Programme description

Title: Promotion of Employment Oriented Vocational and Technical Training (PEVOT)
Commissioned by: Bundesministerium für Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ)
Country: Uganda
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES)
Overall term: October 1999 – September 2008

Context

In recent years, much has been done to redress inequities that exist in Uganda, particularly in the education sector, which has been allotted the largest share of the national budget. Against this background, in 1998, through the Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP), the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) initiated a sector-wide approach to guide these reforms. Notwithstanding the progress made and the praise generated by Uganda’s education reforms, major gaps remain. Not only does the country lack an adequately skilled workforce, it also suffers from high rates of unemployment and underemployment. Problems associated with relevance, equal opportunities, rural-urban migration, stigma and lack of career guidance continue to deter young people from taking advantage of the limited range of opportunities that exist in Uganda. Overall, training content and delivery do not match the skills required by the labour market.

Objective

The programme for the Promotion of Employment-Oriented Vocational Training (PEVOT) aims to support both public and private initiatives in developing a technical, vocational education and training system (TVET) that will address to a greater extent the needs of the labour market and the trainees. PEVOT, which is coordinated by GTZ, brings together six German agencies including CIM (Centre for International Migration and Development), German Development Service (DED), Capacity Building International, Germany (InWEnt), KfW Development Bank and the Senior Experts Service (SES) within the framework of Ugandan-German cooperation.

Approach

Working at micro, intermediate and macro levels, and collaborating with different stakeholders at all stages, the PEVOT programme is uniquely placed to contribute to the ongoing restructuring process. Since vocational training is linked to human and economic development, it can be expected to improve economic competitiveness and capacity. This, in turn, will lead to increased employment opportunities and, in the longer term, to the alleviation of poverty.

Constant feedback and the lessons learned from past experiences have shaped PEVOT’s outlook. With its long-term support and broad perspective, the programme provides the following input at local, institutional and national levels: conceptual and organisational development, personnel development and capacity building, financial and material support, monitoring and evaluation and, above all, knowledge management.

To address the lack of relevance, poor funding and inequity of vocational training, PEVOT supports a major reform launched by the Government of Uganda to establish the Uganda Vocational Qualifications Framework (UVQF). This reform is intended to bridge the gap between the classroom and the real world of work. PEVOT assists the restructured Directorate of Industrial Training (DIT) in producing assessment and training packages, including occupational profiles and test item banks for all occupations, which relate to what the labour market really needs. These standards should lead to shorter and more flexible training courses that are affordable and employment-oriented.

PEVOT also assists the MoES in the operation and implementation of the ESSP and in its Community Polytechnic programme through the introduction of the Learn Net pilot project, implemented as Local Skills Development (LSD) in three pilot sites. This has proved to be an effective, low-cost training concept, providing increased skills and opportunities for self-employment, particularly in rural areas. The programme also supports the Ugandan Association of Private Vocational Institutions (UGAPRIVI), which focuses on improving the quality and image of private vocational training providers. PEVOT plays a pivotal role in contributing to dialogue at the macro level through its involvement in different forums within the sector-wide approach.

Results achieved so far

Now at the beginning of its fourth phase, the programme is the leading agency supporting the BTVET reforms. PEVOT has also been able to increase its collaboration with other development agencies such as the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and has taken on the coordination of the Education Funding Agencies Group. Even more importantly, the results of its multi-level approach are already being seen. Training assessment and standardisation through UVQF and the delivery of the well accepted, non-formal and informal training measures that have been piloted, are now seen as the answer for broad-based, effective skills training needs.

Many stakeholders, led by the senior MoES management, see the support from the programme - particularly the Learn Net project - as a positive way of ensuring self-employment and income generation for the “forgotten majority” (about 50 percent of those who graduate from primary school are unable to attend further schooling for various reasons). The support for UGAPRIVI has also enabled more instructors, teachers and managers to receive better training. Even more it has improved the linkages between private and public vocational institutions, and it has given a voice to the institutions that can be heard by the major stakeholder and policy makers.

Further information

• Promotion of Employment Orientied Vocational Training (PEVOT)
  A program under Uganda-German Technical Cooperation
  www.pevot.org