Promoting Market Accessibility and Responding To Local Economic Challenges
Networking Labor Market Stakeholders To Promote Market Accessibility And Respond To Local Economic Challenges
Youth unemployment is particularly high in Lebanon, with some estimating it at 37% for those under 25 years of age. While there are numerous reasons that contribute to the labor market’s deficiency in job opportunities for young job seekers, looking to create better compatibility between existing opportunities and the skill-set of job seeking youth provides a solid entry point to a holistic solution addressing the issue at large.
Through Al Mashghal, a project funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, Beyond Group has piloted a multi-tier program to address youth unemployment in remote regions of Lebanon where access to academic, employment, and business support opportunities is most limited.
Preparing youth to enter the job market with relevant and sought after profiles for employment requires academic curricula in both universities and vocational training centers that answer to market needs and prepare students for the roles necessary and available to be played within the current market place. This applies to employment seekers and aspiring entrepreneurs alike. One of the main obstacles standing in the way of realising such academic programs is the lack of labor market data that could inform the design of appropriate curricula.
This gap in information has a parallel effect on the role of local and international business support organizations as well as policy makers. The programs offered by business support organizations struggle to meet the needs of markets in geographically remote areas where they are most crucial. Meanwhile, the lack of labor market data has hindered efforts of policy makers to lobby for informed action plans that organize budding enterprises, incentivise them to register as legal entities, and better engage all labor market stakeholders to encourage growth, partnership and learning.
Over the past two years, Beyond Group, in partnership with COSV, CGM, AVANZI, and three Lebanese universities, has piloted a multi-tier program that engages youth across universities and vocational training centers in the North and Bekaa regions of Lebanon in offline and online activities that aim to better equip them for existing market opportunities, provide them with relevant and necessary support programs, and improve networks connecting them to business owners.
Through weaving constructive connections between stakeholders, the project addresses challenges faced by individual job seekers, aspiring entrepreneurs, academic institutions, business owners, and business support organizations simultaneously. This is best captured through the Al Mashghal online platform that establishes a full cycle of live data generated by and feeding back into the activities of universities, job seekers, business owners, business support organizations, and policy makers simultaneously.
The project, launched in 2017 and scheduled to be completed by December 2020, is composed of three main tiers that are well under way to completion:
A Stakeholder Engagement Platform Doubles As A Live Labor Market Observatory
Al Mashghal online platform was created as a means to connect all stakeholders while capturing real-time information necessary to better serve and address their challenges. The data may be geared toward developing customized academic curricula and business support programs, identifying employment and entrepreneurial opportunities, and proposing targeted policy changes.Within its first pilot year, the platform already hosts over 950 SME profiles. It makes these businesses accessible to job seekers and connects them with business support programmes in exchange for information filled periodically through an online survey system. The survey findings create a live feed of labor market data that is always up-to-date. The Report compiling this data supplies policy makers, universities, and business support groups alike with information they need in exchange for different contributions. While the labor market report itself may be monetised in the future, the inception phase has allowed partner universities access to the information in exchange for its students’ volunteer service onboarding SMEs and Social enterprises onto the platform. Business support organisations, on the other hand, may have access to the data in exchange for services they provide for free or at a discounted price.
Market-Oriented Curricula Encouraging Experiential Learning Methodologies
To tackle the challenge of job mismatch, whereby graduates who do find a job, do not often work in their areas of study, promote their graduating students’ employability and direct their entrepreneurial aspirations Al Mashghal finds a solid starting point within academic institutions.
Through engaging over thirty participating academic institutions, universities and vocational training centers, in capacity building training and workshop programs, the project encourages experiential learning methods as well as entrepreneurial thinking within academic programs and curricula. The amendments to academic programs have been very well-received, with over 700 students already registered to the new curricula across the participating universities. The project also supports partaking academic institutions in the development of job placement programs to help match students with internships and further enhance their employability.
Social Innovation Hubs To Promote Social Entrepreneurship In The Regions
It is essential for budding start-ups to be innovative in their approach and ensure their relevance in a competitive economy. In a country suffering from low quality and expensive social services relating to education, health care, water, energy, transport, shelter and environment, the need for innovation in response to social needs is vital.
In answer to this opportunity, Al Mashghal has so far established three sustainable social innovation hubs within participating universities across the regions. The project trains coaches within the universities to play a leading role across the innovation hubs. Students looking to develop their own businesses will find capacity building programs that support their endeavours and encourage social entrepreneurship as a means of innovation when exploring new business ideas.
As part of the project program, a social innovation competition was launched incentivising over 200 students to take part in the innovation hub programs. Of the 18 winning applicants 3 were awarded a trip to Italy to participate in a social innovation bootcamp.
With one year left to its completion, Al Mashghal is developing a sustainability plan to ensure it continues to connect stakeholders across the labor market through programs that help develop targeted responses to local economic challenges. Future-proofing the project is ensured through the partnerships established throughout the process. The team is working toward institutionalising many of the programs and ensuring the financial sustainability of its services and products such as the online platform.
While the impact Al Mashghal creates within the labor market itself may be evaluated and quantified, the shift in mindset it triggers in those who participate in its development and activities is of greatest value. The project promotes conversations that, in some instances, are happening for the first time, about the role individuals and organisations can play to contribute to local socio-economic well-being. The partnerships built amongst local entities and individuals will be the backbone of the project impact’s sustainability.