USAID aims to empower women through jobs project
* Deputy director says five-year jobs project supports Pakistan to improve workforce development systems and creating jobs
ISLAMABAD: The five-year plan “USAID Pakistan Job Project” initiated by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) with total cost of $80 million with support of Government of Pakistan (GoP), is committed for provision of employability to Pakistani women for taking part to strengthen the country’s economy through education.
In a ceremony on Saturday, USAID congratulated 200 out of 1,900 recent graduates of “vital skills” training through Sarhad University to render the students better prepared to enter the job market.
Addressing the ceremony, USAID Deputy Director Suzanne Olds said that higher education institutions concentrate on providing training in academic disciplines but did not emphasize job placement and employability “It is my pleasure to note that Sarhad University in partnership with USAID has launched a program to incorporate employability skills into their regular curricula, ” she added.
She said that five-year jobs project supports the government of Pakistan in improving workforce development systems and creating jobs for the country’s rapidly growing population.
Suzan further added that jobs project would assist in the placement of 100,000 Pakistani women and men in skill-matched jobs through training and placement centres, leading to lowered unemployment and increased incomes.
Through this program, the students half of them were women from North Waziristan, now have the “soft skills” necessary to better compete for employment, including definition of career objectives, interview and resume-writing techniques, basic interpersonal skills and information technology orientation.
“It is indeed a privilege to be associated with this program in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), which has undergone severe hardships in the last few years, University Vice Chancellor Salim-ur-Rehman said.
The VC said that Sarhad University integrated this new course into its core curriculum and replicated the model through its satellite campuses across KP, to benefit as many as 10,000 students annually.
“More than 1,900 students (50 percent of whom are female) from across KP are participating in the program at Sarhad University’s main and satellite campuses.
Though 1,000 have just participated in this program, 30-40 percent are employed in two areas of employment — public and private schools as physical and health education teachers, and the pharmaceutical industry,” he concluded.
Source: Daily Times
Date:9/26/2010
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