Invited by Department of State U.S. Expert’s Program to Deliver Workshops in Zimbabwe

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Global Career Compass

I’m pleased to share news that I’ve received an invitation by the Department of State to deliver a series of workshops, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, to university administrators and faculty, high school guidance counselors and education NGOs to strengthen their abilities to offer career counseling to young people. I will travel to Harare next September 29 through October 6.

The proposal states: Zimbabwe’s educational system is largely a British-based, examination-driven system that no longer meets the needs of the economy, development or workforce in the country. University graduates face a bleak employment scenario and official unemployment remains at over 90%. High school graduates are forced into narrow university disciplines without much thought about career paths that meet their interests and talents. There is a blatant dearth of career guidance or counseling at both the high school and university level. We would like to bring an international career counseling expert to lead workshops to help university, school and government administrators to recognize this problem and begin to take concrete steps to change the situation. This speaker program has two main objectives: 1. To assist Zimbabwean universities to start career advising centers or programs, and 2. To assist counselors at high schools in Zimbabwe to strengthen and broaden the career counseling methods and resources they use with their students.

I welcome comments from anyone who has traveled to Zimbabwe! And certainly from anyone with information about the labor market and higher education system in the country.

I delivered a series of similar workshops for the same DOS program in 2003 in Tbilisi, Georgia.