1. the ETF work in the south Mediterranean: bringing vet closer to the labour market
Francesca Rosso, ETF
RESUME 1ère Conférence de Formation: Renforcer l’adéquation entre la formation et le marché de l’emploi
9 September 2016

2. Structure of the presentation
ETF: Who are we?
youth employability: Overview of the situation in the region
ETF intervention in the region

3. ETF: Agency of the European Union
VISION To make vocational education and training (VET) in the partner countries a driver for lifelong learning and sustainable development, with a special focus on competitiveness and social cohesion MISSION To help transition and developing countries to harness the potential of their human capital through the reform of education, training and labour market systems in the context of the EU’s external relations policy

4. Russia Candidate countries: Central Asia:
Albania, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey
Central Asia:
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
Potential candidate countries:
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo *
Eastern Partnership :
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and Russia
Southern and Eastern Mediterranean:
Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine**, Tunisia and Israel
* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of dindependence
** This esignation shall not be construed as recognition of a State of Palestine and is without prejudice to the individual positions of the Member States on this issue

5. VET AS Blend of Skills, knowledge and competences… what for and how?
Skills for social inclusion
Skills for economic growth/competitiveness
Skills for territorial cohesion
Skills for life / citizenship
HOW?
How can we match today’s needs?
How can we anticipate future needs in skills?
How do we go beyond what is achieved through schools and initial VET?
How do we recognise skills?
How do we best use skills?

6. Regional context and facts
Very low activity rate among increasing working-age population, mainly due to women’s inactivity
Inverse correlation between educational attainment and employment (Graph 1)
Extreme disadvantage of youth and women in labour market (Graph 2)
Persistent skills mismatches and insufficient job creation to meet the supply of labour (especially qualified workers)
Insufficient foundation skills and entrepreneurial spirit capable of generating the necessary resilience
Not inclusive education and training and active labour market policies and activation strategies, which leads to an alarming number of citizens NOT IN EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION AND TRAINING (NEETS) (Graph 3)
Impressive progress in bringing people to school BUT…
Employment should follow

7. The etf response

8. SKILLS and VET POLICIES SHOULD BE…..
SUPPORT STABILISATION
FORWARD LOOKING
EVIDENCE-BASED TO MEET THE NEEDS
PARTICIPATORY
HOLISTIC
PART OF AN ENTREPRENEURIAL CONTINUUM
GIVE CITIZENS A FUTURE IN THEIR COUNTRY

9. Skills Vision 2020 document
LINKING ACTORS AND MAKING A JOINT VISION: THE Frame approach (SEET REGION)
FORESIGHT
A future-oriented, participatory, systematic process in HRD that draws on knowledge from different policy areas to interconnect economy, education, labour market, social dimension, regional and territorial aspects
REVIEW OF INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
A prioritized capacity development plan (milestones) for institutions in charge of HRD
Vision
Priorities
Roadmap
Skills Vision 2020 document
A review focussed on both policy planning as well as policy delivery needs for implementing the Skills vision
Wide range of actors in HRD area
Need for a participatory approach for the strategic development of HRD
Ensure policy coherence and policy relevance to the emerging socio-economic challenges
WHY?
MONITORING
A tool to support policy makers in assessing progress towards the Skills vision 2020

10. Entrepreneurial Discovery as continous process, adds
Anticipation of economic and social development needs (anticipate the demand of skills) based on Identification of emerging global trends

11. LINKING ACTORS AT NATIONAL AND REGIONAL LEVEL: GEMM outcomes (SEMED)
The VET systems highly centralised in all countries and mainly government led
Social partners are engaged, but partnership still not efficient in the entire policy cycle. Civil society not yet part of the policy dialogue
Continuing Vocational Training (CVT) is a neglected area in most countries
Territorial dimension is getting important but little progress in its implementation
Very little (if any) responsibility for innovation at local level
Quality assurance is now on the VET policy agenda, but is focusing mainly on auditing and inspecting rather than on outcomes and quality management and improvement
Underdeveloped Labour market information systems in most countries what limits the information available to steer and evaluate progress

12. Lessons learned
If those countries with a vision for economic and social development and thorough implementation are faring better in terms of employment support them to:
build a shared vision on skills agenda and be entrepreneurial in the public policy making;
reconcile the distinct interests of the multiple actors involved and shape the policy of the country instead of one for each institution (state, social partners – non-state / public, private) human capital and innovation strategies coordinates towards country sustainable development;
integrate skills policies with economic sector strategies and with territorial development plans; do not treat migration in isolation;
adopt policies for results and use monitoring indicators that are outcomes oriented instead of input driven;
implement agreed policy and do not change it annually. Combine long-term with quick-fix

13. GOVERNANCE SHOULD BE……..
MULTI-LEVEL
GOOD
TRANSPARENT
PARTICIPATORY
ANTICIPATORY
INCLUSIVE
SOCIAL DIALOGUE BASED

14. WORK ON SMART TERRITORIES: Lessons learned
Give a functional approach to the governance of the skills system/human capital development policies;
Create a multi-level governance (horizontal and vertical dimensions);
Build capacity of the institutions involved to implement, to assure transparency and accountability for results;
Give equal priority to government (central and local), private sector, local authorities and civil society empowerment and make them work on common projects;
Implement small-scale projects that bring innovation/transformation and ensure conditions for scale-up (e.g. «Gouvernance pour l’employabilité dans la Méditerranée» -GEMM and «Initiative régionale d'appui au développement économique durable» - IRADA).

15. What our experience in the countries tells us
A timely understanding of skills needed in the labour market remain problematic across most partner countries.
Building capacity to identify and respond to new skills demand at local and regional level is more challenging. It should go hand in hand with robust regional development strategies involving the private sector.
Working with local and regional networks of stakeholders secures and improves the outcomes of VET policy. This is needed to make VET more responsive to labour market needs.
Our analyses on skill needs’ identification and matching in Eastern Europe and SEET show that stakeholders, especially social partners, have a strong perception of insufficient flexibility to influence and adapt education and employment related policies to local and regional contexts.
Too much is about fixing the past and too little is about building a future

16. ETF activities in the SEMED region
Reinforcing holistic evidence-based and integrated skills development policies (Torino process in all countries but DZ)
Promoting and reinforcing skills and VET anticipatory and multi-level governance (MA, TN, JO)
Developing effective skills anticipation and matching policies to ease transitions to work (DZ, MA, TN, LB, PS, JO)
Fostering entrepreneurial learning and skills for SMEs (SBA assessment in all countries, bilateral support LB)
Facilitating qualifications comparison and analysis to support the mobility of workers and learners, while feeding national debate on qualification reforms (Q4M MA, TN, EG, JO, DZ) and NQF (MA).
Providing support to EU Delegations and Commission services in designing, monitoring and evaluating EU programmes (all countries)

17. Figure 1. Unemployment rates of total population (15+), women (15+) and youth (15-24) in 2010 and 2015

18. Figure 2. Unemployment rates of total population, upper and post-secondary (ISCED 3-4) and tertiary (ISCED 5-6)

19. Figure 3. NEETs rates 15-24, last available year – (%)

20. Thank you! Visit our website: www.etf.europa.eu
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