Much attention is being paid to what the ‘new norm’ will look like as crisis management of the pandemic moves increasingly to recovery policies and stimuli. Within this context, the Union for the Mediterranean’s recent webinar explored two questions on many young people’s minds – where will the opportunities be and what skills will I need in the post-COVID world?
20 May 2020 – The overall socio-economic impact of COVID-19 is yet to be fully determined. But one thing seems clear: the current crisis will affect the economy and jobs in unprecedented ways and we will all have to adapt.
To help guide young people through these unsettling times, the Business Development and Employment (BDE) division at the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) organised a webinar to explore the future employment landscape, entitled Economic Opportunities and Skills in the Post-Pandemic Horizon: Reasons for Hope.
Mohammed Elrazzaz from the UfM’s BDE division led the session and brought some positive news, highlighting opportunities in certain fields despite the current crisis. These sectors include digital technologies, fin-tech, new energies, project management, healthcare, risk assessment and insurance, online education, entertainment and gaming, emotional wellbeing, and supply chain logistics, as well as opportunities in the social economy, creative economy and blue economy.
Elrazzaz went on to talk about the hard and soft skills that will be necessary in the post-pandemic world, which include entrepreneurial resilience, cognitive flexibility, and of course, digital literacy.
The webinar was attended by 120 people and complements other UfM initiatives such as Med4Jobs, which aims to create jobs, improve employability, and promote entrepreneurship in the Mediterranean region.
Following the success of the webinar, future sessions are being planned for June and July, which will be based on the feedback and questions received from participants. The BDE is also considering the possibility of running capacity-building programmes for women and young people to help them develop the recommended post-pandemic skills.
