Our Expertise and Services: Education and Vocational Skills
Many developing countries grapple with high illiteracy, the performance of the vocational training and education sector and high unemployment. Helvetas supports access to quality basic education for children and to vocational skills training for young women and men.
Why education and vocational skills matter
Education is a key factor for improved access to employment and income. The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 therefore focuses on access to quality education. More than 90% of children in developing countries are enrolled in primary school, but the quality of basic education is often low.
Access to vocational training and the world of work are just as important. SDG 8 links skills development to jobs and economic growth. Youth unemployment has reached staggering levels and is on the rise. The COVID-19 crisis has further fueled this trend, as its consequences for the labor market have hit youth the hardest. While agriculture remains the main source of employment in developing countries, non-farm-based activities are becoming more important, not least due to rapid urbanization in many places. In this context, ensuring that young people have access to high-quality, professional education is an indispensable element of poverty eradication. Young people with career prospects are also less prone to commit violence.
What we do
Helvetas helps to improve access to and quality of basic education through teacher training and second chance programs to reintegrate out-of-school children.
Helvetas supports demand-oriented, practical vocational skills training that leads to gainful self-employment or wage employment and improved livelihoods of disadvantaged youth.
What we offer
- Long-standing experience in the skills development and education sector
- Expertise in VET system development, dual VET and work-based learning as well as VET and cooperation with the private sector
- Design, planning and implementation of VET interventions, including feasibility studies, assessments, monitoring and evaluation as well as tracer studies and capitalization of experiences
- Labor market-oriented trainings that contribute to labor market insertion of youth
- Support in developing results-based financing of training
- Training, coaching and education of teachers and trainers in learner-centered didactic approaches
- Second chance programs for out-of-school children
- Support with the identification, planning and implementation of digital learning solutions where suitable
- Geographical coverage: Our advisors in partner countries and at the head office of Helvetas provide thematic support to projects in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America
Contact our team
Our multilingual advisory team offers wide-ranging thematic expertise and has in-depth experience in navigating complex processes. Helvetas’ work builds on over 60 years of experience in more than 30 countries.
Contact our skills development and education experts
Selected projects
Helvetas develops and guides the implementation of projects. To be sustainable, they must be locally embedded. We support our partners in effectively organizing projects and processes and assist local authorities to better assume their responsibilities.
