Speaker Session: Employment in Ethiopia and the Federal Government Strategy

On October 29, 2021, the CIPE Civic Engagement Hub (CEH) conducted its third regular speaker session on “Employment in Ethiopia and the Federal Government Strategy”.  Mrs. Alemtsehay Deresolegne – Director, Innovative Jobs, and Projects Directorate, Jobs Creation Commission (JCC) – joined the CEH and 17 participants to share an update on the JCC’s job creation work.

This speaker session was organized with the objectives of discussing the unemployment challenges in Ethiopia, understanding the federal government strategy, and sharing job creation opportunities under the JCC with event participants. Ethiopia’s increasing population, lack of education and employment opportunities, lack of skilled labor, and the attitudes of youth towards employment were all shared as key challenges attributing to the country’s increased unemployment rate.

During the session, Mrs. Alemtsehay shared the JCC’s perspective on a variety of employment issues, particularly as it relates to employment creation. Furthermore, the speaker shared the JCC’s strategies and outlined programs designed to create self and wage employment in Ethiopia and overseas.  To this end, the JCC has been working with bilateral organizations, donors, and different governments to create employment opportunities. The speaker highlighted that the JCC created 3 million jobs in 2019-2020 with the goal of creating 20 million jobs by 2030. She further shared grant and competition opportunities within the JCC with event participants.

Following the speaker session and an interactive Q&A, participants stayed for a networking session to connect and engage with fellow attendees and the event speaker.