The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced the closing ceremony of itsfour-year workforce development project in Lebanon through the Community Support Program (CSP). Theagency has invested a total of US$ 7.3 million since 2019 in order to ameliorate job opportunities and skills for1,087 individuals coming from vulnerable Lebanese communities suffering from partial or full unemployment,as per USAID.  The USAID has worked on the training and mentoring of students and young entrepreneurs in the country. This was done through the involvement of participants in municipal community projects, the offering of educational grants or through helping individuals to realize their business ideas. The goal of the agency has been to enhance individuals’ access to opportunities as well as improve their career prospects in order for them to contribute tothe development of the economy, as per the USAID Lebanon Administrator.  During the ceremony, a panel discussion tackling recommendations for future workforce development programs in Lebanon took place. The discussion tackled the topics of continuing stakeholder cooperation in order to improve the institution’s capacity to train and educate in the field of vocational and technical education, invest in efforts towards addressing the negative stigma surrounding these fields of education as well as the need for continuous coordination in order to develop a national action plan that will reform the vocational and technical education sector.  Additionally, the local CSP has developed and adopted five additional curricula in the aforementioned sector. These include home healthcare, maintenance and repair of industrial equipment, information and communication technology (ICT) as well as courses tackling soft skills development to improve beneficiaries’ability to compete for work which are available in 13 vocational and technical education institutes partneredwith the program throughout Lebanon. (ICE BEIRUT)

Fonte notizia: Bank Audi, Lebanon Weekly Monitor, 22-28 May 2023