Ms. Haxthausen, highlighting the importance of this project, considered that "encouraging and facilitating business start-ups by young people have provided youth with a pathway to enter the labour market through self-employment". Ms. Haxthausen also underlined the fact that amid not meeting the final number of projected loan applicants for now, the success of these small enterprises will eventually create additional opportunities for other young people. Praising the support of the Ministry of Labour and social Affairs and its role within this project, UNESCO Director stressed the benefits of this project on a longer term, with around 250 youth provided with "the knowledge and skills of entrepreneurship that will enable them to contribute to economic development of Iraq".
On the other hand, wishing the graduates of this project a successful journey to achieve their dreams, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Embassy of Japan to the Republic of Iraq Mr. Masato Takaoka considered in his message that through "increasing employment opportunities for youth and the number of small enterprises, this grant of some 660 thousand USD was used to address one of the most serious social problems facing the Kurdistan region".
Finally, high unemployment rate of educated youth in Iraq stresses the need to rethink the way education is delivered, and provide direct entrepreneurship skills that will encourage private initiatives and self-employment. Implemented by UNESCO and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs with the support of the Government of Japan during the period of May 2012 -September 2013, the "Fighting Youth Unemployment Through Education" project provided 245 graduates and students from TVET schools and institutes of the Kurdistan governorate with the necessary entrepreneurship skills, introducing them to modern self-management techniques, and enabling them to set up and run their own businesses.
In the process, 14 ministry trainers were trained on the "Knowledge About Business" Entrepreneurship course, in addition to 20 business coaches that will act as mentors to the young business owners who got the loans from the Ministry. Six officials from the loan department in the Ministry were also trained to evaluate the business plans submitted by the participants.
(Source: United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq)
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