The Al-Manar project at the National Center for Human Resources Development (NCHRD) aims to improve the collection, analysis, and distribution of human resources information, whereby ensuring the welfare and well-being of Jordanian citizens. The project objectives are to enhance the development and utilization of Jordanian human resources in support of national economic development in a globally-competitive environment. In addition, a primary concern of the Al-Manar project that any labor market decisions are made so on the basis of comprehensive, timely and regularly updated gender sensitive information systems that are supported by continuous technical and internet-based services.
According to the philosophy of Al-Manar, everyone can benefit from informed decisions, regardless of their current position or status. The informational system developed by Al-Manar is free of charge and available to everyone.
Al-Manar has developed a bilingual web-based employment system (ELE) to increase the accessibility of job seekers to available jobs, broaden the choice for employers and job seekers, and decrease the amount of time devoted by those seeking employment. Therefore, according to this logic, the ELE system can effectively and significantly increase the efficiency of the local labor market.
In addition, the Al-Manar project has been building databases and structuring human resources information (HRI). The first part of this endeavor includes the creation of an educational database, comprised of information about students enrolled in higher education and vocational training programs; this is an initial stage that will be expanded to include students of all educational levels. The second part of the database project consists of the creation of a Jordanian labor force database, which is comprehensive and inclusive of the domestic labor force divided in to the employed and unemployed.
In addition to the creation of this database, the Al-Manar project continues to maintain and update the information it contains, as well as, to facilitate and coordinate the partnerships between the various HRI producers and users. Among other things, the HRI database will be used for conducting policy research, HRD planning, evaluation and monitoring of HRD projects, HRD policy evaluation, and sectoral governance reform.
A major priority of the Al-Manar project is devoted to gender issues. In an effort to establish a systematic and comprehensive understanding of how gender affects the Jordanian labor market, Al-Manar is designing a gender-specific database. Through the noble efforts of the Al-Manar project, and in accordance with international standards, the criteria for human resource gender indicators in Jordan are currently underway.
Another important component of the Al-Manar project, also aimed at improving the general welfare and well-being of Jordanian society, is the establishment of career counseling centers in throughout various Jordanian universities. These centers provide both counselors and individuals with on-line career development, counseling tools, and access to accurate human resources information. With the successful creation and implementation of Professional Career Counseling (PCC), people can coordinate between their interests and strengths with an occupation suitable for them, or guidance towards acquiring the skills they'll need for the career they aspire for.
