Project description

Title: Regional Cooperation of selected Arab countries in the Vocational Training Sector
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestinian Territories, Syria (project headquarters: Syria)
Lead executing agency: Regional council with representatives from ministries and private sector institutions of the member countries
Overall term: 2003 to 2011

Context

Economic challenges like low production levels of enterprises, few innovation capacities, marginalisation of the private sector, a growing informal sector and a lack of integration into the world markets made more and more countries in the region strive to reform their economies and increase their performance. A focal point of these efforts is the development and qualification of the labour force and therefore the reform of the vocational training system.

At the same time, the existing vocational training systems in the participating countries do not offer school leavers and other people seeking apprenticeship or vocational training positions sufficient and modern training opportunities. Also, since trainings are rarely oriented towards the demand of industry and labour market, the developed skills often do not match the demand. The institutions relevant for reforming the vocational training system as well as specialized executive capacities are not sufficiently developed. 

Objective

The project supports institutional reforms in the area of vocational training and the improvement of the overall training quality. This will, over the long term, facilitate economic and employment growth, with special attention being dedicated to an improved employability and increased job opportunities for career starters.

In order to reach this objective, the capacities and performance of those institutions responsible for the reforms of the national vocational training systems and their personnel will be increased through a regional vocational training network.

Approach

The project is part of the focal area of „Sustainable Economic Development“ and is conceptualised as a cross-country and sectorial consultation and cooperation approach complementary to the relevant reform and development strategies of the member countries.

Through the establishment of a regional network, member states‘ institutions and representatives from politics, management and the implementation level will have a platform to exchange knowledge, experiences and information relevant to the reform of the vocational training systems. The networking helps to realize national endeavours, to reinforce them and thus creating a value-added for all participants. In the framework of the cross-country cooperation common urgent problems are jointly identified, processed and disseminated. The network is being coordinated by a regional council, a steering committee and focal bodyies in the countries.

The agreed focal areas are the consolidation of the network, the regional application of the developed “Arab Occupational Classification Standards (AOC)“ and the qualification of multiplicators for vocational training. These efforts are supported by conducting target-group specific seminars, workshops and regional conferences especially concerning the cooperation between private and public sector, the application of the AOC and the general reputation of vocational training.

Results achieved so far

The basic structure for an effective management and coordination of the regional network has been established. Through the cross-country cooperation, regional cooperation structures coordinating the exchange of information and experiences with reform efforts have been established. The work groups with experts from partnering countries have so far elaborated the Arab Occupational Classification Standards (AOC), an Arabic Glossary for TVET Curricula Terms and a comparative study on In-Service Teacher Training.

Furthermore, the training of multipliers for the qualification of teachers and instructors from various disciplines has started.

Further information

• Project’s website:
  www.arab-tvet.net