New GIZ Project awarded to AFC in the ATVET sector in Africa

New GIZ Project awarded to AFC in the ATVET sector in Africa

In the frame of the GIZ supported project „Promotion of Technical Vocational Education and Training for the Agricultural Sector (ATVET)“, which was launched by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Planning and Coordination Unit (NPCA) and the Secretariat of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) in 2012, AFC was awarded a new contract for the support to implement professional qualification measures in the six African countries Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and Togo.

The project will build on recent stocktaking and planning activities which were carried out in the two pilot countries Ghana and Kenya and also on a study on ATVET best practices undertaken by AFC in 2013 in Benin, Ethiopia, Namibia and Sierra Leone.

In those countries the project has contributed to placing vocational training for the agricultural sector on the national agendas. A high level of awareness of the topic of agricultural training among policymakers has been achieved within a very short period.

The objective of the current project is to anchor sustainable agricultural qualification and training in the NPCA / CAADP structures and processes of the selected countries, thus, the project aims to systematically integrate agricultural education and training in the process of CAADP implementation.

The five envisaged results of the project are:

 A. Continental, regional and national stakeholders (country teams) are trained to plan for the establishment of professional qualification and training systems in the agricultural sector in the country.

 B. Good Practices in qualification systems in agriculture are integrated into the general knowledge management system of the NPCA / CAADP unit.

C. In cooperation with the government, the private sector and farmers' associations, reforms of the vocational training system in the agricultural sector will be developed in selected countries.

D. Demand-oriented modular pilot measures of short duration for agricultural education offered by public and private agricultural training institutions are tested.

 E. Market-oriented education standards, curricula and teaching materials for the formal education is tested in pilot projects.

Consulting services in the field of Human Capacity development and institutional development will provide direct support at national level to achieve the expected benefits D and E, while indirectly to obtain the services A, B (on continental, regional and national level) and C (at national level ) contribute.

The focus of this consultancy is mainly on cooperation with the private sector and farmers' organisations to draw up a reform of the VET system in agriculture, drawing on the German dual training system. This will include the organisational development of selected agricultural training centres, the development of employment standards and curricula, training of trainers, test the customized training for stakeholders along the value chains in pilot projects and training for young people.

In particular the team of two international and six national consultants will:

• Support the organisational development processes in selected training centres in the countries;

• Support in the improvement of employment standards, the development of training curricula, the training material and the training of teachers / trainers in public and private ATVET institutions (1-2 per country). The training will address technical, corporate and business content along the selected value chains;

• Support the training centres at demand-driven training along the value chain for the target groups (farmers and young agricultural entrepreneurs) and monitor the quality and effectiveness of education as a quality assurance (backstopping of pilot training);

• Support of the national ATVET teams (consisting of government officials, the private sector, etc.) and stakeholders and advice, if required, with respect to the processes to be created and ensure that the ownership of stakeholders is maintained and that they are part of the national TVET system.

The project is implemented by AFC in cooperation with GOPA consultants, Department for Education and Employment Promotion (EEP) and will start in early 2015 with an initial planning workshop involving GIZ, NPCA and the national ATVET teams from the selected countries. The foreseen duration of the project is until December 2016.

For further information please contact Tesa Weiss at:  tesa.weiss [at] afci.de