Youth employment is a crucial phenomenon as the young population and unemployment rates have been increasing and are among the highest in most of the OIC Member Countries. Skill Development for Youth Employment (SDYE) project has been initiated by SESRIC under the framework of OIC-VET Programme in order to contribute to the solution of the unemployment problem through improving necessary skills for the current labour market. The SDYE project offers an experience and best practice sharing platform to develop effective models to fight against youth unemployment.

In this context, as an initial phase of SDYE Project, a “Study Visit on Skill Development for Youth Employment (SDYE)” was organized by SESRIC in collaboration with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), the Ministry of National Education (MoNE), Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MoLSS) of the Republic of Turkey and the Turkish Employment Organisation (ISKUR) on 11-13 January 2012, in Ankara, Turkey. In the study visit, SESRIC received a strong support from the participants and afterwards prepared a road map with the Member Countries which expressed their desire to implement a similar project in their home countries.

On the basis of the recommendations adopted in the Study Visit, SDYE Project objectives are:

• to develop and coordinate a mechanism in transferring the knowledge and experience of the OIC Member Countries in various skill development projects in selected pilot Member Countries.
• to take further steps towards enhancing cooperation in combatting unemployment through ‘Skill Development for Youth Employment’ initiative. SESRIC will provide platforms, such as e-mail groups and e-learning facilities to have a better communication, share best practices, exchange of success stories and exchange of information for knowledge sharing of youth empowerment experiences.