Ramallah: Together with the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Silatech and International Youth Foundation (IYF) have launched a pilot career guidance project in schools with a training programme for 16 public school counsellors.
During the four-day course, counsellors received training as career advisers, qualifying for individual career counselling sessions to help youth choose their careers.
The counsellors represent the 16 Palestinian districts to ensure full dissemination and coverage. The training was delivered by a certified IYF master trainer as part of the Silatech-IYF partnership.
The programme uses the Tamheed career guidance developed by Mindmill and Silatech, a Qatar-based social initiative focused on improving employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for young people in the Arab world.
Tamheed is a psychometric assessment that analyses the personality, interests and strengths of young people, and helps align these with career paths.
Tamheed career guidance services are available from trained advisers in Qatar, Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Syria, and Saudi Arabia.
Silatech’s partnership with IYF was launched in 2012, and now 48 trained advisers provide career guidance to Palestinian youth at institutions. The program is operating Palestine Polytechnic University, Bethlehem University, Al Najah National University, Arab American University and Ramallah Friends School and NGOs, including Community Development and Continuing Education Institute, Palestinian Vision Organization, YWCA, Leaders, Ta’awon for Conflict Resolution, and Vocational Education and Training Association.
The pilot programme with the ministry will also offer summer internships to selected students, allowing them a better chance to explore their fields of interest.
Counsellor and training participant Mohammed Sabri said “Tamheed is a scientific tool that provides comprehensive results with details students can use for better decisions.”
Dr Bashar Enabosi, Head, the Counselling Unit of the ministry, said, “Tamheed is a new experience in career guidance and counselling; it is practical and opens new paths for students to know their talents and skills and helps them make decisions about their future. The result of this stage will identify the next steps in expanding the project to other schools and counsellors.”
Dr Rachel Awad, Silatech’s Associate Director of Employability, said, “This is an exciting extension of the work we have been doing with IYF to promote and support career guidance for Palestinian youth. We are pleased to expand the partnership to the ministry to help secondary school students make informed decisions regarding career and educational choices.”
Dr Mohammed AlMbaid, Country Director, IYF, Palestine, said, “The partnership with Silatech builds on support IYF provided to the ministry through the USAID-funded Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme, which aims to strengthen the ministry’s capacity to deliver essential school-to-career services to students in a sustainable manner.”
The Peninsula
