We are excited to share that we have just launched a fresh series of events designed to bring us together in a more informal setting. It's not just about showcasing our "final" products, but also about learning, sharing updates, understanding how others tackle projects, and gaining insights from various processes. The series is called: The Inclusive Economy Open Mic. The experiences will be shared with the education network for (mutual) learning and uploaded to the E+E shareweb.

More information: here

SDC E+E network members can ask for support from a pool of external experts for up to 3 days for PSD, VSD and FSD projects and for up to 4 days for PSE projects. You can use this service without any contracting and free of cost or administrative work for your unit. If your request is of general interest, the E+E network may even be able to cover for more than the above-mentioned duration. Find more information here on our shareweb.

Are you curious to learn how other colleagues have used this offer?

- Four colleagues from the SDC Chad and two colleagues from SDC Niger requested a tailored Market Systems Development (MSD) Training through the free support by external experts. The training took place between mid-October and mid-November 2023, consisting of online classes and offline homework. The participants not only benefitted from conceptual inputs and practical work on their own projects, but this also offered the opportunity to exchange and strengthen the connection between the two offices.

- Several SDC head office staff (VSD, PSD, PSE) and country offices requested further information about the possibility of engaging Swiss institutions and experts in hospitality and tourism. Online exchanges took place in the form of a question-and-answer session, followed by a mapping of the main Swiss actors and the sharing of additional resources. The participants benefitted from learning about previous SDC and SECO projects and an analysis of the different actors regarding their potential involvement in the different types of projects.

More information: here

Do you also wish to learn more about how development programmes can make a meaningful contribution to changing the existing economic system to an Inclusive Green Economic (IGE) system?

Then join the SDC Economy network’s upcoming series of consultation tables on Green Skills, Circular Economy and Green Finance.

You will find more information about the consultation process, outcomes and interesting reading materials on our newly created Shareweb page “Inclusive Green Economy”.

Looking at skills in the Inclusive Green Economy: The Donor Committee on dual VET (DC dVET) is conducting a series of interactive online Barcamps (Webinars) between October 2023 and June 2024. You can find more information on our new Shareweb page "Inclusive Green Economy". 

Graph: See the "Inclusive Green Economy Orientation paper" (2023), page 9, for complete graph.

The SDC Offices in Bolivia and Nepal organised a three-day exchange dialogue among national entities from Nepal, Bolivia, and Colombia. Over 80 participants engaged in English Spanish, and Nepali, discussing competencies certification systems and vocational qualifications frameworks.
Presentations highlighted experiences from each country, emphasising the integration of public and private institutions, the value of certifications, and challenges such as legal adoption and labour market acceptance. 

>>> Read the full event summary with practical insights here

The National Seminar on Permeability in Nepal's Education System, convened on January 17th in Kathmandu, showcased remarkable strides. Organized by the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training/National Skill Testing Board in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and backed by NVQS Project Phase II, the event delved into international experiences.

Prof. Dr Ursula Renold of ETH Zurich was one of the distinguished speakers who hailed Nepal's advancements in the progression towards permeability. Discussions centred on legal frameworks and the pivotal implementation of the National Qualifications Framework. With over 135 stakeholders uniting, the seminar underscored a collective commitment to drive transformative changes in Nepal's education landscape.

>>> Read the full article on the event here.

Public Private Partnership to Improved Professional Education in Ukraine (EdUP) is a project of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in partnership with Geberit Trading LLC, Sika Ukraine LLC implemented by Swisscontact with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. 

Since the onset of Russia's military aggression, the international cooperation team at the reopened Swiss Embassy in Kyiv has expanded its operations in Ukraine. Now, the EdUP project's activities encompass 29 vocational schools offering training in 6 construction trades - plumbers, facade insulators, welders, electricians, tilers, and concrete workers. 

Despite ongoing armed conflict, Ukraine's vocational education and training system remains resilient, buoyed by burgeoning collaborations between the private sector and VET institutions. This partnership not only addresses industry needs but also revitalizes vocational education amidst adversity and economic turmoil. 

The third phase of the project, running from 7/2023-6/2027, aims to improve the quality of vocational education for construction workers with the support of private sector investments. It is designed to help young people and adults acquire skills customized to meet market demands, enter the job market, and earn higher incomes. Its intervention areas include diversification, innovative learning methods, private sector involvement, and organizational development. 

For more information, visit the project page: https://www.swisscontact.org/en/projects/public-private-partnership-to-improved-professional-education-in-ukraine  

Skills for Sustainable Growth (SSG) commenced in November 2022 in Sri Lanka, a Vocational and Skills Development (VSD) program in the hospitality sector for disadvantaged youth. It is jointly funded by the A. Baur & Co. (Pvt) Ltd. and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

So far, nearly 200 students have been enrolled, with a female inclusion of 28% at its first two government led learning centers in the central hills. 48% of those learners, upon their successful completion of the courses, have now secured paid internships at renowned star grade partner hotels, adding a tremendous value to their transformative learning experience.

As part of SDC’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Campaign, the Empower! Podcast released a new episode on GBV prevention. Listen to Rana Al-Motairi and Reine Musharbash from the International Rescue Committee explain how they use women's economic empowerment as an entry point to engage men and boys in the prevention and reduction of GBV in refugee camps and the wider society in Jordan.

Get inspired by this or any of the previous 11 episodes: here.

The full Spanish report and the English Summary of SDC’s knowledge-sharing initiative about its Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) projects in Latin America are now available. This report presents findings on the impact and sustainability of TVET interventions at the systemic level using examples from Bolivia, Cuba, Honduras, and Nicaragua, and overall lessons learned from the capitalization process in Latin America.

Further capitalisation exercises and documents are saved on the "VET Systems" page here with lessons learnt from Mongolia, Bosnia-Hercegovina or Albania.

Are you interested in thematic mentoring, or have you recently joined the Economy and/or Education Networks as an NPO or in another role and are eager to learn? Mentoring is a renowned technique for personal development and professional growth that benefits both parties.

Click here to access the information brochure and registration form. We will make sure you are matched with the right person based on your interests and experience. 

Achieving Social Impacts in the Energy Access Sector

Key Takeaways from EnDev’s Social Impact Incentives (SIINC) Off-Grid Energy Pilot

financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)

EnDev is excited to share a lessons learnt report from the completed implementation of our recent pilot project in Kenya: an explicitly impact-oriented Results-based Financing (RBF) project. Piloting this so-called SIINC project in the field of energy access gives us insights and food for thought for the future of RBFs.

Click here for the full news article & video. 

Social Impact Incentives (SIINC) was co-developed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and Roots of Impact. It is a financial instrument that rewards enterprises for achieving social impact – instead of pure sales figures. The aim is thus to leverage funds to catalyse private investment in underserved markets to generate impact.

Energising Development (EnDev) is a strategic partnership of likeminded donors and partners to support access to modern energy. The driving forces behind EnDev are Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland.

Low productivity is often a key constraint in many sectors. Yet, sector productivity is rarely a good indicator for improved livelihoods of target groups. It says nothing about the root causes of low productivity and it says nothing about the resulting benefits of increased sector productivity. A systemic approach is needed, defining relevant sector and target group performance indicators to assess why root causes change and how that affects the target groups’ well-being.       >> here

The SDC has launched a knowledge-sharing initiative to learn from its vocational training projects in Latin America. The goals are to support knowledge management in cooperation offices, especially in terms of vocational training's impact and sustainability on the systemic level, and to share best practices from Latin America's VSD projects with SDC globally. This process involved four Latin American countries (Bolivia, Cuba, Honduras, Nicaragua) and included online workshops to identify and evaluate systemic project impacts.To learn more about the results of the capitalisation exercise, join the webinar open to all E+E Network members in early 2024. The respective dates will be shared soonest. 

SDC commissioned an independent evaluation of SDC’s Private Sector Engagement (2015-2021). The evaluation assessed the performance of SDC’s programmes and projects along the OECD DAC criteria of relevance, coherence, effectiveness, impact, efficiency, and sustainability. The evaluation aims to support SDC in achieving the objectives of Switzerland’s International Cooperation Strategy 2021-2024, and in contributing to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Overall, the evaluation found that the diligent effort and significant resources invested by the SDC in its PSE are paying off in innovation, learning and results progress. However, there are some crucial issues SDC still must address for its PSE to achieve its full potential. 

In terms of PSE usefulness to contribute to SDC and its partners’ goals, the evaluation found that the Agency is effective. It is, however, well-positioned to do more in the short and medium terms. To do so, the Agency needs to better strategize its way forward. SDC’s PSE modality is working well to foster partnerships with the private sector. Yet, to ensure that PSE contributes to the goals of the private sector, SDC must take their needs and priorities into consideration. PSE is useful to contribute to partner countries’ goals. Projects normally match partner countries’ national needs and priorities. Nevertheless, the evaluation also highlighted the lack of involvement of the governments themselves in SDC’s PSE projects. While PSE focuses mainly on creating synergies with the private sector, it is also important to have national governments involved, including authorities at the sub-national level.

The evaluation report including the senior management response can be found here.

Link to the presentation

A How-to-Note and a Learning Journey of the Education and Economy Networks was launched in two webinars: "Interlinking Basic Education and Vocational Skills Development for Labour Market Integration and Economic Development”. The how-to-do-note serves SDC staff and partners to operationalize the interlinkages between Basic Education and Vocational Skills Development. A series of learning events on this important topic are foreseen. More information will soon be available.

Since 2020, the Annex 2 exercise, carried out as part of the annual reports of SDC’s operational units, provides a picture of SDC’s Private Sector Engagement (PSE) portfolio. As a modality, PSEs are implemented across all of SDC’s priority topics and they are diverse in terms of objectives and private sector partners. By comparing data from SAP with information entered by operational units, we get an understanding of the universe of PSE projects SDC is engaged in. Last year, the Annex 2 database allowed SDC, for the first time, to report to the OECD on mobilizing private sector funding. You can find the overview here.

Since 2013, the MENA Region has seen a lot of migration because of the ongoing conflicts and tension in the region, which cause more refugees and asylum seekers to flee into Egypt. With Egypt hosting an estimated 9 million migrants in 2022, many refugees and migrants in Egypt face several vulnerabilities, including barriers to safe residency, and limited access to education and decent employment opportunities. 

Against this backdrop, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) is funding the Youth for Future (Y4F) project in Egypt to improve livelihood opportunities and strengthen the socio-economic resilience of migrants, refugees, and host community youth. Jointly implemented by the ILO and UNICEF in nine governorates, the project uses a three-pronged approach that combines skills development and career guidance services at the individual (micro) level, with awareness raising and capacity development of key stakeholders at the institutional (meso) level and policy engagement on the national (macro) level.

As a result of SDC’s support and ILO’s interventions under the Y4F project, more than 1,000 previously unemployed youth were able to link up with decent employment or start their own businesses by the end of 2022. Around half of those employed were refugees and migrants who often face labour market integration challenges and 60% were females, traditionally marked by lower labour force participation rates. During the same period, more than 3,300 young people were equipped with improved employability skills by ILO’s innovative skilling programs targeting youth including Job Search Clubs, apprenticeship and sports for development. 8,150 refugees, migrants and Egyptian youth are expected to benefit from ILO’s programming by the end of the project’s Phase I in 2024. 

Furthermore, and in light of the challenges and opportunities brought forward by the COVID-19 pandemic, the ILO is providing youth in Egypt with digital tools, including the Maharati or ‘my skills’ mobile application that supports youth to further hone their skills and aids them as they seek employment.

Maharati: mobile application supporting refugees, migrants, and Egyptian youth in their job search

Maharati is a mobile application that gives refugees, migrants, and Egyptian youth remote access to useful resources, which help guide their job search endeavours.

With more than 3,000 youth having benefited from the app as of February 2023, Maharati not only elevates employability and digital skills of young refugees, migrants and Egyptians, but also helps them apply to decent jobs. Through the application, job seekers learn how to write a CV, assess their skills, analyze job announcements and their suitability, browse job listings, watch instructional videos, and access other resources on how to prepare for an interview. They can even practice job interviews using the virtual reality feature.

After ten years of working to develop professional recruitment and job intermediation services, the SDC project EYE (Enhancing Youth Employment) collaborated with Kosovajob – a leading job portal in Kosovo to organize the first HR summit PowerToHR. The summit gathered for the first time 356 professionals of HR and CEOs from Kosovo companies who paid for tickets to learn, exchange and network on topics of digital recruitment, attracting talents and keep employees happy. Speakers with international experience were from Meta, LinkedIn, and former BBC Academy director. While the panel discussions organized during the event gave the local perspective, showed how different companies are dealing with employer branding and recruitment challenges. This summit was about positively impacting both employees and society, from implementing sustainable practices to fostering diverse and inclusive workplaces. 

As the field of professional human resources is still evolving in Kosovo, the EYE project initiated this summit which is intended now to become an annual event. The role of the EYE project was to facilitate, support and buy down the risk of organizing an event of this scale in Kosovo. It showed a sustainable model of events which aims to educate local companies on topics related to HR and working with youth. 

“Summits such as PowertoHR is the best way to gather people. Today we have managed to gather all HR people in one place to share experiences and talk about challenges and create a culture of gathering every year and giving our best. This was a starting point, a huge step because some people can also find business opportunities or even find their next employer” said Arion Rizaj, CEO and Founder of Kosovajob, the biggest job portal in Kosovo.

The best thing about this event is that 90% of attendees have declared that they have learned something new and will apply it in their job.

Moreover, one of participants Arban Abrashi, HR manager at Teleperformance company declared that “The network which is created here between the field professionals and jobseekers is very beneficial to all young people of this country”.

Concluding with a networking event, the first HR summit was a real success, proving the relevance, needs and willingness of the private sector to learn on HR topics. The energy and enthusiasm in the room was evident, and it was clear that everyone was eager to learn and share their experiences.

EYE is a project of the Swiss Development Cooperation Office in Kosovo, implemented by Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation and MDA. The project has worked in the last ten years in job intermediation services such as recruitment and career guidance. 

Pictures from the event can be viewed here.

Cotonou, February 2023: The conference on strengthening apprenticeship systems in the informal economy in Africa, co-organized by Switzerland, brought together over 200 representatives from the public and private sector, worker unions and international cooperation. Main conclusions include the importance of the private sector for high-quality, market-driven apprenticeships and the need for the recognition and certification of skills.

You can read more about the conference on the Beninese Technical Education Agency's website.

On 9th February 2023, the Skills for Employment Tanzania (SET) project convened a conference to officially introduce the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme for Folks Development College (FDC). The conference was held in Morogoro and attended by representatives from the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (MoEST) as well as principals and tutors representing all seven zones of FDCs in Tanzania.

The CPD programme outlines the learning activities professionals within the FDCs will engage in to develop and enhance their abilities. CPD will support FDC staff in sharing knowledge and experiences, explore new ideas, and further develop their teaching strategies and techniques to improve teaching and learning of youth in the colleges.

The conference was the last step leading to the CPD pilot implementation within the coastal zone, where methodologies and tools will be tested before further being rolled-out to other FDC zones. Participants from the conference voiced their interest and support for CPD, which is being promoted by the Government of Tanzania for the education and training sector as it is cost-effective and efficient in reaching professionals located in schools and other educational institutions throughout Tanzania.

The CPD programme for FDCs in Tanzania is one intervention of the SET project which is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) through the Embassy of Switzerland in Tanzania and implemented in partnership with the MoEST by Swisscontact in Tanzania.

The SDC's Programme for Strengthening Technical Education (PROFET) is the very first vocational education and training programme in Cuba, where until now the literacy campaign and academic training, the hallmark of the Cuban Revolution, have been at the forefront of educational measures. Switzerland once again pioneered this sector, where after an exploratory phase in June 2017 and the actual launch in 2019, its second and final phase is underway and will end in June 2024.

The aim of PROFET is to improve young people's access to income and jobs by improving the quality of teaching in selected technical vocational training disciplines such as construction, services in the tourism sector, mechanised agriculture, communications and transport. A special focus is placed on women and disadvantaged population groups such as Afro-Cubans and, more recently, people with disabilities.

The total contribution of Swiss cooperation is more than 8 million Swiss francs and the main implementing partners are the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and 49 polytechnic institutes throughout the country on the Cuban side, as well as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the non-governmental organisation Humanity and Inclusion.

After more than four years of implementation, the project has achieved relevant progress in the transformation of professional technical education in two areas, namely, on the one hand, in strengthening practical teaching and demand-driven linkages between education and the state and private production sectors, and, on the other hand, in efforts to promote equality in education through the advancement of women and in favour of inclusion of people from socially lower classes, especially people of colour and with disabilities.

The results achieved so far are impressive: to date, thanks to PROFET, almost 15,000 students, 5,000 of them women, have benefited from the improved curricula for practical training and the modernisation of technological equipment. Furthermore, there has been a doubling of the number of learners with internships in production units; more companies, including the private sector, have been able to offer students direct training in a company (from 154 in 2020 to 272 in 2022). Approximately 2500 teachers (1360 of whom were women) were trained in curriculum renewal and inclusive education, modelled on the dual model. Finally, the programme also generated a systemic impact by contributing to the expansion of the Cuban Education Act and to the creation of the Observatory in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, which helped monitor employment policies and ensured the adaptation of technical training provision to the requirements of the production sector. Swiss institutions are also involved in teacher training, namely the Bern University of Applied Sciences, the Center for Development and Cooperation of the University of Bern (CDC) and the Swiss Federal University for Vocational Education and Training (SFUVET).

The programme has also created two social inclusion tools: the Mapping of Employment and Training Opportunities for People with Disabilities and the Gender Equality and Inclusion Strategy for Vocational Education and Training in Cuba. With its implementation, PROFET has increased the percentage of students in technical colleges by almost 5 per cent (from 32 % to 36.8 %). On average, women account for more than 40 % of all beneficiaries of the measures taken and 350 people with disabilities receive direct counselling and subsequent access to training and employment. 

PROFET is in constant dialogue with the authorities of the Ministry of Education and is making progress in the current public debate on the elaboration of policies to improve professional technical training in Cuba, especially in tourism and construction. This, together with the partnership with UNDP, is one of the cornerstones for the sustainability of results after the SDC's bilateral programme exits Cuba at the end of 2024. 

On the 15th of February Mozaik Foundation opened its Annual Conference with over 300 guests in Sarajevo, and over 400 followers of the live broadcast in their lonac.pro community. They gathered young people from over 50 local communities as well as representatives of the governmental, business, and development sectors. 

The conference was officially opened by a panel with H.E. Daniel Hunn - Ambassador of Switzerland in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Eva Smedberg - Head of the Swedish Development Agency at the Embassy of Sweden in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Azra Sarić - President of the Board of Directors of Mozaik Foundation, and Zoran Puljić - Director of Mozaik Foundation. 

On this occasion, H.E. Daniel Hunn stated: “Switzerland has been supporting the Mozaik Foundation since 2019, investing around 8 million KM so far. We are proud that Mozaik as a local organization engages so many partners in supporting and promoting the entrepreneurship of young people from all over Bosnia and Herzegovina. This joint partnership creates opportunities for the young generation to build capacity, build networks, and become successful with their businesses here, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Active engagement of youth in communities will hopefully lead politicians to create favorable conditions for youth development in the country."

Mozaik celebrated 15 years of its YouthBanks, the biggest voluntary program in the region that gathers over 10.000 young volunteers every year. Municipalities recognized the significance of the program and secured 4.737.100 BAM of public funds to support youth-led microbusinesses and projects in the next four years. 61 municipal representatives from 47 communities joined the Conference. 

The factsheet provides an overview of how Basic Education is addressed at SDC. It discusses the main challenges faced, the strategic priorities pursued, and the partners supported at the international, regional, national and local levels. In addition, it presents the expenditure by education sector and by area within SDC. A map presents the geographic spread of SDC's Basic Education projects and is complemented by project examples that illustrate SDC's engagement in Basic Education.

Link to the factsheet

  French Version    German Version

This updated VSD Factsheet provides an overview of the opportunities and challenges in vocational education and training, SDC's approaches to promote vocational skills development in its projects, the partners , as well as project examples and facts and figures.  

Link to the factsheet

Education Cannot Wait (ECW), ), the UN fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, calls on public and private donors to provide at least $1.5 billion to provide education to 20 million children by 2026.  

ECW and Switzerland are organizing a High-Level Financing Conference in collaboration with other governments on 16-17 February 2023 in Geneva to mobilise the urgently needed resources. 

Click here to register.

Infrastructure and equipment of Vocational Education and Training (VET) are particularly expensive and VET systems constantly face financial limitations, in particular in countries of the global South. Investments in infrastructure and equipment for VET programmes are therefore a recurrent topic in development cooperation.

As there is a general interest to get more guidance on this topic, the SDC Economy and Education Team elaborated this guidance paper in close collaboration with other WOGA partners. It aims to shed some light on this issue to help SDC officers and their implementers to make informed and appropriate decisions and to avoid or at least mitigate risks.

The guidance paper does not intend to replace the various resources such as internal guidelines and documents dealing with infrastructure investments and procurement issues, but recommends approaching the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Competence Center in this matter.

The Swiss Guidance on Business and Human Rights is intended to help the Swiss Representations in the field to engage in a constructive dialogue with Swiss companies in order to raise awareness of human rights issues and provide specific advice in relation to the local context.

The guidance has been sent to embassies and cooperation offices and is available online and as a hard copy brochure. It can be ordered (in E, F, D versions) from: sts.afm.mrd@eda.admin.ch 

Link to the document

The SDC is excited to continue the series of webinars on VET system development. 

Infrastructure and equipment of VET are particularly expensive and VET systems constantly face financial limitations. Investments in infrastructure and equipment for VET programmes are therefore a recurrent topic in development cooperation.

 
As there is an overall interest to get more orientation on this topic, the SDC Economy and Education Team elaborated a guidance paper in close consultation with the colleagues of the Expert Group Construction from the Swiss Humanitarian Aid. 

The webinar on 5 December at 11 am CET introduces you not only to this guidance paper but also to the Expert Group Construction as part of the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Competence Centre. 

Overall, several experts will provide practical orientation on key questions related to investments of infrastructure and equipment in VET.  

Link to the event

The evaluation found that overall programmes such as PES and SIINC LATAM, which promote both the social impact of small- and medium-sized enterprises and support a conducive social entrepreneurship ecosystem are highly relevant in the Latin American region. This report includes the management report of SDC.

Link to the report

The 2023 International Cooperation Forum Switzerland on “Education for Future” takes place on the 15^th & 16^th of February. Check out the program and join stimulating dialogues on solution-oriented approaches with experts from the fields of international cooperation, science, politics, business and civil society, as well as dedicated young people from all over the world. The event is hybrid and free of charge. Registration from the 9^th of January 2023.

Check out the event's website and sign up >> here.

IED (now part of E+E) and FCHR thematic units have engaged on a workstream to provide SDC staff with practical guidance on        

i) how to plan and implement IED projects in fragile contexts, taking into account the particular challenges of fragile contexts and 

ii) how IED projects can go beyond the minimalist approach of doing no harm (working in conflict/ fragility) by explicitly contributing to reduce fragility (working on conflict/fragility).

Link to the guidance sheet

This practical guidance sheet should be used as additional practical tool together with the slide deck and FAQ published on the shareweb (links below): 

Slide Deck: Inclusive economic development (IED) in fragile contexts 

FAQ: IED in fragile contexts Slide Deck

Village Capital with the support of its partners at the Impact-Linked Finance Fund, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Austrian Development Agency have launched the Catalyzing Financial Inclusion: Gender-Inclusive Fintech Solutions for Migrants report. This report shares insight on the financial inclusion obstacles disenfranchised migrant populations (especially women migrants) face in Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, and South and Southeast Asia – and highlights innovative, tech-driven solutions to these challenges.  

Link to the report

Since June 2022, the SDC has started hosting a series of online webinars on VET system development in English and in French. Covering topics such as the key components of the VET system and providing concrete best practices from SDC projects, these webinars can be accessed on the E+E shareweb and will continue to run over the next months. On November 28^th, you can take part in the next webinar on Financing of VET infrastructure and equipment in English.

All recordings can be found on this dedicated page, and keep an eye on the shareweb’s events tab to see when future webinars will take place. 

This report documents the evaluation of the Nepal Cooperation Strategy 2018-22 from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The evaluation entailed a qualitative inquiry into the development effectiveness of the Cooperation Strategy. Its purpose was to inform the formulation of the new Nepal Cooperation Program 2023-26. The evaluation was conducted by two external evaluators and two SDC staff.

Check ou the findings and recommendations for the bilateral inclusive economic development programmes in Nepal. It's a must read!

Updated Version 2022 - For SDC, education is a priority theme and comprises both basic education and vocational skills development. The SDC Education Strategy sets out how we will reach this objective through our bilateral and multilateral engagement. It provides guidance to the SDC’s South Cooperation, Cooperation with Eastern Europe, Global Cooperation as well as Humanitarian Aid and inspires the SDC’s cooperation strategies and its global and multilateral programmes. - Click here for latest version.

This introduction paper and guide is made for Vocational Education and Training (VET) practitioners, donors and implementing partners in development cooperation who want to better understand and analyse how VET systems function and how their different elements interrelate.

>> check out the guide here

This Information Package is designed for SDC staff and practitioners involved in inclusive economic development (IED) programmes. It provides an introduction into the IED approaches and ways of systemic thinking through three interlinked economic thematic priorities on system and individual level: Vocational Skills Development (VSD), Private Sector Development (PSD) and Financial Sector Development (FSD), and the modality of private sector engagement (PSE).

Updated version April 2022 - An easy to read introduction for a quick overview of the topic IED

Listen to the stories of our colleagues on how they advance Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) in their IED projects and programmes, in this ongoing podcast-series. 

Find the podcasts >> here

Ep. 5: Privilege & prjeudice: How to address them for a more just society and women entrepreneurship

Ep. 4: Impact, leadership and business support to women in Colombia

Ep. 3: Using ancestral and scientific knowledge to empower rural women in Peru for sustainable tourism.
Ep. 2: Better boxes for fruit vendors - a solution that is improving women economic empowerment!

Ep. 1: How to ensure gender equality in call for proposal formulation and selection

Did you know that there is a new revision of the popular ‘Managing MSD Projects’ guidance, published by the IED Network? 

The guidance document provides advice for SDC staff on how to manage projects using a market systems approach. Advice is provided for developing the initial project idea and formal entry proposal, the tender process, the inception phase, credit proposal and implementation phase, steering and monitoring, evaluation and preparation of a following phase.

You can find the new version of the guidance on the IED Shareweb in English and French

Watch a short video with explanations and overview of the guidance paper  - in English or in French

Further, there is a brief for decision-makers and a poster that can be printed and displayed in your office to make people aware of the guidance. 

For more information on MSD, please check out this Shareweb page

The Global Education Monitoring Report (GEM Report 2021) has just been launched at the global level at the RewirEd Summit 2021. It is dedicated to non-state actors in education and aims to broaden the debate on the multiple ways in which non-state actors are involved in education systems - providing education, delivering additional services, influencing the functioning and financing of education systems.

Its launch in Switzerland will be an opportunity to enrich the debate on the role of non-state actors in education in the framework of international cooperation as well as in the Swiss educational system.

Go to event page for detailed programme and information on how to register. Due to Covid-19, the event will be held virtually.

Download Invitation of the event to your calendar

Go to event page for programme and links

Dear SDC colleagues, dear EDU and IED networks members, dear partners, 

The global SDC Strategy on Basic Education and Vocational Skills Development was launched in 2017. Four years after its launch, SDC commissioned an external review of the status quo of its implementation. The review was conducted by experts in both education and in vocational skills development – Fabienne Lagier and Barbara Zeus, experts in general and basic education & Matthias Jäger and Michael Morlok, experts in vocational training. 

Many of you had been consulted during the review and/or participated in an online survey or interviews during the course of 2021. 

The SDC’s Education Network and the IED Network are pleased to present you the findings and recommendations of the review and SDC’s management response.  

You are welcome to join the online meeting (Link here) scheduled on 26 January 2022 from 10:00 to 11:00 GMT+1, with the participation of the review’s teamleaders Fabienne Lagier and Matthias Jäger. 

The final report will be shared after the meeting. Link to the event page is here.

Dear colleagues and IED-Aficionad@s

As we are writing this Season’s Greetings E-card, hopes that humankind and our planet would find some calmer waters were unfortunately not fulfilled. The effects of political and social unrest as well as climate change have reversed the developments of recent years in many corners of the world. The ongoing pandemic exposed our world’s vast inequalities, with developing countries bearing the economic brunt of the disease and finding themselves last in line for vaccines.

There are of course some rays of light. Despite difficult circumstances, the teams in the field have moved ahead with confidence and the necessary "feu sacré". You have found context-adapted solutions for project implementation and for the greatest possible benefits for our beneficiaries, and you have launched innovative projects or have developed new cooperation programmes. We would like to express our appreciation and convey our congratulations for these achievements.

With increasing inequality, inclusive economic development and private sector engagement initiatives become even more important. We welcome very much your efforts in this regard and stand ready to support you in your on-going and new endeavors to come.

All the very best for this festive season and the new year ahead. We are looking forward to a great year of working together - Happy 2022 to you and your families!

Wishing you a restful end-of-year break.

Your IED Team

In the last 18 months, SDC and partners have supported thousands of apprentices and students excluded from learning opportunities due to Covid-19. Pioneering projects teams on four continents have innovated digital learning solutions in basic education and vocational training and exchanged their Lessons learnt.

Check out the result, you can find the Technical Guide here and the Case Studies here.

Given the economic situation in many countries in Latin America, it is more important than ever to provide a perspective for young people and create employment opportunities. Through the Professional Technical Training project in Bolivia, Swisscontact has been supporting the development of different digital applications. Swisscontact has done this for example with two apps that aim to help young people and job seekers integrate into the labour market.

>> Read the whole article

Listen to your colleagues’ stories on how they advance Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) in their IED projects and programmes, in this ongoing podcast-series. 

Find the podcasts >> here

Ep. 1: How to ensure gender equality in call for proposal formulation and selection

Ep. 2: Better boxes for fruit vendors - a solution that is improving women economic empowerment!

Ep. 3: Using ancestral and scientific knowledge to empower rural women in Peru for sustainable tourism.

Ep. 4: Impact, leadership and business support to women in Colombia

In the first half of 2021, the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) Division conducted a learning process on "Labour Market Integration through VSD at Scale". In this context, an input paper was developed and an online workshop was conducted. The comprehensive documentation of the workshop which was organised by Dorothee Lötscher together with the IED backstopping can be found >> here. As a result, an ESA position paper on "Enhancing Employment Opportunities through VSD at Scale" has been produced, which can be found >> here.

Flexibility and adaptability remain crucial elements in implementing development projects during this pandemic. In this complicated context, the world has become more and more virtual and as an international cooperation organisation Swisscontact has provided the technological tools to its partners so that the projects they implement continue to achieve their goals. In the article, two initiatives of vocational training projects in Bolivia and Honduras are presented, which, through digital technologies, managed to continue carrying out training for young people at risk of social exclusion.

>> Read the whole article

This Information Package is designed for SDC staff and practitioners involved in inclusive economic development programmes. It provides an introduction into the IED approaches and ways of systemic thinking through three interlinked economic thematic priorities on system and individual level: Vocational Skills Development (VSD), Private Sector Development (PSD) and Financial Sector Development (FSD), and the modality of Private Sector Engagement (PSE). >> here

In Bolivia, it is estimated that 40% of young students have not returned to the Technical Institutes and have stopped their trainings due to Covid19. In view of this situation, the Swiss Cooperation's Technical Vocational Training project in Bolivia is launching a campaign called "Take Back Your Training" to prevent young people from dropping out of school.

>> See interview with the programme manager of SDC in Bolivia.

From the entrepreneurial journey to the SIINC experience, Co-Founder Katia Cerwin provides a look behind the scenes of Programa Valentina

>> Read the Interview

Responding the voiced need for guidance for SDC staff and projects working in fragile contexts, the IED Expert Team, with valuable inputs from network members, experts and other focal points, developed a slide deck and FAQ document aimed at providing support and guidance to e+i and PSE projects. 

These documents will now be presented in two webinars where you can raise your concerns and exchange with peers on good practices and challenges in quest of maximising impact on reducing fragility through IED.

The same webinar will be held twice:

Tuesday,   April  6th at 15:00 CET  >> register

Thursday, April 15th at 10:00 CET >> register

With mutual understanding and cooperation towards improvement in technical vocational education and training (TVET) and creating better job opportunities for young people in BiH 

On the 23. February 2021, the Forum on Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina, initiated by the coordination group of the largest donors in the field of TVET (DC dVET). Representatives of the European Union, Switzerland, Germany and Austria, together with representatives of ILO, EBRD and ETF discussed with local authorities and partners about the importance of quality technical vocational education and creating better job opportunities for young people in BiH. This was an opportunity to discuss the priorities and activities undertaken by partners at all levels of government, the private sector, schools, donors and international development partners to make TVET in BiH responsive to labor market needs and foster the employability, inclusion and prosperity of individuals and society as a whole.

In an important step towards EU integration, the Council of Ministers of BiH recently adopted a new strategic document for the field of vocational education and training "Improving the quality and relevance of vocational education and training in Bosnia and Herzegovina - Based on the Conclusions from Riga (2021-2030)". 

Both donors and BiH governments’ initiatives have been developed against the background of a very challenging labour market situation for youth in BiH. In BiH, the lack of a qualified work force in industry, particularly SMEs, has become a crucial factor limiting economic growth. It hampers foreign direct investment that is dearly needed in BiH.  Young people as entrants into the labour market after having finished vocational training (middle school) face enormous difficulties to find a job in their profession. The mismatch between demand and offer in the labour market is to a very large degree to be attributed to weak performance, inefficiency and low quality of the vocational training systems in the country. Middle schools do not deliver a job qualification that complies with labour market requirements.

The Swiss and the U.S. Government joined hands to initiate the Safe and Resilient Migrant Workers (SRMW) project in Sri Lanka. On the 2nd of March, SRMW, which is part of SDC's 'Safe Labor Migration Program Phase IV', was formally launched. The project is designed to make overseas employment safer and more rewarding, both financially and professionally, by providing better occupational information and by increasing the skill levels of Sri Lankans who go abroad for work. 

>> Read more

On 16th of March, the slide deck on «forming partnerships with the private sector» in VSD was presented to the extended e+i network during a webinar with the authors of the slide deck and SDC representatives from HQ and cooperation offices. You have missed the webinar, you would like to learn more, you have follow-up questions? Have a look at the shareweb site PSE in VSD where you can even find a video, summarizing the slide deck in just 3 minutes…

Swiss contribution to vocational training in Bolivia

The Swiss Development Cooperation, represented by the Swiss Embassy in Bolivia, supports a project for Vocational Education and Training through a consortium set up by Swisscontact and FAUTAPO. The project’s goal is to promote economic and social equality by improving access to employment for poor and vulnerable population groups through vocational education and training. The project aims to help in a national economic, social, and educational context challenged by: a) persistent moderate poverty levels, b) discrimination of young people, women, and persons with disabilities (PwD), c) high unemployment levels among these groups, and d) an economic and social health crisis generated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In coordination with the Bolivian Ministry of Education, the project implements pilot measures to strengthen three public Special Education Centers in the departments of Tarija, La Paz and Pando. These centers focus on persons with disabilities (PwD), providing vocational training and capacity development. The methods applied are meant to become a reference for vocational training policies and strategies, fostering economic advancement and personal self-sufficiency among PwD.

National regulations establish that PwD are entitled to work in appropriate conditions according to their capabilities, enjoying fair wages that provide them a decent livelihood. The law forbids and punishes all types of discrimination, mistreatment, violence and exploitation of PwD. It also states that PwD enjoy the right to work under equal conditions in both the public and private sector.  However, although these regulations are very progressive, in reality their enforcement is still difficult.  In addition, social preconceptions still restrict the access of PwD to equal development of their capacities and skills.

Improvement plans

The project is based on the model established by the national educational system. It promotes training focused on the development of productive skills, within an atmosphere of respect and consideration for the biological, psychological and social characteristics of PwD. It intends to strengthen their self-sufficiency, facilitate their labor market insertion and support their financial autonomy. The approach is based on quality management principles, with comprehensive improvement plans for the training centers, developed through participatory methods with teachers, special education specialists, parent representatives and educational authorities. It addresses the following areas:

• Strengthening the institutions’ organizational resources, including capacity development measures for school principals, teachers and administrative staff in planning issues and coordination with the social and productive environment to meet the demands of education and training. It also addresses ancillary services for PwD, management of concurrent investments and integration of families to strengthen the personal self-sufficiency of PwD.
• Technical and pedagogical innovation aspects, including curricular adaptations and/or enhancement, appropriate methodologies and educational resources, technical training for teachers and facilitators (both in special education and specific technical skills), and technical/technological innovations in teaching and learning processes according to the nature of the students’ disabilities.
• Infrastructural improvements, including repairs and remodeling, as well as the acquisition of equipment and supplies to facilitate technical training potentially aimed at the inclusion of PwD.

In 2019, the project helped to diagnose the situation and identify the needs of the three training centers, as well as to establish general guidelines for improvement plans. The underlying questions were: What is important for a PwD (now and in the future) and what kind of support will he/she need? What options could be better for a person with intellectual disability? What would be practical and possible for a student with regard to his/her access to the labor market?

During 2020, notwithstanding the lockdown of on-site activities at the training centers due to the pandemic, progress was made in: i) prioritizing two specific training areas; ii) preparing professional profiles and curricula for these professions; iii) preparing lists and acquiring equipment and furniture for both professional areas; iv) remodeling the infrastructure; v) developing guidelines for signage and occupational safety rules, 6) developing safety guidelines with regard to Covid-19 health risks.

The ultimate goal of this whole process is to provide access to the job market for persons with disabilities under equal conditions. Being able to work gives meaning to life, helps to socialize, fosters inclusion, helps to bond with certain activities and promotes personal self-sufficiency. It is an important socialization factor that stimulates social inclusion.

In 2020, a new Core Group on Inclusive Economic Development (IED) has been established within SDC. Our Core Group members are a diverse group of colleagues who are working in different operational units – in the South, East and Global Cooperation as well as in the Humanitarian Aid. The Core Group provides an invaluable contribution in promoting and further developing important topics related to...

...IED within SDC – and beyond. For example, the slide deck on fragility and how this influences IED could only be developed thanks to the contributions of our Core Group members and their expertise – and also thanks to the fruitful exchanges with other SDC Focal Points.

The Swiss supported Youth Employment Project (YEP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and its Business Ideas Incubator was identified as the second best practice in supporting women entrepreneurs in nine countries of Southeast Europe. The EU supported Interreg Danube Transitional Program and its Women in Business project identified 43 good practices for the purpose of transnational learning and policy development. These innovative training models will be the main tool for fostering young women entrepreneurship (YWE) and will be the main part of the Women Entrepreneurship Centers.

2018 the YEP started with Business Ideas Incubator. In two years, it supported the establishment of over 130 businesses in BiH, of which 48% are run by women. During the implementation of this activity, a number of obstacles and stereotypes that women entrepreneurs in BiH face were noticed, and which greatly hinder their equal participation in the labor market. In cooperation with the Agency for Gender Equality of BiH, the campaign "Women are the same as men - only less valuable" was launched in 2019. Why this campaign? Although the unemployment rate has been declining in BiH, women are still disproportionally represented in labour force (37%) or as entrepreneurs (less than 25%). The campaign indicates that today's society, full of stereotypes, has burdened women with invisible and unpaid jobs, and puts men at the center of economic events. It has drawn attention to the problem of gender stereotypes through which the role of women is reduced to a traditional role, and one of the most obvious results is insufficient participation of women in the labor market. 

Through six stories that take place in real-time, messages were sent that women today do almost three times more unpaid work in the household than men, while no unemployed man in BiH declares that he does housework. Women are the bearers of highly accumulative, labor-intensive and low-paid industries, even for women with higher education, unemployment is considerably higher than for men. Men in management positions have on average twice the salaries of women in the same positions. All this is justified by the well-known stereotypes that a woman's place is in the kitchen or that women "should take care of the children".  The campaign caused a lot of attention due to its controversial title, and messages that were directly targeting employment stereotypes. 

By providing equal chances to YEP Business Ideas Incubator entrepreneurship programme both to women and men – a clear step has been made in addressing these stereotypes and engaging more women in entrepreneurial activities.  YEP Business Ideas Incubator has now become the Impact Investment Foundation, a long-term approach to entrepreneurship support in BiH. 

Have a look at the Good Practices Handbook and the presented campaign!  

As the metal processing sector in Kosovo grapples with the repercussions of COVID-19, SDC helps establish innovative on-the-go welding training and certification venture slated to aid the welding industry navigate COVID-19 disruptions, employ qualified staff, and improve the resilience of manufacturing firms.

Kosovo’s history with metal processing runs deep. The large socially-owned enterprises which once represented a pillar of the economy of the small country have now given way to smaller privatized companies that have carved a niche for themselves exporting metal products such as base metals, architectural steelwork, and heating and ventilation equipment to European markets. Yet, despite the metal industry’s huge potential for boosting economic development in Kosovo, and despite the sector’s ever-increasing demand for employees, there’s still a grave lack of qualified welders. Even with a startling amount of unemployment in Kosovo, especially among youth—49% of whom are jobless—finding adequately-skilled welders is tough. 

The reasons are many, but it boils down to a few things: training institutions and businesses still don’t communicate with each other enough, many training-providers don’t yet offer services that include internationally-recognized certifications, and there is a general lack of market information about the welding profession and trainings.

As COVID-19 made its way around Kosovo, it greatly disrupted the labor market, throwing into disarray an already fragile job market. The welding industry—like most other industries—was hit hard, and the prospect of finding qualified employees went from bad to worse. 

Innovative training providers didn’t stand idly by. Many are finding inventive ways to adjust to the situation. But one enterprise, called Weld Tech, was particularly imaginative—in ways that Kosovo has probably never seen before. Weld Tech’s solution? An ingenious a make-shift van turned into a mobile ISO-based welding training facility with cutting-edge technology!

Want to know more? >> Read the whole article

Three lively exchange events by e+i network members from the Western Balkans region have been taking place from June to September 2020. Collaborators from tourism-related projects informed about the situation in their countries and how Covid-19 affects the tourism sector.

Interested? Have a look at the recordings, glimpse into the summaries and get to know more about the strategies on how the SDC funded projects are supporting key actors in the region.  

We are pleased to announce that a project from China received a grant from the SDC Education Fund "Innovation meets Education" while another one in Bhutan received a grant within the special "Covid-19 and Education Funding Window". 

The project "Impact Hackathons Asia Pacific" aims to spread the use of an innovative learning approach (hackathons) in the Asia Pacific region and to develop skills of students and young entrepreneurs by focusing on the search for solutions to two SDG-related topics: ageing and disabilities. It builds on the Geneva Tsinghua Initiative, an existing partnership of the University of Geneva and Tsinghua University (a leading Chinese university), while UNITAR and UNESCAP are involved as partners as well.

The second project receiving a grant is called "Uninterrupted access to teaching-learning for hard-to-reach and digitally disadvantaged children in Bhutan". TV and internet-based learning leaves out about 17,000 children with no access to these technologies. In cooperation with the Ministry of Education, media, and private firms, learning materials and teaching methods will be adapted to reach those children through self-learning materials/guides, and radio stations. In parallel, as reach of internet and TV grows, ongoing trials in e-learning will be strengthened and teachers trained to institutionalize ICT in education.  

>> Read more about the Education Fund

In North Macedonia, a vegetable processing facility is helping local farmers stay competitive while creating jobs for persons with disabilities.

Like many smallholder farmers in North Macedonia, Trajce Trajkov has been struggling to keep his business afloat in a time of increasing economic uncertainty. “My family and I have been considering for quite some time whether to continue working in agriculture at all. It is difficult… both regarding the sale and the purchasing prices for produce,” says Trajce. The village of Bosilovo is known for its tasty vegetables and Trajce’s family has been growing them for many years. But the narrow or sometimes non-existent profit margins have hampered the growth of smallholders. The lack of diversification, limited access to markets, and fragile economic sustainability have been longstanding challenges for the community; and while agriculture was not hit as hard by Covid-19 as other sectors, the economic slowdown is certainly not doing smallholder farmers any favors. But thanks to a new value addition opportunity, hope for the future is slowly returning.

Through its project “Creating Job Opportunities for All”, SDC is working with UNDP and the local CSO Izbor to help increase the competitiveness of small agribusinesses by setting up a facility for the processing, drying and packaging of organic and conventional products, that will be made available for use to some 8000 farmers from the country’s south-eastern region. The idea is simple: by providing access to affordable value addition services, such as drying and packaging, farmers will no longer be restricted to selling only on the raw produce market, which is rarely profitable for smallholders. “The new packing and the new method of packaging will contribute to optimal higher price of the product, while conscious consumers who want good quality and delicious food on their table are always willing to pay more. With this we make a step forward towards creating a new critical mass of farmers that can follow regional trends and markets,” explained a business consultant engaged on the project.

Besides their higher market price, dried and packaged vegetables can also be stored for longer and at a lower cost, allowing farmers to sell when the price is optimal. The new technology used in the facility extends the shelf life of the product beyond what is possible with conventional packaging methods while also keeping the freshness in. The new packaging will also improve food safety and help farmers market their products in a time when consumers are especially sensitive to this issue due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “With the new facility for drying we will be able to be competitive and offer new good quality products,” explains Trajce.

For Sokrat Mancev, president of the Strumica-based CSO Izbor, the new facility is more than just a value added opportunity for farmers. In synergy with Izbor’s programme to support the employment of persons with disabilities, the facility will also provide employment opportunities of the marginalized category of workers. Beyond the new jobs created for the facility’s operation, this two-fold solution will also help to reduce the loss of jobs in agriculture and will likely lead to the creation of more jobs as small agribusinesses stabilize and start growing.

For the past two years, the “Creating Job Opportunities for All” project has been working to create new jobs and improving employability for vulnerable citizens. The project is implemented by UNDP, in partnership with the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and the Employment Service Agency of the Republic of North Macedonia. To enhance the impact and sustainability of its initiatives, the project is working with institutions and CSOs to develop their capacities for creating effective employment policies and for delivering quality services for both employers and vulnerable jobseekers.

Almost 70% of the world’s students are not attending school as an increasing number of learning institutions are closed due to Covid-19 (UNESCO, 2020). To address the challenges that the pandemic imposes on the ongoing activities, Swisscontact’s skills development project ‘Vocational Skills Development Program' (VSDP) in Myanmar has developed an online learning opportunity as a temporary, alternative method of training delivery for the dual apprenticeship training of cooks.  

>> Have a look at the video

>> Know more about the online training 

Dual Apprenticeship Training is one of the components of the VSDP, which aims to promote improved livelihood opportunities for women and men in targeted areas and professions in Myanmar. The Program is implemented by Swisscontact and financed by SDC.

Because of the Covid-19 crisis, the regional seminar by DCdVET in Belgrade didn't take place. Instead, three webinars were held on the topics "Financing of (Dual) VET", "Cost Benefit Analyses for Companies in (Dual) VET" and "Matching VET with Labour Market Needs (How to Assess the Skills Demand)". They were summarized in short videos and the slides will soon be available on the DCdVET site. 

Please find here the documentation of the DCdVET Webinar "Key Elements of Dual VET in Development Cooperation", which took place on April 23rd.

>> Have a look at the recording

>> Go through the slides

1. Swiss Excellence to Hospitality and Tourism Field in Albania

Albania has an attractive hospitality and tourism sector with huge potential for development and employment. The SDC project RisiAlbania is working hard to address the private sector needs for skilled employees in the tourism sector, stimulating non-formal training providers offer through innovative programs and methodologies. Such in the case of Hospitality of Tourism Academy (HAT), one of RisiAlbania’ s partner which offers in-demand training courses on hospitality and tourism.

A new partnership between HAT and one of the world’s leading hospitality schools, the Business & Hotel Management School (BHMS) in Switzerland will allow Albanian students to transfer their studies and benefit from the paid internships while working in the leading Swiss and International hotels and resorts. “We are glad to learn that the Albanian Hospitality and Tourism Academy now offers a curriculum that is compatible with the Swiss School. Through this new partnership the Albanian young people can advance their career paths, expose and develop their skills in an international setting” – said Patrik Meier, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Switzerland in Albania during the launching ceremony.

2. Swiss expertise on introducing career guidance services in Albania

The SDC project RisiAlbania is introducing for the first time in the country the career guidance services at municipality level by piloting the establishment of Career Center at the Municipality of Tirana. At the beginning of the year, an Albanian delegation composed of career service specialists, researchers and experts, working in the field of career guidance services, visited the Career Guidance Centers in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. As stated by the participants the 1-week long practical training and exchange will serve as a cornerstone for building capacities of the career specialists in Albania.

RisiAlbania is working to achieve qualitative orientation for Albanian youth in their academic and professional development and link them with the labour market at municipality and also at university level, and at the same time, prepare career advisors to offer these services. Thanks to a partnership with the University of Lausanne, the Faculty of Social Sciences in Tirana is working to become a center of expertise for career services, having a particular focus on scientific research and development of tools and instruments that support the work of career counselors. The new academic year 2019-2020 started with an improved master program on Career Orientation.

3. Channeling tourism as a force for growth and job creation in Albania

In the wake of ever-growing scepticism about the role that tourism can play for inclusive growth, the SDC-funded RisiAlbania project is betting on it as a driver of local economic development and employment opportunities. With a focus on sustainable and rural tourism, RisiAlbania supports tour operators to develop and sell products that extend the season and involve rural businesses. RisiAlbania is also piloting public-private partnerships models, where tourism players meet and discuss priorities for destination promotion as well as ways of generating sustainable revenues: this will allow Fully Independent Traveler (FIT) to plan their stays by accessing quality information and is proving to have some unexpected benefits around business formalization. Lastly, RisiAlbania tackles low rural capacities to deliver touristic services through a combination of embedded training provided by the tour operators, partnerships with training providers and the introduction of models such as the scattered hospitality concept. We look forward to seeing you in Albania! 

Vocational education and training is profoundly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Especially the support of practice-related skills development is a huge challenge in times of restricted access to the workplace and/or schools, but also the change from learning and teaching in the classroom to learning at home. 

The presentation of the SDC-project “Skills for Jobs”, implemented by SWISSCONTACT shows how a VET project is coping successfully with the challenges of the COVID-19 crisis. 

• Watch the recording of the presentation.
• Download the slides.
• Read the Q&A sheet in english or french on pedagogical, technical and organisational aspects of this solution and online VET in general.

Contact: Fation Dragoshi (project manager) and Sidita Dibra (deputy project manager)

The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) has produced some interesting resources that are relevant to this discussion. COL has developed three online courses to build TVET educators' capability in flexible learning. The courses are designed to be facilitated in cohorts, but anyone can view them and learn from them:

• Flexible skills development
• Facilitating online courses
• Blended learning classroom

The growing COVID-19 crisis threatens to disproportionately hit developing countries, UNDP states. Income losses are expected to exceed USD 220 billion in these contexts and a devastating social and economic crisis is expected to follow the health crisis over the months and years to come. Furthermore, according to ILO, it is exacerbating already existing inequalities – from catching the virus, to staying alive, to coping with its dramatic economic consequences. This is also reflected in the effects on the labour market: Significant rise in unemployment and underemployment are estimated around the globe. In addition, the ILO warns that the crises with its current limitations on the movement of people and goods may restrict the informal economy, which a lot of vulnerable groups depend on. 

UNCTAD estimates that global foreign direct investments, an important financing source of developing countries, will be down by -30 % to -40 % during 2020-21. The World Trade Organization has monitored a sharp fall in global trade activity. Additionally, as the IMF points out, the global financial system is likely to be disrupted strongly.

Low-income countries do not have the financial means to back the local economy, secure jobs and protect livelihoods. Different actors around the world are addressing this challenge:  The IMF for example is making available USD 50 billion in emergency funding to help poor and middle-income countries with weak health systems response to the epidemic. The African Development Bank at the same time launched a record breaking USD 3 billion “Fight COVID-19” social bond.

Also, within the SDC and in our network in particular, we are committed to contribute to the mitigation of COVID-19 and its harmful impact on employment and income in low income countries. In general, we expect our partners on the ground to run into severe liquidity problems or to be restricted in their movement and business practices. However, implications might differ for each one of our thematic areas.

The backstopping teams of each thematic area are currently developing more detailed response notes with potential ways forward. For further information, as well as for a collection of best practices and the latest developments, please check out the dedicated shareweb landing page and the links to each thematic sub-page:

• Private Sector Development (PSD): The current COVID-19 pandemic has an impact on the global economy. Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), including self-employed people, are threatened in their existence. MSMEs are the backbone of all economies and generate a majority of jobs, and this is especially true in developing and emerging countries. The current situation is causing widespread disruptions in trade and economic activity due to physical restrictions, international travel bans, closure of businesses (markets, shops, restaurants etc.) banking facilities and educational institutions. While medium to long term impacts on the global economy are still unclear, there is a serious threat of global recession with all major regions affected. This said, businesses in different sectors are affected differently; for instance, while tourism industries are collapsing, there is a growing demand for ICT services.
• Financial Sector Development (FSD): The COVID-19 disease affects all kind of financial institutions: commercial banks, Microfinance Institutions (MFIs), funds, leasing/factoring companies, insurance companies, Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA), etc.. They are affected through physical limitations (restricted movement, limited client contact, etc.) and economic challenges (postponed investments, increasing loan default rates, "bank runs", etc.). In practice this means that women can not meet in savings groups anymore, for example. These challenges in turn create problems at the level of final beneficiaries (households, smallholder farmers and MSMEs) in terms of liquidity shortages, bankruptcy, losing savings, insurance claims, etc.
• Vocational Skills Development (VSD): The worldwide COVID-19 crisis has led to the closure of schools and interruption of education and training systems. According to UNESCO’s school closure monitor currently over 188 countries have closed schools country-wide.  Closures of training facilities and apprenticeship workplaces are unprecedented challenges for governments, teachers, civil society and private sector actors, trying to ensure learning continuity and/or business survival: On the one hand, poor and disadvantaged population groups often have limited access to alternative educational opportunities for distance learning. On the other hand, many MSMEs had to shut down and employers are not able to provide in-company vocational training, let alone recruiting young graduates or paying wages, e.g. to parents who often support their youngsters during their education and training pathway. 

COVID-19 & Education: Special additional funding window April – June

Submit innovative responses to face the Covid-19 impacted learning crisis

The current health crisis has also led to an education crisis! In more than 188 countries schools, universities or training centers closed. 1,6 billion children and youth miss out on education. This is 89% of the world’s student population. 

The highest numbers of affected students are children at (pre-)primary and secondary level basic education due to the hundreds of thousands of schools closed. Hardest hit are countries with already weak school systems or where parents have not the means or capacities to do home schooling. The interruption of children’s schooling risks major fallbacks in their learning and long-term school-drop-out particularly of the disadvantaged and vulnerable. It also has an impact on children’s protection, health and mental well-being. Challenges face also young people in vocational skills development or at universities whose courses are interrupted with little prospects when training would regain.  

However, in many places educational authorities, schools, teachers, parents, students, civil society organizations, private sector actors are creating inventive solutions to make sure education and training continues – such as distance learning, mobile-phone learning, radio or TV schooling.

Innovation and creativity are now asked more than ever. The SDC Education Fund: Innovation meets Education therefore opens a special COVID-19 & Education Funding Window to support innovative approaches that enable to continuing or catching-up learning as a result of COVID-related school closure.  

Between now and end of June 2020, SDC Country Offices are invited to submit projects whose purpose is to make sure children and youth can continue or catch-up learning despite the current health-crisis. 

Projects have to be linked to the COVID-19 impact on education or training. Projects that besides educational learning include also health-messaging and protection aspects are particularly encouraged, so are innovative modalities that may include private sector engagement (e.g. for ICT solutions, distance, mobile or radio learning etc.). 

Funding can be in the range of CHF 50’000 to CHF 300’000. Projects can be submitted any time between now and end of June, for feedbacks if approved within 2,5 weeks. The Education Fund Committee will convene a review/approval-meeting every 2 weeks. Proposals have to be submitted via the template that can be found on the Shareweb page. They need to have the necessary quality in both content and form and be submitted together with the annexes mentioned on the template. The general SDC administrative regulations regarding contributions/mandates apply.  

Kindly note: Should you have project ideas please get in touch with marie.bruening@eda.admin.ch and rahel.jus@eda.admin.ch prior to the submission of a proposal, in order to assess whether your idea is eligible to the criteria of the Education Fund. Please find here further information Eligibility & Selection Criteria and Process & Application.   

Attention: this is a special Covid-19 & Education Window that does not affect the regular EDU-Fund mandate, process and submission-schedule that can be found on the Shareweb. 

Please, do not hesitate to contact us for any additional questions or guidance!

>> read more

SDC’s education engagement comprises long-standing experience in basic education (BE) and vocational skills development (VSD). BE and VSD are complementary elements. The SDC’s Education Strategy on BE and VSD builds on their mutually reinforcing qualities and stresses their strong link to the labour market and to economic development. Many SDC partner countries are facing a rapid growth of their youth population, which puts pressure on national education systems and labour markets, and often also affects social stability.

Two days of the Global F2F Education in May 2019 were dedicated to the continuum and interplay of BE and VSD. They were co-organized by the SDC Focal Points Education and Employment & Income with the aim of bringing together the education community and the vocational skills development community. 

Have a look at the outcomes of the World-Café discussions as well as takeaways and ways forward along six regional groups. Watch and listen to what Panoussa from the SDC office in Burkina Faso (in French) and Silvana from the SDC office in Albania (in English) have to say. Get further insights from a project example from Benin, explained in the video by Blandine Agossou Codjia from the SDC office in Benin (in French). You can also find all documentation of the F2F on this topic on Shareweb. 

Special Covid-19 & Education Funding Window

The SDC Education Fund: Innovation meets Education has opened a special Covid-19 & Education Funding Window to support innovative approaches that enable to continuing or catching-up learning as a result of COVID-related school closure. Between now and the end of June 2020, SDC Country Offices are invited to submit projects that aim to ensure children and youth can continue or catch-up learning despite the current health crisis.   >> read more 

       *** The Special Covid-19 & Education Funding Window has been closed***

Two innovative projects receive grants

Furthermore, we are pleased to announce that projects from Central America and South Sudan have received grants from the SDC Education Fund: Innovation meets Education

• EDP-CA (Education for Displaced Populations in Central America), improving access for displaced populations to formal education and vocational skills development in Costa Rica.
• EPOS: (E-)Powering South Sudan Higher Education

The chosen projects are innovative, not only for the respective SDC country offices but also for the wider SDC: The EDP-CA aims to tackle the limited access to basic education and vocational skills development alternatives in Costa Rica for displaced populations from Honduras, EI Salvador and Nicaragua for their integration into the local labor market. This project complements SDC's on-going humanitarian aid response, focused on providing information and legal assistance, immediate humanitarian aid for asylum seekers from Nicaragua and capacity development of Costa Rican institutions regarding refugees and migrant's rights in the country.

The project "(E-)Powering South Sudan Higher Education" on the other side aims to mainstream peacebuilding through South Sudanese Universities. They will for example be supported with updating curricula in order to ensure that conflict transformation and peacebuilding can and will be taught as crosscutting themes. The project is very innovative in the sense that it addresses the triple nexus humanitarian aid-development-peacebuilding and mainstreams peacebuilding through higher education with the objective to contribute to a culture of peace and conflict resolution via the South Sudanese young academic population and future elite.

Are you eager to innovate too?

More information on the submission process and the fund’s criteria as well as the project proposal template can be found on the shareweb site. The SDC Education Fund is a collaboration between the Focal Point e+i and the Focal Point Education. If you need support in brainstorming initial thoughts or discussing your project ideas, please do not hesitate to contact the SDC Focal Points.

The last webinars of our series "ICT for Vocational Education and Training (ICT4VET)" took place last week. The discussions during the webinars clearly demonstrated that technology enhanced learning is a topic that is of interest for many of our community members. 

We collected everything related to the webinars on our dedicated event page. Let us know if and how the webinars have helped you. >> event page

The Swiss Programme for Research on Global Issues for Development (r4d programme), co-financed by SDC and the Swiss National Science Foundation, finances research partnerships between Switzerland and African, Asian and Latin American countries in order to provide policy-makers with scientific and development-relevant knowledge. The r4d programme focuses on five thematic areas: social conflicts, ecosystems, public health, food security and employment. 

The latter two areas are of particular relevance for the readers of this newsletter. A dedicated session on the r4d programme took place at F2F event of the e+i and EPS networks in May 2019 in Solothurn. In October 2019, the r4d program launched its new Knowledge for Development platform www.k4d.ch. It portrays evidence-based research information tailor-made for an interested public and professionals in the field of sustainable development cooperation. A filter function helps you to find easily the content of your interests. 

The platform will be constantly growing as new outputs from the r4d projects and r4d syntheses are published throughout the next years. We invite you to visit and return regularly to www.k4d.ch - a contribution to transformative knowledge societies taking forward sustainable development at local, regional and global scales.

We are pleased to announce the first two projects that have received grants from the SDC Education Fund: Innovation meets Education  

• “Equitable STEM Education (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) for girls and boys in rural schools of the Boyacá Department” from Colombia  
• “Improve Access to Basic Educational and Vocational Training Services for Children with Down syndrome and Autism in the Gaza Strip” from OPT

Both projects are innovative, not only for the respective SDC country offices but also for the wider SDC. The project in Colombia is an initiative started by young women to enhance the knowledge and competencies in science-related subjects of girls in rural elementary schools. Acquiring such skills from a young age will be a stepping-stone for their future career pathways. The project in Gaza is also a new experience for SDC – it looks at interesting ways in how to adjust both basic education and vocational training to the particular learning needs of children and youth with Autism and Down syndrome in order to make them progress and succeed just like other kids.  

Read what our SDC colleagues from Colombia and oPt tell us about their projects and why they applied to the Education Fund: Innovation meets Education >> read interviews

Are you eager to innovate too?

More information on the submission process and the fund’s criteria as well as the project proposal template can be found on the shareweb site. The submission dates for 2020 will be published soon. The SDC Education Fund is a collaboration between the Focal Point e+i and the Focal Point Education. If you need support in brainstorming initial thoughts or discussing your project ideas, please do not hesitate to contact the SDC Focal Points.

The project From Education to Employment (E2E) in Serbia co-organized a regional meeting on the topic of youth employment in Belgrade on 19 November. The goal of the regional meeting was to collect and discuss SDC and GIZ youth employment project examples in Western Balkan. More than 30 participants from 7 projects discussed and shared their experiences. >> read the full summary

Further information on the project can be found in the public FDFA database here. 

The title says it all. Content is available on the event page. >> more

The first two projects started their implementation under the Education Fund (EF). The EF, launched at the end of April, is a joint initiative of the Focal Points Education and e+i. The fund is cross-divisional and provides CHF 2 million annually over three years. As the fund's name suggests, its main aim is to promote and test innovations in the education sector. In this way, we hope to gain valuable experience and lessons learned. The first round of project applications has been completed and two projects have started: 1) Promotion/support of children and specifically of girls in the field of STEM in Colombia. 2) Curricula development and two VET training courses in Gaza adapted to the target group "children and young people with autism or Down syndrome". We are convinced that you have further exciting project ideas in mind? Please find out more about the Education Fund and find the project proposal form on our dedicated shareweb site.

Georgia is an agricultural country with a big potential to unfold and ample resources to tap. Migration of young people from rural areas to cities is a persistent problem for Georgia. The question is what can be done to keep the youth in villages? Modernizing vocational education and offering young people a job opportunity can be an answer. >> more

Further information about the project:  Have a look at the project's entry in the public FDFA database here.

L'outil de typologie du DCP a pour but de fournir un appui aux divisions opérationnelles de la DDC en les aidant à définir l’orientation de leurs interventions en matière de DCP, à choisir les bons partenaires et, partant, à gérer leurs portefeuilles de programmes et leurs projets conformément aux stratégies correspondantes de la DDC, aux objectifs politiques des pays partenaires et aux normes professionnelles en usage. Particulièrement utile au début et à la fin du cycle de vie des projets, c’est-à-dire aux stades de la conception puis de l’évaluation des actions de DCP, ce document aide aussi à fixer des objectifs réalistes et plausibles en termes de réalisations et d’impact attendus. >> voir tour les documents

Leave no one behind (LNOB) is the central pledge of the 2030 Agenda, recognizing the need to combat poverty and inequalities. In fact, LNOB is indispensable in order to meet the SDGs. SDC has elaborated a thematical working aid for e+i, additional to the SDC guidance on leaving no one behind, which is a normative document for all SDC staff. The working aid supports e+i projects and programmes to translate this aspect into project design and implementation from the very beginning on. We encourage you to look at the document. Stay tuned, a Webinar on this topic will be announced soon.

The market stall session during which several projects presented themselves was a highlight of the F2F 2019. 

Many participants highlighted that the session provided a great opportunity for learning exchange. The learn more about the discussed project, we recomend to visit the dedicated site on our shareweb. >> more

In Kosovo, the SDC supports Bonevet. The non-profit and non-formal educational institution has designed a children-friendly environment that stimulates children’s curiosity, imagination and creativity. Inter alia, Children are encouraged to actively play, make their own games, work together with other children, program robots or make prototypes with 3D-printers and computer numerical controlled machines (CNC). 

Those kinds of activities prepare a country for future skills, because it focuses on early childhood education on cognitive skills, socio behavioral, reasoning and self-efficacy. It is expected that Bonevet will create a crowding-in effect in Kosovo and beyond and it is a unique opportunity that will have a long term impact in supporting the skills development for youth in the areas that are required by the labour market... [more]

Further information about the project:  Have a look at the entry about EYE in the public FDFA database is here. For the F2F 2019, EYE prepared a poster about Bonevet.

As you probably already know, SFIVET has an excellent pool of VET experts which can help you at every step of the project cycle. See all experts here... [more]

The SDC produced introductory videos which showcase the SDC's engagement for Vocational Skills Development and Basic Education. Both videos feature the same protagonist and the stories are is loosely connected. Therefore, the videos can be shown separately or jointly. The videos can used for used for any kind of public relations.

Videos Vocational Skills Development: English / German / French / Italian
Videos Basic Education: English / German / French / Italian

English

In May, the SDC approved a new project in Cuba: PROFET - from 2019 to 2022. The main orientation of the project is the reform of the Cuban technical education system in three priority areas: agriculture, construction and tourism, whose demand for skilled labor tends to grow... [more in Spanish]

Español

El mes de mayo, COSUDE aprobó el programa de cooperación Fortalecimiento de la Educación Técnica y Profesional- PROFET, para su implementación entre los años 2019 y 2022. La orientación principal de PROFET es la actualización del sistema cubano de educación técnica, en tres especialidades prioritarias para el desarrollo del país: agricultura, construcción y servicios para el turismo, cuya demanda de fuerza de trabajo calificada tiende a crecer...  [más]

Further information about the project in English:  Have a look at the project's entry in the public FDFA database is here.

With more than 170 participants from more than 40 countries the e+i & EPS F2F event 2019 in Solothurn was a great platform to share experiences and get inspired! The key note speakers addressed the overarching topic "impact@scale" from different angles. A recurring aspect was the engagement with the private sector. The presentations and discussions during the focus sessions showed the passion of the participants for their work. All materials from the F2F and a summary of the event are available on our event page... [more]

For several years, vocational education and training (VET), including upper-secondary level VET and tertiary-level professional education PET, has become a priority for many governments and companies worldwide. The Swiss dual-track VET system (apprenticeship) captures international attention due to associated results like the low youth unemployment rate and a high competitiveness and innovation capacity.
The Swiss VET Academy shares the Swiss experience and expertise by offering a wide range of high quality courses, workshops and training programs taught by experts from SFIVET and other recognized universities and institutes. The focus of the trainings lies on the development of competencies and the opportunity to adapt contents and methods to the needs of the country context of the participants.

The objective is to support skills development worldwide and especially the development of dual-track vocational education. The targeted audience are experts, VET professionals, representatives of VET-institutions governmental and non-governmental and companies.

The language of instruction is typically English but can be adapted to German and French on demand.

SFIVET International Certificate Courses:

• VET Consultant
• VET Instructor
• International VET Teacher

For more information, click here. 

For the information flyer, click here. 

Based on manyfold feedback from our e-discussion in late 2018, the e+i Focal Point has revised its Typology of VSD interventions. This paper aims to support SDC operations in defining the orientation of their VSD interventions, in selecting the right partners, and thus in managing their projects and project portfolios in line with the relevant strategies and standards. 

Based on this VSD Typology the Working Aid on Common Outcome Indicators (COI) for VSD projects have been revised. The COI are intended to make it easier for programmes to measure and report on their results in a credible way and on that basis support the steering and promote learning across SDC.

These documents - together with a guidance for entry and credit proposals and tools for the cost-benefit-analysis of VSD projects - will be presented and discussed during the f2f meetings in May. Your feedback before and during this event is warmly welcome.

Relevant Links: VSD Typology / Webpage for reference indicators / Common Outcome Indicators / e+i F2F "impact@scale"

Roots of Impact and its partners are looking for organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean focusing on Vocational Skills Development that are looking to raise investment to integrate them in their SIINC LAC program and provide premium payments for their positive outcomes ... [read pdf]

Further information about the project: The FDFA project database provides more information about the project here. Visit the project's own website or watch the video:

Le cours NADEL/ETHZ « Formation Professionnelle – entre la lutte contre la pauvreté et la promotion du développement économique » aura lieu dans la semaine du 29 avril au 3 mai 2019 à Zurich, Suisse, la semaine précédent des réunions globales des réseaux e+i et education de la DDC... [en lire plus].  

The public Swiss television broadcaster SRF produced a short documentary about the vocational training project 'Vocational Skills Development Programme'. A pilot component of the project (May 2018 - December 2019) promotes vocational training inspired by the Swiss dual VET system. At the moment there are courses for agricultural machines and cook apprentices. The apprentices mainly have practical training (on-the-job training) in the company, accompanied by theoretical education in a school. What is special about this pilot is that the apprentices receive a small wage during their training... [watch the video in german]

Further information about the project: The FDFA project database provides more information about the project here. The results of phase 1 are briefly summarized in this PowerPoint presentation.

This handbook supports the transfer and adaptation of career development tools used in guidance, early school leaving prevention, employment services, youth centres and other organisations.

It provides insights for policy-makers and managers of careers into how to use the potential of ICT to help people find training and jobs, increase their employability, and develop their competences. Using detailed analysis of the most established and effective practices in the EU, it also offers a decision-making tool, to help readers select the best options for their local context and target group(s).

Download the handbook here.