Skills Online Sri Lanka - Employed for the Unemployed: Libraries Reskilling Citizens to Enter the Labour Market During Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Skills Online Sri Lanka: Libraries Reskilling Citizens to Enter the Labour Market During Covid-19 Pandemic // The economic impact of Covid-19 pandemic has led to a sharp decrease in jobs worldwide – Sri Lanka is no exception. On the one hand, Sri Lanka's labor market skills mismatch has been recognized for many years, especially in the context of high levels of unemployment among educated youth. On the other hand, the pandemic also taught us the lesson that there is a need for re-skilling people who loose employment due to the new nature of jobs and workplace environment. In response, the National Library of Sri Lanka (NLSL) decided to invest in education and training programmes to reskill and upskill job seekers entering the workforce. Together with Commonwealth of Learning and its partners the national library launched the ‘Skills Online Sri Lanka Programme – Employed for the Unemployed’ which gave the unemployed and displaced workers free access to over 10,000 short courses and certificate programs. The program indeed helped to address the impacts of COVID-19 and helped unemployed workers re-skill and re-enter the workforce. This poster shall help us to walk the audience through the journey of implementing the COL-Skills Online Sri Lanka Program, including challenges, accomplishments and achievements to date. /