Afghanistan Workforce Development Program (AWDP) Herat Mega Job Fair and Graduation Ceremony Event

Creative Associates International, based in Washington, D.C., implements the off-budget component of the program, while the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) Ministry of Education's Deputy Ministry of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (DM-TVET) implements the on-budget program, with Creative providing technical support. The shared goal of both components is to train, place, and/or promote with salary increases 25,000 Afghans in semi-professional or mid-career employment, reducing the need to outsource for skilled work from foreign labor. AWDP also focuses on strengthening local training providers of technical and vocational education and business training by facilitating linkages to the private sector, reducing reliance on donor funding. The Herat Mega Job Fair provided an innovative setting to meet these programmatic goals. The purpose of a collaborative job fair is to bring together multiple private sector entities, AWDP-funded training providers, and a diverse array of job seekers trained under different sectors. This approach prevents scattered efforts, consolidates resources under one roof, and allows training providers to share contacts. The objective of the Herat Mega Job Fair was to fast-track job placements for AWDP-trained job seekers, while providing them job search tools to use beyond the event. AWDP-trained job seekers also took part in the planning and participation of the event, which helped to increase their personal investment while gaining additional skills and confidence. The event facilitated job seekers' efforts to find semi-professional work by creating a shared space with a variety of private sector entities looking to fill open positions. Private sector entities with employment opportunities were able to better assess the availability and the quality of the local workforce for full-time, part-time, or seasonal employment opportunities. AWDP also provided organizational tools to the training providers/grantees to set up the event, designating committees to cover different requirements such as coordinating with private sector, government officials, attendees, job seekers, the local police force, and NDS for security and catering services. The private sector benefits from job fairs by having access to a ready pool of job seekers trained in competency-based marketable skills in one place. Employers can vet job seekers at the event and at a later date following the job fair. Participating companies demonstrated their intentions to hire through the advertisement of real jobs to fill coupled with a focus on screening and interviewing job seekers. This led to enthusiasm in job seekers and the training providers that represented them. The project is tabulating an exit questionnaire for participating employers and job seekers to use as a baseline to track subsequent job hires. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded AWDP recently facilitated a two-day Mega Job Fair in Herat, Afghanistan, which brought together over 10,000 people, including job seekers, private sector entities, and government officials. The event was supported by 80 booths represented by 105 private sector companies, non-governmental organizations, and government divisions who received over 6,000 CVs from job seekers. The Herat Mega Job Fair was a collaborative event that showcased multiple private sector entities, AWDP-funded training providers, and a diverse array of job seekers trained under different sectors. The event provided an innovative setting to meet the programmatic goals of AWDP, which include training, placing, and/or promoting 25,000 Afghans in semi-professional or mid-career employment. The event also facilitated job seekers' efforts to find semi-professional work by creating a shared space with a variety of private sector entities looking to fill open positions. The project is tabulating an exit questionnaire for participating employers and job seekers to use as a baseline to track subsequent job hires. The event was a success, with over 10,000 people attending and 6,000 CVs received from job seekers. The private sector entities that participated in the event were able to better assess the availability and the quality of the local workforce for full-time, part-time, or seasonal employment opportunities.