On Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017 OSAA in coordination with Herat Department of Labor and Social Affairs/DoLSA and in cooperation with Help INGO, OSAA organized the third TVET Round-Table in Women Cooperative Conference Hall – Herat city. The main agenda for the third TVET Round-Table was presentations of local and international NGOs on their current TVET and employment services activities and future plans.

Several officials including Mr. Zarifi, Director of Labour department of DoLSA, Mr. Shaheer, Head of Council of Experts, Mr. Alfred Horn,  Regional Director of Help in Afghanistan and Iran, Mr. Yari, Deputy of Craftsmen Union and representatives of DoLSA, Department of Economy, Department of Education, Chamber of Commerce and Industries, National Union of labors, Herat University, Herat technical Institute, Herat Council of Experts, representatives of War Child-UK, DACCAR, PIN, NRC,CRDSA, ACBAR, GP, WSEC, OSAA, Help, and CSOs attended the Round-Table meeting.

At the beginning, Mr. Mohammad Ali Soroosh – Program officer of Help, welcomed all participants, reviewed previous meeting highlights and the objectives of the current round-table. He also asked all participants to introduce themselves and state their expectations from TVET and ESC round-tables.

The TVET and ESC stakeholders introduced themselves and stated their expectations from the 3rd TVET and EST round-table. Common understanding of the labor market, effective government cooperation with the private sector, coordination among stakeholders, standard levels for TVET, prioritizing the needs of the local market were the common expectations of the participants.

Later on, Mr. Alfred Horn, Regional Director of Help in Afghanistan and Iran said: a generation ago, the idea was to raise the number of academics in universities. 25 years later we came to know that this is a misconception. The problem of Europe is the unemployment of educated people. 15 years after the fall of Taliban regime, Afghanistan is experiencing same problem. Unfortunately, with a turning point in education, efforts has been neglected in the field of TVET, employment, and job development.

He added that, we as NGOs, Governmental departments and private sector should go promote TVET, skills development and job facilitation. We all have gathered for the same reason. I hope all of us do something in the place we are.

In addition, the participating organizations introduced their actual activities in the field of TVET, their future plans and challenges towards implementation of their projects. There were questions raised which were answered by presenters.

At the end, Mr. Zarifi wrapped up the meeting and said:

the TVET and ESC round tables are a roof for better coordination among stakeholders. He promised to share the recently developed roadmap prepared in his ministry with all participants as a comprehensive guide to TVET programs. It was agreed that in the next round tables promotion of TVET and improving quality of TVET be the main agenda.

Source: Help Media And Culture Department.