USAID-funded Hunarmand to link skilled youth with employers

Islamabad: Job opportunities for young people are an investment in a nation’s future. Hunarmand, a mobile-based application launched yesterday, will do just that by linking skilled youth with employers, and enhancing work opportunities for youth of Pakistan.

With funding from the US Agency for International Development, the Punjab Youth Workforce Development Project developed this mobile app in partnership with the National Vocational & Technical Training Commission to help youth get information on short-term employment opportunities and to help employers find skilled labour and grow their companies.

“I would like to thank all of our partners in the public and private sector, particularly NAVTTC, for their unwavering support in ensuring that we provide Pakistani youth with opportunities so that they can improve their lives, give back to their communities and contribute to Pakistan’s economic development,” remarked USAID Mission Director Julie Koenen.

“Providing youth with technical and vocational skills and creating economic opportunities by linking them with employers through technology would help ensure a prosperous future for them,” Shafqat Mehmood, Federal Minister for Education & Professional Trainings stated.

Through this and other programs in its three-year Punjab Youth Workforce Development Project, USAID is helping Pakistan increase employment among people under 29. So far, the Project has provided technical and vocational skills to 10,000 youth, 45 percent of whom are women, in four districts in South Punjab.