Promoting Market Oriented Skills Training in the Great Lakes region (PROMOST)


PROMOST contributed to increased employment and income generation in the Great Lakes region by providing access and enhancing quality of vocational training. Building on the achievements of the previous two phases, the third phase will focus on the sustainability of the interventions, on the labor market insertion of graduates and on the institutionalization of short-term training and apprentice-ships, thus permitting the phasing-out of Swiss contributions and the continuous increasing of national and regional commitments to professional skills education, especially in Rwanda.

Country/region Topic Period Budget
Democratic Republic Congo
The Great Lakes Region
Rwanda
Employment & economic development
Vocational training
Education
Employment creation
Vocational training
SME development
Education facilities and training
01.07.2019 - 30.06.2024
CHF  20’000’000
Background The region shares a low human capital index (WB 2018), a very young population and lack of adequate skills for economic development. Unemployment is high, especially among youth. Most of the employment is in agriculture, access to land is limited and outside opportunities are scarce. In DRC and Burundi access to basic state services is very limited. Rwanda has achieved remarkable success in providing services, but faces issues in quality. To over-come these challenges, SDC set up the PROMOST project in 2012. It aims at empowering disadvantaged youth in se-lected areas in Rwanda, Burundi and DRC through appro-priate and job market relevant professional skills training.
Objectives The program’s overall goal is to contribute to increased income generation for the rural population in target geographical areas in the Great Lakes Region, by improving their access to quality and labor-market-oriented vocational training and after training support to be economically productive.
Target groups Disadvantaged and vulnerable young people in rural and peri-urban settings. Focus on Western Province in Rwanda, South Kivu Province in Eastern DRC and Kayanza Province in Burundi. Possible extension to either Cibitoke or Ngozi. Further qualifications for trainers, teachers and administrative staff in VET institutions in the three countries will be provided. Also targeted are micro entrepreneurs, informal enterprises or former students who provide apprenticeships and Short Term Trainings. Public institutions will be strengthened in capacity.
Medium-term outcomes

The program is expected to have the following overall impact: Increased income due to employment and self-employment for disadvantaged young women and men due to inclusive, relevant and well-coordinated VET and labor market insertion. To achieve this overall impact two outcomes were defined, one focusing on access and productive work level and the other focusing on the systemic level:

  1. Gainful employment or self-employment through quality VET, labor market insertion and certification for rural disadvantaged young men and women:
  2.  A sustainable and inclusive VET system, oriented towards regional inte-gration (within the Great Lakes Region and EAC), delivers high quality, relevant and accessible VET to all.
Results

Expected results:  

  • At least 8’000 persons are trained in apprentice-ships and STT by June 2022, 1’600 in Rwanda, 2’600 in Eastern DRC and 3800 in Burundi. At least 50% of them will be women.
  • Four TVET schools in Rwanda equipped with boarding facilities.
  • 20 curricula developed for apprenticeship and dual apprenticeship, 8 gender neutral trade curricula developed jointly with private sector
  • 130 trained teachers effectively provide professional orientation in secondary schools (RW:50; BU:30 DRC:50)
  • 6.500 disadvantaged men and women (50% female-3.200) have been assessed and certified through Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) (RW: 1.200; BU: 3200; DRC: 2.100)
  • EAC Technical Committee on TVET meets regularly and works towards regional harmonization and recognition of certificates


Results from previous phases:  

  • Access to TVET was enhanced via constructing and equipping of 6 TVET centers in Rwanda (phase I), and organizing short-term trainings and apprenticeships in all three countries.
  • 95% of 8300 beneficiaries of phase II belong to the most vulnerable. 40% of beneficiaries are women.
  • 80% in Rwanda, 68% in Burundi and 44% of people trained in phase II are employed.
  • 639 new microenterprises were created in phase II
  • 699 craftsmen were trained to train apprentices in phase II
  • New trades were introduced and curricula developed, p.e. photovoltaics, boatbuilding, fishnet repairs, hairdressing
  • Quality assurance and accreditation of TVET providers were reinforced. In South Kivu (SK) a framework describing the roles and responsibilities in the TVET sector was developed.
  • To promote the transition from TVET training towards income and employment, the program developed business development and entrepreneurship tools in order to equip and capacitate TVET graduates.


Directorate/federal office responsible SDC
Credit area Development cooperation
Project partners Contract partner
International or foreign NGO
Private sector
Foreign state institution
Swiss Non-profit Organisation
  • Central State of South East
  • Foreign private sector North
  • Foreign private sector South/East
  • Sub-National State SouthEast
  • Swisscontact


Other partners
Ministries in charge of TVET in the three countries, private sector, non-governmental training institutions, local authorities, EAC,
Coordination with other projects and actors The project will be consistent with the existing national and local policies, strategies and sector development plans. Synergies with country specific VET projects    and SDC projects (PROECCO) open up complementarity.
Budget Current phase Swiss budget CHF    20’000’000 Swiss disbursement to date CHF    20’022’943
Project phases Phase 4 01.02.2023 - 31.12.2025   (Current phase) Phase 3 01.07.2019 - 30.06.2024   (Current phase) Phase 2 01.02.2016 - 31.07.2021   (Completed) Phase 1 01.05.2012 - 31.01.2016   (Completed)