(ILO News) The ILO in Iraq held consultative and capacity building workshops for representatives of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs working in employment centres across the country, as part of wider efforts by the ILO to support the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Federal Government and of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq to enhance career guidance and job-matching services for job seekers.

The workshops included a four-day training workshop in Erbil and an intensive one-day consultative meeting in Baghdad which brought together Ministry staff members from across different governorates. The workshops aimed to identify some of the challenges facing employment service delivery in Iraq and potential approaches to strengthen career guidance and employment services that would lead to more and better livelihoods and decent job opportunities.

A key focus of these workshops was exchanging knowledge and international good practice from ILO’s experience in supporting employment services in Jordan, where ILO-supported employment centres have provided thousands of job seekers with career guidance, on-the-job-training opportunities and job placement.

Participants also discussed priorities for the establishment of a digital employment platform which aims to streamline processes for linking job-seekers with employment, internship and training opportunities, with the aim to reach more employers and job seekers.

The workshops also highlighted core principles related to employment support services, career guidance and decent work and the various processes and procedures linked to employment services.

Efforts to improve access to employment services in Iraq are supported by different ILO programmes being implemented under the Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP). These includes activities supported by the Government of the Netherlands under the “Partnership for improving prospects for forcibly displaced persons and host communities,” also known as PROSPECTS; and by the European Union, as part of the “Social Protection Programme for Iraq: Leveraging Effective Response and Accelerating Reform”.

Supporting job creation and private sector growth is one of the three key priorities of the ILO’s activities in Iraq under the DWCP, which is being implemented in collaboration with Iraq’s government and its worker and employer representatives. The Programme’s other main priorities include strengthening social protection and addressing child labour; and strengthening labour governance and social dialogue.