Syria is moving from a planned economy towards a social market economy. It has a high share of young population which requires significant investment in education; while continuous labour force growth will increase pressure on the labour market. The country has high youth unemployment with inequalities between urban and rural areas. This situation is aggravated by the incapacity of the education system to provide the right skills demanded by the labour market, and the rather passive attitude of the enterprises in expressing their needs.
In 2011, ETF will provide support to the Syrian stakeholders in the following areas: - Governance: the high number of institutions involved in TVET, the quasi-absence of a coordinating institution (although the Planning and International Planning Commission is playing some role on that) and the little implication of employers’ organisation call for a profound reform of the governance on the TVET in the country. ETF role will consist on facilitating the dialogue between all stakeholders concerned and in building their capacity on this field. - Capacity building in the design of active labour market programmes. A support will be provided to the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs to review current and design new active labour market programmes. - Capacity building for young people who wish to become entrepreneurs through “SKILLS”, a business school developed in Syria supported by ETF and the Syrian Small and Medium Enterprise Support Program (SSP).
ETF will as well continue to provide input and support to the European Union delegation in Damascus particularly for 2 new projects to start in 2011: in-Service Training Programme and Programme for Growth and Industry. In this regard, ETF will make available its expertise notably in the field of entrepreneurship learning.
Finally Syria will participate in regional projects implemented by ETF: social partnership in VET, Entrepreneurial Learning and in the capacity building for evidence based projects. The participation of Syria to these projects will take the form of activities implemented in the country or through the participation corporate events organised by ETF during the year.