Under the patronage of His Excellency the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, Engineer Ahmed bin Sulaiman Al-Rajhi, and in the presence of Their Highnesses and Excellencies, the Ministry launched the second edition of the National Training Campaign “Wa’ad” on Monday, November 25, 2024, in Riyadh. The campaign, which includes more than 58 partners, features a range of high-quality skills and training initiatives aimed at enhancing the capabilities of Saudi nationals, expanding their training opportunities, encouraging the private sector to contribute to their empowerment, and increasing their participation in the labor market.

During the launch, His Excellency the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, Engineer Ahmed bin Sulaiman Al-Rajhi, addressed the attendees, saying: “This is a moment to continue our ambitious journey, reaching for the sky, and to keep pace with the aspirations of our wise leadership to compete globally, in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. The Kingdom places great importance on Saudi citizens and is working diligently to prepare them to compete both locally and globally by developing a national workforce. This is achieved through strengthening values, developing essential and future skills, and cultivating knowledge from an early age, providing more opportunities for growth and development that motivate the sons and daughters of the nation, and increasing their participation and empowerment in the labor market.”

His Excellency Al-Rajhi emphasized that the efforts exerted to develop the labor market strategy and focus on qualifying the national workforce have yielded significant achievements in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. He noted that the unemployment rate for Saudis reached 7.1% in the second quarter of 2024, the lowest in history, and that the number of Saudi citizens employed in the private sector reached 2.4 million.

His Excellency also noted that government policies and programs have contributed to increasing the percentage of Saudis in high-skilled jobs to 39.6% over the past five years. He expressed his pride in the Kingdom achieving first place among G20 countries in the Employee Training Index issued by the IMD Global Competitiveness Report.

Minister Al-Rajhi commended the success of the first phase of the Wa’ad National Training Campaign, stating that it exceeded its targets, providing more than 1.3 million training opportunities within half the allotted time. He also announced the launch of the second phase of the National Training Campaign, aiming for nearly 3 million training opportunities, along with several new initiatives that will enhance the Ministry’s efforts in the field of skills and training.

In its second edition, new tracks were launched, encompassing establishments, educational and training institutions, supervisory bodies, and individual pledges.

The Skills Accelerator was also launched, aiming to enhance the skills of over 300,000 Saudi employees in the private sector through a comprehensive learning journey and multiple enablers based on best practices. It offers more than 3,000 training programs and targets seven sectors with the largest contributions to GDP and employment rates, in collaboration with the following ministries: the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of Transport.

During the ceremony, the completion of the sectoral skills frameworks within the sectoral skills councils was announced, along with the launch of 40 sectoral partnerships in collaboration with the education and training system and relevant entities. The “Saudi Skills Classification Guide” was also launched on the Ministry’s website.

The National Training Campaign “Waad” is in its second edition, stemming from the importance of developing national human capital as a cornerstone for achieving the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. This is being done in partnership and cooperation with the private sector, aiming to raise awareness of the importance of skills acquisition and training, and to activate training activities within private sector establishments by establishing training agreements and memoranda of understanding with the private sector.

The campaign achieved its objectives in its first phase, providing over one million training opportunities within a single year. The final target for the “Wa’ad” campaign by the end of 2025 is to provide 1,155,000 training opportunities through collaboration with 14 leading national training companies. Several performance indicators were achieved: 31,939 training opportunities were completed in the Makkah region, 43,160 in the Eastern Province, and 6,769 in the Northern Borders region. A target of 35,000 training opportunities was allocated to the Jazan region. Given the campaign’s success in achieving its objectives in the first phase and enabling various segments of society to benefit from it, the Ministry intends to launch the second phase of the “Wa’ad” campaign this year.