Skills Development for Youth Employment - SKYE

Project description

Title: Promoting Needs-based Technical and Vocational Education and Training and Youth Employment in Nigeria
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Cofinanced by: Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
Country: Nigeria
Lead executing agency: Federal Ministry of Finance Budget and National Planning (FMFBP)
Overall term: 2018 to 2023

Beneficiaries of auto repair training during practical session in Lagos State. The training was organised by the Programme Migration and Development (PME) and Skills Development for Youth Employment – SKYE. Photo date – July 2020.

Context

Nigeria is severely affected by extreme poverty. It has more than 200 million inhabitants, and one of the largest populations of youth in the world. About 3.5 million young Nigerians enter the labour market every year. Over 43 per cent of the potential working population in Nigeria is either unemployed or underemployed.

The lack of employment and income-generating prospects is driving internal migration from rural areas to economically prosperous urban centres, and migration to other countries, particularly the EU. The poor quality of VET standards, curricula, teacher training and equipment in the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system leads to  a shortage of qualified labour.

According to the Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics (NBS),  the country's economy contracted by 6.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2020 due to the Covid-19-pandemic.. This leads to higher unemployment and worsens the situation of women and disadvantaged groups.

Objective

The prospects of gainful employment for Nigerians aged between 15 and 35 and for returnees have improved in selected sectors of the economy.

Trainees at the leatherworks entrepreneurship training organised by SKYE and the Edo State Skills Devel-opment Agency (a.k.a. EdoJobs) in Benin City, Edo State. Photo date – April 2021.

Approach

SKYE works on five priority areas:

  • The programme is establishing institutionalised permanent dialogue between public and private sector at the federal and state levels. Within the dialogue processes, policy recommendations for TVET and employment promotion are being developed.
  • SKYE supports capacity building in intermediary organisations, both within the government agencies and the private sector.
  • It focuses on developing and improving national TVET standards in agriculture, construction and manufacturing.
  • The programme promotes the design and implementation of innovative pilot models in the field of formal and non-formal technical and vocational education and training.
  • SKYE supports employment promotion structures at federal and state levels by establishing proactive labour market measures.

Last update: January 2022

Female beneficiary of electrical training working on an inverter during her internship in Lagos State. Photo date – July 2019

Additional information