Submitted by iloadmin on

Because employment services play an intermediary role between workers and employers, they are, out of necessity, integrated within wider employment and business development support. Public employment services  play a coordinating role for job matching and implementing active labour market programmes (ALMPs). This was particularly so in cases where employment service support was directly linked to skills development initiatives, enterprise development and public employment programmes, such as Employment Intensive Investment Programmes (EIIP). 
Here are a few examples of how integration took place within the PROSPECTS programme regarding employment services:

Value-chain development and market systems
  • Beyond referrals of job-seekers to skills training, clear links were made between skills profiling and developing the capacities of employment officers, whether through training career counsellors and employment officers in the use of profiling tools such as SkillLab, or introducing European Classification of Skills, Competencies, Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO) to help determine the skills needs of employers. 
Cooperatives and the wider social and solidarity economy
  • Cooperative representatives were engaged to collect information on job vacancies among their members. 
Business development services
  • People participating in employment services training sometimes decide to start their own business after the training, so it’s important in that case to point them towards enterprise training. For instance, in Uganda, rural employment services were run with employment and business development officers. This helped provide labour market information and guidance to refugee and host community entrepreneurs who were starting or interested in scaling up their businesses. It included referrals to business training and business plan competitions. On the other hand, people taking BDS may discover that they would be better off seeking employment, so they need to be referred to employment services.
Work-based learning
Job Search Clubs
Employment-Intensive Investment Programmes (EIIP)
  • Access to public employment services can support EIIP workers through the process of formal employment, which may involve getting a work permit or having their skills profiled and matched to the type of labour needed. It can also support their transition from EIIP work, to more permanent employment.

Information about labour rights and international labour standards can also be incorporated  into employment services. For example, PROSPECTS Jordan trained cooperative representatives to play a role in providing information on labour rights and collecting follow-up information on the conditions of work where placements had been made. Similarly, in Lebanon, training with the community development centre (CDC) staff also includes employment service delivery and rights at work.