On December 20, 2021, it was held a joint meeting of the projects "Promoting youth employment in Uzbekistan" and "Adapting population skills to the post-pandemic economy in Fergana Valley", implemented by the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the UN Development Program with financial support of the Government of the Russian Federation.

Representatives of the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, the Embassy of the Russian Federation, UNDP and partner organizations attended the meeting.

During the meeting, the meeting participants got acquainted with the reports of the projects on the work done and the results achieved in 2021, and discussed the prospects for cooperation next year.

In particular, during the reporting period, within the framework of the “Promoting Youth Employment in Uzbekistan” project it was organized a training in accordance with WorldSkills standards for 90 experts from Uzbekistan, as a result of which WorldSkills Uzbekistan expert community and a system of independent assessment of competence were created for 14 competencies, and 169 students-citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan (58 of them were women) were assessed and received internationally recognized certificates - Skill passports[1].

In order to expand access to vacancies, a mobile application "MyMehnat" and special programs (bots) connected with the Ministry database were created. Also, in order to digitize public services a technical task was developed for the mobile version of the program "Labour migration". These initiatives are aimed at increasing the level of provision of public services, for the convenience of recipients of social protection services in the country.

In order to support entrepreneurial initiatives of youth and women in the target regions of the project, a competitive selection was carried out, as a result of which representatives of 34 projects were able to take part in four-week trainings and receive grant equipment worth up to $ 5,000.

As part of the 5th cycle of the program to support youth innovative ideas and start-up initiatives, 247 teams from all over the country took part in the educational program, during which they studied the basics of launching startups, worked with trackers (individual business mentors), attended master classes and consultations of qualified experts and successful entrepreneurs, were able to improve their projects through the Accelerator.uz platform. 40 of the most promising projects received grants in the amount of US $ 5,000 from the financial resources of the Japanese Embassy and the Yoshlar-Kelajagimiz Foundation, as well as prizes in the form of free passes to visit from the C-Space and Ground Zero coworking centers.

In cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Uzbekistan, following initiatives were implemented "Business Clinic" (free consulting support for small and medium-sized enterprises during the pandemic) and "Integrated Business Support", within which entrepreneurs had the opportunity to take part in webinars, trainings, individual business coaching, and 43 selected entrepreneurs received technical assistance in the form of equipment worth up to $ 10,000.

Within the framework of the project "Adapting population skills to the post-pandemic economy in Fergana Valley" launched in 2021, several capacity building trainings were conducted for employees of the Ministry and the “Ishga Markhamat” monocenters in the regions.

Speaking at the event, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Uzbekistan Doina Munteanu expressed "gratitude to the Ministry and other partner organizations for participating in the implementation of many project initiatives" and stressed that "the active involvement of Ministries and organisations is a decisive factor for successful achievement of results."

First Deputy Minister Erkin Mukhitdinov noted that “despite the restrictions associated with quarantine, a lot of very important and useful work has been done, and this meeting of the Project Council is important from the point of view of assessing the current activities of projects and agreeing on further steps to bring the work of projects to the strategic level next year".

[1] Internationally recognized certificates of professional qualifications for graduates who have completed vocational training and have successfully passed an independent assessment.