UNICEF and ILO support youth to prepare for work through Job Search Clubs in Jordan

Amman – More than 400 young people in Jordan who have completed intensive, career-related training to support their successful transition to the labour market as part of the Job Search Clubs from UNICEF and the ILO, in coordination with the Ministry of Youth, were celebrated during an official event in Amman. The Minister of Youth, Mohammad Al Nabulsi, and Deputy Head of Mission of Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Pier de Vries, took part in the ceremony, along with the youth’s facilitators and representatives of partner organizations.  

The Jobs Search Clubs programme is supported by the Kingdom of the Netherlands, through the PROSPECTS partnership, and implemented by the Business Development Centre (BDC). To date, 80 facilitators have been trained, including Ministry of Youth staff in different governorates and volunteers in refugee camps, to deliver youth training and to continue supporting young people as they seek employment with one-on-one follow up.

“The Ministry has contributed along its partners, including national institutions, international organizations and civil society in preparing, training and empowering young people to enter the labour market,” said Jordan’s Youth Minister Muhammad al-Nabulsi. “We are supporting youth in their quest for suitable job opportunities, while also preparing the facilitators who are working with them across the country’s centres.”

“The PROSPECTS partnership is a flagship programme of the Netherlands, focused on supporting vulnerable Jordanians and refugees, women and youth. This partnership invests in protection, learning and earning. We are very happy to see that 400 youth have already been part of this project, and many more to come in the near future,” said Pier de Vries, Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

“We are very happy about the Job Search Clubs facilitators’ achievements and the results coming from these first few months of the joint implementation of the project in Jordan,” said Frida Khan, ILO Jordan Decent Work and Country Coordinator. “Supporting Jordanians and Syrian refugee youth to look for, find and access decent employment is key for the ILO’s mission in the country. As a result, we look forward to following their imminent and future success on the local job market.”

“When youth are empowered with the skills and information that they need to access meaningful employment and be jobs-ready, the possibilities for their futures are endless,” said Shairose Mawji, Acting Representative, UNICEF Jordan. “We are proud of our partnership with the Ministry of Youth, ILO and BDC, supported by the PROSPECTS partnerships, to provide youth with the job-search tools they need to find meaningful employment in a challenging labour market.”

 “We are very pleased to be the implementers of the Job Search Clubs programme,” said Ghaleb Hijazi, General Manager of Jordan Business Development Center. “This project is unique in its the search for market’s opportunities and needs, connecting young people to reach their most appropriate opportunities.”

Based on two-week job search support activities, the JSCs bring together different individuals facing similar challenges to enter the labour market. Young people receive intensive coaching by the new trained facilitators on job search-related skills. Following an initial assessment of their personal interests, skills and occupational goals, the members learn how to gather job leads from various sources, conduct job interviews, fill out applications, write CVs and handle stressful situations, among others.

At the end of the two-week intensive programme, jobseekers benefit from a further three-month window in which they will receive assessments on their employment status by the UN agencies.

The JSC is an ILO methodology, providing youth with activities set to help them find suitable work within a short period of time. The programme fosters peer-to-peer exchanges among young job seekers, creates new connections, while allowing them to hone their job search abilities, matching their qualifications and skillset.

The Job Search Clubs programme is set to help boost youth employment in the country. Prior to COVID-19, the unemployment rate among young people in Jordan was 32 per cent, but this has increased due to the impact of the pandemic. According to the Jordan Department of Statistics (DoS), unemployment for youth in the 15-24 age bracket has reached over 46 per cent in the second quarter of 2022, affecting more than 63 percent of young women and 42 percent of young men in the country.