Subject: Re: Skills4Jobs Indicator 2.2
From: Peter Tasker <[email-masked]>
To: Lika Klimiashvili <[email-masked]>
Cc: [email-masked], Yannis Sofianopoulos <[email-masked]>, Yves Danbakli <[email-masked]>, Heinrich Duffner <[email-masked]>, Kakha Khandolishvili <[email-masked]>, Nino Veltauri <[email-masked]>, Tamar Barkalaia <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 2020 08:48:26 +0000

Dear Lika,

thanks. Monday will be fine. Perhaps we should arrange a definite time to avoid overlap with other meetings if at all possible. I would suggest you propose a time that suits you and we will then confirm our availability.

All the best, Peter

Sent from my iPad

On 17 Dec 2020, at 08:45, Lika Klimiashvili <[email-masked]> wrote:

Dear Peter, 

All is good here. I do hope you also are in good health. 

We'll go through your questions. 

This week was pretty busy for us and we have number of meetings tomorrow (as we didn’t know the exact date of our mission meeting, we had to arrange some other meetings on Friday). 

Considering this we would like to suggest meeting on Monday at 12 pm, if it suits you. 

Nino Veltauri in copy. 

Looking forward to your response. 
Many thanks! 
Regards, 
Lika 

-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Tasker <[email-masked]> 
Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2020 12:29 PM
To: Lika Klimiashvili <[email-masked]>; [email-masked]
Cc: Yannis Sofianopoulos <[email-masked]>; Yves Danbakli <[email-masked]>; Heinrich Duffner <[email-masked]>; Kakha Khandolishvili <[email-masked]>
Subject: Skills4Jobs Indicator 2.2

Dear Lika, thankyou for the various documents you sent Friday with your report on where you are with Indicator 2.2. As you know we need to be able to understand not only where you are now, but also why you think you will be able to meet the Indicator target by the end of April next year.

I would have included Nino Veltauri in copy, but unfortunately I don't know her email.

For this it woud probably be useful to have some form of e-meeting, but before that could we ask a few clarifications:

a) during the last review in May 2020 you provided us with much information about the institutional and staffing situation for both the ESS offices under SSA and the new arrangements following the establishment of SESA. However, many things were still being implemented, and since then COVID has further interrupted the process. So we wonder what is the current situation with offices and staffing. We notice that among the documents you provided are several (Annexes 3.1-3.4) related to the hiring of consultants on temporary contracts for various regional and Tbilisi district centres, during September/October 2020 until the end of 2020. Why are they hired on temporary contracts, and how do they relate to existing staff? What will be the situation during the early months of 2021 (given that the Ministry/SESA expects to make up the shortfall in intermediations by the end of April). Perhaps you could send us the latest organization chart, list of offices and staffing, updating what you sent us in May?

b) the detailed explanation of the Indicator in Appendix 1 of the Technical and Administrative Provisions (TAPs) of the Financing Agreement (FA) note that there are four steps to job intermediation services:

•    screening of jobseekers in terms of qualifications, work experience and interests; 
•    screening of relevant vacancies to find the match; 
•    pre-selection of candidates for the vacancies that match; and 
•    enabling communication between jobseekers and employer on the vacancy.

It is made clear that job intermediation does not necessarily imply job placement.

The SESA Activity Report for January to November 2020 seems to address these activities under section 4.1 and through tables 5, 6, and 7. But it is not exactly clear how the numbers provided link one with the other, nor how they relate to the above four steps of job intermediation. It appears that the key element is that 1700 worksheets were created linking jobseekers to employers (Table 7, but several lines of the table are not clear - the link between organizations, positions and vacancies, and the role of the two lines inclusions under the main heading of vacancies). Presumably the number of jobseekers involved could be less than 1700 if some jobseekers were linked for several vacancies. 

The number 1700 seems like an estimate given that it is a round figure, how is it reported in the database? Is there indeed a print-out (or several) from the database that show these figures? Information on jobseeker registration, vacancies etc. on the other hand appear more realistic in the sense that they are not round numbers.

The report indicates that the job intermediation process has had to go on-line during most of the year, including notably initial jobseeker registration. However, we know that many of the unemployed and employed jobseekers had difficulty with on-line registration. Indeed that was the reason for having dedicated employment service staff in the SSA district offices. The reorganization under the SESA has effectively eliminated the district offices (except for Tbilisi) so how do jobseekers get involved if they are not resident in the regional centres, especially under COVID travel restrictions. Has SESA had to rely on the local SSA offices, or is there no interaction between them?

If 1700 (or thereabouts) is the number of job interventions up to the end of November, this means we need something like an additional 1016 worksheets at least to reach the minimum Indicator target of 2716 intermediations (2469 (2017) + 247 (10%)). Given the complications reported for December, what are the chances that these additional interventions can be achieved by the end of April (especially given that the temporary contracts mentioned above appear to be only until the end of 2020)? Does this depend on the elimination or easing of COVID restrictions? How likely is that?

c) it is stated in the first paragraph of section 4.1 that a new or amended Worknet is to be established. Apart from increased data security, what does this entail? How will it differ from the current system? Will this impact upon achievement of the Indicator 2.2 target or is it only likely to be relevant after April next year?

d) Is there any differentiation in the approach and support given to unemployed jobseekers as opposed to employed jobseekers? In the “New Service Model LEPL SESA, 2020 – The integration concept of LEPL SESA for Employment Counsellors”, there appears to be a broad lack of distinction between unemployed and employed jobseekers, although in pages 19 and 20 some differentiation in approach is mentioned. Is it possible to provide us with the detail on how this issue is tackled through the New Service Model? 

Section 4.3 of the Activity Report makes some mention of jobseekers already in employment with the employers posting the vacancies. Is it possible to provide data that distinguishes unemployed from employed jobseekers that have benefitted from intermediation, and within the latter group those employed jobseekers that have been supported with respect to new employers and those supported with their existing employers?

We would welcome a response to some of these questions by email, but perhaps we could also have some kind of on-line discussion to clarify, preferably this week.

I hope all is well with you, your family friends and colleagues. With best regards, Peter

ps. I have attached a copy of this email in case it would be of assistance.