By Politico staff writer
Stakeholders from Member States of ECOWAS have met in Banjul in the Gambia where discussions centred on validating a Draft Action Plan on strategies to improve skills and employability to respond to current and future challenges in the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector.
The meeting from 19th to 21st September 2023 brought together representatives of member states, development partners and experts in the field of TVET.
The draft Action Plan aims to respond to the current and future challenges of the TVET sector by providing measures to improve the quality of education and vocational training, adapt to labor market needs and promote entrepreneurship.
The Director of Education, Science and Culture Professor Abdoulaye Maga, expressed gratitude to the experts and partners for attending the technical meeting and thanked the people and the Government of the Gambia for hosting the meeting.
The Director highlighted ECOWAS' commitment to promoting TVET as an essential lever for the economic and social development of the Region. He called upon stakeholders to contribute and add value in the draft Action Plan.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Higher Education of the Gambia, Dr Yusupha Touray in his statement highlighted the importance of TVET as an essential instrument for the development and increase of standard human capital, improvement of skills and employability in West Africa.
He stated that human capital development plays a valid role in national, regional and global development. He stressed the need for socio-economic development in low-income countries.
Participants discussed the impacts of the pandemic on the TVET sector and proposed adjustments, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to ensure adaptive and sustainable implementation of the Action Plan. They also stressed the importance of regional cooperation, exchange of experiences and emerging innovation to strengthen the resilience of the TVET sector.
By providing a concrete and operational roadmap, the validated Action Plan will serve as a key instrument to transform the vision of the ECOWAS TVET Strategy for Skills Improvement and Employability (ETSSIE) into concrete actions, thereby promoting inclusive growth, sustainable job creation and a significant improvement of skills and employability within ECOWAS.
The meeting stressed the collective commitment to quality education and vocational training in the region. The Action Plan was adopted at the end of the meeting held from the 19th-21st September 2023.
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