81319268-Cooperative and Short-Term Trainings and Capacity Building Measures in Ethiopia

1. Introduction and Background Ethiopia is experiencing rapid economic growth. However, this growth is accompanied by significant labour market challenges, with projections indicating approximately 2.2 million new job seekers annually for the next three decades. A critical need exists to equip vocational trainees with practical skills. The Ethiopian Government, in its 2023 Education and Training Policy, emphasises the importance of effective collaboration between the education sector and private sector to align training with industry needs and bridge the labour market gap. Current private sector involvement in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) lacks a supportive regulatory framework. This deficiency hinders the private sector's role, leading to low employability of vocational graduates and a shortage of skilled workers. Furthermore, TVET trainers often lack practical experience, limiting their ability to provide relevant real-world context. Meaningful private sector engagement necessitates serious consideration of input from companies, chambers, and associations at all levels, beginning with governance. 2. Project Overview: STEP IV The STEP IV project, funded by the German Government and commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), is implemented by GIZ. Its primary objective is to support the income and employment situation for the Ethiopian population, especially for young people, by demand-oriented training and qualification offers. The German government's support aims to systematically engage the organised private sector, which requires strengthening to effectively advocate for and assume its role in TVET. Fostering public-private dialogue is crucial for building trust and collaboration, ultimately informing the development of a TVET Strategy that ensures private sector involvement in decision-making and implementation. The STEP IV project actively promotes the involvement of companies in developing and implementing labour market-oriented qualification measures such as cooperative and short- term training programs. Gender equality is a guiding principle integrated across all project interventions. 3. Thematic Areas and Activities The STEP IV project structures its activities under three interconnected thematic areas - Regulatory Framework for TVET: promoting reform guidelines translation into practical strategies, implementation plans, legal frameworks, and steering structures. - Strengthen the Role of the Private Sector: supporting the organised private sector in fulfilling its central role in managing vocational training. - Align the TVET system with transformation processes: enabling vocational training actors to recognise social (gender) and economic (digitalszation and green TVET) transformation processes and make necessary adjustment 4. Implementation Approach and Key Challenges The STEP IV project operates at national, regional, and local levels. It provides advisory support to partner institutions to improve trainer training. A core activity involves implementing demand-oriented, private sector-led cooperative and short-term training programs. These programs focus on green, digital, and entrepreneurial skills and target TVET trainees, job seekers, and the informally employed (incl. women and people with disabilities) in selected high-employability economic sectors. While cooperative and short-term training are integral to Ethiopia's TVET policy, their implementation is often weak due to limited private sector engagement in program design, occupational standard review, and trainee assessment. A key challenge is the effective translation of occupational standards (OS) and Units of Competence (UoC) into functional cooperative trainings. Developing these effective programs requires collaborative involvement from companies, TVET institutions, and federal/regional governments.