SESRIC participated in the 21^st Meeting of the Poverty Alleviation Working Group organised by the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (COMCEC) on 9-10 October 2023 in Ankara, Türkiye.

The theme of the meeting was “Effective Vocational Education and Training Strategies to Reduce Youth Unemployment in the OIC Member Countries”. The Meeting was attended by representatives from OIC Member Countries as well as OIC Institutions such as IsDB, ICYF and SESRIC. The Centre was represented by Dr. Ahmet ÖZTÜRK, Senior Researcher at Statistics and Information Department, Mr. Muzamil EDEMA, Researcher at Economic and Social Research Department and Ms. Esma DEMIRTAŞ, Project Officer at Training and Technical Cooperation Department.

The meeting covered the following topics:

• Outlook of Poverty in the OIC Member Countries
• Presentation of the Draft Research Report
• Lessons Learnt from the Selected Case Studies and the Policy Options
• Experiences and Perspectives of the Member States
• Experiences and Perspectives of International Institutions
• Utilizing the COMCEC Project Support Programs

During the meeting, SESRIC shared its efforts in the domain of TVET and introduced the OIC-VET programme to the participants.

In addition, participants discussed a list of policy recommendations for reducing youth unemployment through improving the vocational education and training programs in the OIC Member Countries. This list of policy recommendations will be submitted to the 39th Ministerial Session of the COMCEC, which will be held on 2-5 December 2023 in Istanbul, Türkiye.

The visit was concluded with a field visit to Türkiye's first green hi-tech high school, Cezeri Green Technology Vocational and Technical High School, where participants were introduced to an array of energy-saving techniques and types of equipment.

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