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STORY: JORDAN / UNEMPLOYED YOUTH
TRT: 2.59
SOURCE:
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 24 SEPTEMBER 2014, JORDAN
1. Various shots, Ahmad Damiri at home
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ahmad Damiri, apprentice:
“After I left school, I stayed home for a while. My options were either to work in a factory, or somewhere which did not require a profession or skill.”
3. Various shots, street views
4. GVs, a classroom with young adult students
5. GVs, people at work at an auto repair shop
6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Yasser Ali, International Labour Organization (ILO) Project Coordinator:
“Training takes places in the workplace, at a workshop or garage. The apprentice gets skills by learning alongside an experienced auto mechanic.”
7. Various shots, auto repair shop
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Yusef Rahal, Program Mentor:
“We evaluate the progress of the apprentices through the work they do on the ground. We also continuously follow up on their training in the garages. The work and progress of the apprentices is evaluated by the mentors and employer.”
9. Various shots, workers at auto repair shop
10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Yasser Ali, International Labour Organization (ILO) Project Coordinator:
“If this model was replicated on a national level, it would be one way of resolving the problem of the mismatch between supply and demand, which is one of the reasons for unemployment.”
11. Various shots, Ahmad Damiri working
12. I SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ahmad Damiri, apprenctice:
“My expectation is that I become fully trained as a mechanic, with training in electrical systems so I can open my own garage and make a living out of it – a good standard of living.”
13. Various shots, Ahmad Damiri working
Jordan is a young country. over 60 percent of its population is under 30. But more than half of Jordan’s youth population is unemployed.
Experts say that this is partly because of a mismatch between what students learn in school and the available jobs in the labour market.
To improve youth employment, a new program has been created to provide the young with the skills needed to be competitive in the labour market.
Ahmad Damiri dropped out of his high school after failing his final exams. Without a diploma and no plans to go back to school, he said his prospects were limited.
After leaving school, he stayed home “for a while.” He noted that his options were “either to work in a factory or somewhere which did not require a profession or skill.”
Damiri is one of hundreds of thousands of young Jordanians struggling to find decent work. More than half of all Jordan’s young people between the ages of 20 and 24 are unemployed.
The challenges they face are made even more difficult because what’s taught in schools often doesn’t match what’s needed in the country’s labour market.
To help meet the challenge, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Youth Foundation partnered on a pilot project to create apprenticeships in the auto repair sector.
ILO Project Coordinator Yasser Ali said that the training can take place in a wide range of places.
He said that “training takes places in the workplace, at a workshop or garage. The apprentice gets skills by learning alongside an experienced auto mechanic.”
Thirty small auto repair shops agreed to participate in the apprenticeship program and more than 50 apprentices and experienced auto mechanics worked side by side, along with mentors assigned by the program.
Program Mentor Yusef Rahal noted the continuous monitoring apprentices go through.
He said “we evaluate the progress of the apprentices through the work they do on the ground. We also continuously follow up on their training in the garages. The work and progress of the apprentices is evaluated by the mentors and employer.”
Many of Jordan’s small auto repair shops operate informally, without clear standards on wages, working hours and safety at work.
While the apprentices learned new skills, the pilot project also benefitted employers and enterprises. Experienced auto mechanics learned about workplace safety, improving the work environment and more effective management.
ILO Project Coordinator Yasser Ali highlighted the need to solve the “mismatch” between the supply and the demand in the labor market.
Ali said that “if this model was replicated on a national level, it would be one way of resolving the problem of the mismatch between supply and demand, which is one of the reasons for unemployment.”
For Damiri, the apprenticeship experience changed his life. He is now formally employed at the garage.
He said that his expectation is to become “fully trained as a mechanic, with training in electrical systems” to open his garage and make a living out of it – “a good standard of living.”
Giving Jordan’s young people skills demanded by the labour market not only points the way toward reducing youth unemployment, but it also give them new hope for decent work, and an independent future.
