7.5 million Youth unemployment and 17 million youth underemployment due to mismatch between skills needed in the job
market and skill developed during formal education

Providing skill based learning framework to providing hands-on learning experience in preparing youths to becoming
digital artisans and market ready.

Providing and preparing 25 million youths with ready market skills and with abilities to using Integrated Design
Learning framework to developing entrepreneurial endeavors.

Learn, partner and adopt OpenLab's model to starting a fablab in Cameroon to empowering the youths with hands-on
skill to becoming digital artisans and creating new entrepreneurial endeavors.

Background Problem
There exist a high rate of youth unemployment and underemployment in Cameroon due to the high rate of
skill mismatch between skills needed in the job market and skill developed during formal education.
In Cameroon, the
youth unemployment rate is at 30% while that of underemployment stands at 75% (International Labor Organization’s 2013
report), with the highest affected region being the North West and South West regions, because these regions are
predominantly English-speaking population and have over the 50 years plus of independent been marginalized by the French
speaking region who are the dominant population.
This has also led to a political turmoil that has cause all primary,
secondary and college institutions in the North West and South West region to shot down, hence causing formal
educational to come to a standstill indefinitely and we see this as a much greater contribution to lack of access to
basic education and also lack of skilled based learning frameworks that is continually contributing to a high rate of
youth unemployment for which Artisan Hive has developed an Skilled based and Integrated Design Learning and system to
solving the problem of mismatch skills provided by our failed educational system.
Employers are interested in the
skills and competence of youths not the level of education nor the number of diplomas obtained and Cameroon has a
youthful population with 40 percent of its population being below 15 years and two third being under 30 years. The
Poverty Report Strategic Papers (PRSP) report identified the average age of the country's population to be 22
years. Although the high proportion of young people is considered as an asset by the PRSP report, it is however mounting
pressure on the labor market.
Solution:
In solving the problem of skill mismatch between skills needed in the job
market and skills developed during formal education, Artisan Hive has developed a Skill Based Learning Framework that
encompasses hands-on educational learning experiences to building a community of technical skilled youths that are able
to develop ideas to forming products and services and providing the technical skills needed in the market place.
What
is Artisan Hive:
Artisan Hive is a Digital Artisan community. We have a vision to design a hands-on learning
environment that can develop the future visionary leaders of Cameroon and Africa. With the skills developed at Artisan
Hive, these visionary leaders innovate and develop solutions to the problems they face in their own communities. We call
ourselves ‘Digital Artisans’ as we use digital tools to create local manufacturing and production with a strong
focus on local businesses and social impact to building a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem in Cameroon.
At Artisan
Hive, skill based learning (SBL) and hands-on education is the focal point of our community, providing students with the
ability to solve problems to creating products and service and providing the skills needed in the job market. Our vision
is to impact the students with abilities not only for the job market but also to create opportunities for themselves and
others through entrepreneurial endeavor.
What we offer.
We offer to our community of Cameroon youths four major
platforms of opportunities to developing hands on skills. On a high level, we offer Training, Design summits,
Co-creation and Co-working space and access to building a Digital Artisan ventures. Our program are detailed out as
follows.
Training:
Design thinking
Design for social impact with a strong focus on open source designs
Industrial
design with a strong focus on open source designs
Electronics
Entrepreneurship.
Design summits.
Design summits are two
to four weeks design programs aimed at co-creating and developing products and services based on the immediate problems
identified in the community. This is invite international participant to work with local talent and hence encouraging
embracing diversity of skills which are then shared during the various design projects.
Co-creation and co-working.
We
open our maker and community space to youths to developing the ideas and projects to products and service using open
digital in our space and the Open lab.
Digital artisan venture.
At the digital artisan venture program, we mentor and
provide avenues to the youths to develop businesses with the main focus on designing and commercializing open sources
products that are manufactures digitally.
Philosophy:
With our methodology of innovate, collaborate ad educate we
install our students with creative confidence with our SBL program to become Digital Artisan to creating open solutions
to the problems they face o creating global impact.