YouMatch OIFES Project

The project was meant to address the mismatch of expectations between Job seekers and employers as well address the challenge of lack of trust between Job seekers and Employers.   Matching expectations with reality and thus increasing the trust between job seekers and employers depend on access to full information about job occupation requirements, jobseeker’s knowledge and skills that match employer demand as well as the ability of applicants to assess his/her profile

The project was mainly implemented in Kigali and two secondary cities close to Kigali which are Musanze and Ruhango. The secondary cities were selected due to already existing and functional employment service centers which would ensure sustainability of project activities beyond the project lifetime. It also involved the three countries of the YouMatch working group on expectation management group namely Rwanda, Tanzania and Namibia with continuous information sharing and feedback on the implementation process. Lessons were then shared at national level through a workshop that brought together youth-serving organizations, policymakers and young people to learn from what was done but also to inspire others to own the project products and further the activities beyond the project. Lessons were also shared among YouMatch partners through members’ zone and a series of webinars

The primary beneficiaries of this project were job seekers who are struggling to secure and maintain job placement due to a mismatch of expectations and lack of trust during job searching, application and interviews. AKA prioritized fresh graduates from TVET or University in ICT, Tourism and construction sector that were currently looking to the employment service centres to get support in their job searches. 60 young people (22F,38M) took part in the training and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive with most of the youth sharing that the information and knowledge they now had had inspired renewed confidence in their ability to gain meaningful employment.

The second or indirect beneficiaries were organization supporting job matching as well as employment coaching services that will benefit from the tool. These include organization like Rwanda Polytechnic, IPRC Kigali, different youth-serving organizations as well as 3 employment centres that support fresh graduates. They were trained on how to support youth using the tools developed and they were given access to all the project products so that they will be able to support youth that are looking for employment opportunities beyond the 60 present for the training. In addition to supporting youth, they would be able to serve another segment of their customers- employers that look to their centres to recruit their employees, so they will be in a better position in communicating their needs and expectations for improved quality and productivity of their hires.