Event

On 6 July, VET Toolbox collaborated with GRETA, the green VET initiative of the European Training Foundation, to co-organise a webinar on greening the energy and construction sectors. Over 180 participants took part in the webinar, during which VET Toolbox presented its “Skills for the Green Transformation” tool developed by GIZ. Our private sector partner Elementerre showcased its ecological approach to construction and the VET Toolbox project led by LuxDev in Senegal.

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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 27 February to 3rd March 2023, the GIZ VET Toolbox Team gathered in Kampala, Uganda, for an internal learning workshop with colleagues from Germany, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda.

Besides an exchange with Lennart Deridder (Team Leader, Economic Growth and Inclusive Green Economy – Delegation of the European Union to Uganda) and James Macbeth Forbes (Country Director GIZ Uganda) on opportunity-driven skills development and VET in the context of European investments, the Team jointly discussed learnings from implementation, shared best practices and planned ahead for the upcoming activities in 2023.

Furthermore, the participants had the opportunity to visit and learn more about the activities of VET Toolbox Uganda, which are supporting efforts of rural electrification through solar-powered mini-grids. The action developed demand-driven innovative training solutions in close partnership with its partners Sendea & AVSI and implements trainings in the field of Operation & Maintenance of solar systems (O&M) and Productive Use of Electricity (PUE) to foster rural electrification and tap employment and income opportunities resulting from increasing investments in the renewable energy sector in Uganda.

In 22 and 23 November 2022, VET Toolbox organised an Internal Debrief and Learning Workshop in Brussels to close the first VET Toolbox programme, coming to an end on December 2022, and reflect on its five years of implementation. Representatives from the five VET Toolbox partner agencies (the British Council, Expertise France/Groupe AFD, GIZ, LuxDev, and Enabel), the European Commission (DG INTPA and a representative from the EU Delegation to Malawi), and VET experts from Sub Saharan African countries were invited to take an active participation role in the workshop.

During the 1.5-day workshop, participants identified and exchanged on the lessons learned from VET Toolbox implementation and performance, with a focus on the three pillars of the programme 1: Public-private partnership, Inclusion and Labour market analysis, and identified the lessons learned on the partnership approach, including the interagency collaboration, coordination, and co-implementation.

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.