Cliff

On 6 and 7 September 2023, VET Toolbox’s partner agency GIZ successfully organised the Closing Workshops of their two VET Toolbox projects implemented in Nigeria. These projects aimed at:

• Empowering the cashew industry: enhanced private sector training for cashew farmers and factory workers.
• Supporting riders in the gig economy: launched an e-learning platform for skilling gig economy delivery riders.

Both projects stemmed from concrete investment opportunities, aiming to foster decent employment and bring about positive change for the local population. We worked closely with the private sector, especially Julius Berger Nigeria PLC (Cashew Nut project) and Glovo (Skills4Riders) to create tailored solutions aligned with EU investment needs.

Key achievements:

• Trained 444 in cashew farming and processing.
• Currently training 200 delivery riders until October 2023.
• Strengthened 8 companies in total.
• Gathered insights for future initiatives and policies.
• Forged lasting connections and partnerships between public and private actors such as the Gig Economy Partners Forum, which will drive the standardization of rider training and policies to support the sector, and SKYE (Skills Development for Youth Employment), which is committed to VET reform in the next three years as a continuation of the Cashew Nut project.

From 22 to 26 May, the VET Toolbox teams met for a pilot Peer Learning workshop in Dakar, Senegal, hosted by our partner agency LuxDev and facilitated by the NGO and social enterprise Paeradigms. VET Toolbox gained valuable insights through extensive knowledge exchange sessions and field visits. Participants from 11 countries reflected on private-public partnerships, gender and inclusion, project sustainability, interagency collaboration, and VET Toolbox’s opportunity-driven approach. They shared lessons learned and success factors and jointly developed recommendations for their projects and future programmes.

From 11 to 13 May 2022, representatives from the eleven VET Toolbox grant projects met in Brussels to close their pilot projects on inclusive VET and employment.

During these three days, they inspired and challenged each other by sharing the results and lessons learned of their projects.

From 9 to 11 May 2022, our country team colleagues of all partner agencies (British Council, Enabel, Expertise France, GIZ and LuxDev) joined for a Networking seminar on “Shaping the future of VET”. During these exciting three days, they shared good practices and knowledge, exchanged on opportunities and operational challenges and participated in a mini-hackathon on sustainability challenges, including on how VET Toolbox projects can influence the investment climate and address impact at system/policy level.

With millions of young people entering the workforce every year, fast-changing economies are poised to benefit from a demographic dividend which could lead to great gains in poverty reduction, employment generation and economic growth. One of the biggest challenges for such countries is finding a sustainable model of unlocking the latent potential of its young people. In this context, the importance of skills development as a driver of socio-economic development is paramount.

This VET Toolbox International Seminar provided a forum for policy-makers, experts practitioners and employers from the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector to explore and discuss their common challenges in developing the skills that will drive prosperity. The seminar took place from 23-25 November 2021. The interactive online seminar, which was implemented by the British Council, included contributions from international TVET experts, policy-makers, lead educators, employers, NGOs and training agencies, as well as over 300 delegates.

The seminar was formally opened by Antti Karhunen, Director Sustainable, Finance and Jobs at the International Partnerships Directorate of the European Commission. Among the speakers was Daniel Susskind, Fellow in Economics at University of Oxford, visiting Professor at King’s College London, author and co-author of the best-selling book The Future of the Professions who spoke about ‘Training the future workforce for automation and technological change’.

For this webinar, VET Toolbox and AUDA NEPAD SIFA bring together a broad array of stakeholders to exchange on the different steps in the policy development process, specifically focusing on VET policy development from a bottom-up perspective.

Keynote speaker Joy Papier reflects on vocational policy development in post-apartheid South Africa from the vantage point of a participant-observer.

Concrete practical experiences from other African countries help define key success factors and lessons learned.

Rewatch the webinar (EN + FR)

Download the presentation:
English
French

Download the guiding note that gives advice on how to approach the challenge of VET policy development.

Investment not only needs finance but also people with the right skills. The new VET Toolbox service supports – in close collaboration with other stakeholders – local people in 11 countries in Sub-Saharan African in acquiring those skills. Dialogue between the public and private sector will be at the basis of targeted actions in specific sectors or value chains.

On 8th June 2021, VET Toolbox presented this new service during an online launch event attended by around 200 participants.

Below you can rewatch the videos that were presented during the launch event. You also can download the powerpoint presentation and relevant documents.

Rewatch the video message of Jutta Urpilainen, EU Commissioner for International Partnerships:

Rewatch our animated video on the VET Toolbox services, focusing on the new service:

Rewatch the inspiring music videos of 5 artists from our partner countries:

Apprenticeship in the informal economy is widespread and bears huge opportunities. In this webinar you will learn about the key elements of “informal apprenticeship”- systems.

Keynote speaker Patrick Werquin clarifies the concepts and deepen your insights into the functioning of informal apprenticeships in relation to formalised systems. Special focus is on the role of employers and the financial side of informal apprenticeships.

Colleagues from Ghana and Ivory Coast complement with their concrete examples and lessons learned on the topic. Christine Hofmann, from the ILO, joined us for the closing remarks.

Rewatch the webinar (EN + FR)

Download the presentation:
English
French

Download the guiding note on Informal Apprenticeship.

Qualifications are the bedrock of effective and relevant VET systems. However, in order to be effective they need to meet the needs of learners, employers, educators and policy makers. Striking the right balance between flexibility and rigour can be hard. This event will explore effective ways to develop qualifications from multiple perspectives.

Keynote speaker Steve Franklin (ECITB) focuses on the development of skills, standards and qualifications for the engineering construction workforce. Colleagues from 2 VET projects present their ongoing initiatives providing concrete examples on finding a pathway to designing and delivering qualifications that meet industry needs.

Rewatch the webinar (EN + FR)

Download the presentation:
English
French

Q&A: Our speakers answered the pending questions that came up during the webinar. Find the answers here.

Download the guide to developing and implementing qualifications that meet industry needs.

Not just the individual learners, but also employers and society as a whole, benefit from education, training and lifelong learning. Governments are key investors in skills development. Additionally, we also need enterprise involvement to provide stable and sustained ways of financing training, and to ensure the relevance of this training for the labour market. Financing skills development is dealt with in different ways across the globe. There is a clear need among both national stakeholders and international experts to further explore adequate financing mechanisms, that will guarantee sustainable and effective skills development systems.

This webinar highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the existing major financing mechanisms. Keynote speaker Alexis Hoyaux zooms in on sector training funds globally. During his presentation he identifies private sector resources and provides costing and budget planning tools. Finally, he visualises the participation, roles and incentives from the perspective of the employers’ organisations.

Rewatch the webinar:
English
French

Download the presentation:
English
French

Q&A: Our speakers answered the pending questions that came up during the webinar. Find the answers here.