Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and ILO strengthen collaboration to promote entrepreneurship development in Iraq

With the support of the Government of the Netherlands, the ILO will train a cadre of trainers from the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs on its business management training programme - Start and Improve Your Business – designed for those who want to start or improve their small businesses.

News | 05 June 2023
Baghdad, Iraq (ILO News) The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the ILO will strengthen their collaboration to support business and entrepreneurship development in Iraq, by building the capacities of Ministry staff on one of ILO’s flagship business management training programmes - Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB).

Twenty-two trainers from the Ministry will be trained on the package, and certified so they can train hundreds of women and men who are looking to start or expand their own small and medium enterprises.

“In collaboration with the ILO, we will implement Start and Improve Your Business training programme, which will build the capacity of young people in Iraq in their journey to becoming entrepreneurs, paving the way for self-employment. This initiative will contribute to reducing unemployment in the country,” said Raed Jabbar, Director General of the Department of Labour and Vocational Training at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

The collaboration falls under ILO’s PROSPECTS programme, which is funded by the Government of the Netherlands. Under PROSPECTS, the ILO is supporting thousands of forcibly displaced persons and host community members to access more and better livelihoods and decent job opportunities through different interventions.

This includes working with partners from public and private institutions to advance business and financial education among thousands of youth and partnering with banks and microfinance institutions to facilitate access to much-needed loans so that young entrepreneurs can develop their businesses.

“We are delighted to strength our collaborations with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs - one of ILO’s key partners implementing the Decent Work Country Programme in Iraq which seeks to promote employment opportunities and decent work principles,” said ILO Country Coordinator in Iraq Maha Kattaa during a meeting to mark the launch of the new initiative.

“Through the trainers who will be certified to implement the SIYB programme, we aim to ensure the sustainability, continuity and institutionalization of this package within the Ministry's services, so more young people can be provided with support to develop their own small businesses,”added Kattaa.

Following the completion of the initial Training of Trainers (TOT) programme, trainers will begin delivering the training package to young entrepreneurs, under the supervision of ILO’s Master Trainer.

The SIYB programme is structured into four separate training packages, which are designed to respond to the progressive stages of business development - Generate Your Business Idea, Start Your Business, Improve Your Business, and Expand Your Business.

Under PROSPECTS in Iraq, over 2,000 women, men, youth, and forcibly displaced populations have benefited from trainings to improve their entrepreneurship and financial knowledge. Find out more: Supporting entrepreneurial pathways for refugees, Internally Displaced Persons
and host community members in Iraq