WORKFORCE:

Achievement of SABEQ’s principal goals is strongly linked to aligning the skills of Jordan’s labor force with economic growth activities.  The goal of workforce development activities is to help Jordan develop a skilled labor force that can meet the labor market demands now and into the future and to develop the policies and practices to sustain that effort over time. Specific focus will be given to: workforce development policies and practices at local and national levels; public/private partnerships with education and training institutions; pre-employment career and skill development especially for youth and women; building the capacity of firms and institutions to provide on the job training to enhance productivity in relevant skills and industries.  All workforce development activities incorporate regional development and gender integration along with capacity building for sustainability.  Activities will center around the following types of activities: 

• Systemic Reform: Review of existing policies and practices in workforce development at regional and national levels with recommendations for improving practices to meet internationally accepted vocational and technical institution best practices. Primary activities will be focused on working with Karak and Irbid regional institutions to serve as a model in formulating national policies and practices based on experience in the regions.
• Partnership Development: Creating and “institutionalizing” effective public/private partnerships aimed at helping educational/vocational and training institutions improve the relevance of their curriculum and practical hands on learning for pre-employment training of students in support of targeted economic growth initiatives.  Activities will be implemented tested in Karak and Irbid with lessons learned used  as a model for additional areas and with national institutions and industry/business initiatives.
• Workforce Readiness & Skill Development: Career and mind set activities will be developed that address issues and concerns regarding the attitudes and opportunities of Jordanian students and faculty to become more familiar with alternative futures through internships, apprenticeships, faculty to factory exchanges and skill gap analysis at firm, regional, and national levels. 
• Improved and Enhanced Vocational/Technical Training for Employment: The needed skills will be identified in the activities of the public/private partnerships and with the Enhanced Productivity team.  Additional activities with the vocational and technical institutions will be undertaken to improve the management structure, capacity to assess skill gaps, improve best practices of VET and seek to obtain international standards of skill certification.  The focus will be on building the capacity of the regional institutions as a model for adaptation to other regions and nationally.    

 GENDER