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Career Management Centre

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Implementing Partner: Damascus University
Practice Area: Poverty Reduction
Total Budget: US$ 169,834.00 (University of Damascus $25,000, UNDP $89,836, Private Sector US$ 55,000 )
Total Expenditures to Date (Dec 2009): US$ 116, 230
Duration: May 2008 – Feb 2010 (initial 12 months extended)
Status: Ongoing
Location: Damascus (pilot)

Description / Overview:

This pilot project is part of the 10th Five Year Plan (FYP) vision for creating a socio-economic environment that enables sustainable growth, employment, equity and protection. The project addresses the issue of unemployment among the graduated and undergraduate youth through facilitating a job matching process with the private and public enterprises. With the support of UNDP, the University of Damascus will design and implement a Career Management Center (CMC), which will play the role of a learning lab for the University of Damascus in its endeavor to be more market/customer oriented. The center will build bridges with the private sector, NGOs and other partners. It will provide support to Damascus University students (e.g. access to future jobs), it will contribute to the alignment between the portfolio of programmes offered by the University and the market needs, and it will leverage the relationships between the Damascus University and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour (MoSAL) in this respect. The project will establish linkages with Employment Offices through providing career counseling to registered university graduates and will establish linkages also with the Career Guidance Center to benefit from the analysed regular data collected by the CGC with a focus on the local labour market in Damascus. This project will be implemented by the University of Damascus in close coordination and cooperation with MoSAL.

Cross Cutting Themes:

The project is gender sensitive with clear indicators on gender equity, ensuring that equal opportunities are provided to both men and women


Objectives:

The project addresses unemployment among the graduated and undergraduate youth through facilitating job matching with private and public enterprises. With UNDP support, Damascus University will launch a Career Management Center (CMC), which will be a learning lab for DU in its endeavour to become more market/customer oriented in the context of ongoing economic reform. The centre will link with the private sector, NGOs and other partners, with the objectives of promoting:
  • A socio economic environment that enables sustainable growth, employment equity and protection in place
  •  An employment environment and opportunities for skill-enhancement improved, for the under- and unemployment, especially women and youth


Target Beneficiaries:

  • Damascus University
  • The students of Damascus University
  • Private sector employers, NGOs

Implementation Strategy:
  • Match between the supply and the demand side of the labour market. For this purpose, the project will build upon the outputs of the employment strategy that was developed by the MoSAL with the support of UNDP
  • Build a partnership between the private sector, NGOs, the University of Damascus and MoSAL (Employment Offices, Career Guidance Centre). This partnership will be translated into a training programme to be designed and provided to university students by well-established business men in the private sector. This partnership will be translated also through creating a job matching process
  • Create a link with and benefit from the comprehensive database and other surveys and studies to be developed by the project “The establishment of a database for a comprehensive employment strategy” which will be implemented by MoSAL.
  • Promote accessibility of women to the job market
  • Provide information and training on entrepreneurship as an avenue to employment in Syria. This would require training and information on the requirements and procedures currently related to setting up businesses, as well as brining in entrepreneurs with university degrees as presenters in training sessions
  • Supplying, matching, and facilitating for prospective employers and giving them incentives to hire. This would involve lowering their costs in getting information and risks in making recruitment decisions. Reduce the costs in time and money involved in advertising for jobs and screening suitable candidates.

Macro Level: through having direct links with the government’s strategic development plans in order to identify the resulting forthcoming economic activities and consequently assess the market labour needs. Liaise with the management of Damascus University on the strategic sectors that the government has identified as tools for boosting the economy; in order to focus more attention on the relevant education needs.

Micro Level: build the managerial capacities of the University staff to enable them to administer the Centre in order to facilitate a smooth exit strategy for UNDP, as well as to ensure the sustainability of the project.



Achievements / Current Status:

Up to 2008:
  • Project document signed
  • National Project Director vacancy announced
  • Transfer of Government funds, allocation of facilities and naming DU focal point completed
  • Revising the work plan jointly with the counterpart under way
As of February 2010:
  • CMC manual developed
  • Career Management staff selected
  • CMC staff received technical training on career guidance and soft skills training
  • Students at UoD received different technical and soft skills training, website for CMC developed
  • CMC renovated and launched
  • Private sector contributed to the renovation of the training centre
  • Training centre renovated, equipped and furnished to be affiliated to CMC
  • Publications for career guidance and CMC brochure have been published.

Partnerships:
  • Damascus University

Project Documents Link:
NPD: Dr. Abdussalam Zedan
UNDP Project Management: Social Development Team
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  
Last update of project information: February 2010