Bazaar 3 trainees struggle to gain new skills and keep up with market needs

In the plumbing workshop and before the start of the practical training, Aziz Ajroum, 32, seems eager to embark on a new journey to acquire additional professional skills that may contribute to improving his current conditions.

Aziz wears the uniform in preparation to move to the workshop where he, along with his fellow trainees within the (Bazaar 3) project, will start to acquire the skills of this profession, which has turned into one of the most sought-after professions with the increase in the construction activity in the city of Raqqa.   

Since its liberation from ISIS in 2017, Raqqa has witnessed remarkable construction activity with the start of the reconstruction efforts and the increase in construction projects, which led to the need for many basic professions such as plumbing, gypsum board, painting, household electricity and others.

On the other hand, Jamal Rajab, 36, began his first steps in making molds made of gypsum, following up with his trainer and his peers the stages of making the necessary molds in the interior furnishing processes in modern buildings. 

Jamal, who mastered the profession of painting from a young age, says that the market is in dire need of new craftsmen in the field of gypsum board in order to keep pace with the constructive development, as well as to improve his skills in a way that guarantees him permanent job opportunities in this field. 

As for Yahya al-Hammadi, 20, it seems he focuses on learning the basics of the household electricity, as he draws wires through the special tracks that have been dug in the walls of the training workshop, before passing them to the boxes and electrical points specified according to the trainer’s plan.   

Yahya says, the household electricity workers have become at the top of the list of those wanted for work during the past few years, due to the acceleration of the pace of the construction activity since the liberation of Raqqa. 

The third phase of the (Bazaar) project was launched in the city of Raqqa on January 9, after selecting 36 trainees distributed in the workshops of household electricity, plumbing and gypsum board, with the aim of helping them secure a new start, reintegrate them into the labor market and keep pace with their growing needs. 

This phase includes providing practical and theoretical training sessions in the three professions, along with training in the field of professional marketing throughout January until March 10.