ECER Rolls Out Human Capital Development Programme

8/12/2009 — Press Release
The East Coast Development Region (ECER) has introduced a training and skills development programme to boost human capital, to make the ECER workforce more employable and better equipped to deal with employment downtime.
The Corridor Growth Skill Training Development Programme will help workers and those retrenched learn new ability and aptitude, which will help them either find work or retain their current jobs in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
It will also help improve competency skills according to industry requirements, increase workers’ employability value as well as boost the number of entrepreneurs.
The ECER Development Council is targeting to train 4,000 of the ECER’s employable population by the end of 2009.
“This initiative is in line with the ECER’s socio economic development and enhances the quality of life for its population,” said Dato’ Jebasingam Issace John, CEO of the ECER Development Council.
“Part of the country’s first stimulus package of RM7 billion, this Training Programme Fund will help the employee population within the ECER create more value for their employers while allowing them to explore their entrepreneurial capabilities.
“The programme will fulfill the semi-skilled and skilled labour requirements for the various economic clusters within the ECER,” he added. “At the same time, the programme will enhance the region’s development of human capital to create a group of skilled and trained workers within the ECER.”
The training programme aims at placing a portion of the unemployed and retrenched workers, especially the contract and part-time workers, back into the workforce.
It will be implemented within three key initiatives – skill development programme, graduate placement, as well as training for contract and part-time workers and entrepreneurship development.
The skill training course consists of pre-employment training of between four to six months for graduates or school leavers so that they can be placed with selected employers and be gainfully employed; re-training for those who want to learn new skills; and entrepreneurship training.
To support the programme which covers comprehensive training in technical expertise, hands-on techniques and mindset, participants will enjoy an allowance, accommodation and meals throughout the training period.
The training will focus on the five main clusters of ECER including tourism, oil, gas and petrochemical, manufacturing, agriculture as well as education with the objective of providing long term employment and assisting groups to improve their employability within the prevalent economic uncertainty.
With 4,400 new graduates estimated to enter the ECER job market by the end of 2009, the training programme also allows for the creation of new jobs by virtue of graduate training in entrepreneurship.
“Due to a lack of work experience, fresh graduates are often disadvantaged in the job market” said Issace John. “The graduate placement programme lasting 9 months, allows them to be placed within selected firms located in the ECER”.
“The participants will be jointly financed by ECERDC and the participating company seeking to hire these graduates,” he added.
For more information about this programme, please contact the ECER Secretariat at 03-2035 0021/22 or any of the ECER Regional Offices in Kota Bharu (09-746 0021), Kuala Terengganu (09-620 0021) and Kuantan (09-565 0021).
More details are also available at the ECER exhibition which has moved from Kuantan to Kertih’s Mesra Mall from Aug 10 to 15.