The German Jordanian University (GJU), as part of The Empowering Jordanian Candidates for the International Labour Market (EJIM) Project, conducted specialized training for staff and counselors of the Ministry of Labor on designing and implementing structured labor mobility pathways. The training was held on September 2 and 3, 2026, in Amman.
The training was conducted in cooperation with the Centres for Migration and Development Project and the German-Jordanian Center for Labor Mobility (GJC), and in partnership with the Ministry of Labor, with the aim of transferring the practical expertise accumulated through the project and strengthening the Ministry’s institutional capacity to design and manage labor mobility pathways in an organized, responsible, and sustainable manner.
The training was delivered by Dr. Ziad Abu El-Rub, the project’s Principal Researcher at GJU, who presented the project’s practical experience and lessons learned from designing and implementing labor mobility pathways, as well as ways to leverage this experience to develop the institutional capacities and services of the Ministry of Labor.
The first day of the training focused on the project’s experience as a practical model for designing labor mobility pathways, starting with assessing labor market needs and identifying target occupational groups, followed by recruitment, counseling, candidate readiness assessment, selection, and training, and culminating in employer engagement, monitoring and evaluation, and the use of data and feedback to improve pathway design and support decision-making. The training also highlighted the concept of multidimensional readiness, emphasizing that candidate assessment should not be limited to technical skills, but should also include linguistic, professional, communication, and cultural readiness, as well as the extent to which a candidate’s profile matches the requirements of employers and the destination country.
The second day included practical group exercises on a number of labor mobility pathways across different sectors and markets. Participants analyzed available evidence, identified critical assumptions and risks, defined institutional roles, and made decisions on whether to proceed with a pathway, pilot it on a limited scale, redesign it, or discontinue it. The exercises emphasized the importance of not developing labor mobility pathways based on general assumptions about the existence of demand, but rather on verifying the specific occupation in demand, required level of experience, language requirements, recognition of qualifications, and the extent to which candidates match employers’ needs, in addition to working conditions, the quality of opportunities, and their sustainability.
A major component of the training was also dedicated to the Labor Mobility Platform developed through the project as a digital guidance portal that supports the services of GJC and helps users and counselors access reliable information, structured guidance pathways, and relevant official sources related to labor mobility.
The platform falls within the institutional framework of the Ministry of Labor, with its first phase focusing on the pathway related to Germany. It has been designed to allow for future expansion to include other approved international labor markets.
Participants also discussed the requirements for the platform’s sustainability, including institutional ownership, content governance, mechanisms for reviewing, updating, and verifying official sources, the role of feedback from counselors, as well as technical and operational support following the platform’s launch.
The training forms part of the project’s efforts to transform the expertise accumulated through its implementation into sustainable and scalable institutional capacities. This contributes to strengthening the role of the Ministry of Labor and GJC in providing reliable and responsible guidance services, while supporting the development of more structured and realistic pathways to connect Jordanian talent with international employment opportunities.
The project is implemented by GJU in cooperation with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Centres for Migration and Development Project, and GJC, in partnership with relevant national stakeholders.