Strengthening HR capacities of TVET personnel in Lebanon

The Republic of Lebanon, once considered as amiddle-income country with an open and largely service-oriented economy, is facing since 2018 one of its most severe economic crises since the end of the civil war in 1990. For more than two years, the situation in Lebanon has been further affected by several developments: First the economic and financial crisis, followed by the spread of COVID-19, and lastly the explosion at the Port of Beirut in August 2020. By the beginning of 2020, the crisis had reached the Lebanese Central Bank, leading the country"s financial system to the brink of collapse. The most important sectors such as tourism, real estate and construction were severely impacted. Theon-going spread of the Coronavirus added another layer to the already existing crisis. The pandemic has further pushed the Lebanese economy into a spiral toward recession, inflation and mass unemployment and shortage of imported goods. As a reaction to the increasing unemployment, many qualified workers have left the country, leading to a "brain drain". Moreover, the growing disparities in income distribution are leading to more social tensions, triggering a new wave of protests. It is estimated that the unemployment rate has reached 25%. Until the civil war, the TVET (technical and vocational education and training) system was well organized by regional standards: Workers were trained with good practical skills, and the reputation of TVET among the population was comparatively high. After the end of the war, this tradition was not continued. Today, the vocational training system is limited almost exclusively to school-based training, with little practical training. The labor market orientation of national TVET is low which manifests itself in the fact that graduates generally do not work in the occupations for which they were trained, often enter the informal sector or even remain unemployed for a long time after graduation. In addition, there are insufficient placement services. Therefore, Lebanese companies are hardly able to meet their demand for suitably qualified workers. The opportunities and challenges regarding the vocational training system are recognized on the Lebanese side. Thus, in June 2018, the Prime Minister approved a National Strategic Framework for Vocational Education and Training 2018-2022. In this strategic framework, eight priorities were formulated (known as "Building Blocks"), including Building Block 2 "Improving the human resources management system as a key factor for quality of vocational education and training." This is due to the fact, that vocational training institutions lack qualified educational personnel with sufficient practical, didactic, and methodological skills. Only a few teachers have professional experience outside the vocational training institutions and the Lebanese Teacher Training Institute (Institut Pédagogique National pour L'Enseignement Technique) is currently not able to provide the vocational education system with highly qualified teachers. Against those challenges the project "Improving the Quality and Attractiveness of Vocational Education and Training in Lebanon - QuA-VET" aims to align vocational education and training in sectors with sustainable employment potentials with the needs of the Lebanese economy. "Maintenance of machinery and equipment in the manufacturing industry" and "health inspection" have already been identified as priority domains. Emphasis is placed on improving the partnership between vocational training institutions and the private sector, strengthening human resource capacity in vocational training institutions, and developing practice-oriented training programs. The implementing partner is the Directorate General for Vocational and Technical Education (DGVTE), which lacks capacity at various levels to involve the private sector in TVET. This concerns curriculum development, teacher training and the expansion of practical elements in teaching.