WDI To Develop Career Center In Algeria
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
WDI has been awarded a strategic contract to provide economic reform management training for future economic and business leaders at the Institute of National Commerce (INC) in Algeria.
The project was awarded by Higher Education for Development (HED), which is part of USAID’s Bureau of Economic Growth. It is funded by USAID.
The partnership, called Educating Managers, Promoting Linkages and Opportunity Integration – or EMPLOI – began in January.
Under this two year contract, WDI will: 1) work with the next generation of Algerian business managers to increase their technical skills, enhance their leadership capabilities and develop their practical, analytical proficiency through an enhanced, internationally accepted curriculum; 2) build linkages for partnership between the INC and the Algerian private sector; and 3) provide assistance to business students in understanding their career opportunities after graduation.
This partnership will enhance the INC curriculum to meet the changing needs of the Algerian business community, with a particular focus on training managers to understand how to analyze, react and lead organizations through change.
The Director of WDI’s Development Consulting Services, Khalid Al-Naif, said: “We are excited to be among the first U.S. institutions on the ground in Algeria. This flourishing country is witnessing a gradual transition away from military rule towards civilian governance. WDI’s engagement will not only contribute to development of Algerian human resources but will also provide more leadership from private sector down this important economic reform path for the country.”
The essence of WDI’s engagement is to link Algeria’s academic community with the private sector and public sector business institutions. WDI’s growth hypothesis is that building national competitiveness through the development of human capital is one of the most important factors for building a private sector in Algeria, for completing the transition to a market-oriented economy, and for creating an environment that generates sustainable economic growth.
The Algerian educational system, in particular, will play a key role in ensuring that future Algerian business leaders will possess the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to start and manage new businesses. Those future leaders should also know how to privatize and restructure existing enterprises and to regulate business activity effectively.
Building linkages between the demands of the business community and the curriculum of local academic institutions is a source of economic development, as seen in the United States, Europe and many emerging markets, including Taiwan and other Asian Tigers.
