Vocational Training and Employment Support Services (VTESS)

Direct beneficiaries:

• 3’500 early school leavers from disadvantaged groups (gender, ethnicity, income poverty)
• 2’200 unemployed youth and job seekers (including 300 benefitting from seeds money)
• 60 local coaches from Non-Profit Associations, government organizations and the private sector equipped for ESS coaching
• 784 IVET trainers & key staff, ESS partners, coaches and enterprises trained on technical skills for service delivery

Indirect beneficiaries:

• 2’000 visitors (job seekers, parents, other interested) having access to job fairs and job information

1. Early school leavers from disadvantaged groups benefitting from Integrated Vocational Education and Training (IVET) courses are gainfully engaged in self- or wage-employment or re-enter the education system.
2. Early school leavers from disadvantaged groups benefitting from employment support services (ESS) are gainfully engaged in self- or wage-employment.
3. Graduates from the ESS coaching cycle benefitting from enterprise coaching and seed money successfully established a micro-enterprise.
4. A sustainable financing model for both IVET and ESS programmes has been endorsed by key stakeholders. 

Risultati principali attesi:  

(1) IVET pathway for early school leavers

• Labour market relevant C1 and C2 equivalency program courses implemented in IVET schools
• Outreach Programme for early school leavers from disadvantaged groups implemented

(2) Employment support services (ESS) for early school leavers

• Full Coaching Cycle offered, incl. by ESS partners, with a special focus on women
• Students complete Enterprise-Based Training
• Selected ESS partners have been capacitated to operate the ESS program on an ongoing basis

(3) Enterprise coaching and seed money for ESS coaching cycle graduates

• Entrepreneurially minded ESS graduates enrol in Basic Entrepreneurship Training, with some graduates receiving start-up seed money
• Entrepreneurship partners capacitated to implement BET/seed money on an ongoing basis

(4) Sustainable financing model for IVET and ESS programmes

• A framework for broader implementation of the TVET Development Fund for IVET and ESS developed and endorsed

Risultati fasi precedenti:  

• 2’980 graduates from short courses (40% female, 10% female who completed male-oriented programs); 56% of graduates gained employment.
• 1’175 young benefitted from the Employment Support Service coaching programme (12 months full cycle), of whom 72% gained (self)employment.
• 404 disadvantaged youth benefited from the Basic Entrepreneurship Training; around 200 with seed money successfully self-employed after 6 months.
• The Legal Framework for Equivalency Programme to support lower secondary school dropout was developed, approved and piloted in 2 provinces.
• 124 trainers trained on the updated curriculum to support inclusive TVET. 
• Coaching for Employment and Entrepreneurship model developed by Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU) adopted, with 50 coaches trained; 14 coaches received the Certificate of Advanced Studies in coaching from the HSLU.

The external evaluation acknowledges the good results. Its two key recommendations at strategic level are:

(i) raise awareness on stakeholders and increase their commitment and ownership
(ii) social inclusion to be fostered at all implementation levels

SDC: Skills for Tourism, Agriculture and Forestry (STAF); ASEAN-Swiss TVET Initiative (ASTI)

Other DPs: KfW (Vocational Education Financing Facility), World Bank (Priority Skills for Growth)