four experts will be recruited - one in forestry, one in cartography and geo data systems, one in the environment and land law, and the last in agricultural and forest statistics. Applicants have until September 24, 2021, to submit their applications.
Under the project, forest agents will be taught techniques for seed production, how to collect cartographic data on restoration sites and be informed about the framework agreement signed by the ministry of environment and cooperatives that produce seeds.
Last March, FAO-Togo announced that 20 agroforestry cooperatives could get financial support (of up to $10,000) for their projects.
Klétus Situ
CUBE and Cofina to lend businesses up to CFA25 million
A year into their partnership, the Cube incubator launched its first support program backed by Cofina Group. Prime XL is the program’s name and it solely targets businesses that are at least 3 years old.
Up to 500 businesses could get access to a maximum of CFA25 million, under the scheme. The monies, loans, will be provided based on the needs of the businesses and their nature. Eligible companies could get investment loans, operating funds, and front-payment on rents.
“This is an acceleration program, and businesses that will be selected need to be ready to get, use and valorize the loans. These businesses must also agree to be monitored by the CUBE incubator before, during, and after getting the funds,” the incubator’s executives said.
While the closing date for the submission of applications is yet to be disclosed, the process is exclusively online on the incubator’s website.
This program adds to the many technical and financial support initiatives the government launched for businesses, to boost entrepreneurship in Togo.
Klétus Situ