Davos : In the presence of His Highness Shaikh Isa bin Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Isa bin Salman Education Charitable Trust and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Labour Fund (Tamkeen), the launch of the ‘Bahrain Skills and Gender Parity Accelerator’ was announced during a signing ceremony between Tamkeen and the World Economic Forum, on the sidelines of HH’s leadership of a senior Bahraini delegation to the WEF 55th Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
His Highness Shaikh Isa bin Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa emphasised the importance of upskilling and reskilling the national workforce to ensure they remain the first choice for employment opportunities. His Highness emphasised that rapid technological advancements across various sectors are opening significant new avenues for Bahraini talent, emphasising the need to adapt to these changes. HH stressed that leveraging research-driven approaches in designing training programmes is key to the success and sustainability of these initiatives. Additionally, His Highness praised the role of international partnerships in fostering high-quality training and development efforts, bolstering the competitiveness of Bahrain’s workforce on a global scale.
The ceremony was attended by His Excellency Shaikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, the Minister of Finance and National Economy and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company, along with other key dignitaries.
The agreement was signed by Her Excellency Noor bint Ali Alkhulaif, the Minister of Sustainable Development, Chief Executive of Bahrain Economic Development Board, and Board Member of Tamkeen.
This initiative aims to address labor market skill gaps and is part of the WEF Gender Parity Accelerators which aim to reshape the future of the economy.
Gender Parity Accelerators are public-private collaboration platforms that operate on a national scale bringing together leaders from both sectors to identify skill gaps in the key economic sectors and foster ecosystem partnerships that include key stakeholders in the public and private sectors in addition to civil society organizations and training and education institutions. These partnerships aim to upskill and reskill talent and enhance women’s economic participation, with a focus on gender parity across various sectors.
On this occasion, Her Excellency Noor bint Ali Alkhulaif highlighted the Kingdom of Bahrain’s strategic regional and global partnerships, aimed at facilitating cross-border trade and knowledge exchange and fostering a prosperous future for all. Her Excellency added that the accelerator builds on ongoing national efforts to build a skilled and future-ready talent pool and serves as a blueprint for other nations to promote gender parity.
Her Excellency, Ms. Maha Abdulhameed Mofeez, Chief Executive of the Labour Fund (Tamkeen) stated: “This strategic partnership with WEF is aligned with Tamkeen’s commitment to bolstering private sector growth, fostering an enabling environment where Bahrainis are the employees of choice in the labor market, and advancing women’s participation in the private sector. Tamkeen remains dedicated to comprehensive labor market development by adopting a research and data-driven approach that utilises labor market data to design initiatives in collaboration with various enterprises. These efforts aim to foster equal opportunities for all, especially in digital and tech fields, to ensure sustainable growth in Bahrain”
Sriram Gutta, Head of Engagement and Operations and Member of the Executive Committee at the World Economic Forum, said, “Building on the success of our initial cycle, which mobilised more than $2.5M in funding and resulted in more than 54,500+ individuals trained, we will continue our collaboration to drive further progress on reskilling and upskilling in Bahrain. Our second cycle of work will have focus on increasing gender parity in high growth sectors. The Bahrain Accelerator joins a network of more than 35 Accelerators championing transformative, local initiatives in their respective countries.”
The accelerator, coordinated by Tamkeen’s Skills Bahrain will operate through a multi-stakeholder partnership model. Collaborations with private-sector leaders and WEF’s global research will guide subsequent phases of the launch, providing cross-sector insights to address current and future gender skills gaps. These efforts will drive the development of an actionable talent development strategy, enhance national skill-building efforts, promote gender parity in the labor market, and solidify Bahrain’s position as a leading talent hub with a future-ready workforce.
Skills Bahrain was launched in 2024, with the purpose of unlocking the full potential of Bahrain’s human capital, by collaborating with employers, training providers, and government organisations to provide market intelligence and sector-specific data, identify skills gaps across key sectors, and propose solutions to address these gaps.
Skills Bahrain’s objectives complement Tamkeen’s strategic priorities for 2025, which focus on enhancing the competitiveness of Bahrainis in the private sector, fostering enterprise growth, promoting digitisation and sustainability, and advancing labour market and private sector ecosystems.
