Action Plan on Youth Employment presented in Astana
On 26 June, the final version of a Action Plan on Youth Employment was presented at a multi-stakeholder conference in Astana, Kazakhstan.
The Action Plan is a long term strategic document aiming at improving the youth employment policy framework in the country until 2020, through a coordinated and comprehensive approach. The presentation was the final step in the process of developing the Action Plan, which will now be submitted to relevant Government bodies for approval and implementation.
The Action Plan on Youth Employment has been developed in the framework of the project ’Partnerships for Youth Employment in the CIS’, implemented by the ILO Decent Work Team and Country Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia with financial support of JSC LUKOIL. Kazakhstan is a target country of the project, and the development of the Action Plan is one of the main project results in the country.
Employment is a key priority for Kazakhstan as a part of its endeavors to become one of the 30 most developed countries in the world by 2050. A Road Map for Employment until 2020 has been developed by the Government, within which youth are considered a priority group. The Action Plan on Youth Employment addresses specific challenges facing young people on the Kazakh labour market, thus serving as a complement to the Employment Road Map 2020. It focuses on three key priorities; providing vocational guidance to young people, promotion of entrepreneurship among young people, and expansion of young people’s access to effective employment services and active labour market policies. The Action Plan also sets an overall goal of achieving a youth unemployment rate of no more than 5 per cent by 2020.
’The Action Plan is very much in line with our current priorities and policies’, said Vice Minister of Healthcare and Social Development Mr Birzhan Nurymbetov in his opening address to the multi-stakeholder meeting. ’While Kazakhstan is one of the few countries in the world where the youth unemployment level is actually lower than the overall unemployment rate, we continue to work actively to stimulate employment of young people, so as to maintain the positive development. Young people are our future, and by making sure that they are decently employed today, we are laying the ground for a strong labour market tomorrow’, he added.
Elaboration of the Action Plan was initiated by national stakeholders in Kazakhstan. It has been developed over an 18-month period in close cooperation between the ILO and a National Technical Team in the country, consisting of tripartite constituents, as well as relevant line Ministries and other bodies dealing with Youth Employment issues. Mr. Mikhail Pouchkin, Chief Technical Advisor for the YEP CIS project, emphasized that this multi-stakeholder approach is one of the keys to the success of the Action Plan. ’This is a model example of real tripartite partnership. Through a very active involvement of workers, employers and government we have managed to develop a strong and comprehensive strategy. Only through such a coordinated approach we can successfully address the challenges facing young people in the labour market’, Mr. Pouchkin noted.
During the meeting, all members of the National Technical Team approved the Action Plan. Thus, the document will now be submitted for approval and adoption of the relevant government bodies, whereafter implementation of the activities will be launched.
The Action Plan on Youth Employment has been developed in the framework of the project ’Partnerships for Youth Employment in the CIS’, implemented by the ILO Decent Work Team and Country Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia with financial support of JSC LUKOIL. Kazakhstan is a target country of the project, and the development of the Action Plan is one of the main project results in the country.
Employment is a key priority for Kazakhstan as a part of its endeavors to become one of the 30 most developed countries in the world by 2050. A Road Map for Employment until 2020 has been developed by the Government, within which youth are considered a priority group. The Action Plan on Youth Employment addresses specific challenges facing young people on the Kazakh labour market, thus serving as a complement to the Employment Road Map 2020. It focuses on three key priorities; providing vocational guidance to young people, promotion of entrepreneurship among young people, and expansion of young people’s access to effective employment services and active labour market policies. The Action Plan also sets an overall goal of achieving a youth unemployment rate of no more than 5 per cent by 2020.
’The Action Plan is very much in line with our current priorities and policies’, said Vice Minister of Healthcare and Social Development Mr Birzhan Nurymbetov in his opening address to the multi-stakeholder meeting. ’While Kazakhstan is one of the few countries in the world where the youth unemployment level is actually lower than the overall unemployment rate, we continue to work actively to stimulate employment of young people, so as to maintain the positive development. Young people are our future, and by making sure that they are decently employed today, we are laying the ground for a strong labour market tomorrow’, he added.
Elaboration of the Action Plan was initiated by national stakeholders in Kazakhstan. It has been developed over an 18-month period in close cooperation between the ILO and a National Technical Team in the country, consisting of tripartite constituents, as well as relevant line Ministries and other bodies dealing with Youth Employment issues. Mr. Mikhail Pouchkin, Chief Technical Advisor for the YEP CIS project, emphasized that this multi-stakeholder approach is one of the keys to the success of the Action Plan. ’This is a model example of real tripartite partnership. Through a very active involvement of workers, employers and government we have managed to develop a strong and comprehensive strategy. Only through such a coordinated approach we can successfully address the challenges facing young people in the labour market’, Mr. Pouchkin noted.
During the meeting, all members of the National Technical Team approved the Action Plan. Thus, the document will now be submitted for approval and adoption of the relevant government bodies, whereafter implementation of the activities will be launched.