Rabat, Morocco, January 28, 2014-IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, the Moroccan Ministry of Tourism, and the Moroccan Tourism Observatory today signed an agreement to provide comprehensive information on job opportunities in the tourism sector, helping improve the employment prospects of young people in Morocco.
IFC will advise the ministry on how to help young people find work in the tourism industry, with the aid of a specially designed sector-specific labor observatory and a newly established training program for the management of education centers. The Moroccan tourism sector must fill 130,000 new positions to support its rapid growth, but there is a gap between the skills of graduating students and the needs of employers.
"Skills development is a priority for the tourism sector," said Lahcen Haddad, Minister of Tourism for Morocco. "This partnership will enable educators to redesign their programs and improve the employability of Moroccan youth. It will encourage economic development across the country, especially in the fast-growing and labor-intensive tourism sector."
Kamal Bensouda, President of the Moroccan Tourism Observatory, said: "By compiling and publishing information on employment trends, the observatory will help employers make better recruitment decisions and give students access to more accurate information on employment opportunities, careers, and training programs."
The agreement is part of IFC's E4E Initiative for Arab Youth. Active since 2012 in Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia and Morocco, the program focuses on partnering with private and public sectors to help bridge the skills gap and equip young people with the abilities and education that employers require.
"Without the necessary skills to succeed in the work place, young people will continue to struggle to find jobs, even in rapidly expanding sectors," said Joumana Cobein, head of the Maghreb region for IFC. "It is imperative to furnish the youth with those qualities employers demand, and the entrepreneurial skills to help them start their own businesses."
This project was made possible with the support of the Government of the Netherlands, the Islamic Bank of Development, the Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs, and UKaid.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. Working with private enterprises in more than 100 countries, we use our capital, expertise, and influence to help eliminate extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity. In FY13, our investments climbed to an all-time high of nearly $25 billion, leveraging the power of the private sector to create jobs and tackle the world's most pressing development challenges. www.ifc.org
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