| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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To implement and execute the program HRDF engaged a number of leading international organization and consulting firms to undertake an extensive global benchmarking exercise. The purpose of this engagement was to identify best practices in delivering unemployment assistance and related services such as training and job search support to the Saudi job seekers. Based on recommendations from experts, coupled with a consultation process with key stakeholders, including the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the World Bank, HRDF quickly moved forward to establishing the National Unemployment Assistance Program (Hafiz).
There we are also three main initiatives that were developed along with the Hafiz Program. These initiatives are Job Placement Centers (Taqaat), e-Training, and e-recruitment. These are to be in line with the financial program to support the unemployed Saudi job seekers to obtain suitable jobs and at providing them with the needed skills to join the Saudi labor market
There was also a large effort in electronically integrate with all relevant government and private agencies required for the application verification and payment processing. A total of 20 ministries, 58 private and public universities, and more than 300 municipalities were integrated with Hafiz program in order to provide a monthly status of the job seekers.
The key milestones can be summarized in the following:
The issuance of the Royal Decree: February 23
Launch the first phase of Hafiz Program – Initial registration: March 16
Preparation of a draft program policy: May 11
Launch the second phase of Hafiz Program – Complete registration: September 9
Application of eligibility criteria for the first Hafiz payment December 17
The first Hafiz payment is distributed December 31
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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The main stakeholders involved in the implementation of this program were the Ministry of Labor and Human Resources Development Fund as they were handed the task from the Saudi Government to be the owner of this program. There were also various consulting firms engaged in order to conduct global benchmarking and identify best practices. The Employers were involved to get their insights on the employment and training programs. The Central bank and commercial banks were also involved tp facilitate the anticipated large number of expected activities to open bank accounts and payments, for both females and males.
Other external stakeholders include the Ministry of Interior to validate the citizen ID, name and personal details. We have also connected with 20 different ministries and government agencies for data verification and 58 private and public universities to verify the student statuses in addition to more than 300 city/town municipalities.
In addition to initial phase we also have survey where the job seekers fill during their periodic sign on to the portal; this provides us a feedback channel in order to improve our services based on the stakeholders’ insight.
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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The program is executed and run by the Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF), however the financing of the program which has so far reached 8.3 Billion USD (cost of the financial support to the jobseekers), is being funded by the Saudi Government though the Ministry of Finance as stated in the Royal decree.
The program began by establishing two call centers have in two difference cities, the two locations were selected far enough from each other as an act of precaution to ensure business continuity in the event of what may cause a disruption of service with a total of 600 agents, in addition to a back office team was hired of around 50 employees to manage the operations. A large number of outsource service vendors have been utilized for the IT implementation, project management, business requirement specifications, data collection, system operations, risk assessment, auditing, communication agency, training content development and many others.
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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The most important outputs of the program can be summarized in the following:
1- Hafiz has created a comprehensive and accurate up-to-date database of all Saudi job seekers with their detailed information.
2- It has defined the gaps in labor market though jobseekers data and available vacancies.
3- Provided a clearer understanding of the educational and countrywide infrastructure needs.
4- Hafiz has now become a core element of the planning activities in the country in various sectors and domains.
5- Hafiz managed to pay to around 1.9 million job seekers with an amount of 8.3 Billion USD as financial support to the job seekers that was not available before. In addition to employing for than two hundred thousand registered job seekers.
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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The program is evaluated through a set of key performance indicators to measure the progress of various activities; these indicators are measured on a monthly basis though a robust electronic dashboard. Some of the measures include the number of supported job seekers to monitor the unemployment rate and financials of the program. The number of referred job seekers and number of employed job seekers are also monitored to measure the effectiveness of the supporting channels and how are they are contributing to placement of job seekers.
Customer service satisfaction and performance is also monitored through measuring the call duration, average number of calls and agent utilizations. Another aspect of the customer service is the Appeals/cases opening and resolving rates are measured to make sure we are not breaching the service levels and expected response times.
Another key measurement is to measure the applicants’ distribution by geographical location, age and education level in order to provide the suitable supported services in the closest locations and tailored to their needs.
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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The implementation and management of the Hafiz Program have never been easy. Faced with an unknown number of applicants, estimations were significantly needed to plan and design the program and its underlying activities. The challenge that the Hafiz Program faced and is still facing is the need to perform monthly an eligibility validation for all the applicants. This validation exercise is limited in time while complex in nature. The complexity stems from the increasing number of public and private agencies that need to be automatically interfaced with. The banking landscape has been confronted by a massive increase in bank account opening requests by potential Hafiz applicants. It is certainly accurate to state that the use of electronic channels to reach out for citizens and avail Hafiz services automatically was the main drive for its success. It is almost impossible to manually capture the huge number of resumes available now in Hafiz using mere traditional unemployment assistance methodologies. Traditional methods of focusing on the physical interaction with the job seekers are costly and demand larger teams of skilled personnel. When operating under a tight schedule of project implementation and high expectations from the political leadership, resorting to electronic government applications has proven to be the key for success
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