The project will run for the next four years with focus on youth employment  KATHMANDU, JULY 20 ‘Youth Employment Transformation Initiative’ project was launched today with the support of World Bank to promote employment in the country. Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Security Rameshwor Raya Yadav and World Bank Country Director, Nepal, Faris Hadad-Zervos jointly inaugurated the project. The project will enable poor and vulnerable youths to gain access to employment, skills development and capacity building opportunities, according to the WB. Aligned with the Prime Minister Employment Programme, the 120 million USD project will be implemented over the next four years with focus on improving employment services and labour market outcomes, especially for youths. “With the onset of COVID-19 and the subsequent contraction of the global job market, Nepal’s labour market has also been affected with a huge number of job losses. In this context, result-driven implementation of the project at all three levels of the government is of critical importance,” Minister Yadav said. He hoped that this project would play a crucial role in expanding employment opportunities in the domestic labour market and set up an automated system of Labor Information Bank and upgrade the Employment Management Information System. In addition to the long-term goals of the project, as part of the World Bank’s COVID-19 response, project funding is being front loaded this year to support over 75,000 most vulnerable unemployed youths at the local level to earn 100 days of wages each through the creation of temporary employment opportunities in the maintenance and upgrading of public infrastructure, World Bank Country Director Faris Hadad-Zervos said. “Working with the government, development partners and the private sector, the World Bank will seek to contribute to a long thread of engagements that align to make a difference in the lives of the most vulnerable people.” The project agreement was signed in November 2019 by the Government of Nepal and the World Bank. Of the total credit, about 90 per cent has been allocated to the local levels to create jobs in the maintenance and upgrading of public infrastructure and public services for 100,000 unemployed youths, 60 per cent of whom will be women as per the project’s priority given to inclusion. The project will support 753 Employment Service Centres at the local levels to strengthen the workforce and provide services in registration, profiling, referral, temporary work placement and on-the-job training, the WB said in a press statement. A version of this article appears in e-paper on July 21, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.