National Employment Office reveals the mechanism for implementing the "first employment opportunities for youth" project to combat unemployment || Newspapers (Arabic)

Al Nahar newspaper published a report on the "first employment opportunities for youth" programme which was just launched by the National Employment Office last month (c.f. newsbrief of 11 September 2012 on WEEPortal).  The aim of this project is to reduce unemployment and immigration amongst the youth, according to Mr. Ziad Sayegh, the ILO advisor on national policies and head of the Ministry of Labour Task Force.
Mr. Sayegh also indicated that one key objective of the project is to challenge barriers that youth face in seeking and finding work through strengthening partnerships with the private sector for reducing youth unemployment. The project will be implemented in several consecutive phases. The first phase will focus on eligibility criteria and submitting requests. The second phase will focus on selecting participants and training them by the National Employment Office and NGOs. In the third phase, participants who would have completed the training cycle will receive a special project card which will allow her/his prospective employer to recover the NSSF contribution (21.5% of monthly salary) for two years with a reduction in recovery during the second year.  In the last phase of the project, a joint working group composed of experts from the World Bank and the Ministry of Labour will evaluate the efficacy of the project and its impact on beneficiaries.  
Sayegh indicated that the Lebanese government has allocated a budget of LBP 10 billion towards this project whilst the World Bank will provide up to another LBP 1.5 billion to cover additional expenses.

Source: Annahar 25 October 2012