National Network of Employment Opportunities

General Information

Institution:

Ministry of Labor and Social Security

Country:

El Salvador

Contact person:

Sandra Rivera

Position:

Director of International Labor Relations

Email:

srivera@mtps.gob.sv

Phone:

(503) 2259-3734

Website of the program:

http://www.mtps.gob.sv

Which of the following topic(s) applies to the program?:

Topics:

EMPLOYMENT

Employment services

Employment policies and programs

Program Description

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Description:

The National Network of Employment Opportunities is an effort developed and coordinated by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, MINTRAB, in which a group of public and private interconnected institutions offer employment mediation and labor information services.

The service offered through the NETWORK is characterized as being public, free and equal since it intends to promote and maintain the principles of equality of opportunities for all the population with no discrimination of any type, and is guided toward the collective participation of all social agents who are willing to cooperate with the processes that may be developed.

The Network operates through a group of local employment offices (OLGEs), integrated by public and private institutions. Municipalities, universities, NGOs, private businesses, among others, are interconnected through the MINTRAB.

In order to strengthen the NETWORK’s technology, a Software for Labor Mediation has been implemented since 2006, which contributes significantly to the improvement of services provided by the ministry and the network in general, and strengthens the institutional capacities related to the analysis and research of the labor market.

Objectives:

The main objective of the NETWORK is to provide a decentralized service through modern and fast means and instruments that make it possible to reach all areas of the country and bring closer employment opportunities available to all citizens. In addition, it is an integrated initiative in its attempt to compensate the efforts and human resources and materials of the different entities participating, with the objective of establishing a coordinated action aimed at improving the employment management and the elements of sustainability.

Likewise, it collects information about the labor market through the different institutions that are part of the NETWORK.

Year of Start:

Before 2010

Estimated duration:

Undefined

Geographic coverage:

National

Target population:

Unemployed

Evaluation and Documentation

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Describe the program's most important achievements and lessons learned:

Achievements
• With the National Network of Employment Opportunities, thirty employment offices have been created in the different states of the country, making employment opportunities become closer to the population.
• In 2006, through the National Network of Employment which embraces the holiday programs and the Labor Mediation System that operates in local employment offices of the country, 16,102 people were incorporated into the labor market and a total of 64,365 have been incorporated since the Network was first implemented.
• As of 2007, 6,878 people have been incorporated into the Labor Market.
• The development of an action plan for the National Network of Opportunities.
• The validation of the action plan of the National Network of Employment Opportunities with diverse institutions that have to do with the labor mediation field within the public employment system.
• Development of a methodological guide for the fulfillment of affirmative actions for equality of gender in labor intermediation and validation with experts of different institutions of the country working on these issues.
• National Network of Employment Evaluation: strength and territorial extension proposals.
• Creation of the Coordination and Follow-up Units, which will provide technical assistance to all local employment offices.
• Creation of a regulatory framework for the National Network of Employment Opportunities (document of regulation dispositions).

Lessons learned
• Employment promotion has been manifested as a political space of municipal commitment.
• The sustainability of development projects requires:
• An institution that sustains them and guarantees the equality of gender and territorial balance.
• The institutionalization of the processes by implementing them within an organization.
• An identification of training needs that fits the possibilities and opportunity spaces of the territories to improve insertion.
• The necessary link of labor training and intermediation to broaden local development strategies to foster economic development and labor insertion.

Describe the challenges of the program:

• A more organized growth of the local employment offices.
• Strength of the communication mechanisms among the different actors that composed the NETWORK.
• To specify if the Program has internal and external evaluations and their main findings.
• The follow-up and evaluation of the action plan will be the responsibility of the technical coordinator of the team in collaboration with the actors directly involved in the execution of the project. The scope, methodology, frequency and levels of responsibility will be laid out in the technical plans that each coordination and follow-up unit develops in a participatory and consensual manner. The results will be presented and delivered among the NETWORK members and interested institutions.
• The evaluation will include indicators of accomplishment, results and impact, systems of collection of information, coordination and feedback mechanisms.