Employment and Entrepreneurship Services Center (EESC)

Employment Service Center was established by Help in Herat in early 2014 in close cooperation and coordination with the Department of Labor, Social Affairs and DoLSAMD. EESC is mandated to provide quality job facilitation training and services to job-seekers through a Public-Private Partnership /PPP structure linking relevant Govt. Depts., private sector and relevant development organizations.

EESC is currently run by Help’s local NGO-partner “Organization for Sustainable Aid in Afghanistan (OSAA)” as a component of Technical & Vocational Education and Training (TVET) project and also as a part of capacity building / responsibility transfer to local partner NGOs. While Help provides financial and technical support, DoLSAMD contributes to EESC’s activities by providing office venue, training space and facilitating inter-departments coordination.

The structure initially functioned with 6 units. Later in 2018, a seventh unit – Entrepreneurship – was added to its structure to complete relevant activities and address the increasing demand for entrepreneurship training, advice and services. Hence, the structure is renamed as “Employment and Entrepreneurship Services Center (EESC)”.

The main principles, units and activities of the EESC are as follows:

A – EESC Principles

EESC serves the common good, non-profit, to establish a lasting public-private partnership.
EESC shall design and implement Employment and Entrepreneurship Action Plans in close cooperation with the line Ministry MoLSAMD in Kabul and respectively DoLSAMD in Herat. In the process, we shall also strive to empower other concerned governmental and non-governmental departments and organizations such as the Dept. of Economy, Dept. of Labor and Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled, Dept. of Commerce and Industry, Chambers of Commerce, Chamber of Industries and Mines, Labor and Craftsmen Unions of Herat province.
The EESC is no isolated action; rather it will complement the long-term program of OSAA, Help and other partners focusing on Technical and Vocational Education and training “TVET”, capacity building training, technical and higher education.
EESC will therefore make use of these structures and networks and the human and material resources available in the many Training Centers operated by OSAA, Help, DoLSAMD, and other local and international development organizations in Herat City and Province.
B – EESC Units and their Activities

Coordination Unit: provides overall management and supervises EESC’s activities. It connects different units together and communicates with stakeholders, draws Action Plans, signs MoUs and reports to concerned govt. depts. and its donors.
Database and Registration Unit: manages the tailor-made database of EESC, registers job-seekers based on their qualifications, interests and priorities, categorizes job-seekers, registers vacancies and employers’ profiles, analyses data collected and produces quarterly, bi-annual and annual reports.
Pre-Employability Training and Consultancy Unit: supports general and TVET job-seekers by providing pre-employability and advanced trainings and consultancy.
The unit offers services, advice and special training for jobseekers on subjects such as writing a CV, filling up different types of job forms, how to act in an interview, how to adapt to the different needs and expectations of employers: government, private companies, international and local organizations / associations.

In addition to these basic trainings, the unit also offers advanced professional training in management, accounting, marketing, logistics and specific software applications; and organizes internships and field exposures for specialists and for graduates from universities, so that they gain practical experience and get the ability to cover a wider range of tasks.

Employment Facilitation Unit: on weekly basis, visits Industrial Park’s Factories, Trade Companies, Industrial Union, Chambers of Commerce, Craftsmen Union, Labour Union, relevant Govt. Depts., and I/NGOs. The main objective is to find vacancies and to fill them up by introducing qualified job-seekers to employers.
The unit introduces TVET graduates / job-seekers to local market workshops, trade and industrial companies. It also advises graduates interested in establishing working groups and workshops.

Fair Employers’ Support Unit: The EESC establishes regular interaction, and build a lasting cooperation-network with employers of all sectors who are ready to recruit job-seekers at fair conditions.
In particular, we shall promote and support those “fair employers” who not only offer jobs but strive to provide fair work-conditions according to the standards set in the Afghanistan’s Labor Law, and offer on-the-job training and other internal promotional measures for their employees.

In return for their commitment, EESC designs and holds specific courses to train specialized workers and young professionals according to the exact needs of these priority-partners.

We shall also support these fair employers in any possible way, such as advice and training in administration and accounting, consultancy on tax- and labor laws, modern marketing, access to credit, IT and logistics, recommendation to potential business partners in Afghanistan and abroad.

Entrepreneurship Unit: train, consult and support potential and motivated entrepreneurs in business start-up, business plan development, business management and improvement, customer services and relation and access to credit.
Besides, small business training is offered to potential skilled entrepreneurs and graduates of VTCs in Herat. The training is based on a 16-module of 1.5 hours each covering topics such as how to start a business, how to finance a business and how to market one’s products and services. The theoretical training is followed by a few field exposures where trainees visit the local market to get familiarized with the real business environment and skills. Small business trainings are tailor-made based on different vocations and skills.

Research and Networking Unit:
Market study
The unit conducts bi-annual and annual researches on marketable vocations in Herat. These researches are conducted in close cooperation with DoLSAMD, Industrial Union, Craftsmen Union, Herat University, Chambers of Commerce and local partner-NGOs. The main objective of the research is to find marketable, semi-marketable vocations, saturated vocations, vocations with potential to grow and provide DoLSAMD’s and I/NGOs’ TVET programs with a reliable source to select vocations to be offered to prospective TVET trainees. The reports of these researches are shared with Govt., I/NGOs and other local partners.

Networking
Within the framework of networking, the unit organizes bi-annual Job Fairs inviting companies, unions, Govt. Depts., and job-seekers. These job fairs provide a platform where employers and job-seekers are introduced and connected to one another.

It also organizes bi-monthly TVET and Employment Round Table aiming to establish a TVET Stakeholders’ Network connecting I/NGOs, relevant Govt. Depts., private sector and CSOs together in order to facilitate coordination and cooperation in TVET related issues; seek government support for TVET programs and put it as one of the priority agenda of the Afghan government; involve and encourage CSOs and private sector to contribute to TVET promotion, market-based training orientation and employment; and guarantee sustainable government and private sector financial support for TVET programs.

Tracer Studies
The unit conducts follow up studies – of general, educated and skilled job-seekers introduced to employers, and entrepreneurs who received training and consultation – in order to find out the success rate of activities implemented by EESC. The findings of these studies are shared with TVET programs, educational institutions, Govt. Depts., I/NGOs and other local partners which are used as guidelines for next rounds of vocational and educational training and in planning and designing job creation programs.[/ultimate_heading]