Roll out of Entrepreneurship Training underway - Know About Business
As part of its mandate, ILO is promoting entrepreneurship and business education among poor rural masses for improving their Human Security in Sindh Province. A total of 26 women and men were trained as KAB-Facilitators on ‘Know About Business’ training module. These trainers would further reach out to 500 prospective entrepreneurs with support of the Livelihood Restoration Project.
KARACHI (ILO News): ILO has developed a pool of 26 national facilitators on ‘Entrepreneurship Development’ using ‘Know-About-Business’ training module. These facilitators are from rural areas of Sindh Province and will subsequently instill entrepreneurial and business skills in the youth and farmer communities of Dadu and Mirpurkhas districts.
At the concluding ceremony of 10-day training course, the Commissioner Karachi, Mr Shoaib Siddiqui appreciated the training programme and traced the relevance of the training programme to the culture in Karachi, where majority of the 7.6 million youth are indulging in unhealthy activities only because they are not able to legitimately earn livelihoods. The Commissioner also stressed the need for developing employable skills among the youth and promoting for them the decent employment in private sectors. He expressed optimism that youth if trained can create opportunities for themselves. “We have a lot of potential, especially in our girls,” he said.
This training is part of “the Livelihoods Protection and Restoration Project (LRP)” in which, the vocational and entrepreneurial skills of the unemployed youth and farmer households are being developed. “The purpose of such trainings is to build resilience through livelihood diversification, whereby the on-farm earning of a family is supplemented by the off-farm earning. Resultantly the human security situation in the project areas is improving” said Mr Abid Niaz Khan, National Project Manager LRP. The training was facilitated by Ms Sadaf Abid, who is certified Trainer on KAB from the ILO’s International Training Centre in Turin, Italy.
Speaking at this occasion, Qazi Tanveer, Deputy General Secretary of the Pakistan Workers Federation said that “the need for employable and entrepreneurial skills is increasing because of the downsizing, industrial closures, increasing outsourcing trends and also the increased imports of finished products. Moreover, the KAB has great relevance to Pakistan where 53.4 % of total population depends on the youth’s income and the country by promoting KAB education can nurture the enormous socio-economic potential of their young population and thus the broader populace. He pointed out that involvement of youth in crime has to be lowered by providing them decent employment opportunities. He expressed the fear that simply controlling the crime through policing without providing decent employment to the youth will give rise to other social evils in the society. He further said that 40% of the 74 million Pakistanis who are employed abroad are ordinary labours, thus by investing in the skills we can significantly increase our remittances from the overseas Pakistanis.
Mr Khawaja Nauman, President of Employers Federation of Pakistan, suggested that the Pakistan government should embark on a mission of skilled Pakistan. He emphasized the need for entrepreneurial and business education for the youth so that they could become self-employed and subsequently the employers for others.
Ali Ashraf Naqvi, Joint Director Labour called for inclusion of the occupational health and safety education in the curricula of vocational and entrepreneurial skill programmes.
The Know-About-Business (KAB) programme has the aim of promoting entrepreneurship and small/ medium businesses in the country. It is incumbent upon the public sector organizations to extensively use the KAB Programme for enhancing the entrepreneurship culture and small businesses in the country.
Recognizing that education, training and lifelong learning contribute significantly to promoting the interests of individuals, enterprises, the economy and society as a whole; the ILO is promoting Decent Employment through a One-UN Livelihood Restoration Project (LRP). LRP is funded by the United Nations Trust Fund on Human Security (UNTFHS) and is being implemented by ILO in close collaboration with FAO, UN-Women and the Sindh Government.
National Project Manager, LRP
ILO Country Office for Pakistan
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At the concluding ceremony of 10-day training course, the Commissioner Karachi, Mr Shoaib Siddiqui appreciated the training programme and traced the relevance of the training programme to the culture in Karachi, where majority of the 7.6 million youth are indulging in unhealthy activities only because they are not able to legitimately earn livelihoods. The Commissioner also stressed the need for developing employable skills among the youth and promoting for them the decent employment in private sectors. He expressed optimism that youth if trained can create opportunities for themselves. “We have a lot of potential, especially in our girls,” he said.
This training is part of “the Livelihoods Protection and Restoration Project (LRP)” in which, the vocational and entrepreneurial skills of the unemployed youth and farmer households are being developed. “The purpose of such trainings is to build resilience through livelihood diversification, whereby the on-farm earning of a family is supplemented by the off-farm earning. Resultantly the human security situation in the project areas is improving” said Mr Abid Niaz Khan, National Project Manager LRP. The training was facilitated by Ms Sadaf Abid, who is certified Trainer on KAB from the ILO’s International Training Centre in Turin, Italy.
Speaking at this occasion, Qazi Tanveer, Deputy General Secretary of the Pakistan Workers Federation said that “the need for employable and entrepreneurial skills is increasing because of the downsizing, industrial closures, increasing outsourcing trends and also the increased imports of finished products. Moreover, the KAB has great relevance to Pakistan where 53.4 % of total population depends on the youth’s income and the country by promoting KAB education can nurture the enormous socio-economic potential of their young population and thus the broader populace. He pointed out that involvement of youth in crime has to be lowered by providing them decent employment opportunities. He expressed the fear that simply controlling the crime through policing without providing decent employment to the youth will give rise to other social evils in the society. He further said that 40% of the 74 million Pakistanis who are employed abroad are ordinary labours, thus by investing in the skills we can significantly increase our remittances from the overseas Pakistanis.
Mr Khawaja Nauman, President of Employers Federation of Pakistan, suggested that the Pakistan government should embark on a mission of skilled Pakistan. He emphasized the need for entrepreneurial and business education for the youth so that they could become self-employed and subsequently the employers for others.
Ali Ashraf Naqvi, Joint Director Labour called for inclusion of the occupational health and safety education in the curricula of vocational and entrepreneurial skill programmes.
The Know-About-Business (KAB) programme has the aim of promoting entrepreneurship and small/ medium businesses in the country. It is incumbent upon the public sector organizations to extensively use the KAB Programme for enhancing the entrepreneurship culture and small businesses in the country.
Recognizing that education, training and lifelong learning contribute significantly to promoting the interests of individuals, enterprises, the economy and society as a whole; the ILO is promoting Decent Employment through a One-UN Livelihood Restoration Project (LRP). LRP is funded by the United Nations Trust Fund on Human Security (UNTFHS) and is being implemented by ILO in close collaboration with FAO, UN-Women and the Sindh Government.
For further information please contact:
Mr Abid Niaz KhanNational Project Manager, LRP
ILO Country Office for Pakistan