Rehabilitation of technical and vocational education and training in Somalia
Project description
Title: Rehabilitation of technical and vocational education and training in Somalia
Commissioned by: Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Co-funded by: European Union
Country: Somalia
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Planning, Investment and Economic Development (Federal Government); Ministry of National Planning and Development (Somaliland)
Overall term: 2018 to 2022
Context
Prior to the collapse of the state in 1991, the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) system in Somalia was well developed. The subsequent civil war has weakened political and social structures, including the education system. An entire generation has low levels of education, and youth unemployment stands at 67 per cent. The TVET system is highly fragmented, the conditions required for a labour market oriented TVET system are not in place, and there is a lack of qualified teaching staff. Existing TVET curricula are often outdated and not demand-driven, and the business sector is not adequately involved. The private sector is dominated by micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) displaying little to no interest in TVET. As a result, the labour market demand for skilled workers cannot be met.
Objective
The labour market demand for skilled workers has been met is selected areas of Somalia.
Approach
The project will initially be implemented in Hargeisa (Somaliland), Garowe (Puntland), Kismayo (Jubbaland), and the capital, Mogadishu, and includes various qualification measures geared towards the labour market.
The project addresses three fields of action:
- The capacity of selected vocational training centres will be increased, enabling them to provide labour market oriented training programmes. Certain vocational training centres in the project regions will receive support for implementing education and training offers.
- The quality of the training programmes for selected job profiles will be enhanced through the implementation of modular training programmes.
- Conditions will be created for labour market oriented TVET. To allow this, capacity-building units will be developed for establishing a standardised TVET system in Somalia.
The first field of action will be implemented by the Internationaler Bund (IB) in cooperation with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, and covers awareness-building, career guidance, school management and school development.
Results
A steering group comprising representatives from practically all the federal states of Somalia has been set up. While Somaliland regards itself as an independent state and has formed its own advisory group, it is not internationally recognised as a sovereign state. The steering group is tasked with promoting political dialogue, providing input for and advising the project, exchanging information about project progress, making suggestions to the project management, and receiving and discussing evaluation results. The Somalia steering group has concluded that all the goals of the EU introductory phase of the project have been completed. A strategy for the next steps has also been approved.
A vocational training centre in each of the states of Somaliland, Puntland and Jubaland has been selected to be rehabilitated over the course of the project.
An advisory group for each federal state has been set up and will convene at regular intervals. Employment and labour market analyses have been conducted in the federal states, providing insights into existing and required occupations. In total, six occupations have been identified for short- and long-term training.
Two study trips to Germany were conducted with the aim of enabling the participants to learn about the dual vocational training system and its actors, and to develop a vision for Somalia based on this. The participants were members of the federal government, the members of the government of the Benadir administrative region and Somaliland, and representatives from the private sector.