When providing skills training, heed market signals

What sort of work is RTI International implementing in a region that has seen its economy evolve dramatically over the past few years?

“There’s a real need to understand how to drive job creation,” Paul Weisenfeld, RTI’s vice president for global practices, told Devex President and Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar in a video interview on the sidelines of the Devex Partnerships Forum in Manila.

Weisenfeld said organizations that provide skills training need to understand what the industry and the private sector need and tailor their interventions to meet demand. The key, of course, is to ensure that people who finish these skills training programs are able to get a job right away — or be employees themselves who can provide much-needed jobs.

In the Philippines and Indonesia — two of the fastest-growing economies in Asia, according to the Asian Development Bank’s latest outlook report for the region — RTI has been implementing programs that strive to achieve just that: cultivate researchers and entrepreneurs who can support innovation-led economic growth.

Watch the video to see more of Weisenfeld’s insights on providing the right technical training, and why leadership and life skills training is important as well.

See our Devex Partnerships and Career Forum topic page, check out our Storify page and tweet #DevexForum!