- Duration: April 2012 – April 2016
- Value: $72 million
Overview
USAID Afghanistan’s Workforce Development Program (AWDP) complements the development goals of the Afghan and U.S. governments by strengthening the labor pool in major economic areas of the country and by addressing the twin problems of high unemployment and the scarcity of technically-skilled Afghan labor and trained business managers.
The program seeks to increase job placements and wages for 25,000 Afghans – at least 25 percent of them women – through increased access to technical and business education, training, job placement and support services. A wider goal is to increase highly-qualified, demand-driven labor in the Afghan workforce in key economic sectors while supporting key growth opportunities in construction, information and communications technology, mining, business management, and service industries.
AWDP is implemented in close collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the Deputy Ministry of Technical and Vocational Education and Training.
Current Activities
AWDP uses a four-step process to determine what skilled labor is needed and how to create it:
- Labor market demand assessment: Economic sector assessments determine the skills sought by private sector businesses. The focus is on the mid-career/semi-professional level.
- Curriculum development or adaptation: AWDP works with Afghan training providers to design or adapt curricula to meet labor skill demands of private sector employers.
- Competency-based training: AWDP grants help local organizations to deliver training in areas demanded by business.
- Employment placement services: AWDP provides pre-employment training, job-placement services, and follow-up services to trainees, helping them secure employment.
Accomplishmets
- Awarded and completed 30 short-term labor market-determined training programs. Another 74 grants and 11 contracts were recently awarded and are currently in-progress.
- Provided 30,902 mid-career/ semi-professional employees and job seekers – 36 percent of whom were women – with technical and business management skills. Training areas so far include the use of financial management software, web designer and electrician skills, among others.
- Assisted with placement and/or promotion with salary increases for 20,185 training program participants, 35 percent of whom were women.
- Facilitated the establishment of four profitable job training and placement service companies. The companies used an AWDP model developed under four grants.
