Climbing the ladder of opportunity in the Sahel through economic inclusion

Economic inclusion programs are a critical tool for addressing the jobs crisis in the Sahel. Rapid population growth in the region, expected to double to 160 million people over the next 20 years, coupled with rising instability and climate degradation, makes job creation an immediate necessity. As formal employment opportunities remain scarce, government-led economic inclusion programs help vulnerable populations and youth climb the “ladder of opportunity” by providing a vital pathway to self-employment and micro-enterprise development. They deliver an evidence-backed, cost-effective, and scalable solution that boosts productivity, diversifies livelihoods, and builds resilience.

From compelling evidence of impact…

Economic inclusion programs combine consumption support, technical and soft skills training, savings groups, and a productive grant to address the multiple constraints faced by poor households, including limited skills, assets and decision-making, restrictive social norms, and market access. Recent rigorous evaluations in five Sahel countries offer compelling evidence that, embedded in social safety net programs, economic inclusion can deliver economic and community benefits, with impacts persisting up to three years after completionⁱ: 

• Increased household consumption by 8-15% in Chad, Mauritania, and Niger.
• Significantly increased women's business revenues — up to $302 in Senegal, $270 in Niger, and $170 in Mauritania.
• Increased savings-group participation by 38-90% across countries.
• Enhanced social cohesion and improved psychosocial well-being.
• Positive impacts extending to non-participant households in Chad.

Economic inclusion is also cost-effective — these impacts were delivered a relatively low cost, ranging from $250 to $575 per beneficiary; and they are a wise investment — positive cost-benefit ratios were achieved within 18 months, and in Niger, generated a 127% return.

… To pathways for expansion

Building on this strong body of evidence, governments across the Sahel are rapidly expanding economic inclusion programs as a solution to their youth employment challenge. This momentum offers a strategic opportunity to refine approaches and ensure sustainable impact. While each scaling pathway is unique and adapted to local context and priorities, a recent policy note from the Sahel Adaptive Social Protection Program (SASPP) identifies six crucial policy considerations:

1. Embed in Social Safety Net Programs

Embedding economic inclusion into social safety net programs generates powerful synergies. Integrated ‘productive safety nets’ leverage existing delivery systems — including identification mechanisms, payment platforms, and administrative resources — to substantially reduce implementation costs and amplify the impact of regular safety net transfers on consumption, human capital, productive investments, and household resilience. These synergies create visible pathways toward self-reliance and resilience, enhancing the acceptability of social protection interventions across the Sahel.

2. Balance Design and Cost

Identifying a delivery model that is best suited to local contexts and implementation capacities is essential for economic inclusion programs to be scaled sustainably in the Sahel. Leveraging specialized service providers — including decentralized government services, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and private firms — under government leadership and strategic coordination can enhance delivery quality, maximize impact, and ensure coherence among programs and alignment with national strategies and vision. It also enables the progressive strengthening of institutional capacity, while securing immediate program outcomes.

3. Anchor in Government Institutions

Achieving sustainable impact at scale requires economic inclusion programs to be anchored in national systems, policies, and budgets, backed by strong institutional capacity:

• Embed in national poverty reduction and social protection frameworks and strategies.
• Establish dedicated budget lines to progressively increase domestic financing.
• Strengthen institutional capacity for program management.

4. Make Climate Adaptation a Core Objective

Economic inclusion programs already contribute to households’ climate resilience by increasing income diversification, savings, and financial education. Maximizing these impacts at scale requires identifying and addressing specific barriers that people face in adopting climate adaptation strategies: 

• Test innovations for promoting climate-smart decisions, designed to harness climate adaptation opportunities and address constraints in different settings.
• Position economic inclusion programs as effective gender-responsive climate adaptation tools, to support resource mobilization and their integration in climate action and finance frameworks, including in nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs).

5. Adapt to Fragile Contexts

Economic inclusion programs have demonstrated significant potential for impact in fragile, conflict, and violence (FCV) settings. Adapting programs to specific contexts enables them to be delivered even in challenging security environments, addressing the unique vulnerabilities of conflict-affected populations:

• Simplify operations including reducing group activities, recruiting local personnel, and partnering with local NGOs.
• Implement electronic payments and secure savings arrangements.
• Modify program content to address psychosocial needs of conflict-affected populations.
• Incorporate community-building activities to strengthen social cohesion.

6. Address Gender Specific Constraints

In the Sahel, economic inclusion programs aim to empower women by design, with powerful impacts. Over 90 percent of beneficiaries are women, and packages address the specific barriers and constraints faced by women. To maximize these impacts at scale, programs should continue prioritizing women as primary beneficiaries, refining and enhancing this approach in different settings. Building on existing successes, this includes responsiveness to women’s time constraints, limited access to productive assets and capital, and restrictive social norms at the individual, household, and community level.

A strategic window exists to harness the growing momentum for scaling economic inclusion programs across the Sahel. Countries can build on strong evidence of impact, rich operational lessons, established implementation frameworks, and multiple pathways for scaling, to invest in more sustainable and resilient livelihoods for the most vulnerable, unlocking their productive potential, empowering women, and contributing to stronger communities.

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ⁱ As evidenced in Senegal.