Sheikha Moza visits Silatech partner ANApec in Morocco

HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser has visited Morocco’s National Agency for the Promotion of Employment and Skills (ANApec) in Rabat.
HH Sheikha Moza is the Chair of the Board of Trustees of Silatech, a Doha-based social initiative whose mission is to promote youth employment and entrepreneurship opportunities throughout the Arab world.
Silatech’s Board of Trustees held its annual meeting in Rabat on Sunday, reviewing the organisation’s progress and signing a number of new agreements with Moroccan partners in the fields of microenterprise, employability and life skills training, and investment in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Hafid Kamal, Director-General of ANApec, welcomed HH Sheikha Moza to ANApec and presented an overview of the Silatech-ANApec partnership, along with Silatech’s CEO Dr. Tariq Yousef and country representative Mariam Tyabji-Guyer, while chief of agency Salma Tazi escorted her on a brief tour of the agency.
Since 2010, Silatech has provided technical assistance and capacity building to ANApec, as well as language assessments linking job seekers to advanced training and employment opportunities for which French or English skills are critical.
HH Sheikha Moza then met directly with a number of young Moroccans who were participating in a Tamheed career guidance counselling session in ANApec at that time, as well as with Silatech Master Tamheed Trainer Manal ElAttir and several ANApec career guidance advisers. Six young people who had already completed the Tamheed assessment discussed with Her Highness how it helped them to make more objective and informed decisions about their future careers.
Tamheed is Silatech’s signature career guidance programme; it includes online psychometric and language assessments, a career advising framework, and training and capacity building for career advisors. Effective career guidance programmes are rare in the Arab world, resulting in many young people entering into careers for which they are either ill suited or poorly prepared.
As Morocco’s national employment agency, ANApec has a network of 77 branches. By expanding the reach of the Tamheed assessment programme and the number of trained Tamheed advisers, Silatech and ANApec will be able to help young Moroccans throughout the country make informed and satisfying career choices. Moreover, building ANApec’s capacity to select and place young Moroccans in jobs in high growth sectors of the Moroccan economy aligns with the national priority outlined in the Moroccan Government’s National Pact for Industrial Emergence 2009-2015.