International Commission on Workforce Development

Developing countries most pervasive economic and social challenge – the increasing numbers of young people who are having difficulty entering the workforce and establishing themselves in sustainable careers. • Unemployment is persistently high yet organizations are reporting difficulty filling key positions. So the immediate problem for employers is not the number of potential candidates, but a talent mismatch: That is, there are not enough sufficiently skilled people with the life skills and market-driven technical training available in the right places at the right times. As employers seek evermore specific skill sets and combinations of skills, the “right” person for a particular job is becoming much harder to find. • Many employers are skeptical about young people’s abilities to apply the skills they learn in schools to the practical challenges of the workplace • Young people also lack specific “21st century workplace skills such as cooperation, communication, critical thinking, creativity, and a focus on the needs of the enterprise. • Traditionally, the provision of skills has been the responsibility of educational and vocational training institutions and is too often detached from practical applications in the workplace and as such they are churning out “underprepared degree holders” without the relevant job skills as dictated by needs of the labor market. • THE PROBLEM IS NOT UNEMPLOYMENT BUT UNEMPLOYABILITY! The International Commission on Workforce Development (ICWFD) addresses the above through a unique e-learning program that provides 21st century employability skills to the masses via a CSR program that offers the highest ROI on corporate social responsibility initiatives. Since 2001 ICWFD has trained over 3 MILLION in the G77 developing countries FREE of cost through this initiative which also became a United Nations Flagship Partner Initiative.