Manpower Inc, a world leader in the employment services industry, has entered into a partnership with the Doha-based Silatech to create jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities for young adults in 22 countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Silatech is a social enterprise, founded by H H Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, with broad support from other regional and international leaders, governments and organisations to offset social marginalisation in the MENA region. As per the agreement that was signed in Davos last week, Manpower will leverage its global expertise to help Silatech deliver demand-driven and market-oriented skills training and job-placement services to young people across the region. Manpower and Silatech established a one-year framework to exchange experience and practices by piloting innovative programmes for young people. The pilot programme will draw on Manpower’s global expertise, including the engagement of employers and measurement of employer needs, candidate assessment and training, job-readiness, soft skill initiatives, the creation of effective workforce development partner linkages and capacity-building among service partners. Silatech aims to create 100 million jobs for unemployed youth and aspirant entrepreneurs aged between 18 and 30 in the region. Qatar launched the ambitious $100m project to curb unemployment in the region at a UN conference in Madrid last year. Silatech, which means ‘your connection’, advocates for increased and new forms of investment by partners —donors, investors, capital markets, corporations, financial institutions, governments and non-governmental organisations—to develop customised strategies that create jobs and economic opportunities for young people. It facilitates a network of leading researchers, practitioners and institutions to serve as a focal point of scholarship, action-oriented research and regional and global best practices to support youth employment in the Arab world. The rate of unemployment in the MENA region is the highest in the world, compared to other regions; and stands at around 14 percent, according to the Arab Labour Organisation (ALO). Among young people, the numbers are even higher at around 25 percent, a latest data released by ALO says. ALO observes that the global economic crisis has hit the Arab markets hard and may cause job losses to as many as five million people. If the economic situation remains in the current state, there will be around 21 million Arabs out of work by next year. Delegates at a recent Arab economic summit in Kuwait drafted a resolution calling for a comprehensive programme for cutting down unemployment in Arab countries. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=February2009&file=Local_News2009020753334.xml

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