Director General’s message

The present achievements of HRDF are the fruits of the close attention and support provided by King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, May Allah Protect them, in order to empower the sons and daughters of our country by providing them with job opportunities in the labour market and, accordingly, achieve the goals of HRDF and reinforce its role in all aspects of the labour market.

In response to the changes taking place in the labour market, and in order to achieve the deliverables of the National Transformation Plan and the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, HRDF devised an executive plan for 2018 with components which address the development and empowerment of human resources. The plan focused on empowering, enhancing, and improving the skills of national human resources, investing in the human capital, supporting business people and entrepreneurs, governing business processes and improving their efficiency, as well as achieving excellence in providing services to HRDF’s customers. These are achieved by restructuring and designing programmes and initiatives in partnership with competent private sector actors in order to shape and formulate programmes through workshops and meetings in different areas so that the outputs can leave an effective and sustained impact which upskills the sons and daughters of our country and scales up their participation in a productive, stimulating, and stable labour market environment.

Objectives behind the National Transformation Plan and the Kingdom’s Vision 2030

HRDF developed its initiatives and programmes throughout the Fund’s journey of transformation and strategic development, and it embarked on establishing the Sector Skills Council, based on the National Transformation Plan, one of the deliverables of the Kingdom’s 2030 Vision, in addition to several councils which aim at leading HRDF’S strategic transformation programme.

These councils oversee the improvement and development of programmes before launching them and ensure their implementation in a highly efficient and effective manner. They are also in charge of the continuous improvement in the quality of data and information, the effective monitoring of programmes, measuring customer satisfaction, activating strategic partnerships, and encouraging meaningful communication with the private sector in order to identify promising programmes it needs to support Saudisation and the skills required in different fields. Ultimately, they aim to come up with an integrated mechanism which contributes to sustainable Saudisation and builds the capacities of productive national cadres.

The Fund launched the Saudi labour market indicators and the National Labour Gateway which is one of the most important national initiatives that will contribute to improving and developing the market and supporting decision-makers. These reliable indicators will play an effective role, in sound decision-making based on the accurate data and reports of programmes which are implemented by the Ministry of Labour and Social Development, other Governmental and private bodies as well as experts with a view to serve different sectors and improve the quality of outputs.

Unified platform

In support of the efforts undertaken by HRDF to provide easy access to all the customers of programmes and initiatives, it was necessary to develop and improve the services delivered by the National Labour Gateway (Taqat). Taqat is a unified and integrated electronic platform which brings job seekers and employers together, provides empowerment, training, and employment services in an effective and efficient manner to increase the stability and development of the national labour force. It also offers diverse job opportunities to the Kingdom’s sons and daughters through an inclusive electronic labour market platform, and provides employers with an easy tool to look for competent national personnel who can achieve the goals of their establishments and contribute to their success.

Taqat gateway offers a package of integrated services including registration mechanisms, CV management, job posts management, programme benefits management, customer service management, E-matching mechanisms, training services, empowerment, and employment management.

The Fund provided a number of enabling factors to support Saudisation in remote areas where it launched new mobile branches in a new initiative to provide services to its customers including business people and job seekers and reach them in all areas, and centres of the Kingdom.

Supporting Saudisation

Stemming from the Fund’s drive to encourage Saudisation in private sector establishments and increase the participation of Saudi men and women in the labour market, it started to support these establishments to employ Saudi nationals through the National Employment Support Programme which aims at upskilling the workforce. HRDF contributes a certain percentage of the salaries paid to Saudi men and women working in the private sector. This support encourages private sector establishments to employ nationals and train them on the job in order to improve the qualitative and quantitative aspects of employment, increase the participation of national human resources in all labour market jobs, and provide them with the necessary skills required in the labour market.

In order to increase the rate of Saudisation, the Fund launched an initiative to turn its 22 branches all over the Kingdom into training and employment centres which provide support to male and female job seekers by studying their cases, exploring the skills they need, training and preparing them to enter the labour market, and supporting their stability and continuity in their jobs through specialized advisers who provide them with guidance and advice. The centres also provide employers with incentives to nationalise job opportunities in a productive and stable environment and empower the country’s sons and daughters to participate in the labour market effectively. Recently, the Fund announced the establishment of the Leadership Academy which will leave a direct impact, on establishments and national workers who will take up leadership positions in the private sector.

The centres will also organise major fora all over the kingdom with pathways that provide services to male and female employers, job seekers, entrepreneurs, employees, and students. These fora comprise career guidance and job fairs, symposia, training courses, and workshops.

Supporting remote areas

The Fund provided a number of enabling factors to support Saudisation in remote areas where it launched new mobile branches in a new initiative to provide services to its customers including business people and job seekers and reach them in all areas, and centres of the Kingdom. Additionally, mobile branches provide employers with different services including the following: publicising the Fund’s programme, participating in job fairs all over the Kingdom, scheduling regular visits to areas with no HRDF branches, helping customers register in programmes, activating the accounts of customers, supporting customers in submitting their subsidy applications, and filing the financial claims of all programmes.

Demand for initiatives

HRDF programmes mentioned in this report have witnessed growth in the number of male and female beneficiaries, and these programmes include: the female transportation programme Wusool, the child care programme Qurrah, the 9/10th programme, on-the-job training programme Tamheer, the professional certificate support programme, as well as the e-training platform Doroob.

Aspirations

Continued improvement and development of the support and empowerment plans which were devised by HRDF in order to upskill the sons and daughters of our country and increase their productivity, provide incentives to the private sector to encourage Saudisation and consider it the shared responsibility of everyone, and design programmes and services which respond to the needs and requirements of the labour market. Our aspirations also comprise achieving the Vision 2030 initiatives and the continuous assessment and evaluation of relevant programmes and measuring their impact regularly to achieve their goals.

We ask Allah Almighty to guide us to what He loves and wants, to serve our country and our dear nationals and fulfil the aspirations of our wise leadership, may Allah protect it.

Allah is the arbiter of success.

Dr Mohammed bin Ahmed Al Sudairy
Director General, Human Resources Development Fund