This month, UNESCO and the five beneficiary countries of the Better Education for Africa's Rise project (BEAR II) - Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Tanzania and Uganda - will organize two-day validation workshops to conclude the planning phase at country level.
The project is the second phase of a five-year joint initiative between UNESCO and the Republic of Korea, which aims to strengthen national Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) systems in selected African countries to strengthen the opportunities for decent employment and entrepreneurship for young people.
The beneficiary countries for this second phase of the BEAR project are Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda. During the workshops, UNESCO will share findings from recent scoping missions to the national stakeholders, and propose interventions in the framework of UNESCO's Strategy for TVET (2016-2021), outlining overall goals and the scope of the project.
The validation workshops will propose and discuss specific interventions for TVET in the chosen prioritized sectors and will provide a platform for building synergies between stakeholders to ensure an inclusive consultation process and national ownership. The participants will be concerned ministries, TVET authorities, TVET institutions, Vocational Training centres, and enterprises.
Three main areas of intervention will be discussed in working groups, concerning Relevance, Quality and Attractiveness of TVET. The validation workshops will also identify potential synergies that the BEAR II Project could help create in order to complement existing interventions.
About the BEAR II project
The first phase of the BEAR project collaborated with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Malawi, Botswana and Namibia.
In alignment with the Sustainable Development Goal on Education and the Education 2030 Framework for Action, the BEAR II project promotes the relevance of TVET systems in Eastern Africa to give young people a better chance to access decent employment and generate self-employment.
The BEAR II interventions will focus on specific sectors that are carefully chosen in each of the beneficiary countries for their potential to create jobs. The project supports efforts in updating curricula, training teaching staff and engaging employers and enterprises to help create more relevant TVET Systems.
The BEAR project contributes to the global efforts for implementing the Education 2030 Agenda, the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (2016 - 2025), and the UNESCO Strategy for TVET (2016 - 2021).
