Four representatives from EU-CORD recently attended the European Commission (EC) Informal Stakeholders meeting on TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training). The meeting was organised by DG DEVCO with the main purpose of sharing information about what are the current needs and challenges and hearing responses from Member States, NGOs and the private sector. The Member States were well represented, including staff from Ministries in France, Germany, The Netherlands, Denmark, and Austria.
Jan Wolthers (Red een Kind), Evert-Jan Brouwer (Woord en Daad), were invited by the EC to give a presentation on service-delivery, presenting the pros and cons of the various approaches to TVET and emphasising that TVET is not a stand-alone intervention, but should be linked to the wider community development process, including for example food security initiatives and microfinance.
Jean Claude Boidin from DG DEVCO concluded the meeting with key reflections from the day, including the importance of TVET as the bridge between the Millenium Development Goals and the growing emphasis from the EC on inclusive growth and wealth creation in development. He recognised the contributions of the meeting as an open invitation to put TVET higher on the agenda, not only in terms of words, but also in practical and operational actions.
EU-CORD is committed to advocating for the important role of skills development and TVET in poverty reduction and development. Vocational education and skills development is a key route through which people can become self-reliant: it widens the opportunities for people to find a job that fits their talents and preferences; it helps them to access decent work and a fair income; it releases people out of the poverty trap; it provides them with skills to make progress in their life.
Starting from that conviction, member organisations of the EU-CORD network work together as part of an advocacy group which seeks to address TVET as a policy issue, both at EU and Member State level.
Photo: © Jaco Klamer, Woord en Daad TVET program in Ethiopia
