Tamkeen has signed an agreement with Talent Partners Bahrain (Talent2) – an international HR development and advisory firm – to set up the necessary system infrastructure for the employability skills project.

This is in line with Tamkeen’s mission to position Bahrainis as the employees of choice and facilitating their entry into the job market, a statement from the organisation said.   

The new project aims to equip jobseekers (excluding university graduates or higher) with the essential skills required in the workplace, by focusing on numeracy skills, language and communication skills, information and communication technology skills, working with others skills and problem solving skills.

The leading initiative is the first of its kind in the kingdom, which seeks to empower around 5,000 Bahraini jobseekers with foundational skills to enter the job market. This is in addition to providing them with other Tamkeen supported training courses, if required, the statement said.  

Talent Partners Bahrain (Talent2) will initially create an optimal infrastructure, creating the basis for the project. While the infrastructure work is being completed, Tamkeen will invite several training providers to present their capabilities to be able to be a part of the programme.

Tamkeen’s chief executive, Mahmood Hashem Al-Kooheji, said: “During our mission to support the growth of the private sector, we have always been committed to filling-in the gaps in the labour market and providing Bahrainis with the necessary skills to increase their employability.  Therefore, we are delighted to implement the employability skills training project to allow jobseekers to gain the skills they are lacking and eventually reach their ambition.”

Daniel Robinson, the general manager of Middle East Talent Partners, said: “We are delighted to tie-in with Tamkeen and be part of this leading programme that aims to serve the local community and the national economy. Following the success of similar initiatives in Australia, New Zealand, UK, Oman and UAE, we look forward to implementing this project in the Kingdom.”  

The employability skills project is part of 100 programmes offered by Tamkeen to develop human resources and match skills to labour market requirements and make Bahrainis the employees of choice. To date, around 23,500 Bahrainis have benefited from Tamkeen's human development programmes, and more than 2,200 graduates from these programmes have been employed in several sectors. – TradeArabia News Service