ILO and SECO carried out a workshop on skills needs assessment and anticipation in the Republic of Moldova

The representatives of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, the Ministry of Education and Research, as well as the representatives of other relevant ministries, academia and the development partners get acquainted with the ILO STED methodology (skills for trade and economic diversification), with the results of institutions’ mapping from the perspective of skills needs anticipation, came up with recommendations and established the next strategic steps to enhance the analysis and anticipation of skills needs.

At the beginning of the event, the ILO project coordinator, Violeta Vrabie, mentioned that the ILO project in partnership with SECO assumed the goal to strengthen the capacities of the stakeholders and provide support in the development of a systematic approach concerning the anticipation of skills needs with the ultimate goal to improve the employment opportunities, to promote decent work and attain economic growth of the country. The project applies a systemic approach to decent work and supports the implementation of Decent Work Country Program 2021-2024 for the Republic of Moldova, in accordance with the priorities and objectives developed and agreed with the Government, Trade Unions and Employers.

"Today’s gathering represents a crucial step forward in strengthening the capacities of institutions actively engaged in the analysis, interpretation, and utilization of both quantitative and qualitative information for effective skills planning. Achieving a virtuous cycle between productive employment, skills development and formalization is essential to ensuring sustainable economic growth, decent work, prosperous livelihoods and empowerment of the population in Moldova. A pivotal aspect of our discussions involved a deep dive into a functional analysis of Moldova's skills needs anticipation system", stated Mrs Anna Gherganova, the Head of the Employment Policies Department of the Ministry of Labour an Social Protection.

The workshop participants mentioned that one of the reasons for low employment rates is the mismatch of skills with the labour market needs. And in order to solve this problem, it is necessary to improve the access of young people and adult population to professional and vocational training, in accordance with the requirements of the labour market.  Within this context, the ILO project aims to ensure that the national institutions, the technical staff and the teachers have the capacity and knowledge to promote advanced systems for anticipating skills needs, benefit from lifelong technical and professional training using modern digital tools. Accordingly, three main activities are envisaged: interventions to improve the anticipation of skills needs, the development or updating of occupational standards, including for green occupations, and the development and piloting of training programs for the basic skills needed for employment.

The workshop will be preceded by a technical mission led by the ILO experts, Alessandra Molz and Olga Strietska-Ilina, during which they will determine, together with the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection and the Ministry of Education and Research, the type and volume of assistance needed to implement the STED methodology.

For more details, please contact: Violeta Vrabie, ILO project coordinator, email: vrabie@ilo.org, tel.: + (373) 78 11 33 90