Berlin industry launches new project to recruit skilled workers in Windhoek A training center is to be set up in the Namibian capital where examinations will be carried out according to German standards. The hope of the business community is that this will eliminate lengthy recognition procedures. In the fight against the shortage of skilled workers on the
German labor market, young people are to be trained in the Berlin twin city of Windhoek in future. A new training center is to be established in the Namibian capital under the technical direction of the Berlin Chamber of Industry and Commerce. The initial focus will be on professions with a high demand for skilled workers, such as commercial or industrial professions and the hospitality industry. “We want and need to find new ways to close the growing skills gap,” IHK President Sebastian Stietzel told the German Press Agency. In Berlin alone, there will be a shortage of hundreds of thousands of skilled workers over the next ten years. “Our goal is that
the ‘Talent Bridge’ develops into a model for other regions and thus becomes another instrument for securing skilled workers.” According to the IHK, the young people in Namibia will be tested according to German standards and will learn German before and during their training. “Lengthy recognition procedures are therefore no longer necessary and the trainees can move from Windhoek to Berlin immediately after passing their exams and be integrated into the local labor market,” it says. There will definitely not be a “Bran drain”, i.e. the multiple emigration of well-trained workers. Both the need for skilled workers in Germany and the youth unemployment rate of around 50 percent as well as the generally low level of education in Namibia should be tackled. It was assumed that not all educated young people would want to come to Berlin immediately. The relevant authorities in Windhoek supported the project. According to the IHK, partners include the city of Windhoek, the Namibian Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Berlin Senate. A letter of intent is to be signed in the Namibian capital this fall so that the construction of the training center can begin soon. Next summer, the city partnership between Berlin and Windhoek will celebrate its 25th anniversary.
08.10.2024
