UNESCO-BREDA Framework for Action in TVET › BREDA › BREDA_TVET-Framework-for... ·...

16.04.2010

UNESCO-BREDA Framework for Action in TVET A framework for action to promote the reform of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in sub-Saharan Africa in support of the Plan of Action for the African Union Second Decade of Education 2006–2015

UNESCO in Dakar and Regional Bureau for Education in Africa 12, avenue L. S. Senghor

BP 3311 Dakar

Senegal

Phone [+221] (33) 849.23.23 Fax [+221] (33) 821.83.93

Website: www.dakar.unesco.org

Contact: Mr Mr Ydo Yao

e-Mail: [email protected] Phone [+221] (33) 849.23.82

© UNESCO • February 2009

http://www.dakar.unesco.org/

mailto:[email protected]

BREDA is the Regional Office for Education in Africa of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). As a Regional Office, whose mandate covers sub-Saharan Africa, BREDA is charged with:

■ Promoting, through its activities, the ideals of UNESCO of building peace, democracy and human rights through the promotion of the sharing and utilisation of knowledge and particularly by ensuring that education, science, culture and communication are placed on the top of the development agenda of African Member States;

■ Systematically developing a regional overview of major trends of UNESCO's areas of competence (Education, Science, Culture and Communication);

■ Feeding the results of such systematic studies and regional overviews into UNESCO's Medium Term, and biennial programmes;

■ Reflecting its in-depth knowledge of the needs of African Member States in the development and execution of its own regular and extra-budgetary activities and in its response to specific emergencies;

■ Working, as much as possible, in close cooperation with governments, regional and international intergovernmental organisations, non-governmental organisations, other UNESCO Offices in Africa, UNESCO Institutes and Centres, UNESCO National Commissions, the entire United Nations family, bilateral development agencies, the intellectual community and the civil society.

More information about UNESCO-BREDA: http://www.dakar.unesco.org

The mandate of UNESCO-BREDA covers the following 46 Member States of UNESCO in sub-Saharan Africa:

Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Congo Côte d'Ivoire Democratic Republic of the Congo Djibouti Equatorial Guinea Eritrea

Ethiopia Gabon Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Kenya Lesotho Liberia Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritius Mozambique Namibia Niger

Nigeria Rwanda Sao Tome and Principe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa Swaziland Togo Uganda United Republic of Tanzania Zambia Zimbabwe


Acronyms and Abbreviations

ADEA Association for the Development of Education in Africa

AfDB African Development Bank

AIDS Acquired immune deficiency syndrome

AU African Union

BEAP Basic Education in Africa Programme

BREDA Bureau Régional pour l'Education en Afrique - Regional Office for Education in Africa (UNESCO)

CapEFA Capacity Building for Education For All programme: technical assistance to Member States

CCA Common Country Assessment

CEDEFOP European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training

CEEAC - ECCAS Communauté Économiques d’États de l’Afrique Centrale - Economic Community of Central African States

COMESA Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa

DESD Decade of Education for Sustainable Development

EAC East African Community

ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States

EDUCAIDS Global Initiative on Education and HIV/AIDS

EFA Education For All

EQJA Education Qualifiante des Jeunes et des Adultes (Senegal)

ETV European Training Village (CEDEFOP)

FAO Food and Agricultural Organization

HIV Human immunodeficiency virus

HRST Department of Human Resource, Science and Technology (African Union)

IICBA International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (UNESCO)

IIEP International Institute for Educational Planning (UNESCO)

IITE UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education

ILO International Labour Organization

LIFE Literacy Initiative for Empowerment

LMIS Labour Market Information System

MDG Millennium Development Goals

NGO Non-governmental organisation

NQF National qualifications framework

OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

RAIFFET Réseau Africain des Instituts de Formation de Formateurs de l’Enseignement Technique

REC Regional Economic Community

SADC Southern African Development Community

SSA Sub-Saharan Africa

TTISSA Teacher Training Initiative for Sub-Saharan Africa

TVET Technical and vocational education and training

TVSD Technical and vocational skills development

UIS UNESCO Institute for Statistics

UN United Nations

UNDAF United Nations Development Assistance Framework

UNECA United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

UNESS UNESCO National Education Support Strategy

UNEVOC UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training

UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organization

WFP World Food Programme

For web links to organisations and programmes, see Annex 4 (page 53).

Page 1 UNESCO-BREDA Framework for Action in TVET Page 1

Contents

Executive Summary .................................................................................................................. 2

1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 5

1.1 TVET on international development agendas ........................................................................................ 5 1.2 Scope of TVET ..................................................................................................................................... 6 1.3 Regional scope of this document .......................................................................................................... 6

2 Challenges for TVET in Africa ........................................................................................... 7

2.1 Socio-economic and educational challenges ......................................................................................... 7 2.2 Specific challenges for TVET ................................................................................................................ 7

3 Responses to Meet the Challenges ................................................................................. 10

3.1 A holistic approach to TVET, and to its coherent governance ...............................................................10 3.2 Resources and financing .....................................................................................................................11 3.3 Access and equity ...............................................................................................................................12 3.4 Content and curriculum .......................................................................................................................12 3.5 Personnel in education, training and management ...............................................................................13 3.6 Articulation, assessment, certification, qualifications frameworks .........................................................14

4 Proposed Fields of Action ............................................................................................... 15

4.1 Collection, management, processing, analysis and dissemination of data ............................................15 4.2 Developing evidence-based coherent policy and governance frameworks ...........................................16 4.3 Mobilisation of partners for more targeted financing .............................................................................18 4.4 Access, equity, quality and relevance ..................................................................................................19 4.5 Curricula relevant for transition to the world of work .............................................................................21 4.6 Personnel for teaching, for management and for career counselling.....................................................22 4.7 Assessment, certification, articulation, qualifications frameworks .........................................................23

5 Modalities of Work ............................................................................................................ 24

5.1 UNESCO’s core functions ...................................................................................................................24 5.2 Facilitating transfer and adaptation of good practice in TVET ...............................................................24 5.3 Cooperation at the country level and internationally .............................................................................24 5.4 Advocacy, sensitisation, monitoring .....................................................................................................25 5.5 South-South exchange ........................................................................................................................25 5.6 Ensuring ownership .............................................................................................................................26 5.7 A focal point for research and reflection on TVET in Africa: Pole of Expertise .......................................26 5.8 Monitoring and evaluation ....................................................................................................................26

References .............................................................................................................................. 27

Annexes ................................................................................................................................... 31

Annex 1: The Context for UNESCO’s Action in African TVET .......................................................................31 Annex 2: African Union: Second Decade of Education for Africa (2006-2015): Plan of Action (Excerpt).........36 Annex 3: African Union: Strategy to Revitalize Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET)

in Africa (Excerpt) ................................................................................................................................43 Annex 4: Web links to organisations, networks, programmes and resources relevant to TVET ......................53


Executive Summary

Chapter 1 of this document recalls the context in which this Framework for Action in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) has been developed, and describes its purpose and scope. Starting from the come-back of TVET to the international development agendas, it provides a framework for action to support TVET in countries in sub-Saharan Africa, through UNESCO and its Field Offices. The document aims at a holistic perspective of TVET, comprising the entire scope of formal, non-formal and informal vocational learning.

Chapter 2 recalls certain realities and challenges related to the African economic, social and education scene, since it is a major role of TVET to facilitate transition from school to the world of work.

There are socio-economic and educational challenges: Skills needs are frequently determined on the basis of data on the formal labour market. However, statistics show that informal employment and activities are increasing in number throughout Africa. Because of accelerating urbanisation, a constant rural population is expected to produce food supplies for a rapidly increasing urban population. Training for rural populations in agriculture is crucial. One third of children of primary school age, and three quarters of children of secondary school age, are outside the formal education system. These youth need access to alternative education and training in order to be able to engage in productive work.

There are specific challenges for TVET. For most sub-Saharan African countries, the enrolment rate in formal TVET at secondary level is 5 percent or less. Non-formal TVET is predominant, and in most education systems, TVET is highly fragmented. Learning opportunities at the workplace, non-formal learning, private provision, and TVET under various non-education sector ministries tend to operate separate TVET sub-systems. Numerous governmental and non-governmental actors engage in TVET. As a rule, their policies are not coherent. Only a few governments in Africa are able to finance TVET at a level that can support quality training. A number of African countries have created national funds for training, many of which have room for improvement. Provision to reach marginalised populations such as ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, and demobilised soldiers needs to be strengthened. In most countries, women are dominant in the informal economy, and in the service sector, while industrial and technology courses are still considered as areas reserved for male students. TVET and manual work frequently lack appropriate social status and perception.

Chapter 3 reviews responses that African countries have developed to meet these challenges. Some governments have addressed fragmentation of governance by concentrating responsibilities for TVET to one single ministry. Many African countries have decentralised the management of TVET, with the delegation of responsibilities to regional authorities or even to educational institutions. National training boards have been established to ensure provision, management and monitoring of heterogeneous systems of TVET. Governments, employers, trade unions and other stakeholders share decision-making. Public-private partnerships have become a popular approach. Participation of private providers in TVET requires government to assume a role of a facilitator rather than a provider of TVET. Training funds generate income from a training levy. Ideally they allocate their funds to training in strategically important sectors, and to marginalised groups. TVET institutions can successfully generate income by combining market production with vocational learning. Alternative forms of training provision, such as mobile training teams, have proven less expensive in many countries.

Strategies to increase female participation in TVET address the foundations in basic education for access to TVET, the availability of suitable programmes and premises, and access to adequate employment opportunities. For ex-child soldiers and other ex-combatants, tailor-made arrangements are required. In order to improve access to learning for rural populations, decentralised arrangements have been set up. TVET is not attracting various groups of the population at the same level. Mass media can play active roles in overcoming the social stigma.

Data on qualification needs are not readily available, particularly from the informal sector. Labour market information systems are rudimentary. There is need to review the methodologies. Countries are introducing entrepreneurship competencies in education and training. School enterprises can provide an institutional environment conducive to entrepreneurship.

Restructuring of TVET systems requires capacity building for personnel in education, training and management.

Recognition, validation and accreditation of non-formal and informal learning is essential. Articulation between formal, non-formal and informal learning opportunities facilitates learner’s movement and progression within the overall education and training system. National qualification frameworks address this challenge.


Chapter 4 presents the proposed fields for action in African TVET.

Fields of Action

1. Data collection, management, processing, analysis and dissemination

2. Developing evidence-based coherent policy and governance frameworks

3. Mobilisation of partners for more targeted financing

4. Access, equity and quality

5. Curricula relevant for transition to the world of work

6. Personnel for teaching, for management and for career counselling

7. Assessment, certification, articulation, qualifications frameworks

Not all of the proposed fields of action will be suitable for each of the countries. Country-specific fields of intervention will be identified. UNESCO will focus on upstream policy advice, institutional and human capacity-building, and monitoring of global and regional trends.

(1) UNESCO-BREDA will support capacity development for Management Information Systems in TVET (TVET-MIS), and for Labour Market Information Systems (LMIS) and observatories for human resource planning.

(2) UNESCO-BREDA will assist Member States in stocktaking, in particular in their efforts to provide a holistic picture of complex landscapes of TVET. This will include articulation between TVET and skills development on the one hand, with general education, literacy programmes and pre-vocational programmes targeted for school drop-outs on the other hand.

(3) UNESCO-BREDA will assist interested Member States in the development and revision of holistic national TVET policy and legal frameworks, strategies and institutional structures. Attention will be paid at articulation between general education, literacy programmes, pre-vocational skills development and TVET at various levels up to higher education.

(4) UNESCO-BREDA will support interested Member States in setting up or developing further such participatory bodies, based on existing experience in African countries and elsewhere. In doing so, UNESCO-BREDA will provide guidance how such bodies can best harness the comparative advantage of each of its constituencies.

(5) UNESCO-BREDA is available to advise Member States in the process of encouraging and building public-private partnerships in TVET. In doing so, UNESCO-BREDA will reflect the implications of this approach for a changing role of government in TVET, and for capacity building that might be required to enable governments to develop and manage such heterogeneous systems of TVET.

(6) UNESCO-BREDA, jointly with partners such as the ILO, will support interested Member States to identify and mobilise sustainable financial and other resources for TVET. This will include the setting up of Institutionalised funding sources such as payroll levies. Particular attention will be paid to a targeted allocation of grants and bursaries from these funds, so as to ensure access of marginalised groups to TVET, and to create incentives for learning achievements.

(7) UNESCO-BREDA will assist Member States in reviewing and developing national policies to make TVET available for all. Particular attention will be paid to open and distance delivery, to the development of mobile teams, finding solutions to gender issues, to post-conflict and post-disaster situations, to rural populations, and to disabled persons.

(8) UNESCO-BREDA will support advocacy for TVET to increase attractiveness for learners

(9) UNESCO-BREDA will ensure that TVET goals and issues are appropriately represented on agendas, in programmes, studies, reports and documents prepared under its own auspices, and encourage Member States to do the same.

(10) UNESCO-BREDA will, jointly with international partners such as ILO, UNIDO, WFP and ETF, enhance the capacity of Member States to take labour market information into account for the development of TVET programmes, and to interact with labour marked stakeholders in curriculum development.

(11) UNESCO-BREDA will support the integration of cross-cutting principles and subjects, such as entrepreneurship, use of information and communication technologies, science and technology, orientation towards sustainable development, and HIV and AIDS education, into curricula at all levels of TVET. Attention will be paid to the integration of indigenous knowledge and skills.


(12) UNESCO-BREDA will seek, jointly with interested Member States, to broaden the scope of staff development programmes in TVET, in close cooperation with UNESCO’s International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa. Special attention will be paid to the needs of non-formal vocational learning opportunities, to the management of public-private partnerships, and to assessment and certification of non-formal and informal learning achievements.

(13) UNESCO-BREDA will facilitate South-South and North-South-South transfer of experience among interested countries in the development of National Qualifications Frameworks and, where desirable, Regional Qualifications Frameworks, working with Regional Economic Communities. The definition of qualification levels, of validation and certification standards, and the assessment and validation of non-formal and informal learning achievements will play a pivotal role. Preference will be given to groupings of countries interested in common regional frameworks.

Chapter 5 describes UNESCO’s preferred modalities of work.

When fulfilling its mission, UNESCO builds on its comparative advantage in its five established functions: laboratory of ideas; standard-setter; clearing house; capacity-builder in Member States in UNESCO’s fields of competence; and catalyst for international cooperation. In pursuing its core functions, UNESCO seeks to facilitate transfer and adaptation of good practice in TVET, thus increasing South-South cooperation.

At the country level, UNESCO-BREDA will assist Member States to identify partners and resources that might contribute to TVET development.

At the regional level, UNESCO-BREDA will participate in needs assessment and programming, provide technical advice to the African Union, and engage within the One UN Framework. UNESCO-BREDA will facilitate the implementation of the African Union Strategy to revitalize TVET. Furthermore, UNESCO-BREDA to engage in advocacy and sensitisation, within UNESCO as well as towards other international, regional and national agencies, organisations, programmes and networks.

UNESCO-BREDA will continue to provide platforms for South-South or North-South-South exchange in various formats, using the networks of UNEVOC and of ADEA, and the Regional Economic Communities. In order to promote South-South learning on TVET in Africa, BREDA has set up a “Pole of Expertise in TVET” aiming at exchange of existing TVET expertise, initiating and conducting formal and informal research and reflection on TVET in Africa; facilitating sub-regional peer reviews of TVET systems; making expertise available; and promoting critical assessment of experience and good practice.

UNESCO-BREDA will make use of the comparative advantages in TVET of various other actors and units within UNESCO: Headquarters, Institutes and Centres, and the cluster and country offices in Sub-Saharan Africa. In order to deliver at strategic level, cost-effectiveness considerations be taken into account.

The Annexure presents

(1) the context for UNESCO’s action in TVET,

(2) the relevant sections of the African Union’s Plan of Action for the Second Decade of Education for Africa (2006-2015),

(3) the African Union’s Strategy to Revitalize TVET in Africa, and

(4) web links to relevant organisations, programmes, networks and resources.


1 Introduction

This document has been developed by UNESCO-BREDA. It provides a framework for action to support countries in sub-Saharan Africa, through UNESCO and its Field Offices, in tackling the numerous challenges in technical and vocational education and training (TVET).

Its purpose is to provide guidance for UNESCO professionals in developing programmes and activities in sub-Saharan Africa. It will assist National Commissions for UNESCO and other partners in Member States in identifying areas in which BREDA and other Field Offices can use its instruments and modalities of work to support the development of national systems of TVET.

Finally, this document will also serve as a tool for monitoring and evaluation of BREDA’s activities in the area of TVET.

The following section explains the international framework and context for UNESCO’s intervention in TVET.

1.1 TVET on international development agendas

Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) has been almost absent from the international development agenda for many years. At the Jomtien conference on Education for All in 1990, and at the World Education Forum

in Dakar in 2000, attention of the international development community was strongly focused on primary and basic education. Although Dakar Goal 3 requests that “ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programmes” (UNESCO 2000), only rudimentary attempts have been made to monitor skills or technical and vocational education and training (King and Palmer 2008, 9).

The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) adopted by United Nations Member States in 2000 address, in Goal 1 “Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger” and in Goal 7 “Ensure environmental sustainability”, but the MDG reports show little evidence that these goals have been translated into development of TVET (UN 2008a). Thus it is not surprising that even the “Recommendations of the MDG Africa Steering Group” of 2008 show weak references only to TVET (MDG Africa 2008).

However, in recent years, there has been a global mobilisation aiming at bringing TVET to the forefront. After years of neglect, it was recognised that TVET is pivotal in the achievement of goals set forth by the international community:

■ In 2006, the African Union declared TVET as a high priority area for investment in the Second Decade of Education for Africa, with the following priority areas of intervention: • Equitable access to TVET for all; • Quality and relevance of national TVET systems and programmes; • Non-formal education; literacy and TVET; and vulnerable groups; • Financing TVET; • Using network strategies (AU 2006).

■ In 2007, the Conference of Ministers of Education of the African Union submitted the “Strategy to Revitalize Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Africa” (AU 2007).

■ The 2007/2008 African Economic Outlook, produced by the OECD Development Centre, the African Development Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, has a focus on technical and vocational skills development (TVSD). The report argues that “TVSD was excluded from both the International Development Target in 1996 and as a Millennium Development Goal (MDG2) in 2000. Now TVSD is back on the international agenda” (OECD and AfDB 2008).

■ In May 2008, the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) held its Biennale on Education in Africa on “post-primary education“, with one of the three major themes being “skills development and the world of work: challenges for education and training” (ADEA 2008).

This provides the context for BREDA to reflect on UNESCO’s on-going and future interventions in African TVET.

The current document presents these reflections. Its purpose is to provide guidance for Member States as well as for UNESCO professionals in sub-Saharan Africa when determining their fields of cooperation, drafting programmes and developing activities. In addition, the document will also serve as a tool for monitoring and evaluation of BREDA’s activities in the area of TVET.


1.2 Scope of TVET

There is considerable diversity in what the education and training community perceives as “skills development“, “technical education”, “vocational training”, “technical and vocational education (and training)“, and the various terms and acronyms that are used in this context. Thus, when addressing the area of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in this document, we need to explain what we are referring to.

In line with UNESCO’s “Revised Recommendation concerning Technical and Vocational Education (2001)”, this document “applies to all forms and aspects of education that are technical and vocational in nature, provided either in educational institutions or under their authority, by public authorities, the private sector or through other forms of organized education, formal or non-formal, aiming to ensure that all members of the community have access to the pathways of lifelong learning” (UNESCO 2001, section 1). In addition, this document pays due attention to informal vocational learning achievements where these contribute to a process of life-long education and training.

As a result, TVET as addressed in this document encompasses the broadest possible range of options:

Scope of TVET

from to

1 Educational level Basic / Post-primary / Post-basic Post-secondary

2 Learner Initial training of youth Further training of adults

3 Type Formal Non-formal, informal

4 Specialisation Blacksmith, farmer, cook Secretary, accountant, nurse, IT technician, engineer

5 Educational objective Individual and social development, life skills Employability, occupational capabilities

6 Place of learning Schools, training institutions Workplace, home

7 Delivery patterns Teacher-driven classroom delivery, apprenticeship

Open and distance learning, self-learning

8 Provider and facilitator Ministry of education, other government ministry or agency, local community

Private sector, employers, NGOs, religious

9 Monitoring Government Private (or none)

This illustration is not meant to provoke a debate on terminology. Rather, it is meant to explain that, in this document, the term “technical and vocational education and training” (TVET) is being used in its broadest sense.

UNESCO and the International Labour Organization (ILO) agree that “UNESCO’s concern is centred on technical and vocational education, which the Organization considers an integral part of the global Education for All initiative. The ILO focuses on training for employment, decent work and the welfare of workers, in the context of the Global Employment Agenda.” However, they are also aware “that education and training are rapidly becoming inseparable, especially as the notion of a job for life is being replaced by the necessity for lifelong learning” (UNESCO and ILO 2002, 3).

This broad and holistic perception is also reflected in UNESCO’s statistical study on participation in TVET. Although the data in that study refer to formal education only, the challenge remains that “all forms of TVET are included: education and training; formal education, non-formal education and informal learning; public and private sector or community provision” (UNESCO 2006, 5).

This document aims at a holistic perspective of TVET, thus overcoming not only the historical segregation between “vocational education” and “vocational training”, but also comprising the entire scope of formal, non-formal and informal vocational learning as well as technological education.

1.3 Regional scope of this document

The purpose of this document is to provide guidance for professionals at UNESCO’s Regional Office for Education in Africa (BREDA) in Dakar as well as at other UNESCO Offices in Africa, and to the National Commissions for UNESCO.

In line with the regional scope of responsibility of UNESCO-BREDA, this document’s focus, unless explicitly stated otherwise, is on the 46 sub-Saharan Member States of UNESCO.


2 Challenges for TVET in Africa

2.1 Socio-economic and educational challenges

It is a major role of TVET to facilitate transition from school to the workplace. Therefore, before addressing education and training, it is helpful to recall certain realities and challenges related to the economic, social and education scene in Africa.

2.1.1 Labour markets and the informal sector

Skills needs are frequently determined on the basis of data on the formal labour market. However, statistics show that informal employment and activities are increasing in number throughout Africa. Traditional agriculture and the informal sector employ the majority of labour in sub-Saharan Africa: 95 percent in Benin, 90 percent in Cameroon, Ethiopia and Senegal, and 31 percent in South Africa (AfDB and OECD 2008). The informal sector typically generates more than 50 percent of the gross national product (Walther and Krönner 2008, section 3).

In Africa, the informal sector absorbs around 90 percent of school leavers. For them, it is essential to be equipped with basic skills to enter a professional life. In the course of working life, continuing TVET aims at making them more productive, and at facilitating their integration into the world of work. Yet, policies tend to ignore the outstanding importance of the informal economy for national development and how it shapes the concepts of “employment” and “labour markets” (Bhuwanee 2008).

2.1.2 The crucial role of agriculture

In spite of accelerated urbanisation, rural population still represents more than half of the working population in many African countries (64 percent in Senegal, 87 percent in Burkina Faso). An almost constant rural population in sub-Saharan Africa faces the challenge of providing food supplies for a rapidly increasing urban population. In the absence of a corresponding increase of agricultural productivity, natural resources have been overexploited, which has reduced soil fertility and biodiversity, and provoked erosion, deforestation and environmental degradation (Maragnani 2008). TVET is an indispensable ingredient for sub-Saharan Africa to overcome this vicious circle.

2.1.3 Education

The Dakar Framework for Action had been at the core of development of education since 2000. In addition, Millennium Development Goal Nr. 2 adopted in the same year is to ensure that, by 2015, all boys and girls will complete a full course of primary schooling.

As a matter of fact, between 1999 and 2005, primary school enrolment in sub-Saharan Africa increased by 29 million or 36 percent (UNESCO 2008a, 42). Yet, in 2006, in sub-Saharan Africa, only 70 percent of the relevant age group is enrolled in primary education, as compared to 54 percent in the year 1999 (UNESCO 2008b, 1).

For secondary education, the enrolment rate in sub-Saharan Africa was just 25 percent in 2006, which means that nearly 78 million children of the relevant age group were not enrolled in secondary education (UNESCO 2008b, 10), and therefore do not complete “basic education”, an education that provides basic general knowledge, skills, competences, attitudes and values to face life.

This has a double impact on the demand for education:

■ Firstly, millions of additional primary school graduates are seeking to continue their education. This generates tremendous pressure on post-primary education and training.

■ Secondly, this means that one third of children of primary school age, and three quarters of children of secondary school age, still were outside the formal education system. These youth need access to alternative education and training in order to be able to engage in productive work.

Education and training policies need to take into account the large number of youth of school age that are outside of the formal education and training systems.

2.2 Specific challenges for TVET

2.2.1 Low enrolment rate in formal TVET and predominance of non-formal TVET

In sub-Saharan Africa, formal TVET plays a minor role only in providing qualifications for the individual’s transition from school to work. In 2005, for two thirds of sub-Saharan countries, the enrolment rate in formal technical and vocational programmes at secondary level was 5 percent or less (OECD and AfDB 2008, 680f.). “Yet, very few countries emphasize skills development in the informal sector, the largest employer and source of training in Africa.” (OECD 2008).


2.2.2 Fragmented education and training systems

In order to meet the various qualification needs of the world of work, TVET needs to provide a broad variety of opportunities for vocational learning.

However, in most education systems, TVET is highly fragmented. Often there is a lack of coherent frameworks to accommodate the various elements and pathways of TVET. This is particularly the case for learning opportunities at the workplace, for non-formal and indigenous forms of learning, for the broad range of private provision of TVET, but also for government-provided TVET, where ministries of education, labour, employment, health, agriculture etc. tend to operate separate TVET sub-systems.

2.2.3 Fragmented TVET governance

In virtually every country, numerous governmental and non-governmental actors exist that engage in TVET. Each of them may have its own policies, standards, programs, curricula, target groups, delivery methods, and budget sources. Some of these actors operate in partnership with government; others work independently.

In some African countries, ten or more government ministries hold responsibilities for specific aspects or branches of TVET, for example ministries in charge of economic development, of health, of agriculture, of fishery, of construction, or of public administration (Krönner 2006). Policies are not necessarily coherent across these ministries, even in countries where national training authorities have been established. This situation causes fragmentation of governance within national TVET systems.

At the international level, there has been a sense of coherence and of coordination for initiatives to achieve Education for All. However, such sharing of information and coordination mostly lacks when it comes to TVET. This results in duplication and poorly coordinated interventions by development partners and donors.

2.2.4 Poor financing

TVET is costly. At secondary level, expenditure per student in TVET is three to four times higher than for general education (Atchoarena and Delluc 2002, 45). In the informal sector, the expenses in apprenticeship programs are incurred in totality by the trainees and their families, thus weighing heavily on family budgets. In the 2004 UNESCO Survey, only 15 countries out of 24 reported an increase in TVET funding from the government. Furthermore, the following excerpt gives an indication of the national budget al.located to TVET in some countries:

“Only a few governments in Africa are able to finance TVET at a level that can support quality training. Ethiopia spends only about 0.5 percent of its education and training budget on TVET while Ghana spends only about 1 percent. The figure is 10 percent for Mali and 12.7 percent for Gabon” (AU 2007, 8).

A number of African countries have created national funds for training. Many of these funds have room for im-provement of their effectiveness and relevance: clarifying their purpose and their relationship with initial vocational training; ensuring their budget autonomy, within the established framework, from government intervention; focus on small and medium size enterprises to avoid absorption of funding by the most powerful ones; financing not only of the training itself, but likewise of capacity-building for training (Walther and Gauron 2006, 10).

2.2.5 Inequality of access, especially for marginalised youth and for women

In the UNESCO TVET Survey of 2004, most countries recognised that there was no special provision aimed at reaching the youth of hard-to-reach places, the most vulnerable and marginalised populations such as ethnic minorities; people with disabilities; and demobilised soldiers. Of the latter group, it is estimated that there are 300,000 child soldiers in the world, half of them in Africa.

Furthermore, in most countries, women are dominant in the informal sector. Yet, there seems to be little provision to giving them access to tailored training, either formal or non-formal. For those who have nevertheless acquired skills, post-training support is lacking for job placement, counselling for business start-up, and micro finance.

There is also a global consensus that, despite years of national and international development discourse advocating for women’s empowerment through education and training, their full participation still remains a challenge. In the formal system of training, their dominant area still is in the service sector, while industrial and technology courses are still considered as areas reserved for male students, with little female participation.

2.2.6 Poor perception and low status of TVET

Vocational training and manual work frequently lack appropriate social status and perception. TVET continues to suffer from a historical plight condemning it to be viewed as a choice for lower class citizens. The belief, since colonial times, has been that only those who are not academically gifted take the TVET route. Often TVET is still considered second or third choice for the poor. In most cases, choosing the TVET stream pushes one into a ghetto, without enough scope and openings for higher studies. Reduced chances for its graduates to further learning add to the poor public perception of TVET. This underlines the need for articulation between TVET and higher education, and to ensure that higher education meets the requirements of the labour market.


Societal belief has also been perpetuated for years by governments and international organisations in their reluctant support for TVET when addressing educational reforms.

2.2.7 Inadequacy of training supply for the requirements of the world of work

In Africa, there is a lack of both human and material resources for training: out-dated curricula and training equipment, poor infrastructures, and poor provision for school-to-work transition. One of the underlying shortcomings is the poor capacity of countries to collect relevant data to determine training needs of the labour market. This hampers the acquisition of quality relevant knowledge, skills and attitudes, and severely limits the chances for employment or self-employment.

It is estimated that in Africa seven to ten million people enter into the labour market every year. However, the labour markets have insufficient capacities for their absorption. This results in a high rate of unemployment and underemployment, especially for those who have not been given any counselling or skills for work.

2.2.8 Insufficient access to further learning

For learners involved in institutional settings such as vocational schools, training institutes and polytechnics, the inherent assessment and certification facilities open opportunities for employment as well as for vertical and horizontal movement within the education and training system. This is frequently not the case for non-formal and informal learning. As a consequence, moving between academic and vocational qualifications, and between formal education and the world of work, remains difficult (UNESCO 2009b, 36).


3 Responses to Meet the Challenges

The challenges referred above provide a global picture of TVET in sub-Saharan Africa. They do not depict the individual situations in each of the countries. We have to acknowledge that education and training landscapes within sub-Saharan Africa are diverse, as are the social, economic and cultural conditions and traditions. Hence, these challenges are not equally relevant in their entirety to each and every country.

Hence, there is a diversity of responses that have been developed to address the challenges.

Some of these responses may lend themselves to transfer and adaptation to other countries and subregions, while others may not. It is therefore imperative to carefully examine the prevailing socio-economic conditions, and to assess the feasibility of responses and interventions in that specific environment. These responses have to be customised to suit individual countries and situations.

3.1 A holistic approach to TVET, and to its coherent governance

3.1.1 Policy and governance: reducing fragmentation

Patterns and structures of TVET not only in Africa show considerable diversity. This is likewise the case for governance of TVET. In countries where numerous government ministries hold responsibilities for specific aspects or branches of TVET, policies targeting TVET have to be coherent across the various sector ministries. Prevailing vocational learning arrangements need better coordination, so as to reduce fragmentation within national TVET systems.

Some African governments have addressed this challenge. For example, in an effort to simplify coordination, minimise duplication and enhance cost effectiveness, Uganda has restructured and redefined the role of the Ministry of Education and Sports. The government transferred all the departmental training institutions from their respective sector ministries to this ministry. In doing so, the government acknowledges the diverse structure of TVET; the role played by private providers; and the role of government as a facilitator of TVET in both the public and the private sector (Eilor 2008).

Particular attention needs to be paid to the articulation between formal and non-formal learning: “Non-formal education should be understood not only as complementary to formal education, but as part and parcel of an integrated and holistic system that encompasses diversified forms of learning” (UNESCO 2007b, 5f.).

3.1.2 Decentralisation of governance

Many African countries have started decentralising the management of TVET, with the delegation of responsibilities to regional authorities or even to educational institutions. However, local authorities do not always have sufficient management capacity to discharge their new responsibilities (AfDB and OECD 2008, section 27). Local authorities have to be sufficiently capacitated in order to deal with the evolving challenges.

Namibia provides an example for decentralisation and localisation of curriculum development, delivery and assessment, so as to allow adjustments to local socio-economic needs. It is noted that this requires a challenging process of institutional capacity building and human capacity development, including a quality assurance system, to be fully implemented (Mushauri and Durango 2008).

Coherent governance under one single policy framework is not equivalent to centralisation. Within a coherent national TVET policy framework, considerable room can be given to administrative decentralisation, as well as to localisation of vocational curricula. This is the case in Uganda where the District Governments have become power centres to which most of the central government authority has been transferred (Eilor 2008). However, “where decentralisation of governance and/or provision takes place, the problem of inadequate resource allocation at all levels is felt” (UNESCO 2009a, section 15).

3.1.3 National training boards

Many countries have established national training boards, authorities or councils to ensure provision, management and monitoring of heterogeneous systems of public and private, of formal and non-formal TVET. In addition to government ministries in charge of TVET, such boards typically include representation of other stakeholders such as employers, trade unions, teachers and trainers, professional organisations, learners, public and private training providers, communities, civil society organisations, religious bodies, and other parties with an interest in TVET. Giving more responsibility to the private sector, for example in the construction of curricula, increases the commitment of other TVET partners. They will be more likely to provide additional resources.


3.1.4 Partnerships and the changing role of government

There is increasing awareness that governments themselves cannot (and should not) pilot and provide vocational learning opportunities for the training needs of all young people. There are a number of reasons. The limited resources in education budgets are an important factor, but not necessarily the most important one. Piloting and provision of TVET within the framework of public-private partnerships has become a popular approach. “In Mauritius, where there is a strong partnership between the state and the private sector, through on the job training for instance, the TVSD system has diversified its sources of funding and improved the quality of training, making it more responsive to labour market requirements” (AfDB and OECD 2008, section 25).

Public-private partnership does not imply that provision of TVET is left to the market. On the contrary: Participation of private providers in TVET requires the role of government to be reconsidered. Market-driven TVET has obvious implications and limitations, particularly when it comes to access and equity of vulnerable groups.

Many countries are considering their role more as that of a facilitator, rather than a provider of TVET. In connection with Uganda’s efforts to concentrate responsibility for TVET in one single ministry, the Ministry of Education and Sports has undergone a major redefinition of its role in TVET. Rather than being involved in day-to-day administration of the education sector activities, it is increasingly focusing on a higher order managerial mandate involving policy formulation, development of performance indicators, policy regulation, monitoring and evaluation (Eilor 2008, section 12).

3.2 Resources and financing

Although in Africa the bulk of vocational learning is provided through non-formal arrangements, almost the entire public budget expenditure is earmarked for formal TVET. In turn, the bulk of cost for non-formal TVET is borne by the learners, by their parents, or by the craftspersons and businessmen who provide training through traditional apprenticeship or on-the-job training (Walther and Gauron 2006).

Reallocation of resources through training funds

Many African countries have introduced training funds. As a rule, these funds are generating their income from a training levy collected from enterprises in the formal sector. The levy typically ranges from of 1 to 2 percent of the enterprise payroll.

The funds are ideally allocated to training in strategically important sectors, such as traditional apprenticeship in West Africa, thus playing an important role in developing alternative patterns of TVET (Walther and Gauron 2006).

Training funds are typically managed jointly by governments, employers, trade unions and other partners, including external donors. They have the potential to target their funding to marginalised groups which otherwise would not have an opportunity to benefit from TVET. However, this potential has not yet been sufficiently developed.

Combining vocational learning with income generation

There is evidence that TVET institutions can successfully generate income by combining market production with systematic vocational learning. The production of goods and services not only generates income for the TVET institution. It also brings vocational learning closer to the realities of life, to the world of work, and to real market situations. Thus, it generates perspectives for future self-employment of the learners (Singh 2008).

Experience in Congo shows that targeted vocational learning that is linked to food production and food processing can be particularly beneficial to learners in a rural area, while at the same time contributing to the financial sustainability of the learning arrangement (Massengo et al. 2008).

Reducing costs of training

Countries have experimented with alternative and less expensive forms of training, such as mobile training teams. The concept of such mobile teams of experts was initially launched in Asia, where it served to train teachers, professionals and technicians. It has been replicated in other countries, for example in Uganda, where teams composed of a nurse, a doctor/ clinical officer, a counsellor and a driver went to rural health settings to train for HIV/AIDS palliative care and rehabilitation services.


3.3 Access and equity

Many African countries make efforts to improve access to TVET for specific target groups. Such target groups are: children who never had access or dropped out before completing basic education; girls and women; populations in rural and remote areas; persons affected by conflicts or disasters; disabled persons.

3.3.1 The gender dimension

Research provides ample information for the causes of gender imbalances in TVET. Pilot projects provide evidence of successful strategies to increase female participation in TVET. These address, apart from socio-economic factors, in particular:

■ the foundations in basic education for access to TVET;

■ the availability of suitable programmes and premises;

■ access to adequate employment opportunities;

■ support for business start-up and access to micro-finance.

It would seem, however, that not many countries have established and implemented gender policy frameworks that cover the various causes of gender imbalance in education and training, in the world of work, and in society.

3.3.2 Populations affected by conflict and disaster

TVET and skills development for ex-child soldiers and other ex-combatants, frequently affected both physically and mentally, requires tailor-made arrangements. Experience made in Angola (Walther with Filipiak 2007, 122 f.), the Republic of Congo (Banoukouta et al. 2008) and Rwanda (Annex 3, section 7.2) can serve as reference.

3.3.3 Rural populations

Efforts have been made, though at small scale only, to bridge the distance between learners in rural and remote areas and vocational learning opportunities. Mobile teams have been set up. Decentralised institutions are another option. They tend to have a double effect: they increase the opportunities of the young generation to get engaged in productive and income-generating work; at the same time, they contribute to the overall development of the rural economies (Banoukouta et al. 2008).

3.3.4 Social perception of TVET

One important reason for imbalances in access to TVET is its social perception. Being stigmatised as an option for the academically less gifted, TVET is not attracting various groups of the population at the same level.

Governments and civil societies need to develop strategies to overcome this social stigma. Social marketing, counselling and guidance can support parity of esteem between general education and TVET.

In order to promote the social perception of TVET, in some countries (Uganda, Ghana) the mass media are playing active roles in motivation campaigns. Television series and films are being used to address the potential of vocational training in poverty alleviation. Role models of successful (male and female) entrepreneurs help illustrating the economic and social potential of training.

3.4 Content and curriculum

3.4.1 Identification of skills needs

Among other educational and socio-economic goals, TVET serves to facilitate the transition of individuals to the world of work. In a life-long perspective, it serves to maintain and improve employability. Hence, TVET programmes and curricula need to reflect the qualification needs of the world of work.

However, data on qualification needs are not readily available, particularly as they need to take future demand into account. This is even more so for African economies with a predominant informal sector.

Several methods can be used to adjust TVET programmes, content and curricula and training capacities to the actual demand and employment situation. Labour market information systems and observatories can serve to collect, process and provide relevant information. However, thus far, the establishment of country-wide systems is still in a rudimentary stage (Atchoarena and Delluc 2002). Although the World Bank has seen labour market observatories as instruments of choice in a large number of its projects, the results have been disappointing (Johanson 2004, 58).


Linking literacy training with skills development and self-employment initiatives can improve the match between individual needs, life and work: “Literacy and economic self-sufficiency empower individuals, encouraging them to establish self-employment initiatives – which in turn create new employment opportunities – and making it easier to obtain loans to support and enhance income-generating activities” (UNESCO 2007b, 21). Government departments and institutes link training (for example, on gardening, poultry care, craft making, basic home care) to more formal adult basic education/ functional literacy programmes and sometimes provide equipment or micro-loans (UNESCO 2009b, 24).

In the absence of fully-fledged labour market information systems, other instruments have been introduced, such as employer surveys and tracer studies on TVET graduates, local needs assessments, or local micro labour market surveys.

There is need to review methodologies such as the labour market observatories in Benin and Rwanda (OECD 2008), and to relate them to those applied in other regions. Analytical work done by the European Training Foundation for North Africa may provide useful insights (ETF 2007).

3.4.2 Entrepreneurship in education and training

Many school leavers in Africa neither find employment in the formal sector, nor are they able to find or create jobs for themselves in the informal sector. Traditional academic education is inadequate to equip young people with the knowledge and skills needed to improve their chances for a decent life. An increasing number of countries are therefore developing strategies to introduce entrepreneurship competencies in education and training.

Entrepreneurship education and training has several dimensions. In general, it aims at the development of personal attitudes which enable learners to identify opportunities, and to transform them into activities. Beyond this, it needs to provide the knowledge and skills to establish an enterprise or to create self-employment. Entrepreneurship is not limited to creating a business. Rather, it is a pedagogical principle across the education and training system (Norway 2006).

In line with these two major dimensions, two major approaches to entrepreneurship education can be identified:

In general education, entrepreneurial characteristics are being infused and integrated into as many subjects as possible. Examples for such characteristics are: creativity and imagination; ability to take the initiative; ability to accept responsibility; ability to cope with uncertainty, to evaluate risks and to take decisions.

In TVET, entrepreneurship education can be seen as a foundation for business startup by TVET graduates. It includes knowledge and skills related to economics, finance, resource utilisation, management, markets, and the world of work.

The institutional environment has been identified as an important factor for successful entrepreneurship education and training. As the example of Botswana shows, an entrepreneurial culture needs to be developed even within the education and training system itself. It addresses the preparation of teachers, instructors and headmasters; the development of learning and teaching materials; career guidance and counselling; post-training support structures for young entrepreneurs, and availability of financial instruments (Swartland 2008).

School enterprises can provide such an institutional environment. They are alternative models for linking TVET to real work and market situations. School enterprises, which combine market production with systematic vocational learning, bring conventional schools and vocational institutes closer to the realities of life, particularly to the world of work and self-employment (Singh 2008).

3.5 Personnel in education, training and management

Some African countries are in the process of restructuring their TVET systems, including governance. Emphasis is being laid on

■ Overcoming the fragmentation of responsibilities for TVET that is frequently scattered across a large number of sector ministries;

■ Upgrading and improving non-formal TVET arrangements, with a view of integrating them into mainstream TVET;

■ Acknowledging the contribution of non-governmental actors and stakeholders to the broadening and deepening of vocational learning opportunities;

■ Decentralising responsibilities for TVET to local communities;

■ Introducing new patterns of financing of TVET, such as training funds;

■ Developing standards for training and assessment, frequently in the context of establishing national qualifications frameworks.

Evidence shows that each of the above processes requires immense efforts for capacity building, which goes hand in hand with the definition of new roles and functions of education, training and management personnel, which has frequently been underestimated.


3.6 Articulation, assessment, certification, qualifications frameworks

Arrangements for recognition, validation and accreditation of outcome of non-formal and informal learning are essential if these forms of learning are to be accepted as valid options of their own rights.

Socio-economic conditions and the realities in the world of work require a broad variety and considerable diversity of vocational learning opportunities. This typically leads to considerable fragmentation of education and training systems. There is need for a coherent framework in order to ensure proper articulation between formal, non-formal and informal learning opportunities, to facilitate the learner’s movement and progression within the overall education and training system, and to define and monitor common quality standards and methods of assessment and certification.

Several African countries are developing national qualifications frameworks. These establish systems for validation of non-formal and informal learning which are equivalent to the systems of formal education. This is regardless of where and when the learning occurs. It ensures fair equivalence between formal and non-formal learning, enabling learners to access the “ladders” and “bridges” which promote educational opportunities, career paths and lifelong learning (UNESCO 2009a, section 9). Some countries (South Africa, Namibia, Mauritius) have made progress in the development of national qualifications frameworks. Other countries are at early stages. A major challenge to be addressed is to effectively link, within national qualifications frameworks, academic general education with technical and vocational education and training. Nevertheless, there is a rich body of experience that can be shared (Keevy and Samuels 2008).


4 Proposed Fields of Action

Based on the findings of Chapter 3 on the one hand, and on the context for UNESCO’s action In African TVET (Annex 1) on the other hand, UNESCO-BREDA will focus its support for Member States in the area of TVET on the following fields of action:

Fields of Action

1. Data collection, management, processing, analysis and dissemination

2. Developing evidence-based coherent policy and governance frameworks

3. Mobilisation of partners for more targeted financing

4. Access, equity and quality

5. Curricula relevant for transition to the world of work

6. Personnel for teaching, for management and for career counselling

7. Assessment, certification, articulation, qualifications frameworks:

Before developing these fields of action in more detail, it is important to recall certain general principles:

The interdisciplinary context of TVET and its consequences for action planning

Meaningful action for the development of TVET in African countries cannot limit itself to a narrow mandate of ministries of education. Likewise, at the level of international cooperation, meaningful fields of intervention in TVET cannot be limited strictly to the mandate of UNESCO. Interventions in TVET need to be conceived in a broader context, taking into account the various adjacent sectors and policy interfaces, in particular those relating to

■ existing socio-economic structures and their development;

■ the transition from education and training to the world of work;

■ the labour market;

■ the roles of non-governmental organisations, of the private sector and of civil society.

Therefore, the proposed fields of action deliberately provide a broader perspective of approaches and interventions. When developing these fields of action into more targeted plans at the regional, subregional and country level, it is therefore essential to involve not only those in charge of education and training, but likewise stakeholders of the adjacent sectors.

In Chapter 5 “Modalities of Work”, this will also be reflected with respect to international agencies and networks.

Global versus country-specific frameworks for action

Throughout Africa, country-specific conditions with respect to TVET vary considerably. Therefore, not all of the proposed fields of action will be suitable for each of the African countries. Rather, the proposed fields of action will help identifying relevant areas of intervention for each individual country. Once country-specific fields of intervention have been identified, UNESCO-BREDA might develop clusters of countries with a common interest on a thematic basis (see

Chapter 5 “Modalities of Work”, page 24).

Focus on policy advice, capacity-building and monitoring of trends

As underlined by its Executive Board, UNESCO is expected to play a “crucial role of upstream policy advice, institutional and human capacity-building, and monitoring of global and regional trends in the Organization’s fields of competence” (UNESCO 2008f).

4.1 Collection, management, processing, analysis and dissemination of data

4.1.1 Improving management and information systems

In order to facilitate continuous mapping, stocktaking and monitoring of their TVET systems, Member States need to enhance their capacities for the development and operation of management information systems for TVET, and to train management staff accordingly.

In cooperation with international partners, UNESCO-BREDA will review existing labour market observatories and information systems, explore their relevance for Africa, and examine the capacities required for their operation.


(1) UNESCO-BREDA will support capacity development for Management Information Systems in TVET (TVET-MIS), and for Labour Market Information Systems (LMIS) and observatories for human resource planning.

AU Plan of Action Reference (Annex 2, page 39): Activities Eight and Nine

4.1.2 Stocktaking and mapping of heterogeneous TVET landscapes

Formal TVET, which was inherited from the colonial period and integrated into African education systems, was supposed to provide young people with the theoretical and practical knowledge required to give access mainly to the modern economy and to public administration. However, as shown earlier, the formal sector of modern economy is not predominant in Africa.

This has two consequences:

■ Education and training systems need to respond to the needs of the informal sector.

■ Non-formal TVET, such as on-site training and traditional apprenticeship, needs to be acknowledged and strengthened, aiming at integrating these arrangements into the mainstream education and training systems.

As a basis for a readjustment of heterogeneous landscapes of formal and informal TVET in the various sectors, UNESCO-BREDA will offer its assistance to Member States for:

■ Stocktaking, mapping and appraisal of the variety of existing vocational learning opportunities as well as their providers and stakeholders, be governmental, community-based, non-governmental, faith-oriented, for-profit or non-profit;

■ Mapping the interfaces between the various strands of TVET on the one hand, and other sectors of the education system on the other hand;

■ Identifying existing sector policies that impact on TVET, such as education, labour, employment, economic development, industry, agriculture, health, or tourism;

■ Analysing the character and scope of prevailing governance arrangements for TVET.

(2) UNESCO-BREDA will assist Member States in stocktaking, in particular in their efforts to provide a holistic picture of complex landscapes of TVET. This will include articulation between TVET and skills development on the one hand, with general education, literacy programmes and pre-vocational programmes targeted for school drop-outs on the other hand.

AU Plan of Action Reference (Annex 2, page 39): Activity Nine

4.2 Developing evidence-based coherent policy and governance frameworks

4.2.1 Rethinking the articulation between general education, TVET and higher education

Attention needs to be paid to the articulation between general education, TVET, and higher education. As the Director-General of UNESCO put it: “The question of skills development for entry into the labour market is not simply an issue for technical or vocational secondary education, but also for general education – not least because solid, broad-based knowledge and generic skills, such as the ability to communicate and engage in teamwork, form the basis of all essential work tasks” (UNESCO 2005a, 13).

Rethinking articulation between general education and TVET needs also to address the question of “vocationalisation” of general education. Vocationalisation of general education is not a substitute for TVET, but it impacts on the range and context of core competencies and skills that may contribute to trainability and employability.

Pre-vocational learning and skills development (Walther with Filipiak 2007, 13), which may be combined with literacy programmes (Kane and Kone 2008) have been a joint response by governments, communities and development partners to cater for out-of-school youth. The African Union Plan of Action acknowledges the potential of such non-formal learning for the well-being of communities, and advocates the integration of livelihood skills in literacy programmes (Annex 2, section 50, page 37). The Basic Education in Africa Programme (page 32) also addresses this articulation.

In a perspective of lifelong learning, articulation with higher education is a valid option for flexible movement of individuals between TVET, work and relevant higher level programmes.

4.2.2 Holistic national policy frameworks for TVET

Stocktaking, mapping and analysis of existing vocational learning policies and opportunities will provide a basis for Member States to developing and revising holistic national TVET policy frameworks. Such policy frameworks will aim at:

■ Improving responsiveness of TVET to socio-economic needs of the country;


■ Improving responsiveness of TVET to individual needs, in particular for marginalised groups;

■ Linking and articulating formal and non-formal TVET;

■ Ensuring proper coordination of TVET policy across sector ministries;

■ Providing continuity of TVET programmes for progression at secondary, post secondary and higher education level;

■ Relating TVET to various pre-training and post-training support structures, such as guidance and counselling, labour market placement, business start-up and micro credit;

■ Involving relevant stakeholders at various levels of policy definition, planning, implementation, financing, pro-vision, monitoring, assessment and evaluation.

It is essential that such TVET policy frameworks are being backed and enforced at appropriate political and administrative levels of the country.

(3) UNESCO-BREDA will assist interested Member States in the development and revision of holistic national TVET policy and legal frameworks, strategies and institutional structures. Attention will be paid at articulation between general education, literacy programmes, pre-vocational skills development and TVET at various levels up to higher education.

AU Plan of Action Reference (Annex 2, page 39): Activities Two and Six

4.2.3 Developing and broadening a participatory approach to TVET governance

Governance can be seen as a set of policies, rules, structures, authorities and processes. TVET is typically being delivered under the responsibility a broad range of public and private providers. Thus, a holistic approach to TVET requires that participation in governance is not limited to sector ministries in charge of TVET. It needs to take into account training provided by communities, by private providers, by employers, by religious bodies and by various non-governmental organisations.

A number of African countries have established national training boards, authorities, agencies, or councils.

4.2.4 Defining the roles of National Training Boards

In some countries, governments fully reserve the right to TVET governance. Other countries have established bodies where government shares governance responsibilities with stakeholders. Such stakeholders typically are representatives from the world of work (employers, trade unions), public and private training providers, professional associations, and parents’ and learners’ representatives.

Governments may invite stakeholders to either provide advice, or to share responsibilities. Such responsibilities may include

■ the definition of goals, policies and implementation strategies;

■ curriculum development, organisation, administration and delivery;

■ monitoring, assessment and quality assurance.

(4) UNESCO-BREDA will support interested Member States in setting up or developing further such participatory bodies, based on existing experience in African countries and elsewhere. In doing so, UNESCO-BREDA will provide guidance how such bodies can best harness the comparative advantage of each of its constituencies.

AU Plan of Action Reference (Annex 2, page 39): Activity Two

4.2.5 Public-private partnership and the changing role of government

When developing public-private partnership approaches, governments and/or TVET systems may benefit in various ways:

■ Participation of private bodies may mobilise societal groups and business institutions and raise efficiency in the performance of tasks , drawing from the technical expertise of the partner involved;

■ Involvement of private bodies enhances the acceptance of decisions and measures in which they are involved;

■ Private bodies may engage appropriately qualified expertise and develop expertise on their part.

■ The involvement of the private sector is likely to ensure that training is relevant to the actual needs in the workplace. (Grunwald 2007, section 45)


The crucial question is not whether TVET should be government-driven or market-driven. The challenge is for governments to create an environment in which training markets and non-governmental providers can develop their potential in areas of their comparative advantage, and to the benefit of enriching the provision of TVET. At the same time, governments need to ensure that essential political objectives are being met, such as training opportunities for vulnerable groups, gender equity, vertical and horizontal mobility of learners, certification, transparency, and quality standards.

In their efforts to broaden the base of TVET providers, governments are facing new challenges:

How can governments promote and stimulate the involvement of communities, of the private sector and of the informal economy in training?

What can governments do to improve the quality of training in the private sector and in the informal economy?

How can informal learning achievements be validated and certified so that learners can continue life-long learning

careers in the education and training system? (see section 3.6 “Articulation, assessment, certification, qualifications frameworks”, page 14)

Which forms of institutional arrangements have proven successful? How do these arrangements ensure accountability and transparency?

4.2.6 Implications for capacity building

Public-private partnership does not imply that provision of TVET is left to the market. On the contrary: Market-driven TVET has obvious implications and limitations. Participation of private providers in TVET requires the role of government to be reconsidered.

The changing role of government, as well as the new areas and modalities of interaction between the public and the private sector in TVET, do have considerable implications for capacity building on both sides. This requires a different mindset. Ministries need to ensure that this new mindset exists, as well as personnel to carry it forward. Increased autonomy of TVET institutions requires that all parties are clear about their roles and about the common direction (Grunwald 2007, section 121).

(5) UNESCO-BREDA is available to advise Member States in the process of encouraging and building public-private partnerships in TVET. In doing so, UNESCO-BREDA will reflect the implications of this approach for a changing role of government in TVET, and for capacity building that might be required to enable governments to develop and manage such heterogeneous systems of TVET.

AU Plan of Action Reference (Annex 2, page 39): Activities Two and Eleven

4.3 Mobilisation of partners for more targeted financing

TVET cannot rely on full (or even substantive) financing from African government budgets. The constraints of government budgets are one reason only. Non-governmental and private partners are welcome to engage in TVET provision. Therefore, governments need to create a climate and an environment that is conducive to private investment in TVET, thus providing additional learning opportunities with no or little government funding. Furthermore, if TVET institutions are given more autonomy, this can provide incentives for them to generate income for cost recovery.

Training funds that are managed jointly by government and the private sector can contribute to such an environment. The allocation of grants from training funds and other sources of funding requires careful consideration. In the past, much of the funding was reserved for formal TVET institutions which tended to cater mainly for the children of more privileged families. Therefore, training opportunities in the informal sector, such as traditional apprenticeship, deserve particular attention, as they fill some of the gaps left by government-driven formal TVET institutions.

In addition, funding tended to be linked to the input side (premises, equipment, teaching staff, running cost). Therefore; it is desirable to link grants from training funds to learning outputs and achievements, taking into account specific target groups. Rather than providing funding for TVET institutions, financial grants need to be focused on learning achievements, especially for those who would otherwise not have access to TVET. These may be target groups such as rural populations, urban slum dwellers, girls and women, demobilised soldiers, and disabled persons.

(6) UNESCO-BREDA, jointly with partners such as the ILO, will support interested Member States to identify and mobilise sustainable financial and other resources for TVET. This will include the setting up of Institutionalised funding sources such as payroll levies. Particular attention will be paid to a targeted allocation of grants and bursaries from these funds, so as to ensure access of marginalised groups to TVET, and to create incentives for learning achievements.

AU Plan of Action Reference (Annex 2, page 39): Activity Eleven


4.4 Access, equity, quality and relevance

Access, equity, quality and relevance are key factors that impact on the performance of education and training. For TVET, curricula need to be relevant for the world of work (see section 4.5 below). For access and equity, specific target groups deserve particular attention throughout education and training. These are: children without completed basic education; girls and women; populations in rural and remote areas; persons affected by conflicts or disasters; disabled persons.

Even where TVET policy frameworks do address such target groups, reality frequently fails to meet their specific needs.

4.4.1 Gender

Factors that impede on gender balance in TVET are well documented. Action needs to take them into account.

Individual foundations for access to TVET

Access to and successful mastering of TVET programs typically requires educational foundations such as primary schooling, literacy and numeracy. However, in many countries, girls are less likely than boys to be enrolled in primary school. Literacy rates of females frequently are lower than those of males. As a result, girls are less likely to fulfil the basic requirements for participation in TVET programs (Gaidzanwa 2008, 15).

Therefore, improving access of girls to good quality primary education is a prerequisite for access to post-primary education and TVET. Alternative options for educating girls within and outside the formal school system need to be explored and developed further (Gaidzanwa 2008, 18). It is essential to acknowledge equivalence of these alternative

learning opportunities with mainstream schooling (see section 4.7 “Assessment, certification, articulation, qualifications frameworks”, page 23).

Availability of suitable TVET programmes

Access to TVET programs is not only hampered by there mere absence. Even where such programmes are available, adverse circumstances typically impact on girls more than on boys. This includes long walks to and from education institutions, particularly in rural areas, which threaten girls’ security and safety. As a consequence, late enrolment and early withdrawal of girls occur (Otu-Boateng et al. 2008, 12).

Adequate employment opportunities

Employment conditions do not always offer equal opportunities to women. Equal pay legislation that is in place in countries such as Ghana, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe can contribute to narrowing the gap between men and women in employment conditions (Gaidzanwa 2008, 8).

Traditional female clerical and secretarial occupations are eroding. New occupations emerge in the area of information and communication technologies. This requires opportunities for the retraining and upgrading of skills in these areas (Gaidzanwa 2008, 27).

Gender equity policies in TVET

Gender equity policies, even where in place, are not always reflected in specific policies for education, training and employment (Otu-Boateng et al. 2008, 7, 31).

Socio-economic and other factors

A range of socio-economic, socio-cultural and gender-related factors restrict opportunities of females to benefit from TVET.

Pregnancy and early marriage frequently prevent young women from completing their education and training programmes. In reaction to this, African countries such as Zimbabwe, South Africa and Botswana have adopted legislation allowing teen mothers to return to school.

Girls and women are more frequently exposed to double obligations of school and domestic work. “Adolescent girls work a double shift at home and at school and given the poor quality of primary schooling in sub-Saharan Africa, this eases their transition into domestic work and marriage rather than into better jobs outside the household and the agricultural sector in Africa.”

Mobility of males provides opportunities for them to find wage work outside the home environment or even abroad. For females, mobility is socially less approved, which can also have its roots in religion.

Even where public transport to and from school is readily available, girls are more likely to be exposed to risks and harassment. In addition, there is violence by boys towards girls in schools (Gaidzanwa 2008, 20-30).


4.4.2 Post-conflict and post-disaster situations

TVET constitutes an element of UNESCO’s Strategic Programme Objective 14: Support to countries in post-conflict and post-disaster situations (UNESCO 2008c, 32).

Conflicts typically leave behind refugees, internally displaced persons, injuries, exploited, traumatised and abused citizens, particularly women, and child soldiers. TVET is a major means of social and economic reintegration of these members of society.

Populations in post-conflict and post-disaster areas may find themselves in particularly fragile and vulnerable situations. They may have lost their homes and their families. The may be illiterate because they missed basic education. Ethnic prejudice may be prevailing. Infrastructures including educational institutions may be destroyed. Education and training personnel may be absent. Economic infrastructures and access to credit may be missing.

Based on experience in countries like Angola, the Republic of Congo and Rwanda, interventions need to be adapted accordingly. The TVET Strategy of the African Union provides more detailed guidance (see Annex 3, section 7.2, page 46).

4.4.3 Rural populations

In sub-Saharan Africa, about two thirds of the population live in rural areas. As far as education and training is concerned, considerable disparities do exist.

In order to target TVET in rural areas, governments need to develop cross-sectoral policies including, in addition to education and training, such sectors as agriculture, forestry, livestock breeding, and fishery.

Interventions in TVET need to be linked to the communities and to local circumstances and environments, and need to address specific learning area such as food security and food processing.

Extensive research carried out by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) provides a broad basis for the development of intervention strategies (FAO and UNESCO 2003).

(7) UNESCO-BREDA will assist Member States in reviewing and developing national policies to make TVET available for all. Particular attention will be paid to open and distance delivery, to the development of mobile teams, finding solutions to gender issues, to post-conflict and post-disaster situations, to rural populations, and to disabled persons.

AU Plan of Action Reference (Annex 2, page 39): Activity One and Seven

4.4.4 Social stigma and attractiveness

Efforts to overcome the social stigma of TVET in African countries have had limited effect. Advocacy is required at two different levels:

■ At the level of individuals who might opt for TVET, and those who influence their decisions: parents, teachers, managers of education and training programmes;

■ At the level of decision-makers for the TVET system in a broad sense: policy makers at national and local levels; employers; professional organisations and labour market stakeholders.

Advocacy and sensitisation strategies can serve to reach female students, their parents, school management, employers, and the public in general. Sensitisation can reach out to female students in primary education to make them aware of the opportunities provided in TVET courses. It can also take the form of radio and television talk shows (Otu-Boateng et al. 2008, 15f.).

Uganda has been particularly active in a broader “social marketing” campaign for TVET, for which mass media were harnessed with a soap opera series in television that transmits the value of TVET to young people. Other countries have staged events such as TVET days, adult learners’ weeks, or exhibitions.

Actions to promote a better image of TVET will address the regional and the country level. UNESCO-BREDA will ensure TVET visibility in all UNESCO Cluster and Country Offices programming, projects and reporting.

(8) UNESCO-BREDA will support advocacy for TVET to increase attractiveness for learners.

(9) UNESCO-BREDA will ensure that TVET goals and issues are appropriately represented on agendas, in programmes, studies, reports and documents prepared under its own auspices, and encourage Member States to do the same.

AU Plan of Action Reference (Annex 2, page 39): Activity Two


4.4.5 Guidance and counselling to facilitate access

The great diversity of learning pathways in TVET has been underlined repeatedly. Even ministries of education are not always aware of their complexity and interrelationship. Governments need to build on that diversity, and to look at it in a system-wide context.

However, this is just the perspective of policy-makers and planners. There is a need to look at the diversity from the learners’ perspective. How can a child of 14 to 15 years (or its parents) be expected to find orientation and to identify the most suitable learning pathways? Where does the information come from that would allow them to navigate through this complex system of learning opportunities? How do they know which skills to acquire for successful survival in the world of work? It is the learners should be at the core of education and training, not just systems and policies.

This requires access to guidance and counselling on education, training and labour market issues. Such services need to cover, to the extent possible, the whole range of options from formal to non-formal TVET, and from public to private providers, including post-training support such as job placement, self-employment, and micro-credit. Stock-taking and

mapping is an important prerequisite (see section 4.1.2 “Stocktaking and mapping of heterogeneous TVET landscapes”, page 16).

As the African Union’s Plan of Action for the Second Decade of Education for Africa points out, career guidance and counselling is particularly relevant in Africa, where opportunities for wage employment are scarce (see Annex 2, section 49, page 37).

Guidance and counselling, a frequently neglected area, need to become essential competencies of relevant personnel,

including teachers and trainers (see section 4.6 “Personnel for teaching, for management and for career counselling”, page 22).

4.5 Curricula relevant for transition to the world of work

4.5.1 Involving labour market stakeholders in curriculum development

In order to align TVET programmes and curricula with labour market needs, methods of curriculum development for TVET need to be different from those applied in general education. Labour market and job analysis are important ingredients.

Those in charge of TVET curriculum development need be familiar with the workplace situation, and must have the

capacity to interact professionally with labour market stakeholders (see section 4.6 “Personnel for teaching, for management and for career counselling”, page 22).

Institutional environments such as National Training Boards can be instrumental in facilitating such interaction. (see section 3.1.3, page 10).

Development of standards for qualifications frameworks (see section 4.7.5, page 23) and of methods of assessment of competencies need to be closely linked to curriculum development.

(10) UNESCO-BREDA will, jointly with international partners such as ILO, UNIDO, WFP and ETF, enhance the capacity of Member States to take labour market information into account for the development of TVET programmes, and to interact with labour marked stakeholders in curriculum development.

AU Plan of Action Reference (Annex 2, page 39): Activity Three

4.5.2 Articulation between learning, work and the socio-economic environment

Schools and training institutions need to interact with the world of work. Exposure of teaching and managing personnel to the reality of work beyond government and education systems can help to improve the institutional performance.

For learners, visits to, and internships in real work environments are valuable complements to career guidance. They may facilitate transition from learning to working, and improve employment opportunities. Such exposure should be considered as integral part of the learning process.

Governments as well as local communities need to create an environment that is conducive to interaction between TVET institutions and the world of work.

Articulation between learning, working, and the socio-economic environment will facilitate the intergenerational transfer of indigenous knowledge and skills.


4.5.3 Embedding TVET curricula into the overall education and training context

A holistic approach to education and training implies that TVET is not seen as an independent subsystem. Its articulation with general education needs to be maintained and developed to ensure opportunities for progression of learners. The Basic Education in Africa Programme (BEAP) is at the beginning of this articulation. Post basic education and TVET need to be well integrated. Different bridges and pathways can be built to enable dynamic mobility between general education and TVET.

Foundations can be laid at the level of basic education, through articulation between literacy programmes, skills

development and pre-vocational learning (see “Rethinking the articulation between general education, TVET and higher education”, page 16).

Throughout education and training curricula, the concept of sustainable development needs to be addressed in accordance with UNESCO’s international implementation scheme for the Decade on Education for Sustainable Development. Adequate representation of science in TVET curricula, along with awareness of environmental issues, tends to develop responsibility for sustainable environmental management (UNESCO 2008b, 37)

Entrepreneurship education is a concept that extends in various forms across both general education and TVET. UNESCO has developed training materials, and held training workshops in Africa and other world regions. Experience with school enterprises has been studied and disseminated.

HIV and AIDS education is another area of concern. The UNESCO HIV and AIDS Education Clearinghouse provides a range of services.

(11) UNESCO-BREDA will support the integration of cross-cutting principles and subjects, such as entrepreneurship, use of information and communication technologies, science and technology, orientation towards sustainable development, and HIV and AIDS education, into curricula at all levels of TVET. Attention will be paid to the integration of indigenous knowledge and skills.

AU Plan of Action Reference (Annex 2, page 39): Activities Four and Five

4.6 Personnel for teaching, for management and for career counselling

TVET needs strong professional management and leadership capacity to drive the entire system. This is even more important for diverse and decentralised systems of TVET that include piloting and delivery of non-formal TVET, such as enterprise-based training and apprenticeship (see Annex 3, section 5.4 i), page 43 f.).

Given the broad range of personnel that is engaged in various forms TVET, a double strategy needs to be developed:

■ Personnel in formal TVET institutions needs to be exposed to the realities in the world of work and of the labour market;

■ Personnel that pilots and delivers training in a non-formal context, such as traditional apprenticeship or work-place training, needs to acquire supplementary qualifications.

Along with emerging public-private partnerships in TVET, those driving the partnerships from either side are facing new challenges that may require new and unprecedented qualification profiles. Rather than setting up and operating governmental training institutions, civil servants in ministries need to develop environments conducive to private investment and initiative in training, draft agreements with private partners, develop instruments to enforce political objectives such as access and equity, find solutions for co-financing agreements, etc.

Guidance and counselling for learners, including post-training support for job placement or business start-up, require competencies that are rarely conveyed in teacher training and staff development programmes.

Decentralisation of responsibilities from government to communities requires capacity building at the local level.

Recognition of prior learning, and assessment of learning achievements attained in non-formal or informal learning contexts, demand for new competencies in assessment methods.

A shift of focus from government-driven TVET institutions to a broader, holistic perspective of heterogeneous systems of vocational learning opportunities is a shift of paradigm. It requires considerable capacity building at all levels.

Although UNESCO’s Teacher Training Initiative for Sub-Saharan Africa (TTISSA) advocates a holistic approach to addressing issues concerning the teaching force, much rests to be done in view of the variety of formal and non-formal learning opportunities in TVET.

(12) UNESCO-BREDA will seek, jointly with interested Member States, to broaden the scope of staff development programmes in TVET, in close cooperation with UNESCO’s International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA). Special attention will be paid to the needs of non-formal vocational learning opportunities, to the management of public-private partnerships, and to assessment and certification of non-formal and informal learning achievements.

AU Plan of Action Reference (Annex 2, page 39): Activity Ten


4.7 Assessment, certification, articulation, qualifications frameworks

4.7.1 Overcoming fragmented systems of TVET

As noted earlier, TVET includes a broad range of forms of learning, modes of delivery and types of settings. These may be non-formal settings, workplace learning, apprenticeship, open and distance learning, as well as individual learning.

For learners involved in institutional settings such as vocational schools, training institutes and polytechnics, access to assessment and certification is typically available. This in turn opens opportunities for employment as well as for vertical and horizontal movement of learners within the education and training system.

For learners that have acquired knowledge and skills outside these institutional settings, access to recognition and certification is not all that easy. This tends to hamper access to employment and to adequate wages in general, and to certain jobs in particular. The absence of certificates is also likely to limit access to further learning.

Given the immense fragmentation of formal and non-formal TVET in virtually all countries, there is an urgent need to ensure articulation both within the TVET system, and between general education and TVET.

4.7.2 From input to learning outcomes

The introduction of national qualifications frameworks goes hand in hand with new approaches to what is perceived as learning achievement. It implies a change of paradigm that can hardly be overestimated. For the purpose of recognition, validation and certification of learning, the focus is no longer on input factors into the learning process such as duration, location and pedagogical method. Instead, the focus shifts to the learning achievement: what a learner knows and is able to do at the end of a learning process (CEDEFOP 2007).

4.7.3 Recognition, validation and accreditation of non-formal and informal learning

From the learner’s perspective, recognition of prior experiential, informal and non-formal learning facilitates access to further learning. From the system point of view, it promotes vertical and horizontal articulation throughout the education and training system.

Validation and accreditation of outcomes of prior learning implies to acknowledge that all forms of learning may lead to formally accredited outputs and certificates. This opens new avenues for advanced education and training careers that would not be available otherwise. Individuals with non-typical educational careers, such as dropouts and migrants, are thus given a second chance.

For those already in employment, validation and accreditation of work experience facilitates careers of learning and working throughout life, thus acknowledging working life as a valid learning arena. Even in a European country like Norway, with a highly formalised education and training system, validation of non-formal and informal learning outcomes has become an important feature (Mohn 2008, 3).

4.7.4 Methods of validation of non-formal learning

Validation of non-formal and informal learning achievements requires the introduction of methods that are distinctly different from those applied for formal learning. It may even be counterproductive to apply methods and criteria of the formal system to non-formal learning. Non-formal learning needs to be acknowledged as a valid option in its own right. The diversity of learning pathways and of personal backgrounds of the learners needs to be taken into account. Norwegian experience for validation of non-formal and informal learning includes dialogue, portfolio, test and interview based methods (Mohn 2008, 11, 17).

4.7.5 National qualifications frameworks

The general understanding of a national qualifications framework is that it separates qualifications from educational and training institutions, so that it can also accredit non-formal and informal learning. The levels in the qualifications frameworks reflect the learning achievement, not the time spent in education and training programs. The shift from institution-based and programme-based assessment to learner-based and competency-based assessment is a major challenge. It is demanding in terms of capacity building requirements for the development of descriptors for levels, for standards, and for systems for assessment and certification.

(13) UNESCO-BREDA will facilitate South-South and North-South-South transfer of experience among interested countries in the development of National Qualifications Frameworks and, where desirable, Regional Qualifications Frameworks, working with Regional Economic Communities. The definition of qualification levels, of validation and certification standards, and the assessment and validation of non-formal and informal learning achievements will play a pivotal role. Preference will be given to groupings of countries interested in common regional frameworks.

AU Plan of Action Reference (Annex 2, page 39): Activities Eight, Nine and Ten


5 Modalities of Work

5.1 UNESCO’s core functions

When fulfilling its mission, UNESCO builds on its comparative advantage in its five established functions:

(i) Laboratory of ideas;

(ii) Standard-setter;

(iii) Clearing house;

(iv) Capacity-builder in Member States in UNESCO’s fields of competence;

(v) Catalyst for international cooperation.

In pursuing these core functions, UNESCO seeks to increase South-South cooperation (UNESCO 2008c, section 4).

UNESCO is not the only United Nations agency with an interest in the area of TVET, particularly when it comes to such aspects as training at the workplace, safety and health at work, labour market information, transition to working life, job placement, supporting entrepreneurship, or micro-credit.

The role of a “standard-setter” is mainly assumed by UNESCO Headquarters, Institutes and Centres. At the regional and country level, the emphasis of UNESCO-BREDA is on the other four established functions.

Directions for implementation of TVET programmes

In a document submitted to the Executive Board of UNESCO, the Director-General shares the following directions for the implementation of TVET programmes:

“As for implementation, prioritization and phasing will be adopted to deliver quality work with limited resources; and South-South cooperation to promote cooperation among Member States. The field offices will focus on operational work, while Headquarters, UNEVOC and the other concerned institutes at the global level will support normative work, which includes networking and the provision of technical assistance to the field offices. As for the division of work among the units at the global level, emphasis will be on respecting their given mandates and coordination in order to rally maximum technical support for the field offices. Coordination and cooperation with external partners will be sought at the country level, within the individual countries’ CCA/UNDAFs. Partnerships with OECD, ILO and the European Training Foundation will be strengthened.” (UNESCO 2008f, 3).

5.2 Facilitating transfer and adaptation of good practice in TVET

In order to encourage the application of rich African experience in TVET, UNESCO-BREDA will, based on research and reflection,

■ Participate in the analysis of national TVET systems and policies;

■ Facilitate the identification, documentation and dissemination of good practice in TVET;

■ Assist in assessing the feasibility of the transfer of such good practice;

■ Help exploring the conditions for transfer and adaptation;

■ Ensure collaborative approaches and partnerships for more diversified financing of TVET;

■ Provide and disseminate documentation on the entire process of transfer and adaptation.

5.3 Cooperation at the country level and internationally

In line with the decision of UNESCO’s Executive Board requesting the elaboration of a strategy to support TVET, due emphasis will be laid on:

■ The development of country-specific needs assessment in cooperation with other relevant in-country development partners, non-governmental organisations and the private sector (such as chambers of commerce, employers’ associations and trade unions), taking into account formal and informal sector needs;

■ The promotion through TVET of employment opportunities, self-employment, and micro-entrepreneurship at the country level by contributing to consultations, coordination and cooperation with relevant institutions, non-governmental organisations and other entities active in the fields of micro-financing and start-up capital;

■ The integration of TVET into Common Country Assessments (CCAs) and United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks (UNDAFs) and the One UN Framework for joint programming in pilot countries;


UNESCO-BREDA will continue to enhance cooperation and coordination of its intervention in TVET with partners and other agencies at the international as well as at the country level.

At the country level, in providing assistance to Member States, UNESCO-BREDA will pay particular attention to coordination with UNESCO’s Institutes and Centres, and with UNESCO’s relevant programmes and activities (see Annex 1, page 31) and cross-cutting priorities (see Annex 1, page 32). UNESCO-BREDA will assist Member States to identify partners and resources that might contribute to TVET development at the national level, be intellectually, technically or financially. This includes relevant organisations and institutions, non-governmental organisations and private sector partners. Where appropriate, UNESCO-BREDA will also draw the attention of Member States to other partners and networks.

At the regional level, UNESCO-BREDA will participate actively in inter-agency needs assessment and programming, and provide technical advice to the Department of Human Resource, Science and Technology (HRST) of the African Union in the implementation of the Second Decade of Education for Africa.

Furthermore, UNESCO-BREDA will contribute to increased transparency with regard to the variety of international,

technical cooperation and donor agencies that engage in TVET.1 In an effort to benefit from experience with the One UN Framework, UNESCO-BREDA will engage in mapping of relevant international, regional and bilateral cooperation and donor agencies, including non-governmental organisations, which engage in TVET in sub-Saharan Africa. Special attention will be given to the level of Regional Economic Communities. Based on such a mapping, UNESCO-BREDA will enhance exchange of information and cooperation among these partners in the area of TVET.

5.4 Advocacy, sensitisation, monitoring

At the regional level, the African Union has prepared a strategy to revitalize TVET in Africa (Annex 3, page 43). Countries have already launched corresponding initiatives.

UNESCO-BREDA will contribute to the process of effective implementation by programming, monitoring and evaluation activities. Benchmarking and monitoring techniques (UNESCO 2008c, 11) will be used by collecting specific data to inform decisions and to alert when targets are not being met.

Matters of TVET need to be well reflected and appropriately taken into account in activities by UNESCO as well as by other international, regional and national agencies, organisations, programmes and networks. To that end, UNESCO-BREDA will continue to engage in advocacy and sensitisation.

UNESCO-BREDA will address in particularly organisations and stakeholders with an interest in

■ Socio-economic development

■ Educational policy, planning and budgeting

■ Public-private partnership

■ Industry and crafts and their professional organisations such as chambers

■ Education and training personnel, including trainers

■ Safety and health at work

■ Gender issues in education and training

■ Status and attractiveness of TVET

■ Transition from TVET to the world of work.

5.5 South-South exchange

UNESCO-BREDA will continue to provide platforms for South-South or North-South-South exchange in various formats.

Conferences and symposia will facilitate the regional and subregional exchange on broader issues of TVET. Workshops will provide opportunities for in-depth exchange on selected aspects of TVET.

South-South learning and capacity building will be supported through arrangements for peer reviews by teams from African countries, and through training activities for policy makers, planners, and researchers in TVET.

UNESCO-BREDA will facilitate the use of existing networks such as UNEVOC and the working groups of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA). Where appropriate, UNESCO-BREDA will help establishing additional specialised networks to facilitate regional and international cooperation in TVET.

AU Plan of Action Reference (Annex 2, page 39): Activity Twelve.

1 The document “Agencies for International Cooperation in Technical and Vocational Education and Training: A Guide to Sources of Information" (UNESCO-UNEVOC 2004) may serve as an example for bilateral donors. See also www.unevoc.unesco.org/donors

http://www.unevoc.unesco.org/donors


While, on the one hand, UNESCO-BREDA will make use of existing subregional structures such as the Regional Economic Communities, it will also facilitate transfer of knowledge across regions and languages.

5.6 Ensuring ownership

In its intervention in TVET, UNESCO-BREDA will assume the role of an advisor and of a facilitator. Member States will continue to take independent decisions on their policy frameworks and their priorities in education and training.

In order to facilitate transfer of knowledge and experience, UNESCO-BREDA will invite Member States to join regional and international consultations, capacity development activities, networks and joint action according to their needs, development levels and national priorities. Ownership will rest with Member States.

5.7 A focal point for research and reflection on TVET in Africa: Pole of Expertise

In order to promote South-South learning on TVET in Africa, UNESCO-BREDA has already set up a “Pole of Expertise in TVET” for the following purposes:

■ Providing a common platform for exchange of existing TVET expertise available at UNESCO Headquarters, Institutes and Centres (UNEVOC and IIEP in particular), UNESCO-BREDA and Field Offices;

■ Initiating and conducting formal and informal research and reflection on TVET in Africa;

■ Facilitating sub-regional peer reviews of TVET systems;

■ Making expertise available through various means such as research reports, workshops, study tours, training activities for policy makers, and electronic forums,

■ Promoting critical assessment of experience and good practice.

Coordination mechanisms within UNESCO

UNESCO-BREDA will make use of the comparative advantages in TVET of various other actors and units within UNESCO: Headquarters, Institutes and Centres (IIEP, UIL, IBE, IITE, UIS, UNESCO-UNEVOC, IICBA), and the cluster and country offices in sub-Saharan Africa.

In order to facilitate cooperation with UNESCO programmes with limited TVET components only, UNESCO-BREDA will organise a workshop with the objective of reviewing these programmes to take stock of initiatives particularly relevant to TVET, aiming at agreements on the coordination modus operandi in sub-Saharan Africa.

Delivering at strategic level

Cost-effectiveness considerations need to be taken into account when deciding on actions which can reach a great number, which are strategic, focusing on interventions at central level in countries and at regional and sub-regional levels, for example the training of policy-makers, and training of trainers using the cascade approach.

Financial requirements

The financial requirements for the implementation of this framework for action will need to be elaborated and submitted for UNESCO’s Draft Programme and Budget for 2010-2011. In addition, extra-budgetary funding will also need to be mobilised.

Additional funding might become available from collaboration with the African Union and the Regional Economic Communities. These organisations already have made provision of funds in their budgets, even if these amounts are not very significant. In addition, joint and coordinated planning and implementation will help in addressing the challenge of limited human capacity which is inherent to most countries and organisations in sub-Saharan Africa.

5.8 Monitoring and evaluation

Mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating the impact of UNESCO’s intervention will be developed. Beyond regular reporting, UNESCO-BREDA will ensure that each intervention will be related to an expected outcome.

The collection of regular data (both quantitative and qualitative) on achievements will help refining UNESCO-BREDA’s intervention in TVET at the medium term. Evaluation studies will be conducted, with a wide representation of francophone, lusophone and anglophone countries.

Furthermore, UNESCO-BREDA will assist Member States in developing appropriate evaluation instruments for their respective programmes and activities in TVET. Attention will be paid that impact is not only assessed at the policy and system level, but that emphasis is given to the benefit for the learner (see Annex 3, section 10 “Strategy evaluation”, page 26).


References

ADEA 2008. 2008 Biennale on Education in Africa: Beyond Primary Education. Challenges and Approaches to Expanding Learning Opportunities. May 5-9, 2008, Maputo, Mozambique. Annoted Program and Participants’ Handbook. Paris 2008. http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/en_index.htm (accessed 24.01.2009)

AfDB and OECD 2008. Technical and Vocational Skills Development in Africa: Draft Summary of Key Messages. http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/02.%20Session%202/Final%20PDF%20do

cuments/Session%202%20Doc%204%20OECD%20AfDB%20ENG.pdf (accessed 15.02.2009)

Atchoarena, D. and Delluc A. 2002. Revisiting Technical and Vocational Education in Sub-Saharan Africa. An update on trends, innovations and challenges. International Institute of Educational Planning. Paris 2002. http://prof.estat.com/cgi-bin/ft/233033148987?class=IIEP_PDF_pubs&page=P75&estat_url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001293/129354e.pdf (accessed 15.02.2009)

AU 2006. Second Decade of Education for Africa (2006-2015). Plan of Action. Revised August 2006. Second Extraordinary Meeting of the Conference of Ministers of Education of the African Union (COMEDAF II+), 4-7 September 2006, Maputo. http://www.education.nairobi-unesco.org/PDFs/Second%20Decade%20of%20Education%20in%20Africa_Plan%20of%20Action.pdf (accessed 15.02.2009)

AU 2007. Strategy to Revitalize Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Africa. Final Draft, January 2007. Third Ordinary Session of the Conference of Ministers of Education of the African Union (COMEDAF III) 6th to 10th August 2007 Johannesburg, South Africa. http://www.africa-union.org/root/UA/Conferences/2007/aout/HRST/06-10%20aout/Doc/English/AU-EXP-EDUC-4-III-TVET%20Strategy%20-

english.doc (accessed 13.02.2009)

Banoukouta, M., Dzondhault, G., Mboukou, E., and Ndimina, G., 2008. Projet de réinsertion par apprentissage communautaire (RAC) en République du Congo. Working Document No. 2.1.09 (Draft) prepared for the ADEA 2008 Biennale on Education in Africa. http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/05.%20Session%205/Parallel%20session%

205D/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%205D%20Doc%202%20Congo%20Brazzaville%20FRA.pdf (accessed 24.01.2009)

Bhuwanee, T. 2008. Introduction to Working Group 4 at the 1st AFD-GTZ Conference “Beyond Primary Education. The Relevance of TVET in “Post Primary Education for All”, Berlin, 23 October 2008 http://www.gtz.de/de/dokumente/en-conference-results.pdf (accessed 09.02.2009)

CEDEFOP 2007. European Training Village (ETV) Newsletter; Issue 10 - October 2007 http://www.trainingvillage.gr:80/etv/news/default.asp?idnews=2831, (accessed 13.01.2009)

Delluc, A. M. 2005. Education and training policy for disadvantaged youth and adults in Senegal. UNESCO, Paris 2005. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001459/145965e.pdf (accessed 27.01.2009)

Eilor, J. 2008. Enhancing equitable access to BTVET through coherent governance, public-private partnerships & multimedia campaigns development. Working Document No. 2.1.01 (Draft) prepared for the ADEA 2008 Biennale on Education in Africa. Kampala 2008. http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/04.%20Session%204/Parallel%20session%

204B/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%204B%20Doc%204%20Uganda%20ENG.pdf (accessed19.01.2009)

ETF 2007. Employment Policy Reforms in the Middle East and North Africa: Selected Issues on the Functioning of the Labour Market. Authors: Henrik Huitfeldt, Ummuhan Bardak and Jackline Wahba, European Training Foundation 2007. http://www.etf.europa.eu/pubmgmt.nsf/(getAttachment)/C93440BDFFEF9672C12572FB0050E2E7/$File/NOTE75WLGU.pdf (accessed 14.01.2009)

FAO and UNESCO 2003. Education for rural development: Towards new policy responses. A joint study conducted by FAO and UNESCO. FAO, Rome 2003. ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/006/ad423e/ad423e00.pdf (accessed 24.01.2009)

Gaidzanwa, R. 2008. Gender issues in post-primary education and training. Working Document No. 2.3.14 (Draft) prepared for the ADEA 2008 Biennale on Education in Africa. http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale 2008/Documentation/Papers for presentation/05. Session

5/Parallel session 5A/Final PDF documents/Session 5A Doc 2 Gaidzanwa ENG.pdf (accessed 28.01.2009)

Grunwald, E. 2007. Public-private partnership models in TVET and their Impact on the role of government. Working Document No. 2.2.06 (Draft) prepared for the ADEA 2008 Biennale on Education in Africa. German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) 2008. http://www2.gtz.de/wbf/library/detail.asp?number=4153 (accessed 13.01.2009)

ILO 1998. ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (86th Session, Geneva, June 19th 1998) http://www.ilo.org/declaration/thedeclaration/textdeclaration/lang--en/index.htm (accessed 15.02.2009)

Johanson, R.K. and Adams, A.V. 2004. Skills Development in Sub-Saharan Africa. World Bank regional and sectoral studies. World Bank, Washington 2004.

Kane S., and Kone A. M. 2008, Formation professionnelle et insertion socioprofessionnelle des finalistes des Centres de développement - CED au Mali, Working Document No. 2.1.18 (Draft) prepared for the ADEA 2008 Biennale on Education in Africa. http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/05.%20Session%205/Parallel%20session%

205C/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%205C%20Doc%202%20Mali%20FRA.pdf (accessed 24.01.2009)

Keevy, J. and Samuels, J. 2008. A critical reflection on current qualifications frameworks and possible future directions in Africa. Working Document (Draft) prepared for the ADEA 2008 Biennale on Education in Africa. http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Powerpoints%20Biennale/Presentations%20Session%207/Session%207%

20presentation%201.%20SAMUELS%20Joel%20ENG.ppt (Powerpoint only, access: 15.02.2009)

King, K. and Palmer, R. 2008. Skills for Work, Growth and Poverty Reduction: Challenges and Opportunities in the Global Analysis and Monitoring of Skills. United Kingdom National Commission for UNESCO. London, September 2008 http://www.unesco.org.uk/UserFiles/File/Skills%20Seminar%2031/King%20&%20Palmer%20-%20Full%20Paper.pdf (accessed 25.01.2009)

Krönner, H., 2006. Governance of Technical and Vocational Education and Training. Findings from the UNESCO TVET Survey 2004. Background document prepared for the 4th SADC Annual TVET Conference, Swakopmund, Namibia, 7 to 10 November 2006 http://www.intervoc.de/WGPPE/TOR3/Survey2004/ADEA_Governance_SADC_TVET_Version%202006-10-01.pdf (accessed 15.01.2009)

http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/en_index.htm

http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/02.%20Session%202/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%202%20Doc%204%20OECD%20AfDB%20ENG.pdf

http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/02.%20Session%202/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%202%20Doc%204%20OECD%20AfDB%20ENG.pdf

http://prof.estat.com/cgi-bin/ft/233033148987?class=IIEP_PDF_pubs&page=P75&estat_url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001293/129354e.pdf

http://prof.estat.com/cgi-bin/ft/233033148987?class=IIEP_PDF_pubs&page=P75&estat_url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001293/129354e.pdf

http://www.education.nairobi-unesco.org/PDFs/Second%20Decade%20of%20Education%20in%20Africa_Plan%20of%20Action.pdf

http://www.africa-union.org/root/UA/Conferences/2007/aout/HRST/06-10%20aout/Doc/English/AU-EXP-EDUC-4-III-TVET%20Strategy%20-english.doc

http://www.africa-union.org/root/UA/Conferences/2007/aout/HRST/06-10%20aout/Doc/English/AU-EXP-EDUC-4-III-TVET%20Strategy%20-english.doc

http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/05.%20Session%205/Parallel%20session%205D/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%205D%20Doc%202%20Congo%20Brazzaville%20FRA.pdf

http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/05.%20Session%205/Parallel%20session%205D/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%205D%20Doc%202%20Congo%20Brazzaville%20FRA.pdf

http://www.gtz.de/de/dokumente/en-conference-results.pdf

http://www.trainingvillage.gr/etv/news/default.asp?idnews=2831

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001459/145965e.pdf

http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/04.%20Session%204/Parallel%20session%204B/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%204B%20Doc%204%20Uganda%20ENG.pdf

http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/04.%20Session%204/Parallel%20session%204B/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%204B%20Doc%204%20Uganda%20ENG.pdf

http://www.etf.europa.eu/pubmgmt.nsf/(getAttachment)/C93440BDFFEF9672C12572FB0050E2E7/$File/NOTE75WLGU.pdf

ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/006/ad423e/ad423e00.pdf

http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/05.%20Session%205/Parallel%20session%205A/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%205A%20Doc%202%20Gaidzanwa%20ENG.pdf

http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/05.%20Session%205/Parallel%20session%205A/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%205A%20Doc%202%20Gaidzanwa%20ENG.pdf

http://www2.gtz.de/wbf/library/detail.asp?number=4153

http://www.ilo.org/declaration/thedeclaration/textdeclaration/lang--en/index.htm

http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/05.%20Session%205/Parallel%20session%205C/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%205C%20Doc%202%20Mali%20FRA.pdf

http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/05.%20Session%205/Parallel%20session%205C/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%205C%20Doc%202%20Mali%20FRA.pdf

http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Powerpoints%20Biennale/Presentations%20Session%207/Session%207%20presentation%201.%20SAMUELS%20Joel%20ENG.ppt

http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Powerpoints%20Biennale/Presentations%20Session%207/Session%207%20presentation%201.%20SAMUELS%20Joel%20ENG.ppt

http://www.unesco.org.uk/UserFiles/File/Skills%20Seminar%2031/King%20&%20Palmer%20-%20Full%20Paper.pdf

http://www.intervoc.de/WGPPE/TOR3/Survey2004/ADEA_Governance_SADC_TVET_Version%202006-10-01.pdf


Maragnani, A., 2008. Les enjeux de la formation professionnelle et technique dans le secteur agricole et le milieu rural. Cas de L’Afrique de l’ouest. Working Document No. 2.5.01 prepared for the ADEA 2008 Biennale on Education in Africa.

Massengo, V., Dzondhault, G., Mabiala, J., Mankoussou, M., and Mantsouaka 2008. Renforcement des capacités institutionnelles en matière technologique en République du Congo. Working Document No. 2.2.02 (Draft) prepared for the ADEA 2008 Biennale on Education in Africa http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/06.%20Session%206/Parallel%20session%

206B/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%206B%20Doc%201%20Congo%20Brazzaville%20FRA.pdf (accessed 24.01.2009)

MDG Africa 2008. Achieving the Millennium Development Goals in Africa. Recommendations of the MDG Africa Steering Group. New York 2008. http://www.mdgafrica.org/achieving_mdg.html (accessed 24.01.2009)

Mohn, T. N. 2008. Validation of non-formal and informal learning outcomes in Norway. Working Document No. 2.6.03 (Draft) prepared for the ADEA 2008 Biennale on Education in Africa. http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/07.%20Session%207/Parallel%20session%

207B/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%207B%20Doc%203%20MOER%20Norway%20ENG.pdf (accessed 13.01.2009)

Mushauri, J. and Durango, L. (2008). Localization of curricula and decentralization of curriculum development. Working Document No. 2.5.06 (Draft) prepared for the ADEA 2008 Biennale on Education in Africa. http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/06.%20Session%206/Parallel%20session%

206A/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%206A%20Doc%202%20Namibia%20ENG.pdf (accessed 19.01.2009)

Norway 2006. See the Opportunities and Make them Work! Strategy for entrepreneurship ion education and training. Ministry of Education and Research, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development. 2006. http://www.regjeringen.no/upload/KD/Vedlegg/Grunnskole/Strategiplaner/See_the_opportunities_and_make_them_work_2204-2008.pdf (accessed 15.02.2009)

OECD and AfDB 2008. African Economic Outlook 2007/2008. OECD, African Development Bank. www.oecd.org/dev/publications/africanoutlook (accessed 08.01.2009)

OECD 2008. Investing in Africa’s Youth. By Lucia Wegner. Policy Insights No. 62, OECD Development Centre. April 2008. www.oecd.org/dev/insights (accessed 08.01.2009)

Otu-Boateng, G. et al. (2008). Increasing female participation in TVET particularly in male-dominated trade areas. Otu-Boateng, G., Duodu, A.; Asiegbor, I.K., and Baiden, S.O., Working Document No. 2.3.08 (Draft) prepared for the ADEA 2008 Biennale on Education in Africa

Singh, M. 2008. School enterprises and sustainability: Challenges for secondary and vocational education. Working Document No. 2.5.11 (Draft) prepared for the ADEA 2008 Biennale on Education in Africa. http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/06.%20Session%206/Parallel%20session%

206B/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%206B%20Doc%204%20UNESCO%20UIL%20ENG.pdf (accessed 13.01.2009)

Swartland, J., 2008. A study of entrepreneurship education in Botswana and the significance of institutional preparation. Working Document No. 2.5.10 (Draft) prepared for the ADEA 2008 Biennale on Education in Africa. Gaborone 2008. http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/06.%20Session%206/Parallel%20session%

206C/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%206C%20Doc%202%20Botswana%20ENG.pdf (accessed 13.01.2009)

UN 1992. Agenda 21. Adopted at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) Earth Summit of 1992. Chapter 36: Promoting Education, Public Awareness and Training. http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/agenda21/english/agenda21chapter36.htm (accessed 22.01.2009)

UN 2008a. The Millennium Development Goals Report 2008. New York http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/The%20Millennium%20Development%20Goals%20Report%202008.pdf (accessed 13.01.2009)

UN 2008b. Summary of the Recommendations of the MDG Africa Steering Group.UN Department of Public Information. June 2008. http://www.mdgafrica.org/achieving_mdg.html (accessed 08.01.2009)

UNESCO and ILO 2002. Technical and vocational education and training for the twenty-fist century. UNESCO and ILO Recommendations. Paris 2002. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001260/126050e.pdf (accessed 24.01.2009)

UNESCO Constitution. In: Basic Texts. 2008 edition. UNESCO, Paris 2007. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001568/156826e.pdf (accessed 20.02.2009)

UNESCO 1999. Technical and Vocational Education and Training: A Vision for the Twenty-first Century. Recommendations to the Director-General. Second International Congress on Technical and Vocational Education, Seoul, Republic of Korea, 26-30 April 1999 http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0011/001160/116096e.pdf (accessed 24.01.2009)

UNESCO 2000. The Dakar Framework for Action: Education for All: meeting our collective commitments. World Education Forum. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001211/121147e.pdf (accessed 24.01.2009)

UNESCO 2001. Revised Recommendation concerning Technical and Vocational Education (2001). http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001260/126050e.pdf (accessed 24.01.2009)

UNESCO 2004. The Bonn Declaration. Adopted at the UNESCO international experts meeting in technical and vocational education and training “Learning for Work, Citizenship and Sustainability”, Bonn 2004. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001405/140586m.pdf (accessed 24.01.2009)

UNESCO 2005a. Secondary Education Reform. Towards a Convergence of Knowledge Acquisitions and Skills Development. Paris: UNESCO http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001424/142463e.pdf (accessed 10.01.2009) Version française: La Réforme de l'enseignement secondaire: vers une convergence de l'acquisition des connaissances et du développement des compétences. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001424/142463f.pdf

UNESCO 2005b. Final Consensus Statement, Regional Seminar on Secondary Education in Africa, Addis Ababa, 21-24 November 2005 http://www.poledakar.org/IMG/Final_Statement_of_Addis_workshop_Dakar.pdf (accessed 15.02.2009)

http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/06.%20Session%206/Parallel%20session%206B/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%206B%20Doc%201%20Congo%20Brazzaville%20FRA.pdf

http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/06.%20Session%206/Parallel%20session%206B/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%206B%20Doc%201%20Congo%20Brazzaville%20FRA.pdf

http://www.mdgafrica.org/achieving_mdg.html

http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/07.%20Session%207/Parallel%20session%207B/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%207B%20Doc%203%20MOER%20Norway%20ENG.pdf

http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/07.%20Session%207/Parallel%20session%207B/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%207B%20Doc%203%20MOER%20Norway%20ENG.pdf

http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/06.%20Session%206/Parallel%20session%206A/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%206A%20Doc%202%20Namibia%20ENG.pdf

http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/06.%20Session%206/Parallel%20session%206A/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%206A%20Doc%202%20Namibia%20ENG.pdf

http://www.regjeringen.no/upload/KD/Vedlegg/Grunnskole/Strategiplaner/See_the_opportunities_and_make_them_work_2204-2008.pdf

http://www.oecd.org/dev/publications/africanoutlook

http://www.oecd.org/dev/insights

http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/06.%20Session%206/Parallel%20session%206B/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%206B%20Doc%204%20UNESCO%20UIL%20ENG.pdf

http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/06.%20Session%206/Parallel%20session%206B/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%206B%20Doc%204%20UNESCO%20UIL%20ENG.pdf

http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/06.%20Session%206/Parallel%20session%206C/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%206C%20Doc%202%20Botswana%20ENG.pdf

http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/06.%20Session%206/Parallel%20session%206C/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%206C%20Doc%202%20Botswana%20ENG.pdf

http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/agenda21/english/agenda21chapter36.htm

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/The%20Millennium%20Development%20Goals%20Report%202008.pdf

http://www.mdgafrica.org/achieving_mdg.html






http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001405/140586m.pdf


http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001424/142463f.pdf

http://www.poledakar.org/IMG/Final_Statement_of_Addis_workshop_Dakar.pdf


UNESCO 2005c. United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014): International Implementation Scheme. UNESCO, Document ED/DESD/2005/PI/01. Paris, 2006 http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001486/148650e.pdf (accessed 20.02.2009)

UNESCO 2006. Participation in formal Technical and Vocational Education and Training Programmes Worldwide. An initial Statistical Study; developed by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS); Published by the UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training. http://www.unevoc.net/fileadmin/user_upload/pubs/UNEVOC_UIS_Report.pdf (accessed 07.01.2009)

UNESCO 2007a. The Kigali Call for Action. An expanded vision of basic education for Africa. Recommendations resulting from the high level seminar on basic education, Kigali, 25-28 September 2007 http://www.ibe.unesco.org/cops/workshops/Rwanda/Kigali_Call_for_Action.pdf (accessed 22.01.2009)

UNESCO 2007b. Recommitting to Literacy to Face African Challenges. The African Regional Conference in Support of Global Literacy. 10-12 September 2007, Bamako, Mali. UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL), Hamburg. http://www.unesco.org/uil/en/UILPDF/nesico/bamako0907/AfrRegConf_Mali07_report_online.pdf (accessed 08.02.2009)

UNESCO 2008a. EFA Global Monitoring Report 2008, UNESCO 2008 http://www.unesco.org/en/education/efareport/reports/2008-mid-term-review/ (accessed 16.01.2009)

UNESCO 2008b. EFA Global Monitoring Report 2009, UNESCO 2008 http://www.unesco.org/en/education/efareport/reports/2009-governance/ (accessed 24.01.2009)

UNESCO 2008c. Medium-Term Strategy for 2008-2013. Document 34 C/4. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001499/149999e.pdf

(accessed 24.01.2009)

UNESCO 2008d. Approved Programme and Budget 2008-2009. Document 34 C/5 Approved. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001586/158606e.pdf ( (accessed 24.01.2009)

UNESCO 2008e. Decisions adopted by the Executive Board at its 179th Session. Executive Board Document 179 EX/Decisions. UNESCO 2008. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/ulis/cgi-bin/ulis.pl?database=extd&sess=179&by=5&dc_2=inf&dc_2_p=not+phrase+any&req=2&look=ex&sc1=1 (accessed 24.01.2009)

UNESCO 2008f. Decisions adopted by the Executive Board at its 180th Session. Executive Board Document 180 EX/Decisions. UNESCO 2008. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/ulis/cgi-bin/ulis.pl?database=extd&sess=180&by=5&dc_2=inf&dc_2_p=not+phrase+any&req=2&look=ex&sc1=1 (accessed 24.01.2009)

UNESCO 2008g. Basic Education in Africa Programme. Information Paper (2008) ED/2008/PI/1. UNESCO http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0016/001611/161193E.pdf (accessed 10.01.2009)

UNESCO 2009a. African Statement on the Power of Youth and Adult Learning and Education for Africa’s Development. CONFINTEA VI Preparatory Conference in Africa. Nairobi, Kenya, 5-7 November 2008. UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, Hamburg, 6 February 2009 http://www.unesco.org/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/INSTITUTES/UIL/confintea/pdf/Preparatory_Conferences/Conference_Documents/Africa/confinteavi_rpc

_africa_outcome_Document.pdf (accessed 09.02.2009)

UNESCO 2009b.The state and development of adult learning and education in Africa. Regional synthesis report. Compiled by John Aitchison and Hassana Alidou. UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, Hamburg 2009 http://www.unesco.org/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/INSTITUTES/UIL/confintea/pdf/GRALE/confinteavi_grale_africa_synthesis_en.pdf

(accessed 20.02.2009)

UNESCO-UNEVOC 2004. Agencies for International Cooperation in Technical and Vocational Education and Training: A Guide to Sources of Information", UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre, Bonn 2004 http://www.unevoc.unesco.org/donors/download (accessed 16.01.2009); online version: http://www.unevoc.unesco.org/donors (accessed 16.01.2009)

Walther, R. with Filipiak, E. 2007. Vocational training in the informal sector, or How to stimulate the economies of developing countries? Conclusions of a field survey in seven African countries. Agence Française de Développement (AFD) Paris 2007. http://www.afd.fr/jahia/webdav/site/afd/users/administrateur/public/publications/notesetdocuments/ND33-ven.pdf (accessed 20.02.2009)

Walther, R., and Gauron, A., 2006. Le financement de la formation professionnelle en Afrique. Étude de cas sur cinq fonds de la formation, Ministère des Affaires Etrangères et Européennes., Direction générale de la Coopération Internationale et du développement DGCID, Paris 2006. www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/IMG/pdf/310_IntFormation_Afrique.pdf (accessed 24.01.2009)

Walther, R. and Krönner, H. 2008. Skills Development and the World of Work: Challenges for Education and Training. Thematic synthesis report on sub-theme 2. Working Document (Draft) prepared for the ADEA 2008 Biennale on Education in Africa http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/03.%20Session%203/Final%20PDF%20do

cuments/Session%203%20Doc%203%20Theme%202%20Synthesis%20Report%20ENG.pdf (accessed 16.01.2009)


http://www.unevoc.net/fileadmin/user_upload/pubs/UNEVOC_UIS_Report.pdf

http://www.ibe.unesco.org/cops/workshops/Rwanda/Kigali_Call_for_Action.pdf

http://www.unesco.org/uil/en/UILPDF/nesico/bamako0907/AfrRegConf_Mali07_report_online.pdf

http://www.unesco.org/en/education/efareport/reports/2008-mid-term-review/

http://www.unesco.org/en/education/efareport/reports/2009-governance/



http://unesdoc.unesco.org/ulis/cgi-bin/ulis.pl?database=extd&sess=179&by=5&dc_2=inf&dc_2_p=not+phrase+any&req=2&look=ex&sc1=1

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/ulis/cgi-bin/ulis.pl?database=extd&sess=180&by=5&dc_2=inf&dc_2_p=not+phrase+any&req=2&look=ex&sc1=1

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0016/001611/161193E.pdf

http://www.unesco.org/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/INSTITUTES/UIL/confintea/pdf/Preparatory_Conferences/Conference_Documents/Africa/confinteavi_rpc_africa_outcome_Document.pdf

http://www.unesco.org/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/INSTITUTES/UIL/confintea/pdf/Preparatory_Conferences/Conference_Documents/Africa/confinteavi_rpc_africa_outcome_Document.pdf

http://www.unesco.org/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/INSTITUTES/UIL/confintea/pdf/GRALE/confinteavi_grale_africa_synthesis_en.pdf

http://www.unevoc.unesco.org/donors/download

http://www.unevoc.unesco.org/donors

http://www.afd.fr/jahia/webdav/site/afd/users/administrateur/public/publications/notesetdocuments/ND33-ven.pdf

http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/IMG/pdf/310_IntFormation_Afrique.pdf

http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/03.%20Session%203/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%203%20Doc%203%20Theme%202%20Synthesis%20Report%20ENG.pdf

http://www.adeanet.org/adeaPortal/adea/Biennale%202008/Documentation/Papers%20for%20presentation/03.%20Session%203/Final%20PDF%20documents/Session%203%20Doc%203%20Theme%202%20Synthesis%20Report%20ENG.pdf



Annexes

Annex 1: The Context for UNESCO’s Action in African TVET

The role of UNESCO will first and foremost build on the organisation’s own strategy and objectives. However, given UNESCO’s explicit commitment to support the African Union’s “Plan of Action for the Second Decade of Education for Africa (2006-2015)”, relevant strategies and plans of the African Union will be taken into account.

A. UNESCO

A.1. UNESCO’s Medium Term Strategy and its draft programme and budget

UNESCO’s Medium Term Strategy for 2008-2013, under the overarching objective “Attaining quality education for all and lifelong learning”, programme objective 2 reads: “Developing policies, capacities and tools for quality education for all and lifelong learning as well as promoting education for sustainable development” (UNESCO 2008c, 18).

While the Medium Term Strategy explicitly addresses that “Technical education and vocational training (TVET) in both formal and non-formal settings will be promoted to prepare the young generation for the world of work” (UNESCO 2008c, 18), the document does not address TVET specifically under the expected outcomes.

TVET also constitutes an element of UNESCO’s Strategic Programme Objective 14 (support to countries in post-conflict and post-disaster situations). (UNESCO 2008c, 32)

For UNESCO’s Draft Programme and Budget for 2010-2011, the Executive Board has underlined the “increasing need to address secondary education in education systems, and to provide support for technical and vocational education and training (TVET)” (UNESCO 2008f, 21)

A.2. Elaboration of a UNESCO TVET strategy

At its session in April 2008, UNESCO’s Executive Board requested the Director-General “to elaborate … a succinct and operable strategy to support TVET in the Member States, based on the needs defined by the governments of the Member States concerned, which promotes cooperation with other development partners in a coherent manner at the country level…” (UNESCO 2008e, 44). Once this strategy is available, it will be instrumental for UNESCO-BREDA and Field Offices, along with the present Framework for Action, in assisting Member States to develop their TVET systems.

A.3. UNESCO programmes and initiatives relating to TVET

A number of ongoing UNESCO programmes and initiatives in education relate directly or indirectly to TVET. In order to ensure coherence and to create synergies within UNESCO’s intervention, those engaged in TVET are advised to ensure articulation with such programmes and activities in two directions:

■ When planning and implementing UNESCO interventions in TVET, expertise and resources that are available in such complementary programmes need to be harnessed to the extent possible. Particular attention needs to be paid to existing arrangement for South-South and North-South-South learning such as the UNEVOC Network.

■ Relevant expertise as well as needs that emerge from action planning and programme implementation in the field need to be brought to the attention of those responsible for these existing programmes and activities, so as to ensure that TVET needs are reflected to the extent possible.

The following are examples of programmes and initiatives for which articulation and coherence with intervention in TVET should be ensured (further information is available on the web; see links in Annex 4, page 53):

Teacher Training Initiative for Sub-Saharan Africa (TTISSA)

TTISSA is one of the three core initiative in education along with the Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE) and the Global Initiative on Education and AIDS (EDUCAIDS). It is a ten-year project aiming to increase the quantity and improve the quality of the teaching force in sub-Saharan Africa.

While UNESCO Headquarters conceptualises the initiative, UNESCO-BREDA supervises and coordinates its implementation. The International Institute for Capacity Building (IICBA) in Addis Ababa carries out specialised research and capacity development in the area of teacher education, distance education and other key areas. The sourcing, development and dissemination of briefs, modules, learning materials to support teaching in non-traditional settings for technical and vocational educators is one of the activities under the TTISSA logframe.


Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE)

The UNESCO Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE) is a global strategic framework for collaborative action to enhance literacy efforts in those countries that have a literacy rate of less than 50% or an adult population without literacy skills of more than 10 million. LIFE aims to help achieve the Dakar Goals - in particular goals 3, 4 and 5 - and the goals of the United Nations Literacy Decade.

The overall goal of LIFE is to empower people, especially rural women and girls, who have inadequate literacy skills and competencies. The “Education Qualifiante des Jeunes et des Adultes” (EQJA) programme in Senegal provides an example how additional basic education, basic scientific and technical skills can be combined in a non-formal setting.

The Basic Education for Africa Programme (BEAP)

The Basic Education for Africa Programme (BEAP) emerged from Kigali Call for Action, which called for an extension of basic education to a minimum of 9 to 10 years: “The expanded basic education will provide the knowledge base and competencies to the learners to improve their lives and facilitate their entry into the world of work, prepare them through skills training to contribute to social and economic development of their country and/or continue to further studies” (UNESCO 2007a). The Kigali Call for Action explicitly addresses a holistic look at primary, lower and upper secondary education as a system, and calls for consultation and collaboration among all education stakeholders in both formal and non-formal education.

UNESCO-BREDA is spearheading the programme by initiating reflection during workshops and seeking the integration of the concept of BEAP into national policies in education and training. Many countries have begun responding to the need for such a reform.

The BEAP supports the improvement of existing curricula for basic education by extending basic education to a minimum of nine years with emphasis on one to two years of childhood education (pre-school or kindergarten). These basic education curricula aim at an appropriate balance of learning outcomes including knowledge, skills, competencies, values and attitudes, and incorporate the latest curriculum-related initiatives and research, for example, on entrepreneurship education, enhancing learning, life skills, maths, science and technology education, as well as career guidance (UNESCO 2008g).

The UNESCO National Support Strategy (UNESS)

The UNESCO National Education Support Strategy (UNESS) is a planning tool for UNESCO in its search for increased effectiveness and pertinence in the support given to countries in education. The analysis of the UNESS of the sub-Saharan Africa countries which have already such a document shows that, for TVET, the focus is on the definition of a national policy, the articulation between TVET and general education, and teacher education. UNESCO Field Offices have the role of formulating and executing activities in the context of the UNESS process. Field Offices may ensure that TVET is a priority of the country in their UNESS documents.

A.4. Cross-cutting priorities and goals of UNESCO’s programme

Apart from UNESCO’s specific strategies and objectives in TVET development, UNESCO’s global priorities and internationally agreed development goals need to be taken into account. In the context of TVET, the following priorities and goals deserve particular attention:

■ Priority Africa;

■ Priority gender equality;

■ Education for sustainable development.

Priority Africa

In its mid-term strategy for 2008-2013, UNESCO commits itself to contribute to the implementation of the African Union’s Plan of Action for the Second Decade of Education for Africa (2006-2015). UNESCO will focus its action, among other areas, on strengthening TVET. In general, special emphasis will be placed on:

■ Capacity-building;

■ Providing assistance in the formulation of policies; and

■ Being a catalyst for international cooperation (UNESCO 2008c, 9).

Priority gender equality

Gender equality will be pursued by women’s empowerment and by gender mainstreaming. This includes identification of gaps in gender equality, raising awareness and advocacy for change, and developing strategies and programmes to close these gaps. Rights and obligations in terms of work or income generation are seen as an indicator for equality between men and women (UNESCO 2008c).


Education for sustainable development

As one of the critical programmes that are interdisciplinary in nature, UNESCO will continue to pursue the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2015) (UNESCO 2008c, 17).

All sustainable development programmes, including education for sustainable development, must consider the three spheres of sustainability – environment, society (including culture), and economy. The goals, emphases and processes must, therefore, be locally defined to meet the local environmental, social and economic conditions in culturally appropriate ways (UNESCO 2005c):

All three aspects are relevant to TVET, and need to be reflected in UNESCO’s intervention. Therefore, it is worth examining their implications more closely.

Chapter 36 of the Agenda 21: "Promoting Education, Public Awareness and Training" covers three programme areas:

Reorienting education towards sustainable development;

Increasing public awareness towards sustainable development;

Promoting training towards sustainable development.

Chapter 36 encompasses all streams of education, both formal and non-formal, basic education, and all the key issues related to educating for sustainable human development, including environmental education (UN 1992).

TVET prepares individuals for the world of work. Frequently, TVET is even being delivered at the workplace. The prevailing work environment therefore particularly affects TVET. An economic environment of an industrial type requires fundamentally different content of TVET as compared to a predominantly agricultural or informal economy setting.

What are the implications of the close linkages of TVET with the world of work for the three dimensions of sustainable development?

■ In most cases, TVET prepares for participation in economic activities, producing goods and services in various economic settings, ranging from self-sufficiency to industrial production. Often these products and services are provided in a competitive environment. Thus, the economic aspect of sustainable development is integral part of vocational activities.

■ Production processes for which TVET is expected to prepare the individual normally require use of all kinds of resources, such as raw materials, soil, energy, fresh water, tools, transport capacities etc. These processes often do produce not only the desired products and services, but also unintended outputs such as garbage, waste, pollution, noise, health and accident risks, and soil erosion. Thus vocational activities have immediate impacts on ecological and environmental issues that need to be addressed in TVET. In this context, indigenous and traditional technologies need to be examined to identify their contribution to sustainable development.

■ Vocational activities often take place in work environments ranging from small crafts shops to multinational enterprises. Thus, work relations, teamwork communication at the workplace, accountability, as well as external communication with other participants in the markets, such as suppliers and customers, but also with public authorities, can be integral part of vocational practice. The “Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work” of the International Labour Organization (ILO 1998) addresses such issues as freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining, and the abolition of child labour. Hence, the social aspect of sustainable development needs to be addressed in TVET.

A.5. Conventions, recommendations, declarations

In exercising its function as an international standard-setter, the General Conference of UNESCO has adopted

■ the “Convention on Technical and Vocational Education” (1989)

■ the “Revised Recommendations Concerning Technical and Vocational Education Recommendation” (UNESCO 2001)

Conventions and recommendations are “proposals for submission to the Member States” (UNESCO Constitution, Article IV B. 4).

In addition, documents have been produced at major UNESCO events in TVET:

■ The “Recommendations” generated by the Second International Congress on Technical and Vocational Education, Seoul, Republic of Korea, 1999 (UNESCO 1999);

■ The “Bonn Declaration” adopted by the participants in the UNESCO international experts meeting in technical and vocational education and training “Learning for Work, Citizenship and Sustainability”, Bonn, 2004 (UNESCO 2004).

These documents are published and disseminated by UNESCO, as they provide useful orientation for Member States on certain internationally agreed standards and policies in TVET.


B. African Union

B.1. The African Union’s Plan of Action for the Second Decade of Education for Africa

UNESCO commits itself to supporting the African Union in implementing the Plan of Action for the Second Decade of Education for Africa (2006-2015) (UNESCO 2008c, 18). Thus, UNESCO’s role in African TVET will be guided by UNESCO’s broader priorities and objectives in education in general, and, more specifically, by the African Union’s Plan of Action.

The African Union’s Plan of Action for the Second Decade of Education for Africa (2006-2015) has its focus on the following areas:

1. Gender and Culture

2. Education Management Information Systems

3. Teacher Development

4. Higher Education

5. Technical and Vocational Education and Training

6. Curriculum Development and Related Issues of Teaching and Learning Materials

7. Quality Management

For the purpose of this document, we will focus on area 5 (TVET). An excerpt from the Plan of Action is available in Annex 2 (page 36). Its overarching goal is “To ensure that education systems in Member States are better able to provide the young generation with quality education that imparts key generic competencies, skills and attitudes that lead to a culture of lifelong learning and entrepreneurship in order to fit them into an ever-changing world of work” (Annex 2, section 46)

The Second Decade of Education for Africa is expected to address the following priority intervention areas in TVET:

i) Equitable access to TVET for all;

ii) Quality and relevance of national TVET systems and programmes, with increased participation and financing by the private sector;

iii) Enhanced resources to ensure modern equipment and facilities for TVET;

iv) Integration of TVET in literacy and non-formal education programmes for vulnerable groups; and recon-struction in post conflict situations;

v) Capacity building, including the mobilisation of TVET teachers (Annex 2, section 51 v)

In addition, the Plan of Action refers to a number of other concerns:

■ Entrepreneurship training;

■ Career guidance and counselling;

■ Integration non-formal learning;

■ Fostering indigenous knowledge, technology and cultural art forms.

B.2. The African Union’s Strategy to Revitalize TVET in Africa

Closely linked to the adoption of the Plan of Action, the African Union drafted a “Strategy to Revitalize Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Africa” (excerpt see Annex 3, page 43). The objectives are:

■ To revitalise, modernise and harmonise TVET in Africa in order to transform it into a mainstream activity for African youth development, youth employment and human capacity building in Africa;

■ To position TVET programmes and TVET institutions in Africa as vehicles for regional cooperation and inte-gration as well as socio-economic development as it relates to improvements in infrastructure, technological progress, energy, trade, tourism, agriculture and good governance;

■ To mobilise all stakeholders in a concerted effort to create synergies and share responsibilities for the renewal and harmonization of TVET policies, programmes and strategies in Africa.

The key strategic issues are described as follows (AU 2007, section 5.1):

■ Poor perception of TVET

■ Gender stereotyping

■ Instructor training

■ Linkage between vocational and general education

■ Linkage between formal and non-formal TVET


■ Linkage of TVET to the labour market

■ Traditional skills, business management and entrepreneurial training

■ Harmonisation of TVET programmes and qualifications

From there, the following strategic objectives are developed (Annex 3, section 5.4, page 43):

i) Deliver quality TVET;

ii) Assure employability of trainees;

iii) Improve coherence and management of training provision;

iv) Promote life-long learning; and

v) Enhance status and attractiveness of TVET


Annex 2: African Union: Second Decade of Education for Africa (2006-2015): Plan of Action (Excerpt)

Second Extraordinary Meeting of the Conference of Ministers of Education of the African Union (COMEDAF II+), 4-7 September 2006, Maputo. Document EXT/AU/EXP/EDUC/2 (II), Revised August 2006

Outline

1. Introduction

1.1 Background and Context

1.2 Guiding Principles

1.3 Anticipated Outcomes

1.4 Resourcing the Plan

1.5 Management of the Process

1.6 Monitoring and Evaluation

2. Areas of Focus

2.1 Gender and Culture

2.2 Education Management Information Systems

2.3 Teacher Development

2.4 Higher Education

2.5 Technical and Vocational Education and Training

2.6 Curriculum Development and Related Issues of Teaching and Learning Materials

2.7 Quality Management

3. Matrix of Activities

3.1 Gender and Culture

3.2 Education Management Information Systems

3.3 Teacher Development

3.4 Higher Education


3.6 Curriculum Development and Related Issues of Teaching and Learning Materials

3.7 Quality Management

4. Glossary


46. Goal: To ensure that education systems in Member States are better able to provide the young generation with quality education that imparts key generic competencies, skills and attitudes that lead to a culture of lifelong learning and entrepreneurship in order to fit them into an ever-changing world of work

47. Rationale and Focus: Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is an essential part of general education, in addition to its focus on preparation for the world of work through specialised technical training. TVET has been under-served in African countries. Where programmes exist, in many cases advantage has not been taken of modern technologies in order to upgrade facilities and programmes. Quality TVET that responds to the demands of the labour market need to be designed and delivered by educational institutions and other providers in close partnership with prospective employers. These programmes are considered vital for equipping the increased numbers of young people completing basic education programmes as a result of the EFA process, with the skills for entering the world of work. Finally, TVET provides a means for building capacity for national reconstruction in post conflict situations. It will be necessary to change attitudes towards TVET among parents, teachers and the public, and develop TVET as a complementary system of education, with possibilities of credit transfer to higher education.

48. A sound programme of TVET should be based on a foundation of

i. A sound general education,

ii. A sound general/introductory technical education, including communication, entrepreneurship and life skills programmes,

iii. Specialized technical training,

It should also offer the possibility of credit transfer to further or higher education and training.


49. In the absence of sufficient opportunities for wage employment in Africa, formal and non-formal TVET programmes augmented by entrepreneurship training and career guidance and counseling can help people, including those marginalised by conflict or HIV and AIDS, to become independent socio-economic operators. Such programmes could also enable those working in the informal economy to further develop their businesses.

50. Given that vast numbers of young people are outside the formal school system, integrated non-formal learning consisting of literacy and TVET programmes, especially for girls and women, have the potential to enhance the well-being of communities throughout Africa. TVEt al.so offers an avenue for preserving, fostering and adding value to indigenous knowledge, technology and cultural art forms.

51. TVET will therefore be a high priority area for investment in the Second Decade of Education for Africa, and the following priority intervention areas will be addressed:

i) Equitable access to TVET for all;

ii) Quality and relevance of national TVET systems and programmes, with increased participation and financing by the private sector;

iii) Enhanced resources to ensure modern equipment and facilities for TVET;

iv) Integration of TVET in literacy and non-formal education programmes for vulnerable groups; and reconstruction in post conflict situations;

v) Capacity building, including the mobilisation of TVET teachers



3 Matrix of Activities – 3.5 Technical and Vocational Education and Training

Thematic/ priority areas

Objectives Actions/ Interventions Strategy/ Level of Implementation Performance Indicators/ Benchmarks

Outputs & Outcomes Time Frames

Budget Guidelines

Responsibility & Partners

1. Equitable access for all, and most especially, girls and women

National TVET systems available to all

Activity One

Review, develop national policies to make TVET facilities available to all

National:

Introduce key generic competencies and prevocational skills in basic education/ national Introduce key generic competencies and TVET in parallel non-formal systems

Recognition and accreditation of prior learning (APL) and experiential learning (APEL)

Number of competencies and skills in the curriculum that can be assessed

APL and APEL schemes in

place in countries

Skilled persons pre-pared for the world of work and further learning

Institutions set up to recognise and accredit APL and APEL

2006-2008 Member States

2. Quality and rele-vance of national TVET systems and

programmes

National TVET systems that cater to labour market

demands and economic needs

TVET systems that respond to skills challenges of immi-nent global and eco-

nomic growth areas

TVET curricula con-sistent with regional and national priorities

Apply TVET to In-digenous knowledge

e.g. improved pro-duction of traditional artefacts/ arts

Indigenous knowl-edge revalorised enriched and upgraded

Activity Two

Revise policies, legal

and other frameworks, strategies, and insti-tutional structures.

Activity Three

Develop TVET curricula aligned with labour market demands for both formal and informal economies, and global economic trends

Activity Four

Intergenerational transfer of skills

Activity Five

Integrating Entre-preneurship at all levels of TVET

Develop frameworks standards, certification, etc.)

Establish regional/ national bodies to harmonise Norms &

Standards

Involve employers/ business in curriculum design

Identify, document and adapt innovative practices in Africa

Facilitate articulation between TVET, the world of work & other levels of learning

Establish effective partnerships with stakeholders in the policy development process

Support workplace attachments

Undertake labour market research

Mechanisms for partnerships with professional associations, civil society, etc.

Competency based education

Utilisation of the modular approach

Improve training capacity of small and micro enterprises to serve TVET

Respond to skills requirements of emerging local markets

Undertake gap analysis & assessment in parallel with a value chain analysis.

Entrepreneurship and small business training integrated in TVET programmes

Promote talent through incentives (e.g. tax, community support, social benefits, etc)

Shared curriculum at regional level

Develop guide for TVET implementation

Inbuilt monitoring

Provide support services to TVET graduates to set up their own businesses (Venture Capital Facilities)

Frameworks developed

Regional/national bodies

established; existing ones strengthened

Number of innovative practices utilised in national systems

Number of pathways and bridges between TVET, work and learning established

Number and categories of stakeholders involved in policy formulation

TVET programmes respond to market trends

Reviewed, appropriate curricula & assessment

Tax incentives encourage training

Revised policies, legal frameworks, etc.

Regional/ National bodies established

Norms and Standards harmonised

Number of innovative practices operation-alised

Vertical and horizontal mobility for learners facilitated

TVET policy benefiting all stakeholders

2006-2010 AU

RECs

Member States





Budget Guidelines


3. Non-formal education: literacy and TVET; vulnerable groups

Non-formal education that delivers functional literacy

Empower vulnerable groups (difficult situations: youth and adults with special

needs, post-conflict, gender, pastoralists, rural communities, young offenders, orphans, working children) through

TVET provision

Activity Six

Integrate livelihood skills in literacy programmes in both formal and non-formal sectors

Activity Seven

Provision of special skills and services to the disabled

Mapping needs at local, national and regional levels

National strategy integrating non-formal and informal into community learning centres

Integrate efforts of different non-formal training providers

Develop TVET elements into non-formal programmes

Literacy and non-formal education should incorporate elements of

TVET

Provision of vocational and social guidance & counselling

Implementation frameworks guiding use of curricula

Appropriate curricula

Skills of Vulnerable groups upgraded

Working conditions and livelihood of vulnerable groups improved

Vulnerable groups provided with basic literacy with skills

Use of training capacities of SMMEs

2016-2010 Member States, fully mobilising relevant partners –

ILO

GTZ

FAO

====

RECs

4. Capacity building Countries, regions, & continent have adequate capacity to implement quality TVET

National training authorities co-ordi-nating and oversee the work of providers

Enhance the status of TVET

Activity Eight

Develop appropriate TVETMIS systems

Activity Nine

Training for Manage-ment of TVET

Activity Ten

Continuous Training of instructors

Develop Regional Centres of Excellence

Regional and National qualifications frameworks

APL and APEL

Guidance and counselling

Utilisation of successful non-formal and informal best practices.

Develop strategy for international cooperation

Harmonise training and certification

Partnerships, business involvement, etc

Improve the status of TVET teachers

Training managers at institutional level; establish protected qualification titles (to promote status)

All training institutions have adequate capacity

One Regional Centre of Excellence operational in each region

Regional and National Qualifications Frameworks set up in each region and country

Quality training provided

Mobility of workers established

Standardised regional and national training qualifications

2006-2014 RECs

Member States, fully mobilising a wide range of specialised institutions/ develop-ment partners

5. Financing TVET Sustainable financing mechanisms for TVET systems

Activity Eleven

State funding to move towards parity with other

sectors of education

Public-private partnerships

Introduce alternative sources of funding

Increase internal efficiency

Convince donors to provide more funding for TVET

Dividends of Debt Relief to be redirected to TVET

Increased targeted funding for TVET from governments

Increases in national budget

accompanied by corresponding increases in TVET funding

More donor funding for TVET

Apply PPP methodologies (e.g. Build- Operate- Transfer) to TVET

More funding provided to TVET

Increased private

sector contribution

Increased donor funding

Diversified funding available

Increased participation

in training by the private sector

1-4 years 2006-2014 AU

RECS

Member States, in

association with development partners and the Private sector





Budget Guidelines


Using Network strategies

Intra- and inter-national and regional networking

Activity Twelve

Establish networks using appropriate functioning networking models

Strengthen and use existing networks

Establish new networks

Provide support to associations of Polytechnics in Africa

Numbers of protocols

Number of functional TVET networks established at regional and national levels

Number of associations engaged in preparing

teaching and learning materials

Establish effective networks (Local, National, Regional, Continental)

2008-2010 RECs



Annex 3: African Union: Strategy to Revitalize Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Africa (Excerpt)

Final Draft, January 2007. Third Ordinary Session of the Conference of Ministers of Education of the African Union (COMEDAF III), 6

th to 10

th August 2007 Johannesburg, South Africa.

Outline

1. Background and Introduction

2. Current Status of TVET in Africa

3. International and African best practices and strategies

4. Priority TVET areas

5. Strategic Policy Framework

5.1 Key strategic issues

5.2 Guiding principles

5.3 Main goal and vision of strategy

5.4 Strategic objectives

6. Strategy Implementation

6.1 Implementation structures

6.2 National Vocational Qualifications Framework

7. Strategy for non-formal TVET and Pilot projects in post-conflict areas

7.1 Non formal TVET

7.2 Pilot projects in post conflict areas

8. Key policy issues

9. Policy roles and recommendations

10. Strategy evaluation

11. The challenge of globalisation

12. Conclusion

Excerpt

5.3 Main goal and vision of strategy

Taking into account the key strategic issues and guiding principles discussed above, the main goal of the strategy may be stated as follows:

Promote skills acquisition through competency-based training with proficiency testing for employment, sustainable livelihoods and responsible citizenship.

The vision of the strategy is to position TVET as a tool for empowering the peoples of Africa, especially the youth, for sustainable livelihoods and the socio-economic development of the continent.

5.4 Strategic objectives

The broad objectives of the strategy are i) to deliver quality TVET, ii) assure employability of trainees, iii) improve coherence and management of training provision, iv) promote life-long learning, and v) enhance status and attractiveness of TVET.

i) Deliver quality TVET

Training for high-quality skills requires appropriate training equipment and tools, adequate supply of training materials, and practice by the learners. Other requirements include relevant textbooks and training manuals and qualified instructors with experience in enterprises. Well-qualified instructors with industry-based experience are hard to come by, since such categories of workers are also in high demand in the labour market. But they could be suitably motivated to offer part-time instruction in technical and vocational schools.


Technical education is expensive and quality comes at a price. There is no substitute for adequate funding when it comes to delivering quality vocational education and training. In this regard, a training fund can be established to support TVET from payroll levies on employers. Training levies are in effect taxes imposed on enterprises to support skills development. Although the tax level is generally less than 2 percent of the enterprise payroll, the cooperation of employers is necessary for the successful implementation of such a scheme. Training levies are in operation in several African countries, including Cote d’Ivoire, Mauritius, Mali, South Africa, and Tanzania.

Competency Based Training (CBT) can also enhance quality. The concept of competency-based training is not new to Africa. Traditional apprenticeship, particularly as practiced in West Africa, is competency based. A competency is the aggregate of knowledge, skills and attitudes; it is the ability to perform a prescribed professional task. CBT is actually learning by doing and by coaching. It is necessary to incorporate the principles and methodology of CBT into the formal technical and vocational education system. However, since the development and implementation of competency-based qualifications (involving standards, levels, skills recognition and institutional arrangements) are very costly in terms of training infrastructure and staff capacity, piloting of the CBT approach in a few economic and employment growth areas is recommended, rather than a wholesale reform strategy. Students should be encouraged to build a portfolio of projects undertaken or items produced as evidence of proficiency and proof of ability to perform prescribed professional tasks.

The delivery of quality TVET is also closely linked to the building of strong, professional management and leadership capacity to drive the entire system. Quality in this document should de defined as “fit for purpose”, rather than as measuring up to an ill-defined standard. A decentralised and diverse system as recommended in the strategic policy framework (school-based training, enterprise-based training, and apprenticeship training (non-formal and informal) requires a strong regulatory framework for training curricula, standards, qualifications and funding. A suitable qualifications framework and inspection system will provide the necessary quality assurance and control mechanism within a diverse system.

ii) Assure employability of trainees

Assuring the employability of trainees begins with effective guidance and counselling of potential trainees in the choice of training programmes in relation to their aptitude and academic background. Employability presupposes the acquisition of employable skills that are related to the demands of the labour market. Affordability of training is also another factor. Who pays for the training of the poor? Poverty is not capital. Therefore, if TVET must help reduce poverty, then a system of support for the poor must be put in place. Such a support system may include the award of bursaries and the offering of services (like cleaning and farming) by poor trainees to the training provider to offset training fees. Tracer studies which track the destination of graduates in the job market can provide useful feedback for the revision of training programmes so as to enhance the employability of trainees.

iii) Improve coherence and management of training provision

In order to ensure coherence and management of training provision, it will be necessary to establish a national agency or body to coordinate and drive the entire TVET system. Depending on the country, this agency could be under the umbrella of the ministry of education and vocational training or a separate and autonomous body. In either case, the coordinating agency should include representation from all relevant stakeholders, including government policy makers, employers, public and private training providers, civil society, alumni associations, and development partners.

Some countries in Africa have already established National Training Authorities to coordinate and oversee the work of training providers in the formal, non-formal and informal sectors. Training Authorities, through their various specialised organs and occupational advisory committees, have the responsibility to develop national vocational qualification frameworks and proficiency levels as well as standards for validation of training, certification and accreditation of training institutions. National Training Authorities have been formed in countries like:

Botswana: The Botswana Training Authority (BOTA) monitors and regulates vocational education and training in the country;

Mauritius: The Industrial and Vocational Training Board (IVTB), among other things, monitors the needs for training in consultation with relevant authorities, designs and develops training curricula, and provides for, promote, and assist in the training or apprenticeship of persons who are or will be employed in commercial, technical and vocational fields;

Namibia: The National Vocational Training Board (NVTB) is entrusted with the responsibility of establishing minimum standards of vocational training with a view to regulating and promoting the efficiency of such training, including the development of vocational standards, trade testing procedures and certification arrangements, among others;

Tanzania: The Vocational Education Training Authority (VETA) supervises the development of all aspects of vocational training in the country;

Zambia: The Technical Education, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training Authority (TEVETA) not only coordinates training demands but also provides technical assistance to both public and private training providers.

Ghana has recently established by an Act of Parliament a Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET) within the country’s TVET Policy Framework. The Council is expected to establish an Apprenticeship Training Board to link non-formal and informal vocational training to the formal TVET sector. Private training providers, including NGOs and Church Based Organisations (CBOs) are represented on COTVET.


Strengthening the management and coherence of training provision cannot be complete without a National Vocational Qualifications Framework (NVQF) that ensures the transfer of learning credits and mutual recognition of qualifications within the entire system. The development of a qualifications framework is not an easy task. It involves the active involvement of industry practitioners, teachers, and policy makers. However, NVQFs are critical to the success of articulation mechanisms within the TVET system. In some countries, the appointment of TVET Coordinators at the district and regional levels may strengthen overall coordination at the national level.

It is necessary to make a distinction between a national vocational qualifications framework and a national qualifications framework that extends beyond vocational qualifications. As an example, Tanzania is developing a 10-level national qualifications framework (NQF), ranging from craftsman qualifications (level 1 – 3) through technician, diploma, and bachelors degree qualifications to masters degree (level 9) and doctorate degree award at level 10. It is, however, too early to evaluate the Tanzanian experience or recommend it to other countries.

iv) Promote life-long learning

Life long learning has a beneficial effect on the development of a high quality TVET system. This is because the skills of the workforce can be continually upgraded through a life-long learning approach. This also means that learners who have had limited access to training in the past can have a second chance to build on their skills and competencies. Life-long learning also involves the recognition of prior learning, whether in the formal or non-formal system. A National Qualifications Framework can provide the needed coherence of the TVET system through the creation of equivalent qualifications across all the sub-sectors: formal, non-formal and informal.

v) Enhance status and attractiveness of TVET

The last but not least strategic objective is to promote TVET as a tool for economic empowerment in Africa. This will also involve changing perceptions and attitudes of the public about technical and vocational education. For this, the use of role models in TVET and the involvement of successful entrepreneurs in motivation campaigns will be necessary. An embarrassing shortage of role models is one of the banes of TVET. The use of the electronic media to promote TVET may be particularly effective, as has been shown in Uganda through the TV soap opera “Hand in Hand” and the film “The Other Choice” in Ghana. Finally, networking among TVET experts can translate into increased visibility and funding for the sector.

6. Strategy Implementation

“In Africa, we are very good at drawing up strategies and plans but when it comes to implementation, there is always a difficulty”

- A common African saying

The diverse nature of TVET with its longitudinal and transversal dimensions suggests that the implementation of any strategy to revitalize the sector is more likely to be successful within a national policy framework with clear implementation guidelines and policy roles for the various actors as well as action plans for resource mobilisation and allocation. The national policy framework should address issues such as:

a) How to improve the operational flexibility and responsiveness of the entire TVET system as well as the efficiency of capacity utilisation of individual TVET institutions in terms of their available human, physical, and financial resources through performance reviews and audits;

b) How to strengthen the linkages between TVET and employment promotion; c) Upgrading the knowledge and skills of TVET managers and professional staff to meet the requirements of

managing the new strategy; d) Re-orientation of funding mechanisms towards output-based funding, i.e. linking funding to performance; and e) Skills training in the non-formal and informal sectors of the economy.

Above all, political commitment to the revitalization effort can make the difference between success and failure.

6.1 Implementation structures

The first requirement for the implementation of the proposed strategy is the development of a national TVET policy that sets out the government’s vision for skills development. The formulation of such a policy could be assigned to a task force with cross-sectoral representation of all major stakeholders, including representatives of public and private training providers, employers, government ministries responsible for human resource development, development partners, civil society, and experts. The report of the task force will then form the basis for the national TVET policy.


Invariably, the national policy will make provision for the establishment of an apex body or agency to oversee the implementation of the policy, which is the next step in the implementation process. This apex body, the composition of which will include all relevant stakeholders from both public and private sectors, may be known as a Council (as in Ghana) a Board (as in Mauritius) or an Authority (as in Malawi, Zambia, and Namibia), but its functions will include the establishment of various implementation organs under it. These organs will have responsibility for curriculum development and resource mobilisation, regulation and accreditation of training providers, quality assurance, and monitoring and evaluation, among others. Depending on the prevailing conditions in a particular country, an Apprenticeship Training Board may be established with special responsibility for the informal training sector and traditional apprenticeship. In many parts of West Africa, and to a lesser extent in Kenya (the Jua Kali sector), traditional apprenticeship is the only avenue for many disadvantaged youth to acquire employable skills. And it works, in spite of the fact that the sector rarely benefits from any form of government support. According to a report of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), “it is quite remarkable that traditional apprenticeship has been sustained with little

government cost and intervention.”2 It is this resilience and culture-friendly nature of traditional apprenticeship that some governments want to tap into by bringing it into the national framework for vocational education and training.

6.2 National Vocational Qualifications Framework

Another important step in the TVET policy implementation process is the development of a National Vocational Qualifications Framework (NVQF). An NVQF is indispensable for bringing coherence into the TVET system. The development of a qualifications framework is a tedious and laborious exercise that requires the participation of employers, industry experts, and technical teachers. An NVQF will prescribe proficiency requirements, qualification levels, as well as validation and certification standards. Although an NVQF is normally tailored to a country’s technological profile, it is necessary to keep in mind the need to link up national qualifications frameworks with regional frameworks. The objective here is to increase the portability of TVET qualifications across national frontiers, such that TVET becomes a factor of regional integration.

7. Strategy for non-formal TVET and pilot projects in post-conflict areas

7.1 Non-formal TVET

Non-formal TVET, defined as the opposite of formal TVET that is school-based with a rigid curriculum, has the advantage of shorter duration, is occupation-specific and may or may not follow the standard curriculum prescribed by national educational authorities. In addition, the entry qualifications of trainees can be extremely variable. However, the strategies and structures for formal and non-formal TVET delivery are similar in many respects. In particular, it is important that the two TVET systems are piloted by a single national coordinating body in order to facilitate articulation between the two systems and enhance coherence and better management of the entire TVET system.

Another characteristic of non-formal TVET delivery is the emphasis on the acquisition of practical skills for direct employment. For this reason, skilled craftsmen with some pedagogical training may be engaged as instructors. On the contrary, teachers in the formal TVET delivery system are required to be certified graduates of technical teachers colleges with relevant vocational teachers’ qualifications.

The implementation of pilot projects in post-conflict areas is in many respects similar to the delivery of non-formal TVET.

7.2 Pilot projects in post-conflict areas

Africa has been a theatre of war and conflict over the past two decades. Apart from the large number of deaths and injuries, millions of people have been displaced from their homes. Displaced people, especially women and girls, have been targets for exploitation, rape and abuse. Young people and even children have been drawn into combat as child soldiers. In post-conflict zones, former child soldiers and other young people who have experienced war and violence can be helped to re-integrate society. Vocational education and training is one of the most effective ways of imparting employable skills to such vulnerable members of society. However, there are challenges that must be addressed.

The difficult conditions in war-torn and post-conflict areas, which include damaged or destroyed educational infra-structure at all levels and the shortage of teachers and skilled instructors, demand a training approach that takes into account these special circumstances. Since a good basic education enhances effective vocational training, combining literacy programmes with livelihood skills training presents the best approach to skills development in post-conflict areas. Vocational training in these areas should therefore de delivered concurrently with the teaching of basic skills such as:

Functional literacy and numeracy;

Hygiene, nutrition, sanitation, and disease prevention (including HIV/AIDS prevention);

Family life skills (parental care and domestic skills);

Creative thinking and analysis of information;

Human relations and inter-personal skills (interaction with others from different ethnic backgrounds);

Communication and language skills (learning of a second language in multi-lingual societies);

Human rights and good governance practices;

2 Fluitman, F. (1992): “Traditional Apprenticeship in West Africa: Recent Evidence and Priority Options”. Discussion Paper No. 34, ILO, Geneva.


Politics, culture, and history;

National unity and reconciliation.

Emphasis should be on short-duration, occupation-specific TVET programmes. In particular, pilot projects for post-conflict areas should target skills acquisition related to infrastructure development, basic socio-economic activities, and local community needs. Training should be geared to programmes that require low capital investments in terms of equipment and tools for training and for business start-ups. The implementation and coordination structures described in the preceding chapter may be complemented by the following operational strategies:

Training should be assigned to accredited training providers, public or private;

Training packages should be employment-led and demand-driven;

The curriculum should be a combination of core compulsory life skills courses and elective vocational skills courses of short duration (6 – 18 months), modular in conception, business and entrepreneurship oriented, and small class sizes (maximum of 30 trainees per class);

The training providers should be responsible for initial selection of trainees as well as guidance and counsel-ling;

The funding mechanism should be output-based, in accordance with agreed performance indicators that may include numbers trained (completion rates), course type and level, percentage of graduates in gainful employment six months after training, etc.

Training methodology may include one day per week attachment or internship with local businesses, building contractors, entrepreneurs, master craftsmen, etc. for practical training.

In post-conflict areas in particular, the availability of post-training support services is of utmost importance to prevent unemployed trainees from sliding back into crime and violence. Post-training support includes follow-up and mentoring of graduates, access to micro financing, etc. In this regard, Senegal offers a good example of financing mechanisms to support the self-employment of trained youth. In terms of coordination, the two-tier system of national and regional offices as in Rwanda is worthy of consideration. Although non-formal vocational training in post-conflict countries must necessarily take into account the overall national reconstruction plan, the following pilot programme areas are recommended:

Agriculture (crop and animal production, agro-food processing, irrigation, etc.);

Building and construction services (masonry, carpentry, painting and decorating, interior design, electrical installation, plumbing, etc.);

Water and sanitation systems maintenance;

Welding and fabrication (including the manufacture of simple agricultural implements and tools);

Electrical and electronic equipment repair;

Vehicle repair and maintenance;

Handicrafts and traditional crafts (carvings, weavings, basketry, leatherwork, etc.);

Basic ICT skills (word processing, data management, internet, etc.)

Tourism-related skills (hotel management, tour guides, cooks, waiters); and

Business entrepreneurial skills and attitudes (including time management, marketing, basic accounting, micro-business management; joint ventures);

Given the scale of human resource development needs in countries emerging out of war, it will be necessary for governments to foster collaboration and partnerships with private sector training providers, including NGOs and CBOs, in order to increase and extend the opportunities for training to as many people as people. It may also be necessary to organise a forum for countries emerging out of conflict (from Africa and elsewhere) to share experiences and best practices. In the same regard, neighbouring countries with a conflict past may come together to establish Regional Technical Teacher Training Centres to promote the cost-effective sharing of resources, reconciliation, and portability of teacher qualifications. Teachers may also be recruited from the world of work and given pedagogical training at these Centres, especially where there are acute shortages of certified vocational teachers.

Rwanda is a good example of a post-conflict country with an aggressive human resource development agenda. Although TVET provision is split between several ministries (as in many other countries), the country has established a Human Resource Development Agency that has overall responsibility for skills development. There are more than 70 technical and vocational schools under the Ministry of Education and many more Youth Training Centres, which operate under the Ministry of Youth, Sports, Culture and Vocational Training. Training at these centres is linked directly to the world of work and includes courses that are related to infrastructure development, such as construction, welding, electrical installation and plumbing.

Finally, vocational training in post-conflict areas must be preceded by a conscious effort on the part of the authorities to address the psychological trauma, pain and emotional disorders suffered by survivors. Given the particularly difficult learning and socio-economic environment prevailing in post-conflict communities, the successful implementation of vocational training programmes requires that certain conditions are met. These conditions may be considered as the ingredients for success of TVET programmes in post-conflict countries:

Total support of national governments and development partners

Competent coordinating bodies at the national and district levels

Competent training providers

Accountability and transparency


Out-put based funding mechanism

Adequate training resources

Access to markets of products and services

High quality of training

Careful initial selection, and continuous guidance and counselling of trainees;

Availability of effective post-training support services for graduates.

In summary, the broad strategy for non-formal TVET and implementation of pilot projects in post-conflict areas may be outlined as follows:

a) Establish and empower national body or agency to oversee training; b) Marshall training resources – human, physical, financial; c) Emphasize basic education skills; d) Incorporate family life skills into training; e) Include politics, culture, and history lessons; f) Encourage private training providers to play lead role in training; g) Concentrate on short modular training packages; h) Offer market-relevant courses; i) Link graduates to sources of micro-financing and other post-training support services; j) Provide psychological support to trainees, survivors of abuse and violence of war.

8. Key policy issues

The successful implementation of the proposed strategy will require that thorough consideration be given to the following critical policy issues:

8.1 Initial assessment of existing TVET system

It will be necessary for each country to first assess the existing national TVET system capacity, including funding levels and budget utilization, strengths, weaknesses and deficiencies before embarking on a large-scale system reform or expansion strategy. There is therefore the need to conduct country-specific baseline studies that also explore the existing links with the other levels of education and national labour policies.

8.2 Linkage with other national policies and strategies

Each country will have to define and specify clear articulation lines between TVET and other sectors of the national economy in order to effectively link the TVET strategy to other national strategies and policies in the area of education and training, employment, and socio-economic development.

8.3 Linkage with regional and international policies

How does the national TVET strategy dovetail into existing regional and international education and training policy frameworks and protocols? National TVET strategies should take into account the education and training protocols of regional groupings like ECOWAS, SADC, and COMESA (where they exist), and those of acknowledged international agencies involved in education and skills training, such as UNESCO, ADEA, and ILO.

8.4 Linkage with the world of work

Since the ultimate objective of TVET is employability and employment promotion, it is necessary to link training to the needs of the labour market. TVET must be relevant and demand-driven, rather than supply-driven and a stand-alone activity. In order to do this, data is required on the actual employability of TVET graduates, available job opportunities, and the evolving skills demands on the labour front. Determining the demand for skills is best achieved through country-specific Labour Market Information Systems (LMIS) and other survey instruments. The function of a labour market information system or labour market “observatory” is to collect, process and make employment projections from information provided by employment ministries and agencies, demographic surveys, tracer studies that track the employment destination of TVET graduates, labour market related reports produced by economic think-tanks, and feedback from employers. An effective LMIS will be difficult to establish and operate now in many African countries for the simple reason that there is a dearth of data and information from which labour market trends can be captured, as well as lack of trained research staff with adequate technical expertise to run the system. In the short term, however, indicative labour market information can be gathered from trade and employer associations, NGOs, employment agencies, as well as large public and private sector employers. Training institutions can also conduct local labour market surveys in and around their localities. Information so gathered and analysed would then serve as inputs for the development of new or revised courses and programmes, equipment and learning materials selection, instructor formation, and guidance and counselling of trainees.


8.5 Instructor training and professionalisation of national TVET staff

The professional and pedagogical competence of the technical teacher is crucial to the successful implementation of any TVET strategy. Governments should therefore make conscious efforts, not only to train but also to retain technical teachers in the system. Technical teachers may be suitably motivated through equitable remuneration packages and incentive schemes that may include government subventions and loans to teacher associations and special credit facilities for teachers to acquire cars, houses, etc.

TVET system managers, professionals and policy deciders will also have to be trained and their skills upgraded to enable them confidently drive the new strategy with its various implementation structures, e.g. qualifications framework, accreditation standards, assessment guidelines, quality assurance and accountability frameworks. The International Labour Office (ILO) has considerable experience and expertise in the design and implementation of such large-scale training programme reforms in TVET and may be approached for technical assistance in this regard.

8.6 Funding and equipping TVET institutions

On a per student basis and compared with other levels of education, in particular primary and secondary education, TVET is much more expensive to deliver. There is the need therefore to spread the funding net as wide as possible to include:

National Governments: Governments should allocate a respectable percentage of their national budgets to the TVET sector

Employers: Employers, both public and private, should contribute to a training levy based on a percentage of their enterprise payrolls.

Development Partners: The African Development Bank, for example, supports country-specific projects, multinational projects, and micro-financing schemes.

Trainees: Fees paid by trainees should cover their training costs

Training Providers: Training providers can raise funds internally through the operations of their production units

Community: Local communities can make cash and non-cash contributions in the form of land and through community fundraising activities.

Donors: Individuals or groups (e.g. wealthy individuals, churches or faith-based organisations, NGOs) can support TVET through donations.

Venture capital fund: Young entrepreneurs can benefit from such a fund to start their own businesses.

A key policy issue in this strategy is the need to empower TVET institutions to manufacture their own small training tools and equipment. This is possible and should be encouraged.

8.7 Female participation in TVET

Serious inequities exist with regard to the participation of women in TVET. Women are underrepresented in many areas of skills development. Conscious efforts should be made to encourage equitable access to TVET by young women, not only in relation to jobs identified with women (e.g. sewing, hairdressing, cookery, etc.) but also in the male-dominated engineering or industrial sectors.

9. Policy roles and recommendations

We now highlight briefly the policy and strategy implementation roles of the various stakeholders as recommendations for action:

9.1 African Union – Human Resources, Science and Technology Department

Disseminate TVET strategy document widely among AU member states;

Encourage intra-African cooperation in the field of education and training;

Reach out to the African Diaspora to support TVET in Africa;

Identify, document and disseminate best practices to member countries;

Sensitize governments on the role of TVET for socio economic development as well as the need to increase funding for TVET;

Actively play TVET advocacy role within the international donor community;

Offer technical assistance to member states in need of such assistance;

Promote TVET as a vehicle for regional integration;

Monitor implementation of strategy at the continental level.

9.2 Governments Give legislative backing to national TVET policies;

Improve coherence of governance and management of TVET;

Introduce policies and incentives that will support increased private sector participation in TVET delivery;

Improve capital investment in TVET;

Establish TVET management information systems for education and training, including labour market infor-mation;


Institute measures to reduce gender, economic, and geographical inequities in TVET provision;

Introduce sustainable financing schemes for TVET;

Increase funding support to the sector;

Set up venture capital to support TVET graduates;

Build leadership and management capacity to drive TVET system;

Mainstream vocational education into the general education system, so that the vocational track is less dead-end;

Introduce ICT into TVET

Constantly monitor and periodically evaluate the performance of the system and apply corrective measures accordingly.

9.3 Training providers Provide training within national policy framework;

Deliver a flexible and demand-driven training;

Develop business plans to support training activities;

Establish strong linkages and collaboration with employers and industry;

Mainstream gender into training activities and programmes;

Introduce ICT into training

Institute bursary schemes for poor trainees;

Training institutions should be encouraged to be profit-oriented and to become active operators in the training market;

Strengthen guidance and counselling services to trainees;

Network and bench-mark with other providers;

Involve community, parents and guardians in training activities.

9.4 Parents and Guardians Support children and wards to choose the vocational education track;

Reject perception that TVET is for the less academically endowed;

Lobby politicians in favour of TVET;

Support activities of training providers.

9.5 Donors and Development Partners Support development and implementation of national TVET policies and strategies;

Fund small business development research;

Fund acquisition of training equipment;

Support post-training support services;

Support capacity building in TVET sector – instructor training, management training, technical assistance, etc.

Help in identifying and disseminating best practices in TVET;

Support TVET advocacy initiatives, motivation campaigns and programmes.

9.6 Employers Deliver workplace training to employees

Contribute financially to national training fund

Provide opportunities for TVET teachers to regularly update their workplace experience;

Provide opportunities for industrial attachment for trainees

Contribute to the development of national skills standards.

10. Strategy evaluation

The following criteria may be used to evaluate national TVET strategies over a period of 3 – 5 years, depending on the situation in individual countries. The criteria may be classified under i) training outcomes, ii) employment, and iii) citizenship development

i) Training-related criteria Access and equity: How has the strategy improved accessibility to vocational training and reduced

economic, gender, and geographical inequities? How many child-soldiers, for example, have been trained?

Efficiency: How efficient is the TVET system in relation to trainee input – output ratios? What are the dropout rates?

Proficiency: Have the trainees attained the specified proficiency standards?

Trainee satisfaction: Are the trainees satisfied with the training they have received?

Industry participation: How effectively have employers and industry participated in the training pro-grammes?

Articulation: Is there improvement in the linkages and articulation pathways within the TVET system?

ii) Employment-related criteria Employment after training: What is the percentage of trainees in gainful employment after training, and

how long after training does it take to be employed?


Wage/Salary levels: Are earnings of trainees comparable to those of holders of similar or equivalent qualifications?

Employers’ satisfaction: Are employers satisfied with the performance of graduates?

Relevance of training to actual employment: Are trainees employed in the skills area they have been trained?

iii) Citizenship-related criteria Public perception of TVET: Has the poor public perception of TVET changed for the better?

Social cohesion: Has the level of awareness of political tolerance, ethnic diversity, and national unity increased?

Good governance: Has the level of understanding of human rights and respect for the rule of law increased? What is the level of participation of trainees in the democratic process?

11. The challenge of globalisation

“You have no choice, this is inevitable. These forces of change driving the future don’t stop at national boundaries, don’t respect tradition. They wait for no one and no nation. They are universal.”

- Tony Blair, British Prime Minister.

The challenge of globalisation for TVET in Africa is the tension it has created between developing skills for poverty eradication and skills for global economic competitiveness. Although the primary objective of technical and vocational training in Africa is to help alleviate poverty through the acquisition of employable skills, a strategic approach to skills development on the continent cannot ignore the effects of globalisation. In a globalising world economy, driven by the ease of information exchange, financial flows, and the movement of people, labour, goods and services across national boundaries, each country will have to adopt skills development policies and strategies that give them a competitive edge.

For this reason, the acquisition of “industrial” skills is as important to Africa as the basic vocational and technical skills. In the advanced developing countries like Singapore and Malaysia, the rise to economic prominence was supported by the development of high level technical skills. However, the experience of these countries shows that their industrial lift-off was preceded by high stocks of literacy and basic skills. The sheer lack of skills of all sorts in Africa and the demands of poverty alleviation mean that African countries must pursue the development of skills at all levels of the spectrum (basic, secondary, tertiary levels), with each country emphasizing the skill levels that correspond best to their stage of economic development and the needs of the local labour market.

Modern society is characterised by the increasing application of information and communication technologies. ICT education therefore must form a strong component of all levels of skills training. In the globalising labour market, employees are regularly required to update and upgrade their knowledge and skills in order to remain abreast with the rapid technological changes in the workplace. Quality, relevance, flexibility, technology-mediated learning, and life-long learning constitute the education and training bench-mark for skilled human resource development in the knowledge-driven economies of today.

Interestingly, globalisation can offer Africa opportunities for high-level technical skills training through the process of technology transfer. In effect, technology-rich multinational and trans-national corporations, if suitably motivated, can become important private sector training providers of high-level industrial skills within the TVET system of their host countries.

However, the downside of globalisation for vocational training in Africa is the flooding of markets in Africa with all manner of cheap goods and technology products from foreign countries. What is the market for a locally produced wooden chair when the imported plastic version is cheaper? Again, how competitive is the cost of a locally sewn dress against cheaper imported second-hand clothes? National policies should therefore take into account these and other globalisation-induced factors in designing TVET programmes and courses.

12. Conclusion

This TVET strategy document provides a strategic framework for the development of national policies to address the challenges of technical and vocational training to support economic development and the creation of national wealth and contribute to poverty eradication. The strategy addresses the cross-cutting issues of employability, relevance, collaboration between training institutions and employers, accreditation of training providers (in the formal, non-formal and informal sectors), assessment, certification and quality assurance of training programmes, and portability of vocational qualifications across national boundaries. In this regard, it is necessary for each country to formulate a national TVET policy and establish a national training coordination agency and its implementation organs to drive the policy.

The strategy presents TVET as a valid passport to a well-paid job or self-employment or higher education and not as an alternative educational opportunity fit only for early school leavers, the less academically endowed or the poor. The strategy recommends a TVET system that is competency-based and employment led, with proficiency testing as proof of competence.


It is strongly recommended that vocational training be integrated into general education so that it becomes less dead-end. In addition to the acquisition of vocational, agricultural, technical, and business skills, it is necessary to incorporate political and citizenship skills into the curriculum.

The strategy document acknowledges that vocational education and training alone does not provide jobs or eradicate poverty. Good government policies do both. The strategy therefore urges governments to create an economic environment that promotes the growth of enterprises and generally stimulates the economy. When businesses develop and expand, additional labour-market demands for technical and vocational training emerge, new job opportunities are created, more people get employed, and the incidence of poverty reduces. For this to happen on a sustainable basis, however, the TVET system must be labour-market relevant, equitable, efficient, and of high quality. This strategy document provides the framework for the design and implementation of such national TVET systems.


Annex 4: Web links to organisations, networks, programmes and resources relevant to TVET

African Development Bank (AfDB) www.afdb.org

African Union (AU) www.africa-union.org

Agence Intergouvernementale de la Francophonie (AIF) www.francophonie.org

Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) www.adeanet.org

Basic Education in Africa Programme (BEAP) www.dakar.unesco.org/news/pdf08/081211_beap_flyer.pdf

Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) www.comesa.int

Commonwealth Association of Polytechnics in Africa (CAPA) www.capa-online.org

Commonwealth of Learning (COL) www.col.org

Communauté Économiques d’États de l’Afrique Centrale (CEEAC) -

Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS)

www.ceeac-eccas.org

Conférence des Ministres de l'éducation des pays ayant le français en partage (CONFEMEN) www.confemen.org

Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) www.unesco.org/education/desd

East African Community (EAC) www.eac.int

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) www.ecowas.int

European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP) www.cedefop.europa.eu

European Training Village (ETV) www.trainingvillage.gr

Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) www.fao.org

Global Initiative on Education and HIV/AIDS (EDUCAIDS) www.educaids.org

International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (UNESCO) www.unesco-iicba.org

International Institute for Educational Planning (UNESCO) www.unesco.org/iiep

UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE) www.iite.ru

International Labour Organization (ILO) www.ilo.org

International Vocational Education and Training Association (IVETA) www.iveta.org

Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE) www.unesco.org/uil/en/focus/litinforemp.htm

Millennium Development Goals (MDG) www.un.org/millenniumgoals

OECD Development Centre www.oecd.org/dev

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) www.oecd.org

Réseau Africain des Instituts de Formation de Formateurs de l’Enseignement Technique (RAIFFET) http://raiffet.org

Southern African Development Community (SADC) www.sadc.int

Teacher Training Initiative for Sub-Saharan Africa (TTISSA) www.unesco.org/education/TTISSA/

www.ttissa.org/

UNESCO HIV and AIDS Education Clearinghouse hivaidsclearinghouse.unesco.org/

UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) www.uis.unesco.org

UNESCO National Education Support Strategy (UNESS) portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=10200&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

UNESCO Regional Office for Education in Africa - Bureau Régional pour l'Education en Afrique (BREDA) www.dakar.unesco.org

UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training www.unevoc.unesco.org

United Nations (UN) www.un.org

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) www.unicef.org/

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) www.undp.org/

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) www.uneca.org

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) www.unesco.org

United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) www.unido.org

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) www.unfpa.org

International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, World Bank) www.worldbank.org/

Working Group for International Co-operation in Skills Development www.norrag.org/wg

World Food Programme (WFP) www.wfp.org

Links to specific documents are available in the “References” section (page 27).

Links to agencies for international cooperation in TVET are available at: www.unevoc.unesco.org/donors/countries

http://www.afdb.org/

http://www.africa-union.org/

http://www.francophonie.org/

http://www.adeanet.org/

http://www.dakar.unesco.org/news/pdf08/081211_beap_flyer.pdf

http://www.dakar.unesco.org/news/pdf08/081211_beap_flyer.pdf

http://www.comesa.int/

http://www.capa-online.org/

http://www.col.org/

http://www.ceeac-eccas.org/

http://www.confemen.org/

http://www.unesco.org/education/desd

http://www.eac.int/

http://www.ecowas.int/

http://www.cedefop.europa.eu/

http://www.trainingvillage.gr/

http://www.fao.org/

http://www.educaids.org/

http://www.unesco-iicba.org/

http://www.unesco.org/iiep

http://www.iite.ru/

http://www.ilo.org/

http://www.iveta.org/

http://www.unesco.org/uil/en/focus/litinforemp.htm

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals

http://www.oecd.org/dev

http://www.oecd.org/

http://raiffet.org/

http://www.sadc.int/

http://www.unesco.org/education/TTISSA/

http://www.ttissa.org/

http://hivaidsclearinghouse.unesco.org/

http://www.uis.unesco.org/

http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=10200&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html


http://www.unevoc.unesco.org/

http://www.un.org/

http://www.unicef.org/

http://www.undp.org/

http://www.uneca.org/

http://www.unesco.org/

http://www.unido.org/

http://www.unfpa.org/

http://www.worldbank.org/

http://www.norrag.org/wg

http://www.wfp.org/

http://www.unevoc.unesco.org/donors/countries

Date post:	25-Jun-2020
Category:	Documents
Upload:	others
View:	4 times
Download:	0 times