On the sites listed below you can find documents such as technical articles, reports, discussion summaries but also toolkits, showcase projects and links to other actors in the scene.
Gender in VSD
The SDC promotes Vocational Skills Development (VSD) that is accessible to all population groups, including women and men. However women are still more likely to be disadvantaged when it comes to access to training and employment. One reason for this is that girls and women tend to have a lower level of education than men.... (more).
Private Sector Engagement (PSE) in VSD
The engagement of the private sector is at the heart of every meaningful VSD system. No state in the world can offer meaningful quality vocational education and training on its own.... (more)
Youth Employment
In addition to the typical problems of adolescence many young people have to struggle with multiple and accumulated barriers to social inclusion. They are confronted with problems related to poverty, low educational levels, difficult family situation, housing, health problems, lack of access to social rights, leisure time facilities and civic engagement, exposure to violence and conflict, involvement in gangs and crime, drug problems ... (more)
Informal sector, entrepreneurship and self-employment
Informality is an important reality in many contexts, in the economy, in the labour market and in education. The informal sector is portrayed often and unjustly very negatively. Many see it as a sector that pays no taxes, as a sector that does not respect social rights, that has no ability to bring new products and services to the market. However, the reality is not black or white... (more)
Technology enhanced learning
The term technology enhanced learning (TEL) is used to describe the application of information and communication technologies to teaching and learning. TEL subsumes the older term e-learning, which was used in a confusing variety of meanings... (more)
VSD and migration
Human migration can be the result of different causes. In many countries where SDC is engaged people leave their area or country when they are in danger or suffer from poverty. In SDC's partner countries poverty is widespread... (more)
Fragility
Fragile states are commonly described as incapable of assuring security, maintaining rule of law and justice, or providing basic services and economic opportunities for their citizens. In recognition of the empirical and normative shortcomings of the term ‘fragile states’, development agencies are now increasingly favouring the much broader terminology of ‘fragility’, ‘situations of fragility’ or ‘fragile context’... (more)
Inclusion
The interrelation of VSD and social inclusion is twofold: on the one hand VSD is a powerful instrument for promoting the social inclusion of its clientele. On the other hand it can fulfil this function only if and when the VSD intervention itself applies an inclusive approach... (more)
National qualification frameworks
National qualifications frameworks (NQFs) are meant to act as a translation device to make national qualifications more readable across countries, promoting workers’ and learners' mobility. Developing NQFs has become an important field of development cooperation. However, different actors contest on pros and cons of NQFs and strongly disagree in their appraisal... (more).
