Within the framework of SESRIC’s Public Employment Services Capacity Building Programme (PES-CaB) and in line with the OIC Public Employment Services Network (OIC-PESNET) Work Plan 2021-2022, SESRIC organised a Training Workshop on “Knowledge-Economy, Promotion of Entrepreneurship Activities and Reducing Informal Employment” on 01-03 November 2022 through an online video conferencing platform.

The training workshop was provided by competent experts from the Ministry of Labour of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan for the benefit of 42 experts and executives from the National Public Employment Services (PES) Agencies/ Authorities of 9 Arabic-speaking Member States of the OIC.

The training workshop commenced with the opening remarks of Mr. Onur ÇAĞLAR, Director of the Training and Technical Cooperation Department at SESRIC. Mr. ÇAĞLAR started his speech by thanking the Ministry of Labour of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan for its valuable cooperation with SESRIC in delivering the relevant technical sessions of the training workshop and sharing the expertise of Jordan in this important domain. He highlighted the significance of the knowledge economy in shaping the world of work by transforming the scope and means of economic relationships and stated the impact of entrepreneurship on economies considering its association with job creation, income generation and innovation. He also emphasized the need for creating and carrying out programmes that offer education, training and microfinance with the goal of integrating workers and economic units in the informal economy into the mainstream economy so that they are protected by the institutional and legal frameworks. Before concluding his remarks, he invited the National Focal Points (NFPs) of the OIC-PESNET to participate in the Online Annual Meeting of the NFPs of the OIC-PESNET, which will be virtually held on 17 November 2022.

In his welcoming remarks, Dr. Own Al Nahar, Director of Employment at the Ministry of Labour of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, underlined Jordan’s efforts in the field by conducting a “Future of Work Readiness Assessment”, which aims to review how technological developments and climate change would affect the forms of employment and work at all levels. Dr. AL NAHAR also pointed out the weight of identifying the most prominent challenges in this domain with proposed solutions to support employment and reviewing the most successful experiences in mechanisms to support the expansion of small and medium enterprises. He also briefed the participants on the achievements and plans of the Ministry of Labour for empowering job seekers to become entrepreneurs and the programmes which were put in place to implement the policy of “self-employment rather than employment”.

The OIC-PESNET is an OIC platform established to create closer cooperation among the national PES Agencies/ Authorities of the OIC Member Countries through sharing knowledge, experience and best practices. SESRIC assumes the role of the Secretariat of the OIC-PESNET and carries out a specific capacity building programme, namely; Public Employment Services Capacity Building Programme (PES-CaB), to support the efforts of the OIC Member Countries in developing the capacities of the institutional and human resources in the field of public employment services. Besides, the Turkish Employment Agency (İŞKUR) carries out the role of Chair of the OIC-PESNET for the period of 2021-2022. For more details about the Network and its activities, please visit: https://www.sesric.org/network-pesnet.php

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