This initiative, which aims to build national capacities for the assessment and use of the most reliable scientific evidence and data for the development and implementation of employment and labor market policies "Evidence Based Policy", aims to improve their efficiency and impact and also meet the challenges of the labor market in terms of creating and maintaining employment, challenges that are increasingly pressing in view of the economic crisis caused by COVID 19, the agency said in a statement on Monday.

To this end, MCA-Morocco will rely on two internationally renowned research organizations, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and EPoD at the Harvard Kennedy School, which will offer their expertise, knowledge and network in order to set up the various aspects of the initiative, said the same source.

For the implementation of the initiative, the two research centers EPoD and J-PAL will collaborate with the institutional partners of MCA-Morocco, in particular the Ministry of Labor and Professional Integration, the National Agency for the Promotion of Employment and Competences, the National Initiative for Human Development and the National Observatory for Human Development, as well as several national academic and research partners, such as the Policy Center for the New South (PCNS), Mohamed VI Polytechnique University (UM6P) and the National Higher School of Administration (ENSA), the agency said.

This initiative is part of the "Employment" activity of the "Education and training for employability" project under the "Compact II" cooperation program, with a budget of 450 million USD, concluded between the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco and the Government of the United States of America, represented by Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), aiming to enhance the quality of human capital and improve the productivity of land.