Technical Education and Vocational Training

Cooperation in Technical Education and Vocational Training is GTZ’s traditional field of activity in Saudi Arabia. Projects related to these topics have been implemented since 1967.

GTZ still maintains this long-lasting cooperation with TVTC (Technical and Vocational Training Corporation), which comprises mainly skills enhancement of vocational trainers from Saudi Arabia. GTZ sets up and operates the Technical Trainers College in Riyadh, which was established in 2009 and regularly conducts advanced trainer courses in Germany. To meet the demands of Saudi institutions GTZ is able to access a broad network of partners who provide state-of-the-art solutions for all didactic and technical matters.

Water Resources and Water Policy

Despite the region’s arid climate, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has vast groundwater reservoirs nationwide. The Ministry of Water and Electricity (MoWE) is eager for detailed knowledge about all groundwater resources in the kingdom in order to formulate a strategy of sustainable utilisation and protection.

After the Saudi Ministry of Water and Electricity was founded in 2003, it began cooperation with GTZ in the following areas:

• Exploration of all groundwater resources in the country
• Elaboration of master plans for groundwater utilisation, wastewater handling, and all intermediate steps of the hydrological cycle (including water demand studies, groundwater recharge studies etc.)
• Secondment of advisors to the ministry and to the National Water Corporation

Transfer of Knowledge through Seconded Experts

Cooperation with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia traditionally lies in the assignment of highly qualified experts who provide advisory services to governmental institutions. This know-how transfer can be conducted through single experts. However expert teams can be requested and seconded for complex tasks.

Over the years, the nature of this long and successful cooperation with the government has changed. Today, the activities are no longer focused on the establishment of modern and high-performance infrastructure, but on focal areas such as the privatisation of public services, qualification of Saudi Arabian human resources and implementation of efficient administration and planning processes.