MULTAN - Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF) Chief Executive Officer Jawad Khan said on Thursday the Punjab government would spend Rs50 billion for producing over 400,000 skilled workers in a bid to fight unemployment.

Addressing the members of Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he further said that  400,000 youth out of whom 40 percent were girls would be given training in different sectors during next five years. He said that the PSDF was working in 36 districts of Punjab  province with foreign funding of $ 200 million  and now it was focusing on less developed areas like South Punjab.

He told the MCCI members that the PSDF had already imparted training to 250,000 youth out of which 100,000 belonged to South Punjab. He said, “We are exploring at least 50 leading industries in Multan for creating partnership across 10 sectors where employers could actively lead skills training programme in the true spirit of partnership by sharing training costs and guaranteeing employment. He said that youth of 18 to 29 year age having academic qualification of primary to higher secondary level can attain training in any registered industrial unit.

Jawad said that PSDF initiated its operations for the residents of four districts of southern Punjab i.e Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Muzaffargarh and Lodhran. Now, PSDF’s geographical coverage has expanded to all the districts of Punjab, he said. In these 36 districts, PSDF is pursuing its skills promotion efforts to achieve inclusive growth by focusing on employment intensive productive sectors.

He said that through its multiple interventions, PSDF was also focusing on establishing a training market which responded to the training needs of individuals and various industrial sectors. “Our funding and monitoring structures ensure responsiveness and quality of trainings from the private, public and not-for-profit training providers. It aims to encourage efficient use of existing capital investments and assets to promote skills development through partnerships and innovative delivery methods,” he added.

Further explaining the goals and outcomes of the training programme, Ali  Akbar Bosan, the chief operating officer of PSDF, said that it successfully trained more than 111,000 individuals since its inception, out of which 44 percent were females and 56pc males.

In his welcome address, Khawaja Muhammad Farooq, the vice President of Multan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI), said that PSDF was playing an important role in producing skilled Labour besides enhancing the capacity building of industries.

“PSDF has developed a strong reputation for delivering skills programmes guided by evidence on what works. We are now partnering with Generation, a world-renowned nonprofit, to incorporate proven international experience into our training programmes to raise the productivity of firms across Punjab,” said Khawaja Farooq.

Khawaja Usman, former president of MCCI, said “We’re honored to be working with an organisation as respected and innovative as PSDF to bring Pakistan at par with developed states for the first time. Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF) has  joined us to address the challenges facing young people who are seeking to connect with the job market.”

Later on, Mirza Ali Ahmed a senior member of MCCI, presented the crest of Multan Chamber to the guest.