(MENAFN - Jordan Times) The International Youth Foundation (IYF) on Tuesday launched a series of initiatives to employ young Jordanians and equip them with skills to help them enter the labour market.
The initiatives were launched in the presence of Her Majesty Queen Rania at the opening of the Youth@Work Partnerships for Skills Development conference, which brought together more than 300 participants, decision makers and representatives of youth-concerned entities from across the Middle East and North Africa region.
IYF President and CEO William Reese said one of the initiatives aims to employ 2,000 Jordanians aged between 18 and 30 in the tourism and hospitality sectors.
Jordanians from across the country will benefit from the initiative, which is intended to replace foreign labour with Jordanian labour in vital sectors of economy such as tourism and hospitality, he said at the opening of the three-day conference yesterday.
The initiative is implemented in cooperation with USAID, the IYF, the Ministry of Social Development, the Jordan Federation of Tourism Associations, and the Jordan Hospitality and Tourism Company.
Stressing the importance of creating jobs for young people and ensuring sustainability in this regard, Reese announced the launch of another initiative that entails establishing a network of 25 career counselling centres within both the public and private sectors across Jordan.
These centres will serve as sustainable hubs for training and career counselling services for the younger generation, Reese said, adding that the initiative will be implemented in cooperation between USAID, the IYF, the ministries of social development and labour, training service providers and community-based organisations.
Also, through the Internet and Social Media Youth IT Centre initiative, 5,000 young Jordanians will be trained within two years in 20 centres across the country.
Under the initiative, which will be implemented in cooperation between USAID, the IYF, the Talal Abu Ghazaleh Group (TAG) and the Ministry of Social Development, 40 qualified instructors will be trained by TAG.
Another initiative, called 5adamati.com, entails launching a website to market the products and services of vocational workers, craftsmen and young female entrepreneurs.
Reese, who stressed the importance of providing young people with the necessary skills to join the labour market, said the IYF will implement another initiative that entails establishing nine centres across the Kingdom to improve job seekers' English language skills in order to help them gain access to better employment opportunities.
At the opening of the conference, USAID's Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Middle East Christopher Crowley stated that the conference is aligned with USAID's comprehensive efforts to support youths worldwide.
He highlighted USAID's flagship youth initiative in Jordan, the 30 million Youth:Work Project, managed by the IYF, to date has enrolled more than 4,400 young Jordanians in employability training programmes and placed approximately 1,700 in jobs.
The conference, held by the IYF and the Arab Urban Development Institute, is part of an annual series of major conferences and learning events supported by the World Bank's Global Partnership for Youth Employability, the MasterCard Foundation and USAID, according to Reese.
The conference is an opportunity for concerned authorities in the region, the donor community, youths and key stakeholders to hold dialogue on practical approaches to meet young people's needs of employment, according to organisers, who said it is also a platform to build effective, scalable and sustainable youth skills development projects across the region.
