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TVET Strategy Papers
The Working Group for
International Cooperation in Skills Development[1] is an informal group
of representatives of national and multilateral agencies for
international cooperation engaged in the field of TVET. It serves as
a forum for dialogue concerning good practice and trends in skills
development. Its secretariat is jointly hosted by the Swiss Agency
for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the International Labour
Organisation (ILO) and the Northern Policy Research Review and
Advisory Network (NORRAG).
The term 'skills development' favoured by the Working Group refers
to the areas education, training and production systems. It
envisages new organisational approaches of TVET systems, e.g. TVET
systems beyond the exclusive control of the government/ public
sector, new forms of formal and non-formal training.[2]
The Working Group's discussion papers provide an excellent insight
in international development trends, always focusing on issues
relevant to TVET and skills development.
List of Contents
The summary and content listings of the papers was
accessed from the Working Group for International Cooperation in
Skills Development website: http://www.norrag.org/wg
> papers [Direct
Link]. The full documents can also be downloaded from the same
location.
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The Edinburgh Meeting of the Working Group for International
Cooperation in Skills Development marked a significant development
in the activities of the Group. Rather than a discussion of a
specific theme or series of initiatives, participants were asked to
comment on one particular document, Vocational Skills Development in
Sub-Saharan Africa: A World Bank Review (hereafter 'the Synthesis
Report'). This focus and the opportunities it offered to share
experiences and shape the text's main messages resulted in thorough
and, at times, heated discussions. This gathering was a 'working'
meeting in the very practical sense of the term as participants
sought to offer constructive feedback on the important conceptual
and policy issues at stake, and on how best to reframe and revise
the text of the Synthesis Report.
The invitation to the Working Group
from the World Bank to review the September 2002 draft of their
Synthesis Report at a special meeting in Edinburgh was an
opportunity for the Group to play a policy advisory role. This was
the first occasion, outside the Bank, for this draft document to
receive systematic comment. Such a review role has been a tradition
of NORRAG on many previous occasions in respect of draft agency
policies. The Bank's document has subsequently been published in a
new version of February 2003. This present Paper remains a report of
an important meeting, which, arguably, made a valuable contribution
to the final shape of the Bank's Skills development in Sub-Saharan
Africa. The Working Group would like to acknowledge the Bank's
readiness to engage very openly in this debate about skills
development policy, as the following pages of detailed commentary
make abundantly clear.
CONTENTS
Introduction
Martha Caddell and Keith Holmes
Assessing the synthesis report: the response of the Working Group
Martha Caddell and Keith Holmes
Public training
David Atchoarena
Private training
David Atchoarena
Enterprise base training in formal sector medium and large scale
African enterprises
John Grierson
Informal sector training
Fred Fluitman and Hans Haan
Vocationalized secondary education revisited with case studies from
Botswana, Uganda and Kenya
Jon Lauglo, Albert K. Akyeampong, Kilemi Mwiria and Sheldon G. Weeks
Integrated entrepreneurship education in Botswana, Uganda and Kenya
Halfdan Farstad
Financing Training
Adrian Ziderman
Commentary: a broad view of the paper
Claudio Moura Castro
Appendix 1: Vocational Skills Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: A
World Bank Review; Executive Summary
Appendix 2: Principal Sources
Appendix 3: List of Participants. |
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The Interlaken meeting of the Working Group for International
Cooperation in Skills Development represented a new stage of
evolution in the activities of the Group and set the stage for
further such developments. Arising out of discussions at previous
meetings, it was associated with the Swiss Agency for Development
Cooperation's hosting of a major international conference on work,
skills and knowledge, bringing together some 180 participants, half
from the developing and transition countries, which took place on
the three days immediately preceding the Working Group's meeting. In
anticipation of the very rich discussion of the conference and its
production of an "Interlaken
Declaration", it was decided to organize the Working Group
meeting around the same main theme as the conference. However, this
theme was then adapted to the concerns of the Group in three ways.
First, it was associated to the specific issues surrounding the work
of development cooperation agencies in linking work, skills and
knowledge. Second, following on from the Latin American focus of the
last meeting, the discussion also centered on lessons emerging from
skills development activities in Africa, an issue that will be
returned to in a special session of the Group next year. Third, as
the Interlaken Declaration acknowledged, wide-ranging changes in the
contexts in which development cooperation in skills development take
place raise the importance of the Group considering a move from an
emphasis on knowledge sharing to a position that also includes
knowledge production.
CONTENTS
Introduction
Reflections on the Interlaken Conference
Linking Skills, Work and Knowledge: Filling in the Gaps?
Trends in Development Cooperation
Germany
Switzerland
International Labour Organization
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Skills Development in Africa: Lessons from Research
Research on how the World Bank's TVET Projects in Africa Reflect the
Bank's Overall TVET Policy
Learning to Compete: DFID-Supported Research on Education, Training
and Enterprise in Ghana, Kenya and South Africa
Revisiting Technical and Vocational Education in sub-Saharan
Africa(A Research Conducted by IIEP on Behalf of the World Bank)
Building new Knowledge on Work and Skills
Learning for Life, Work and the Future: SADC Workshop and Research
Plan
Working Group for International Cooperation in Skills Development:
An Outline for a Multi-Agency Research Study
Interlaken and Beyond: Building the Future of the Working Group
Appendix: List of Participants.
A compilation of all the donor policies in TVET and skills
development presented during the meetings of Working Group since
1996
Paper 6 is available in English, French and Spanish. |
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The sixth meeting of the Working Group for International Cooperation
in Skills Development was held during March 2000 in Washington DC.
This meeting was hosted jointly by the Inter-American Development
Bank (IDB), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
and the World Bank. As with previous meetings of the Group, it was
supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
UNESCO-UNEVOC also sponsored the meeting.
In taking its first opportunity to move outside Europe, the Working
Group was concerned to bring a regional focus to its work. The theme
of this meeting, therefore, was "Poverty, growth and skills
development: a focus on Latin America". The discussion paper
reflects the discussions around this theme and groups them into four
parts. First, a series of agency and non-agency researchers
presented accounts of the history, evolution and current issues
surrounding skills development in Latin America. Second, the three
host agencies presented a flavour of their current policies and
programmes in Latin America, and their links to overall strategies
in the two cases where attention is not only on Latin America.
Third, arising from two days of lively discussions, a synthesis
piece seeks to bring together threads from the papers presented and
the discussions that ensued. Fourth, a series of appendices note
contributions from JICA and the Committee of Donor Agencies for
Small Enterprise Development, as well as an overview of the Working
Group's vision and a participants' list.
CONTENTS
Introduction
Poverty, growth and training development in Latin America
Employer-controlled training in Brazil
Secondary technical and vocational education in Chile
Vocational education and training in Colombia
Training unemployed youth in Latin America
Emerging World Bank concerns in post-basic education
USAID's approach to workforce development and experiences in Latin
America
Skills development at the Inter-American Development Bank
Learning in Latin America; learning from Latin America: the
evolution of skills development
Appendix one: Japan International Cooperation Agency and skills
development
Appendix two: Business development services: recent work by the
Committee of Donor Agencies for Small Enterprise Development
Appendix three: About the Working Group
Appendix four: List of participants. |
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This meeting marks the further evolution of this working group and
is reflected in a new title for this series of discussion papers. In
the first three papers of this series the primary focus was on the
outlining of agency policies on skills development. This was
reflected in the title: "Donor policies in skills
development". However, this paper completes a shift away from a
focus on overall policies towards a consideration that is driven by
thematic concerns. Whilst the views of a series of donors on the
theme in question are presented, their primary role of these is to
provide case studies that illuminate a broader debate. Moreover, the
group is concerned to be more than just a forum for donors to
discuss their own policies and this was reflected in participation
in Copenhagen. For both of these reasons, this paper will go under
the title of "Debates in skills development".
This paper focuses on issues, which stretch far beyond the field of
skills development. It is primarily concerned with the shift in many
agencies to sector programme support. One thing that the debate
around sector programmes does is to highlight the key importance of
capacity building, both of individuals and institutions. For this
reason the paper carries a secondary focus on human and
institutional development. This is the focus of one case study, from
Switzerland, in the first section of the paper. It is also given
further attention through brief notes in the appendices, which
report on the activities of some multilateral attempts to strengthen
human and institutional development.
CONTENTS
Introduction
Denmark
Finland
Sweden
Switzerland
Supporting Sectors, Strengthening Institutions and Developing
Individuals
Appendix 1: Selected HID [Human and Institutional Development; J.M.]
Programmes."
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As in the two previous meetings there were a small number of
presentations of policy by bilateral and multilateral agencies and
these are again a major element of this discussion paper. As on the
previous occasions, these presentations were to a greater or lesser
extent influenced by an overall theme to the meeting. On this
occasion the theme was "Reforming Education and Training
Policies and Systems". However, a crucial point at which this
meeting and this discussion paper depart from the path of their
predecessors is in the appearance of two case studies focusing on
specific countries from the South. In this first such focus the two
countries chosen were Indonesia and South Africa. The two cases
proved very enlightening for those present and a further series of
such case studies are planned for the next meetings of the Working
Group.
Whilst research has been presented at the previous meetings of the
Working Group, this discussion paper is the first to carry a report
on such presentations, a trend that is likely to continue in
subsequent papers in the series. On this occasion, it was
appropriate that it was a member of staff of one of the host
organizations who presented a valuable synthesis of the findings of
a major research programme on the reformation of training systems.
The case of the South African presentation was significant in other
ways too. The Working Group benefited greatly from the attendance of
a senior policy maker from that country. Her presence highlighted
again the importance of the Southern role in this series of meetings
and the desirability of moving to a more partnership-like
relationship with Southern colleagues. Nonetheless, it was clear
that the nature of such a relationship would need further
exploration as the Working Group enters into its next phase of
development. The Geneva meeting also raised some of the other key
issues for the future of the Working Group: the nature of its
activities, particularly its ability/willingness to support projects
and research; the structure of the Secretariat and of Working Group
membership; and the Working Group's role in capacity building within
its member agencies. As the Group looks forward to its next meeting,
in Copenhagen during June 1999, these issues about future
development will play a central role in its deliberations.
CONTENTS
Introduction
Donor Policies in Skills Development
Finland
Inter-American Development Bank
Japan
United States of America
Reformulating Education and Training Policies and Systems
Indonesia
Republic of South Africa
Reforming vocational training: lessons from an international study
Reforming TVET and its broader context.
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This second paper continues the emphasis, seen in the first
discussion paper, on discussing the policies of donor agencies.
However, it also introduced a thematic concern for the first time,
through a focus on the linkages between skills development and small
enterprise development. In order to capture this important debate,
the analytical section of this paper will not simply focus on the
agency presentations but will link them together with a series of
presentations on the SD/SED relationship, and will also refer back
to those agency policies reported in the first discussion paper.
As well as having thematic concerns, the Working Group is also
interested in methodological issues. Some flavour of this is
provided by the fourth agency presentation. In this the focus is not
on UNESCO's broader policies but on the methodological challenge of
developing and analyzing national policy, an area in which that
agency has developed considerable competency in connection with the
Association for the Development of African Education (ADAE) Working
Group on Education Sector Analysis. This is a theme that the group
intends to return to in greater depth on a later occasion.
CONTENTS
Introduction
Austria
European Commission
France
UNESCO - Education Sector Studies
Delivering support to skills development and small enterprise
development: Towards a coordination of approaches?
Sources of further information. |
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This first paper is intended to provide summaries of agency policies
regarding skills development and think pieces which both provide a
flavor of agency discussions and highlight some of the controversies
and dilemmas in the field. These summaries are intended to
facilitate information - sharing and improvements in the operation
of development assistance between agencies, but should also be of
interest to wider constituencies.
CONTENTS
Introduction
Denmark
Germany
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
Comparative Analysis
Sources of further information. |
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