Young Futuremakers Malaysia: Promoting the career progression of young women through up/reskilling in STEM, including digital skills, and employment services

The International Labour Organization (ILO) requests a grant of USD 490,000 to deliver the Young Futuremakers Malaysia project in Malaysia with a focus on promoting employability of young women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The project takes an integrated approach in supporting the employability of young workers as well as technical vocational education and training TVET trainees and graduates. It aims at (i) providing up/reskilling training opportunities, especially for young women, with a focus on demand-driven tech-oriented STEM and core skills towards their career advancement and (ii) supporting TVET graduates’ labour market transition through employment services. Anchored in the UN Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth, the project takes a gender-responsive and inclusive approach and is expected to reach a total number of 1,200 young people between the ages of 15-30 from July 2022 to December 2023. The COVID-19 crisis has negatively impacted the labour market prospects of youth in Malaysia through disruptions to education and training, job disruptions through reduced working hours and unemployment, and disruptions in transitioning from school to work. These disruptions also risked exacerbating pre-existing inequalities, especially related to gender. Even before the crisis, young women in Malaysia were in a vulnerable labour market situation and encountered a rapidly changing world of work with increasing technological changes and skills demanded by employers. Furthermore, gender biases persist in Malaysia in the labour market and TVET/skills training, including in the case of career re-entry of women and course selection for certain training courses. The project is well aligned with the Twelfth Malaysia Plan 2021-2025 (12 MP) commitment to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) emphasizing the principle of “leaving no one behind” and progress towards SDG 4 on quality education, SDG 5 on gender equality and SDG 8 on decent work and economic growth. The 12 MP also identified technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and skills development as a game-changer in developing highly skilled workers. The 12 MP recognizes the need for developing future talent, accelerating technology adoption, and improving the TVET system, while tackling inefficiencies in the labour market, gender disparities in labour force participation, and the impact of COVID-19 on youth employment. The project is also expected to increase institutional capacity to sustain its impact and is implemented in collaboration with key stakeholders such as the Department of Skills Development (DSD), Human Resources Development Corporation (HRD Corp) and TalentCorp under the Ministry of Human Resources (MOHR), Ministry of Youth and Sports (MOYS), Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF), Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC), Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), enterprises and local communities. The project will explore a preliminary sectoral focus in the manufacturing sector (particularly the food processing industry) as well as a national and subnational focus in Kedah (Northern region), Selangor and Kuala Lumpur with particular focus on the needs of youth, particularly young women in underserved communities, taking into account income groups from the bottom 40 per cent (B40) and lower tier of the middle 40 per cent (M40). This will be further informed by a situation analysis during the inception phase in close consultation with key stakeholders.

Project symbol

MYS/22/01/SCB

Admin unit

RO-Asia and the Pacific

Start date

01/07/2022

End date

30/04/2024

Total allocation

484923

Total expenditure

Status

Closed

450463

Development Partners

Standard Chartered Foundation

Country/Countries

Malaysia

Outcomes

Outcome 3: Full and productive employment for just transitions