“INTEGRATE 2024: Empowering Workforce Transformation” event was held in Yerevan on 27 November. It was organized within the framework of Armenia’s new Employment Strategy and brought together policymakers, experts, private sector representatives, civil society, academia and stakeholders to discuss the challenges and opportunities for integrating underutilized groups of population into the labor market.

The participants of the event were welcomed by Ruben Sargsyan, RA Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, and Tigran Tshorokhyan, Head of UNDP in Armenia Innovation and SDGs Finance Portfolio.

The National Employment Strategy, developed by the RA Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and UNDP in Armenia, envisages a bold shift towards active and demand-driven labor market policies. It places special emphasis on measures to empower underutilized groups, including NEET youth aged 18-29, NEET women aged 30-40, and beneficiaries of social and family benefit systems, to build a competitive workforce and create high-productivity job opportunities.

To support these goals, UNDP ImpactAim’s “Results-Based Financed Active Labor Market Program”, implemented with funding from the Austrian Development Agency and the European Union, is testing innovative approaches to workforce transformation and labor market integration for the unemployed population.

“Of course, in the long term, we understand that to have a stronger Armenia, we need to nurture not only today’s economy, but also to have a future-oriented economy, retraining today’s workforce in tomorrow’s professions. And not only those who are out of the labor market, but also those who are in the labor market,” said Tigran Tshorokhyan, Head of UNDP’s Innovation and SDGs Financing Portfolio.

“INTEGRATE 2024. Empowering Workforce Transformation” event created a multifaceted dialogue platform on the structural, behavioral and skills development challenges of workforce transformation.

“The outcome of employment programs should not be provision of knowledge, but creation of opportunities to apply knowledge, that is, the outcome is employment, and not a series of trainings,” said Ruben Sargsyan, Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs of the Republic of Armenia.

The event cross-referenced diverse perspectives of policymakers, private companies, beneficiaries and various stakeholders and served as a platform for jointly exploring the challenges of improving labor market integration and ensuring inclusive socio-economic growth for vulnerable groups.