Regional Workshop on Vocational Skills Development
From 28 to 31 August 2018, the East African Regional Workshop on Vocational Skills Development was held in Nampula. The event was aimed to provide an opportunity for staff of Helvetas working on vocational skills development projects in Eastern Africa (Ethiopia, Mozambique, Madagascar and Tanzania) to exchange their experiences within project activities, besides being an opportunity to explore links between vocational skills development and urbanization and youth, and to gain further inspiration for their work.
The workshop featured different highlights:
The first day of the workshop began with work groups about understanding of "Skill development", with participants presenting the main characteristics and challenges of the theme. Then, a presentation on the Results-based financing was made, which can be used to support the creation of an effective training market, which focuses on the results of the training interventions. The successful experience of this approach in Nepal – where satisfactory results have been achieved in relation to youth training and employment - has been shown. Also, on the day, the mobile monitoring tool, named KoBoToolBox (an application used to collect data), was presented and tested.
The second day was reserved for the field visit to the district of Mecubúri and Nampula city. The participants, divided into two groups, visited the Training Centers, trainees and some employed youths¸ where KoBoToolBox was used. During the visit, the groups had the opportunity to learn about the activities carried out by HOJE project: Training and Jobs for Young People in Northern Mozambique.
The third day, after the presentations and reflections of the field visit, was dedicated to presentations of Monitoring and Tracer Studies, and Tools on vocational skills development (Rapid Market Appraisal, Opportunity Group Approach and DACUM - develop a curriculum). The fourth day was reserved to discuss the Labour Market Orientation, to reflect on modern learning approaches (M-learning) and future regional collaboration between Mozambique, Tanzania, Madagascar and Ethiopia.
