Rashid Muhammad Al-Fawzan

Al-Riyadh

 

I do not know how large the budget of the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) is. However, the SR2,400 per person fee paid annually into the fund means that it has billions of riyals in revenue. The fee is imposed on the private sector and the revenue is meant to be used to reduce unemployment.



However, the question is: What has the HRDF done to solve the problem of unemployment? I have always been against giving financial support to able-bodied people who can work because the job opportunities available to men outnumber the opportunities available to women, especially in the private sector. The HRDF should implement programs that help women start their own businesses instead of giving them financial support.



The fund should establish a department that offers consultation services and financial facilities to unemployed women. I strongly believe that helping people start their own business will eliminate unemployment and reduce pressure on the government when it comes to creating job opportunities for both men and women.



This should be the HRDF’s strategic goal. Simply put, the fund should provide loans to  support projects and programs that allow people to start their own businesses. People who take loans should pay them back to the fund and be given 10 to 30 percent off if they pay the money back on time. Giving loans is much better than giving people money that they are not required to pay back.



The strategies for supporting solutions to the problem of unemployment should be radically changed. How can we expect to end unemployment without financial support and without helping unemployed men and women start their own businesses?



The fund should give special attention to productive families. The importance of setting up a specific department to help unemployed women start their own businesses cannot be stressed enough. It is also important that procedures for granting loans are made easy and fast, not hard and slow.