Youth Employment National Action Plan Sri Lanka

Transcription

1 Youth Employment National Action Plan Sri Lanka Presented by YEN Secretariat Ministry of Youth Affairs 19/03/2007 Dr. Markus Mayer/

2 Youth Employment Network, Sri Lanka Is a UN Millennium Development Project activity One of 19 Lead Countries Adopted by Government for long term implementation Supported by the ILO & the World Bank Under the purview of the Ministry of Youth Affairs Prepared National Action Plan for Youth Employment Focusing on 4 key areas: 1. Employability, 2. Equal Opportunities, 3. Entrepreneurship and 4. Employment Creation

3 Youth Employment Network (YEN) will assist the government of Sri Lanka, to develop and implement strategies that give young people everywhere a real chance to find decent and productive work. It aims to; tackle the issue of youth employment at the national and local levels

4 Aims of the National Action Plan (NAP) 1. analyze the youth employment problem 2. strategize the responses needed 3. determine the what and how of implementation 4. resource mobilization 5. coordinate the implementation 6. ensure the monitoring of results

5 Adopted strategy to prepare the NAP investigate key dimensions of youth exclusion from the labour market review key policies and programs and identify main issues and constraints discuss issues and recommendations with selected expert groups undertake a broad consultation with major national stakeholders, including youth

6 Demographics of Unemployed Youth 71% of the unemployed in Sri Lanka are youth between years First-time job seekers constitute a large proportion of the total unemployed in Sri Lanka (nearly 82%) High degree of educated youth unemployment: Nearly 50% of the unemployed have attained O-level or higher education, for youth with A-level qualification the unemployment rate is 25% 86% of the unemployed are from rural areas Unemployment among women is higher (around 12%) in comparison to men (around 7%) in 2000

7 Unemployment in Sri Lanka: An Overview Gender 49% Females 51% Males Create appropriate opportunities Age Education Duration Spatial Attitudes/Mindset 67 % between age % GCE (OL) & above 77% unemployed for over 1 year 1/5 in Southern Province 1/3 in Western Province Aspiration for white collar jobs Youth unemployment Educated Unemployment Resource waste, Frustration, unrest Implications for regional development Need for change of overall attitudes * 2002 Census data and 2004 estimates / Analysis does not include the North & Eastern Provinces Source for table : National Employment Policy 2002

8 Waiting for a job Around 60% of the job seeking youth are searching for a job for more than a year Among working youth around 40% had been looking for a job for more than one year before choosing selfemployment or finding employment 45.2% of the job-seeking youth said that they are just staying at home, another 28.5% are staying at home while being also responsible for the family households Only 7.3% undertook some training or did volunteer work without payment (1.8%) while looking for a job (STWT 2003)

9 Key recommendations from analysis and focus group discussions so far 1. Improve coordination of programmes and initiatives directly or indirectly impacting youth s employment opportunities; and improve communication with youth to ensure that they are active stakeholders in the process, and that they are well informed of existing opportunities 2. Conduct a nation wide campaign, targeted at different groups and using different means of communication to change perceptions and aspirations of youth regarding job choices 3. Consistently incorporate, in the macro economic scenario, plans and alternatives that will enhance job creation for youth

10 recommendations cont 4. Continue to implement, and at a more rapid pace, recommendations that have been made, by various authorities, to improve the delivery of education. 5. Improve the quality of tertiary education by more of a private sector, demand driven orientation, and opening up for more competition, improving coordination, standards and financing methods, of both universities and vocational training institutions 6. Develop and implement active labour market policies that facilitate addressing the special needs of youth 7. Develop and implement programmes that will enable youth to develop their entrepreneurial potential

11 Policy Directions: Employability Support efforts to improve outcome of rural (and estate sector) education (by highlighting the implications for youth integration) Establish an association that encompass all providers of training for youth to better coordinate their efforts and to improve quality and coherence for TVET programs Promote use of English and ICT in education as well as practical experiences (e.g. internships after O/level and A/level exams) Strengthen job counselling and labour market information dissemination Improve access of least educated youth to enrol in training institutions (review boundaries between education & training) Promote skilled and semi-skilled labour migration of youth and set-up reintegration strategies for returnees Ethos and ethics on certain aspects of employment should be targeted in a public awareness campaign

12 Policy Directions: Equal Opportunity Raise more awareness on the negative impact of inequalities in the quality of the education system Introducing special programs to reintegrate conflictaffected and other vulnerable youth Prioritise development of basic infrastructure in underprivileged areas Work to improve training and skills development of persons with disabilities Introducing affirmative action in various programs to promote equity (e.g. make Tamil medium training opportunities available in all institutions)

13 Policy Directions: Entrepreneurship Eliminate bottlenecks in self-employment/ entrepreneurship among youth, e.g. access to finance, credit schemes, continuous capacity building, business support etc. Expose young people to basic values of entrepreneurship in school curricula and training programs Lobby for exemptions for youth from labour and tax regulations for a prescribed time period Promote youth-business linkages and support the set-up of country-wide business associations for youth Provide incentive for youth working in the public sector to participate in entrepreneurship training Initiate social communication campaigns that address work ethic, attitudes, and perceptions on manual, technical and entrepreneurial work, and on issues related to gender and disability

14 Policy Directions: Employment Creation Support the work of the National Labour Advisory Council to look into detrimental laws and lobby for youth sensitive focus in any reform proposals (especially in regard to young first-time job-seekers) Lobby for the phase out of ad-hoc public sector recruitment practices Strengthen social dialogue between workers and employers, with a special view on critical issues relevant for youth employment Support lobbying efforts for basic infrastructure development by pointing out the relevance for youth employment

15 Policy Directions: Coordination Promote a partnership and networking approach that encourages different actors and political stakeholders to work together in finding and implementing innovative solutions to the youth employment challenge Mandate YEN secretariat to work under the Ministry of Youth Affairs; coordinate all youth employment related government activities within the framework of the YEN-NAP and to establish coordination mechanism at all levels (with bench marking for impact assessment)

16 YEN-SL will serve to; enhance coordination and better integration of youth employment interventions, and thus, increase impact By developing the National Action Plan; attract and mobilize the needed resources both from the Government, the private sector and the donor community

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