Financial Times

Some lessons on what not to do
By Random Access Memory (RAM)
A visit by the Prime Minister to a JobsNet office in Ratnapura this week was spotlighted in national newspapers. JobsNet is the computer based national employment referral network to facilitate the matching of those who seek employment with available opportunities that get listed in the system. Intended to cover both local and overseas employment markets, the project is now in its second year of operation as a public-private sector partnership with initial support from the Norwegian and Swedish governments and the ILO.

It is making steady progress in serving the needs of employment seekers, both on a face to face basis and with Internet based access, covering self-employment, employment counselling services, assessment of skills for employment matching and training needs.

The project's dedicated staff team always acknowledge that there is a lot more to be done to get to be the ideal catalyst in this sphere of activity. Newspaper reports have stated that the PM was happy that the project performance was good. Having insider knowledge of how the project was born and was set up, RAM as an independent observer, felt obliged to focus readers' attention on some of the un-stated facts that contributed to the success of this project, as more often, it is the negative side of things that get focussed, especially during election time.

Firstly, the JobsNet project was born out of a vision. It was an initiative driven entirely by Sri Lankans and not by foreign consultants. The vision was provided through the National Employment Policy formulation process by the Ministry of Employment and Labour with the tripartite participation of government, employers and the labour unions.

Stated as Initiative 7 of the Policy, the most important base value of the project was that, providing employment was to be driven purely through a process that was transparent and merit-based.

The National Employment Policy recognised that the responsibility of policy makers (politicians) was to create enabling environments to generate opportunities for people to be gainfully employed and not to hand out 'jobs', as has been the case in the past. The Job Bank of a similar regime and several other initiatives of the past, were all based on allocating jobs to each politician to distribute among their supporters on an electoral basis. The well-oiled MP's 'Chit System' had no place what so ever, in the JobsNet domain.

The other important factor was that it was assigned to a dedicated group of private and public sector personnel, who worked on a voluntary basis, serving on a panel to design, formulate and implement the initial project activities.

Those who were assigned the tasks were allowed to operate independently with minimal interference from the political machinery. Given RAM's own experiences within this very same system of governance in another sector, this was indeed a welcome change and a breath of fresh air.

There were however, unfortunate exceptions in the somewhat extravagant political tamashas that were held and the many newspaper supplements inserted to inaugurate the setting up of JobsNet Centres island-wide, except in the north and the east. When will it be that we learn to be modest and pragmatic in our approach to projects, where effective implementation needs be given more priority, than planning tamashas for its opening? In effect it is a call, for placing substance over showmanship.

Then there was the partnership between the private and the public sector. Although intended to be a driver of a long-term initiative with a strong social responsibility element, most of the private sector leadership was lukewarm in offering its initial support for the project, even questioning the rationale as to why private sector institutions should get involved in its implementation.

Some among them, unfortunately did not see the long term potential of the system's benefits and were only seeking the closer to the nose issues. They were indifferent and often unwilling to offer active support for its implementation.

Success, they say is the best measure of success. There are many lessons we can learn from our successes and failures. JobsNet is on a long and bumpy road ahead. Let us hope that this project is not made a victim of the many theatrics that go on, on the political canvass, but is taken as a lesson well learnt on what best to do, and what not to do.

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