NAVTTC launches Hunarmand Mobile App—linking skilled workforce with employers

Hunarmand, a mobile-based application launched on Thursday, will do just that by linking skilled youth with employers, and enhancing work opportunities for youth of Pakistan.

With funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Punjab Youth Workforce Development Project developed this mobile app in partnership with the National Vocational & Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) to help youth get information on short-term employment opportunities and to help employers find skilled labor and grow their companies. Job opportunities for young people are an investment in a nation’s future.

“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,” said Shafqat Mehmood, Minister for Federal Education & Professional Training while addressing the launching ceremony of “Hunarmand Mobile App” here in Islamabad.

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.

“This indeed is a great initiative which will not only enable a common man to hire skilled workforce on the click of a button but also create employment opportunities for skilled people”, he said while congratulating NAVTTC for this huge development in skill sector. The minister reiterated the importance of developing a gold standard qualification and certification regime to produce a highly skilled labour force for both domestic and international market.

“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.

Chairman NAVTTC, Syed Javed Hassan, termed it an important step towards reducing mismatch between demand and supply of skilled workforce to domestic and industrial employers. He thanked USAID for their support in developing the App.

The App has been launched in Islamabad in the first phase and after successful operations in Islamabad, NAVTTC will launch the mobile application in other districts. Parliamentarians, industrialists, employers, and people from various walks of life attended the event.