KUALA LUMPUR: THE 1Malaysia Training Scheme (SL1M) has recently been recognised at the 2017 United Nations Public Service Forum for helping unemployed and marginalised youths.
SL1M secretariat head Norashikin Ismail said the Prime Minister’s Department was invited to share its experience in the programme at the forum’s world convention in The Hague, The Netherlands, last month.
The convention was organised by the Interior and Kingdom Relations Ministry of The Netherlands and the United Nations’ Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
The theme was “The Future is Now: Accelerating Public Service Innovation for Agenda 2030”.
Norashikin, who spoke at the convention, said the main objective was to gather government representatives to present and share their public service innovations.
“The ultimate goal was to develop the capacity of governments in anticipating various challenges posed by the implementation of the Agenda 2030 for sustainable development, and to respond in innovative ways,” she said.
“I am honoured to talk about SL1M as this has elevated Malaysia’s standing in the international platform for a worthy cause, where the government is doing good things for its people.
“The youth that we helped include poor and marginalised graduates from rural and urban areas. They are vulnerable youths,” she said, adding that SL1M welcomed all graduates to join its training programmes.
She said youngsters might lose confidence after being repeatedly turned down for jobs because of poor language proficiency or self-grooming.
“That is why I am very passionate in this cause. We started this initiative in Bank Negara Malaysia in 2009, and the effort has evolved into SL1M in 2011. Today, we have assisted about 120,000 graduates and helped the government save around RM2 billion.”
Norashikin said other countries were impressed by the success of SL1M in bringing private and government-linked companies together to help Malaysian youths.
“Although SL1M is under a government department, its job-training programmes are private-sector driven. Many are surprised to learn of this arrangement because in other countries, it is difficult to get the public and private sectors to collaborate.”
She hoped in future, more industry players would join SL1M.
“This is a programme that really changes people’s lives for the better,” she said.
At the forum, Norashikin said she had the opportunity to network with officials from other countries, and learn about their unique approaches in helping youths.
“For example, in Belgium, they hardly face unemployment issues as they have a dual-track education system, where theory and practical aspects are emphasised together.”
She said in Belgium, skilled blue-collar workers like plumbers, make-up artists, hairdressers, chefs and fashion designers, could earn high income.
Whereas in Colombia, welfare money provided by the government had been identified as the cause of youths becoming less proactive in seeking jobs.
She said in The Netherlands, the public paid an income tax of around 40 per cent of their annual salary, which was used to develop public transport, improve education, care for the welfare of senior citizens, maintenance of public facilities and providing modern healthcare.
“The locals eat freshly-harvested food and they care for the environment. The city council officials also frequently visit the ground.”
Another example that Norashikin quoted was Azerbaijan, where local produce is highly-prized.
“The agriculture officer will help farmers turn their produce into high-value products, such as jams, and also help them in packaging and marketing,” she added.
Norashikin said last year, academicians from Ireland had come to Malaysia to learn about SL1M.
“It is a shame if there are local players whom are not supportive of this programme when international parties are recognising us.”
She said SL1M-participating companies were delighted to learn of the convention invitation.
Norashikin also advised graduates to adopt a positive attitude when it comes to job-seeking, and never give up on their search.
“Those who do not get permanent jobs can come back and enrol for another training programme.”
She said most graduates are grateful with the job opportunities they received.
“They are being paid to learn and can add that experience in their resumes. This is a good experience for them.”
She encouraged the youth to be proactive and enrol in SL1M training programmes to become trainees in the private sector.
Norashikin said SL1M trainees need to have higher education qualification, but the open interview programme is for job seekers with all kinds of qualification.
“We started with those having Year Six qualification. There are many job openings for them. For example, restaurants and fast-food chains need them as workers.”