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Wednesday, February 15, 2018

4^th TVET Round Table titled “Employment Services” was held by OSAA in coordination with Herat DoLSA and in cooperation with Help INGO in Women Cooperative conference hall in Herat province.

The agenda of the Round Table included the introduction of employment services centers in Herat province, improving cooperation between public, private, national and international employment services centers and the role of stakeholders in coordinating and improving the employment services.

Mr. Afghan, Herat DoLSA head, Mr. Zabihullah Monib Taheri, Country Director of Help INGO in Afghanistan, Mr. Yari, Craftsmen Union deputy, representatives of DoLSA, Industrial Chamber, Herat Agriculture Institute, Experts Council, National Labor Union, Tolo-e-Dorokhshan ESC, WESC head, WFP, PIN, GP, DRC, OSAA and civil society organizations participated in this round table.

At the outset, Mr. Masoud Amini, Project Officer of OSAA, welcomed participants and declared the goals of TVET and Employment Round Table which included creating a network among active organizations in TVET, build-up government sustainable supports for such programs, involve private sector and CSOs, and guarantee sustainable government and private sectors’ financial support for TVET programs.

Then, Mr. Abdul Sattar Zarifi, Herat DoLSA Labor Unit director, talked about employment services, its importance and coordination in providing employment services among organizations. He said that annually more than 6,000 individuals are being trained in different vocations and 60% to 70% of them are placed in a sort of job which is a great achievements for Herat DoLSA. He added that despite of many efforts made to provide various vocational training still there are many unemployed individuals. But there is hope that with stable improvement of TVET programs and employment services in quantitative and qualitative manners prevent poverty and unemployment of the people in the society.

Mr. Zobair Raouf, Manager of HR Unit in Herat DoLSA, spoke about employment services and activities including figures and statistics relevant to this unit. He added that many job seekers have been introduced to different govt. and private sectors. Also, 32,186 work permits were issued to the applicants and 7 cooperatives have been created by I/NGOs in which 90 individuals are placed in a sort of work. This year, more than 20 kindergartens have been licensed to operate from this department which has created employment for over 300 residents of Herat.

Then, Mr. Sayed Abdul Tawab Hossaini, OSAA ESC manager, talked about goals, structure, activities, job facilitation for public job seekers and TVET graduates of Help and OSAA, fair employers support, research and creating network among active organizations in TVET to coordinate and provide marketable vocational training. He also said that more than 3,000 public jobseekers have been registered in this center and 1,800 of them have been placed in jobs. Annual market research on marketable vocations in Herat province in 2016 and 2017, three TVET & employment Round-Tables, fair exhibitions for the employers and job seekers, three workshops on Labor Law and advanced short classes for TVET graduates are the most important activities of this center.

Later on Mr. Ghofran, MoLSA NSDP ESC manager in Herat, talked about the activities of this center. He divided the activities of this center into three major parts implementing development projects for women (grants), employment services for jobseekers and TVET. He added that during the current project, around 667 women received grants. These grants were donated to women to set up small businesses.

Then participants expressed their views and suggestions on coordination and cooperation between the employment services centers and on how to improve and increase employment services in Herat province.

• Comprehensive research on marketable vocations in the city and districts of Herat province;
• Research on the number of job applicants and work-force absorption capacities in the market;
• How to better monitor and enforce labor law;
• Unify organizations’ databases into one general employment database in DoLSA;
• Involve academic institutions and research centers contribute in research, development and providing TVET programs and employment services;
• Create working groups from the participants in order to follow up and implement decisions taken in Round-Tables;
• Provide training and capacity building programs for private sector to encourage representatives of this sector to comply with and enforce labor law, as well as increase the interaction and trust between the private sector and ESCs;
• Introduce ESCs through media.

At the end, Mr. Afghan, Herat DoLSA head, concluded the issues raised. He said that this is our task to work for jobseekers and create job opportunities for them. He expressed his satisfaction from this department partners in creating these opportunities. He also noted that in creating and facilitating job opportunities in the suburbs and villages fundamental things should be done and ESCs be introduced to the public in Herat province.

Finally, with having all participants’ agreement, a working group from the participants of the meeting was created and their work description determined for the coming months. This team is required to work to further coordination between employment services centers, optimize activities, and follow up the decisions that have been made.

It should be noted that the first round table titled “The Importance of the TVET and the Role of Governmental Support and International Organizations”, the second round table presenting the findings of Herat Council of Experts Book on the “Investment and Employment Opportunities in Herat Province” and the third round table titled “How to Promote TVET in Herat Province” have been organized in Herat.

Source: OSAA Project Unit.