Promoting demand-oriented vocational education and training (TVET)

Context

Since the end of the civil war in Lebanon, its vocational education and training has been limited almost exclusively to classroom training with limited practical experience. The training is not sufficiently geared towards the labour market and the private sector, resulting in many trainees not working in the occupations for which they were trained and remaining unemployed after completing their training.

The Lebanese labour market is characterised by a low employment rate and a large foreign workforce. There is also a lack of training opportunities for displaced persons, an inconsistent contribution from the private sector to vocational education and training, insufficient public investment and outdated facilities that impact the quality of training programmes.

Objective

Vocational education and training in occupations with long-term employment potential has been improved and is meeting the needs of the Lebanese economy. Employment opportunities for marginalised groups have also increased.

Approach

The project supports the Directorate for Vocational Education and Training and individual employers in expanding demand-oriented vocational education and training. The project has the following fields of activity: 

• Developing cooperation between state vocational training institutions and the private sector by setting up school advisory boards.
• Promoting training for school staff.
• Integrating digital teaching units that ensure uninterrupted access to education.
• In coordination with the private sector, improving practice-based vocational training programmes in production machine maintenance, health inspection, food safety and other occupational fields with good employment prospects.
• Improving the quality of in-company training for employees and work-based learning in companies in selected occupations.

Last updated: February 2025