Caribbean Education for Employment Program (C-EFE) Program was designed to contribute to economic growth through the development of a more competitive, productive and gender-equitable Caribbean workforce. The program focused on strengthening Caribbean institutional capacity to develop and deliver demand-driven technical and vocational education and training (TVET) that met the needs of employers looking to hire locally trained skilled workers.

• The program was developed in response to the pressing need to address the significant number of out-of-school and unemployed youth across the region. There was a lack of competitive skills within the region’s human resource base, which hindered economic development throughout the region.

• The region had made a commitment to improve regional economic integration as a way for member countries to become more competitive. However, National Training Agencies (NTAs) and their regional association, the Caribbean Association of National Training Agencies (CANTA) had weak Labour Market Information, and inconsistent program standards and certification. CARICOM and CANTA saw the C-EFE program as an opportunity to strengthen NTAs and through them CANTA in order to have a strengthened TVET coordinating body in the region that could foster the mobility of skilled labour which would lead to improved regional economic integration.

• The Caribbean educational training institutions were traditional, academic, supply- driven systems. TVET was considered a secondary option for many young people and their parents, and girls and women were discouraged from studying traditionally male sectors.

 CICan’s CEFE Program aimed to achieve the following results:

• • • Strengthen regional coordination of quality assurance (QA) for demand-driven, gender & environmentally sensitive TVET training & workforce certification systems.o Increase employment, including self-employment, of female & male TVET graduates; certified workers, including from disadvantaged groups.
    • Enhance the delivery of quality competency-based, demand-driven, and gender and environmentally sensitive TVET across the CARICOM region.

 CICan worked with NTAs and TVET Councils to build their capacity to offer Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) certification to uncertified workers and TVET graduates, contributing to a more qualified labour force, with mobility in the region. The CVQ is now widely known in the region, cited by employers, educators, government officials whereas it was virtually unknown before the project was initiated in 2011. Eight National Training Agencies are currently awarding CVQs.

 C-EFE enhanced relationships between TVET training institution and industry to ensure the goal of TVET graduates meeting regional labour market skills demands was met.

 The CEFE Program supported its regional partners to transform the Caribbean TVET system to be more gender-equitable, responsive, applied, and demand driven.

 Recognizing the concerns surrounding male-underachievement, as it relates to
inequalities that negatively affect women, C-EFE encouraged boys who dropped out of school to participate in practical learning that lead to employment. This was done through the development of pre-technology courses in “attractor fields” such as digital animation and music career management.

 C-EFE supported the CARICOM Secretariat and regional bodies to develop a social marketing program to increase the status and enrolment in TVET programs and achieve a rebranding of such programs in the population’s mind, especially the influencers like parents. The result was the start of a public shift in perception that is seeing TVET at the regional level as an equal option to university and other types of training. Additionally, gender equitable recruitment/retention strategies were developed to introduce young men and women into sectors in which they were previously under-represented.

 Over a thousand graduates of the pre-technology and regular programs are employed or engaged in further education and training, having moved out of the “Not in Education, Employment, or Training” (NEET) category (2,906 students trained in 11 sectors; 1,603 graduates from 18 new demand-driven programs across 11 sectors).

 Through institutional partnerships with CICan’s Canadian college, polytechnic, and training institute members, 15 Caribbean TVET institutions benefitted from capacity development in Competency-based Education and Training (CBET), prior learning assessment and recognition (PLAR), engaging with employers, conducting labour market scans, developing career counselling skills, developing gender and environment policies, and developing curricula based on occupational standards. Institutions and agencies delivering the pre-technology programs benefitted from gender training and training in using counselling and other services to support at-risk learners.

 The methodology used is replicable because of CICan’s approach that is designed to respond to the priorities established by local partners. CICan’s “Education for Employment” approach strengthens cooperation between the most important actors in the training and employment space, which are employers, training institutions and their surrounding communities, and the government. By supporting these three groups of partners to align their priorities and develop sustainable links among one another, the ultimate beneficiaries are the Caribbean students who enrolled in newly developed demand-driven programs at participating training institutions in the region, , who will receive TVET skills in high demand sectors, entrepreneurships skills, and a greater sense of respect for their female and male colleagues while in training and on the job.

While in the last decade, most African countries have recorded high growth, this does not yet adequately translate into poverty reduction. To policy makers, youth employment in Africa remains one of the most important problems. Although the need to act has galvanized regional political engagement and money, progress has been fragmented and sluggish. Innovative and innovative strategies are needed to find sustainable solutions that can reach a large number of
young people, generate new jobs and economic opportunities for young people and prepare them for the future of work.

Apprenticeship training was identified as one of the best ways to fill the void in skills, as it blends practical’ on – the-job’ training with classroom learning. This helps a trainee to gain experience on specific job skills by working alongside experienced employees. Models of apprenticeship training have shown a positive impact in several countries in raising the transition period from school to work. 

The Knowledge Platform on Inclusive Development Policies was established in June 2012. In the Knowledge Platform researchers from the Netherlands and African developing countries work together with the private sector, NGOs and government. At the first meeting, the Platform agreed on its overarching theme: Making Development in Africa More Inclusive. The Platform aims to broaden its knowledge network and knowledge-sharing activities in Africa on inclusive growth. Its members emphasize that there is already a wealth of knowledge; the challenge for policymakers and practitioners is to make that knowledge ‘work’.

As part of the ILO-led Decent Jobs for Youth global initiative, the ILO has teamed up with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Dutch Knowledge Platform on Inclusive Development Policies to launch a call for concept notes for research on ways to boost decent employment for young African men and women. They are looking for proposals that will lead to concrete ways to help young people develop digital and soft skills, as well as proposals that will foster mentorship schemes and work-based learning programs.

INCLUDE, the Knowledge Platform on Inclusive Development Policies aims to facilitate a better understanding of how to make growth and development in Africa more inclusive. High growth figures in many African countries have not yet led to sufficient employment growth and poverty reduction. By developing a focused research and knowledge agenda, the Platform contributes to understanding why this is the case in order to establish more knowledge and evidence-based development policies.

Apprenticeship training has been identified as one of the best ways to fill the skills gap, as it combines practical ‘on the job’ training, together with classroom studies. It enables a trainee to gain experience on specific job skills through working alongside experienced staff. Apprenticeship training models have shown a positive impact for reducing the school-to-work transition period in several countries.

Pro-youth employment strategies benefit everyone. Investment in youth is an investment in society. Decent work for young people has multiplier effects throughout the economy, boosting consumer demand and adding to tax revenue. The demand for social services decreases significantly when youth have decent work, because their time is spent in productive, self-esteem building and healthy ways. Successful early career development is correlated with long-term career prospects. It shifts young people from social dependence to self-sufficiency and helps them escape poverty and actively contribute to society.