Transforming Technical and Vocational Education and Training for Youth Employment

Guatemala, Mali, Mozambique, Suriname, Sudan, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Timor Leste, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Morocco

The overall objective of this project is to address critical issues concerning Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in the beneficiary countries to help transform the concerned governments' vocational education systems and practices, thereby contributing to achieving better matching between the supply and demand for skills in the labour market and reducing youth unemployment rates.The project entailed, inter alia, the following activities: Providing upstream policy advice for transforming TVET policies and systems and regarding youth employment and school-to-work transition. Strengthening the governments' capacities to develop evidence-based policies, combined with enhancing the work on statistics and indicators on TVET. Supporting regional and sub-regional strategies for TVET. Promoting recognition of qualifications and quality assurance. The project achieved the following outputs: 1. From Latin America, a regional forum was organized in Montevideo, bringing together some 60 decision makers from ten countries; 2. In Africa, a regional conference on TVET took place in Harare and Mutare in Zimbabwe involving 60 participants from eight countries; 3. In the Caribbean, UNESCO supported the organisation of the Second International Conference on TVET in Montego Bay on “STEM Education in TVET: Imperative to National and Regional Development”; 4. Conducted a global study on the use of level descriptors for defining learning outcomes, and the publication of “Level-setting and recognition of learning outcomes”; 5. Establishment of an Expert Group on World Reference Levels with the aim to connect key regional and international organizations; 6. As a follow up to the outcomes of the Experts Group meeting, UNESCO undertook a global comparative study on qualifications cross-borders.