TVET and employment promotion programme (TEP)

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, over a quarter of the population in the Palestinian territories were affected by unemployment in 2015, with young people disproportionately hard hit. The unemployment rate is particularly high among the youth of Gaza, women with a university education, and young people from the refugee camps.

The employment problem in the Palestinian territories is a consequence of the generally unstable economic and political situation and the associated low rate of economic growth. The small number of competitive companies that do exist can not find appropriately qualified skilled workers.

The Palestinian technical and vocational education and training (TVET) system is unable to produce workers with appropriate skills either for its own labour market, or for the neighbouring countries where jobs are available.

Approach

The programme focuses on adapting vocational training to fit the current employment situation and meet the needs of the labour market. For example, local employment and training councils participate actively in local efforts to improve the training situation and labour market conditions. These councils are made up of public service providers and decision-makers from the governorates, trade associations, educational institutions and representatives of civil society. Among other inputs, they provide relevant information and data for the programme’s activities.

An improved range of information and advisory services for prospective trainees, as well as greater flexibility within the various training programmes should afford them an easier start to their working lives. The programme provides capacity building to teaching staff and managers from the training institutions. This enables them to work together to develop new training programmes more closely oriented to the demands of the labour market.

In collaboration with decision-makers from the public and private sectors and from civil society, the programme aims to establish an integrated TVET and labour market system that continuously develops and optimises curricula, as well as assessment and certification processes. This should provide a solid foundation on which to facilitate young Palestinian’s search for gainful employment.

The programme receives additional support through financial partnerships with the European Union and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

The consulting firm Integration International Management Consultants GmbH supports the implementation of the project.