Updates

Fostering youth employment through sports

30 March 2023
ITC News

It was a day for realizing career aspirations, when more than 100 youth participated in a job fair organized recently in Basra.

Over the course of two days, they were interviewed by 10 companies for more than 5,000 vacancies.

The venue was the Sports City Basra where the UEFA Foundation, Common Goal and Palestine Sport4Life (PS4L), the Iraq Ministry of Youth & Sport and the International Trade Centre (ITC) hosted the first Kick for Trade football festival.

Selected youth interacted with prospective employers, and representatives from private sector organizations gained access to a potentially skilled workforce.

The festival featured social and educational events, including a youth forum designed to help with developing leadership skills and promoting important social messages.

Other activities organized at the fair included helping young people to develop their CV writing and interviewing skills, developing life-skills opportunities through the Kick for Trade initiative and workshops on opportunities in the agri-value chain.

“PS4L is glad to have led the football festival, contributing to the development of life skills for youth such as respect, adaptability and leadership,” said Sameh Masri, chairman of PS4L.

The Kick for Trade Football Festival was organized under the framework of the European Union-funded ‘Strengthening the Agriculture and Agri-food Value Chain and Improving trade policy’ (SAAVI) project.

David Cordobes, Head of Youth & Trade programme at ITC said, “With the SAAVI project, ITC is closely engaged with youth to build their skills for employment, expanding young people’s entrepreneurship capacities, ultimately creating job opportunities and promoting the socio-economic inclusion of youth in Iraq.”

The collaboration will contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals, through promoting inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment, and decent work for all. SAAVI focuses on the development and implementation of sector strategies for high-potential products, as well as on defining market-oriented policies to improve predictability and efficiency in the business environment. SAAVI also helps enhance Iraq’s trade policy and supports the country in its WTO accession process.

SAAVI is implemented under the leadership of the Government of Iraq through the Ministry of Planning, Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Trade.

The project forms part of the overall European Union Special measure for supporting employment creation and improving economic governance in Iraq.