MLIREC is currently provided with technical assistance for strengthening and upgrading of the Namibia Integrated Employment Information System (NIEIS) through the ILO / Korea partnership program. NIEIS is Namibia Public Employment Services’ (PES)  online system to register job seekers, vacancies in the public and private sector and assist job-seekers in finding suitable employment.

The purpose of the mission was (1) to provide Namibian officials with the opportunity of interacting with key PES institutions in Korea responsible for employment policies and public employment services, and (2) to help them to better equip themselves with knowledge of the pivotal role and vision of employment policies, public employment service and online job matching system.

The delegation visited seven organisations in Korea that have roles of making, implementing, or delivering employment policies and public employment services as follows.

•  The Ministry of Employment and Labor (MoEL);
• Two Employment Welfare Plus Centres that belong to regional offices of MoEL;
• Korea Employment and Information Service(KEIS) - the public agency under MoEL to operate employment-related platforms and analyse labour market information;
• The Korea University of Technology and Education(KOREATECH)- a four-year university established by MoEL to foster practical engineers and HRD specialists and TVET teachers;
• Seocho Women Resources Development Centre - a private employment service provider specialised in supporting women; and
• Korea Job World (Job experience museum for children and teenagers established by MoEL)

The most highlighted among the institutions visited by the delegation was Suwon Employment Welfare Plus Centre, where the delegation held a meeting with the Head of the Centre and the heads of five teams, namely Employment Support, Unemployment Benefit, Business Support, Employment Success Package and Vocational Training. The Centre has staff complement of 130 employees, of which  120 belong to the MoEL, and 10 are dispatched from other organisations -which are the Job Centre and Welfare Service Team of Suwon local government, New-Job Centre for Women, Senior Club, and Financial Support Centre.

The second highlighted place was the Korea Employment Information Services. The delegation had a meeting with the head of KEIS and the relevant experts who provided presentations and held discussions on the role of KEIS. KEIS is responsible for the collection, analysis, and dissemination of labour market information, including digitalisation of employment services and employment administration in Korea. Online systems KEIS has developed are operating include Work-Net (Job Portal), Employment Insurance System, HRD-Net (Training information system), Employment Permit System (administration platform for foreign workers), ILMOA system (Integrated public works administration system), and Employment Information System.

The delegation also visited the Ministry of Employment and Labour in the Government Complex located in Sejong Special Self-Governing  City which was founded in 2012 as the new planned administrative capital. Deputy Directors from Labour Market Policy Bureau and Employment Services Policy Bureau respectively presented on the Korea national employment policy, employment services policy and infrastructure and digitalisation of PES.

Most of the members of the delegation from Namibia are part of the NIEIS Marketing Task Force that was established with the support of the project to increase the visibility and usage of the job portal. It is expected that they will utilise what they learned from the Korean PES experience on their PES and the online matching system currently upgrading with the support of the project.  In particular, the Namibian delegation will use the lessons learned in various areas including  PES policy, the role of PES organisations, public-private partnerships, the role of KEIS as an operating agency of Employment Network System for drawing the vision and implementation framework for Namibian PES. It is expected that the upgrading of NIEIS and its link to PES service provision will draw on the Korean experience.

The Deputy Directors of Labour Market Policy Bureau and Employment Service Policy Bureau in the Ministry of Employment and Labour presented on the national employment policy, employment service policy and PES infrastructure and digitalisation to the delegation.