Germany – Foreign economic-aid-related services – 81310295-Capacity Building Support to Strengthen the Dual-Cooperative Training (DCT) in Lao PDR

Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) has received considerable attention in Lao PDR"s educational policies over the past years. To address the growing needs of industry and business for skilled workers, the Ministry of Education and Sports has placed priority on reforming the national TVET system. Important reform steps are the revision of the "TVET Law" in 2019 as well as of the "Dual- Cooperative Training (DCT) Concept and Implementation Framework 2021-2025". However, the structural framework conditions for the implementation of DCT are still inadequate. Around 20,000 young Laotians choose to undergo initial vocational training in public vocational schools every year. The challenging economic conditions make access to TVET more difficult. According to a survey (July 2023), 84% of respondents cite economic reasons as an obstacle to taking up and successfully completing a DCT course. The tracer study on the 114 DCT graduates of the 4 DCT flagship colleges of the 2020/21 shows a high level of satisfaction with the quality of theoretical teaching (79%) and practical training (76%). The employment situation, on the other hand, reflects the challenges on the labour market: while 35% of respondents were in further training after graduation, only 30% of respondents were in paid employment and a further 12% were in other forms of employment (including precarious low-wage, uncontracted and social protection). To support the Government of Lao PDR, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) commissioned GIZ with the project "Vocational Education in Lao PDR" (VELA) III. The VELA III project supports anchoring and consolidating the DCT approach at national and sub-national level and improving the structural framework conditions for the implementation. The aim of the project is therefore to improve the structural framework conditions for the implementation of dual-cooperative TVET in Lao PDR. The target groups of the project are young adults interested in TVET, vocational school students and graduates between the ages of 15 and 35. The focus is particularly on girls and women and other disadvantaged groups, especially the rural population and ethnic minorities (taking into account the leave no one behind principle of the 2030 Agenda). GIZ intends to contract a service provider for the implementation of output 2 and parts of output 3 of the project VELA III. Output 2 aims to improve access to dual-cooperative TVET and the labour market for prospective vocational students and graduates, including disadvantaged and vulnerable groups. The provision of suitable information and counselling services improves knowledge of the advantages of DCT for students, teachers, and parents, and thus increases the registration rates - as a basic prerequisite for the nationwide anchoring of DCT. As part of output 3, the service provider shall support the Vocational Education Development Institute (VEDI) in the continuous implementation, monitoring and evaluation of these existing programs, especially for the DCT staff of new TVET institutions and companies partnering to implement DCT programs.