The Maldives is a unique place where people are the most important resource – and this is starting to turn heads towards the small island nation.
Local initiatives are starting to form to combat the 11.60% unemployment rate and the high number of youth (26.50%) with no jobs.
The country has also recognised the demand for people with technical skills, with programs being launched as possible solutions.
New ways of learning & growing skills
Take the new Smart Campus program, for example. Powered by a cloud-based application enabling educators to teach their curriculum online, Smart Campus is innovative and environmentally friendly.
This program helps students to become familiar with technologies – tapping into remote locations in this transitional learning method. Smart Campus is all about ‘liberating communities’ by offering opportunities that they would otherwise not be able to access.
“Around our global footprint, young people face a number of issues from high unemployment rates to lack of educational opportunities,” Ooredoo Maldives CEO, Vikram Sinha said.
“Digital solutions such as Ooredoo Smart Campus allow students to overcome such challenges and access development opportunities in order to achieve their full potential.”
Change is also starting to happen at the higher level as partnerships form. In May this year, the Ministry of Education and Sh. Milandhoo Council agreed to join forces to conduct tourism related TVET programs in the area with the Council agreeing to recruit 1000 students for TVET tourism programs.
And there’s the Maldives Institute of Technology (MIT) that was formed with the aim to enrich people’s lives through providing qualifications and learning support. It’s an establishment that recognises continued changes in career and life due as a result of global competition, a poor economy, and social problems. MIT provides solutions to promote lifelong career success, as employers in Male’ now use MIT to develop a qualified workforce.
Tourism & fisheries: Two major economies
Both tourism and fisheries are the dominant economies in the Maldives where innovation and entrepreneurship have never been more critical.
There’s a push for innovative ways to ‘mobilise the economy and re-start the economic engine.’ And one of the cheapest roads to growth is to motivate small businesses, a recent article suggests.
One example of this set in motion is the getset programme, a key initiative in the government’s ‘youth manifesto.’ Geared to help local youth wanting to start micro-businesses or SMEs, getstart is a joint collaboration between the Ministry of Economic Development and the Maldives Ministry of Youth and Sports.
The two-fold initiative plans to:
- Open up opportunities for youth and introduce a collateral free loan facilities Introduce a small-business loan facility targeting young entrepreneurs
- Design a full programme supporting the government sponsored youth employment loan scheme
- Design the roll-out of the getsetprogramme
- Design and develop guidelines with criteria for application and selection of business applications
- Design and develop a full service entrepreneurship skills and small business training program (incubator service)
- Determine a payback system.
This is just one of numerous programs attempting to engage with young people.
Youth are the future
Youth will play a major part of implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with the UN encouraging the Maldives Government to continue to focus on young people.
Maldives is certainly on their way to achieving this mission – with policies in place for young people, better access to knowledge and skills, and encouraging entrepreneurial ways of thinking.
If you would like to know more about improving your workforce to boost growth, innovation and jobs, please contact Wendy Perry at wendy@wb.switchstartscale.com.au.
November 2016