RAFPRO regional workshop: Alternative modes of financing vocational training in Africa facing the challenges of the future

Context: 

The RAFPRO is a framework for periodic consultation between member institutions and funds with a view to exchanging experiences and sharing knowledge and good practices on an ongoing basis.

On the basis of the evolution of the various member funds, the RAPFRO considers it necessary to initiate a debate on the issue of mobilizing sustainable resources for the financing of vocational training, with the aim of projecting member institutions and funds into future's challenges.

Thus, the RAFPRO plans, in collaboration with technical and financial partners, to organize a workshop to share knowledge and experiences in order to explore possible courses of action and innovative solutions for optimal funding of TVET through institutions and specialized funds. In this regard, the Fonds de Financement de la Formation Professionnelles et Technique (3FPT) of Senegal, member of the RAFPRO who has a good experience in public / private partnership was selected to host and organize the workshop on alternative methods of financing vocational training.

The discussions planned during the workshop and the expected results will indeed contribute to improvements and solutions to the development of technical and professional skills in RAFPRO member countries.

General objective:

The general objective of the workshop is, through high-level exchanges between managers and experts of the RAFPRO, actors from public and private sector and civil society, as well as technical and financial partners, to deepen the concepts, tools, current practices and methods likely to improve and diversify the strategies for mobilizing and managing funding within the Network.

Targeted themes and methodology:

After the opening of the proceedings, the workshop will start with a conceptual framing presentation on the central theme "alternative modes of financing vocational training" to address the issue of financing education and vocational training in Africa.

The work of the workshop will be introduced by experts mobilized for the occasion who will make a specific presentation on each theme selected. The participants will discuss and share their experiences and approaches afterwards, during group work on in-depth sub-themes.

Thus, the themes selected for the three days of the workshop are:

• Theme 1: Panorama of the financing of vocational training in Africa
• Theme 2: Financing professional learning
• Theme 3: The digitization of TVET in Africa: what role and opportunities for the Funds?

Partners:

In order to organize this event, the RAFPRO mobilized its technical and financial partners who joined in a Committee to support the various aspects of the organization. It is :

• the Luxembourg Agency for Development Cooperation (LuxDev) through the European facility of the VET-Toolbox;
• the Archipelago program of the European Union (EU);
• the International Labor Organization (ILO);
• the Africa office of IIEP-UNESCO, in Dakar.

To learn more about the regional workshop (registration procedures, themes, deliverables, participants), please find attached the concept note (in French).