Strengthening Technical and Vocational Education and Training Project

One key lesson is the importance of providing sustained, well-designed, and consistent support to sector development. In this case, sustained support enabled the thoughtful evolution of a successful system for delivering large-scale, demand-driven, community-based, nonformal programs. A second lesson learned is that the introduction of new approaches, such as introducing competency-based training (CBT) to a fledgling system, requires significant effort and resources. More time and money was needed to develop the skills standards, curricula, assessment tools, and learning packages. It may have been better to adapt CBT materials produced elsewhere, or to contract out the development of the materials. CBT training for instructors, institute directors and the Directorate General of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (DGTVET) staff should also have been more extensive. While the teams producing the materials gained valuable experience and deeper insights into CBT, this approach ultimately absorbed too much time and resources. It was also learned that most rural trainees cannot enroll in 4-6 month courses without earning any income. Direct stipends should be paid to trainees for the duration of the course to encourage higher enrollment.