His Excellency Engineer Ahmed bin Sulaiman Al-Rajhi launches the second edition of the national training initiative "Wa'ad"
Under the patronage of His Excellency Engineer Ahmed bin Sulaiman Al-Rajhi, Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, and in the presence of Their Highnesses and Excellencies, the Ministry launched the second edition of the National Training Campaign "Wa'ad" on Monday, November 25, 2024, in Riyadh. More than 58 partners participated in the event, which included a set of qualitative initiatives in skills and training aimed at enhancing the capabilities of the national workforce, increasing training opportunities for them, encouraging the private sector to contribute to their empowerment, and raising their participation in the labor market.
During the inauguration, His Excellency the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, Eng. Ahmed bin Sulaiman Al-Rajhi, addressed the audience, saying: The moment to continue to launch the ambition to the sky, and to keep pace with the aspirations of the wise leadership to compete globally and in line with the Kingdom's Vision 2030, in which the Kingdom pays great attention to the Saudi citizen and strives to prepare a competitive citizen locally and globally by preparing a national workforce, by promoting values, developing basic and future skills, developing knowledge from the early stages of the Saudi citizen, providing more stimulating growth and development opportunities for the sons and daughters of the country, and raising their participation rate and empowering them in the labor market.
His Excellency Al-Rajhi affirmed that the efforts exerted to develop the labor market strategy and to qualify the national workforce have resulted in achieving qualitative achievements in line with the Kingdom's Vision 2030. He pointed out that the unemployment rate for Saudis reached 7.1% in the second quarter of 2024, the lowest historically, and the number of Saudi employees in the private sector reached 2.4 million citizens.
His Excellency also pointed out that government policies and programs have contributed to increasing the percentage of Saudis in highly skilled jobs to 39.6% over the past five years, and expressed his pride in the Kingdom achieving first place among the G20 countries in the employee training index issued by the IMD Global Competitiveness Report.
Minister Al-Rajhi commended the success of the first edition of Wa'ed:
the National Training Initiative, stating that it had exceeded its targets by providing over 1.3 million training opportunities within the first half of its timeframe. He also announced the launch of the second edition of the initiative with a target of nearly 3 million training opportunities and a number of new initiatives to enhance the Ministry's efforts in the field of skills and training.
In the second edition, new tracks were launched, encompassing facilities, educational and training institutions, supervisory bodies, and individual pledges.
Moreover, the Skills Accelerator was launched, aiming to enhance the skills of over 300,000 Saudi private sector employees through a comprehensive learning journey and diverse opportunities. The accelerator offers more than 3,000 training programs and targets seven key sectors with the highest contributions to GDP and employment rates. This initiative is undertaken in collaboration with the Ministries of Health, Finance, Energy, Commerce, Tourism, Industry, and Transport.
During the ceremony, it was announced that the sectoral skills frameworks in the sectoral skills councils have been finalized and 40 sectoral partnerships have been launched in cooperation with the education and training system and relevant authorities. As well as the launch of the "Saudi Skills Classification Guide" on the Ministry's website.
The second edition of the national training campaign "Wa'ad" comes from the importance of developing the national human capital as a cornerstone for achieving the goals of Saudi Vision 2030. Through partnership and cooperation with the private sector, the campaign aims to raise awareness of the importance of acquiring skills and training, and to activate training activities in private sector facilities. This is achieved by building agreements and memoranda of understanding on training with the private sector.
In its first phase, the campaign successfully achieved its targets within a year, providing over one million training opportunities. The final targets of the 'Wa'ad' campaign by the end of 2025 are to offer 1,155,000 training opportunities in collaboration with 14 leading national training companies. There were several key performance indicators achieved, including 31,939 accomplishments in the Makkah region, 43,160 in the Eastern Province, and 6,769 in the Northern Borders region. A target of 35,000 training opportunities was allocated for the Jazan region. Given the campaign's success in achieving its initial targets and empowering various segments of society, the Ministry has decided to launch the second phase of the 'Wa'ad' campaign this year.
It is worth noting that the second edition of the 'Wa'ad' initiative is a continuation of the national efforts to develop human capital. It aims to empower national cadres to face the challenges of the labor market and enhance their competitiveness at the local and global levels, in partnership with the private sector. The Ministry reaffirms its commitment to achieving the goals of Vision 2030 by supporting skills and training, thus contributing to building a brighter future for the sons and daughters of the nation.
